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Punk Rocks!
Saturday, 9 July 2005
A Blast From Punk Past
Mood:  on fire
Punk music has gone through many changes and variations over the last few decades. Saying this, there have also been many bands and musicians that have influenced and aided in these changes, making them legends of punk rock. Some of these include The Stooges, The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, Joy Division, The Clash, and The Undertones.
Punk was basically first developed by teenagers who were against rules set by authority and wanted to stimulate change. In order to obtain this, they voiced their opinions both verbally and nonverbally in sometimes-outrageous manners. They made it known that if there was something they didn’t like or felt was wrong, they would change it, one way or another. They also were mostly against all commercialized ideas including customs, labels, brands, etc. that they felt were “materialistic” (Heimberger 1). Punk music was a reaction to the British bands from the 70’s and progressive rock bands that didn’t have what the British teens wanted (Page Wise, Inc. 1). Punk made many things visible to its international spectators. First, that it had beaten down walls of language and expression (Oh 2). Secondly, it made a dent in the music industry and offered a new option to the “boring” music of that era, although record companies were not excited with punk because it was too unstable (Jaffe 3). Some of the more significant bands of the punk movement were Minor Threat, The Sex Pistols, and The Ramones.

The 60’s were the early beginnings of punk rock. This is when garage rockers, like The Velvet Underground, The Stooges, and The New York Dolls, started to mess around with what was to become known as punk rock. Though this is true, punk wasn’t considered its own genre until the mid-70’s. Young bands from the U.S. (particularly New York) to the U.K. began stripping the mainstream hard rock down to its core (AEC One Stop Group, Inc. 1). As this happened, people believed that anyone could be a star and anger was considered a form of art (Britannica Student Encyclopedia 1). It was also becoming known to be more energetic and faster than any other known music. In the mid 80’s, punk was at its height, and ideas became more diverse from there. Punk was then received into society. Later, the music split into different sounds. A new form was nicknamed straightedge. Though it still had most of the original punk ideas, its main focuses were staying away from drinking, smoking, and promiscuous sex. Other forms of punk rock that also developed were hardcore punk (influenced by Minor Threat), pseudo-punk (mix of all types to form more original, up-to-date sound), ska-punk (example of a band: California’s NOFX. Uses trombones and trumpets), and finally, pop-punk (softer and more calm than original punk) (Heimberger 1). A bunch of punk revivalists (examples: Green Day and Rancid) came from the American underground in the early 90’s. This new wave followed the same basic structure as the originals, but tended to add more elements of heavy metal to their sound (AEC One Step Group, Inc. 1).
In 1968, Iggy Pop decided to form The Stooges in Detroit, Michigan. The Stooges was composed of Iggy’s friends that could barely play their instruments and had very little musical knowledge. Their performances contained Iggy’s body contortions,dives into the audience, self-mutilation, and insults that were screamed to the fans. This extreme bizarreness didn’t make them popular like the Doors. In 1969, The Stooges released their debut album, with singles, “I Wanna Be Your Dog” and “No Fun” (Jaffe 1). Their songs were blended with frenzied guitars and angry, but complex, lyrics. Americans were inspired by Iggy Pop’s music and persona, which foreshadowed the punk movement (Britannica Student Encyclopedia 1).
The first punk band in New York was The Ramones (AEC One Stop Group, Inc. 1). Their music was faster and their songs are marked by their amateur and aggressive sound (Jaffe 3). They released their self-titled debut in 1976. It was the first example of punk rock, and they are usually accepted as the creators of punk. Being tired of “boring” music, they put their own sound together. The shortage of original music was a part in the making of their sound. Another factor was their lack of skill of that of the bands of 1975 (Jaffe 2). The Ramones brought back the two minute song, making a sound that reminded people of early rock ‘n’ roll. Some of their more familiar songs are, “The Blizkrieg Bob,” “Sheena Is A Punk Rocker,” “Cretin Hop,” “Pinhead,” “Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue,” “Do You Remember Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio?” and “I Wanna Be Sedated” (Jaffe 3). The Ramone’s direct approach influenced British punk acts, helping bring about the British punk scene (AEC One Stop Group, Inc. 1). They played in London at a 4th of July concert. Many members of future punk bands saw that show, like The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned, Generation X, and Souxsie and the Banshees. This deeply affected the huge London scene of 1977 (Jaffe 3). While punk remained an underground sensation in the U.S., it was very popular in the U.K.

The punk movement in both the U.K. and the U.S. was set in the rise and fall of The Sex Pistols. They were the first punk band from London and they were louder and sloppier than The Faces, whom they played riffs from (AEC One Stop Group, Inc. 1). They worked as teenagers and usually played on stolen instruments, which they could hardly play at all. Even though their music was deliberately rude, loud, and rebellious against politics, and was only a couple guitar cords and a lot of screaming, fans related to their attitude and provocative clothing style (Britannica Student Encyclopedia 1). This style consisted of spiked hair, ripped clothes, safety pin jewelry, and obscene tee shirts, and became to characterize most punks (Jaffe 4). Though they were thought as a threat to the U.K. government, they also caused many other bands to form. Some bands stayed similar to the original Pistol’s sound, but many, including The Buzzcocks (edgypop), The Clash (anthemic reggae- informed), and Wire and Joy Division (arty experiments), found their own sound (AEC One Stop Group 1). The Pistol’s anarchistic view and shock view value made them instant celebrities and soon they were on talk shows badmouthing other artists, bands, and musicians. They also made the news frequently for fighting with fans and concert violence (Oh 2). Aided by the controversy of its members and the infamous Bill Grundy TV interview, their first single “Anarchy in the U.K.” made the lower parts of the U.K. charts, delivering punk to a bigger audience (Page Wise, Inc. 1). In 1977, The Pistols got rid of bassist Glen Matlock and brought in Sid Vicious (who could not play bass, but had the right image, reputation, and heroin habit to evoke more controversy). With him they had two more good singles, “God Save the Queen” and “Pretty Vacant”. During this, bands like The Clash were starting to get publicity with records (Page Wise, Inc. 1). To remain known, The Pistols (without a singer) had to live on the publicity of a movie based on them called, “Malcolm McLaren’s The Great Rock and Roll Swindle”. Afterwards, they released the single, “Cosh the Driver” with a train robber named Ronnie Briggs on vocals. In October, Nancy Spungen, the girlfriend of Sid Vicious, was found stabbed to death in their hotel room. He was arrested on suspicion (Page Wise, Inc. 2). The band broke up after a short American tour, only a little over a year after their first single came out. They had only one album, “Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols” (1977), but they still inspired many British bands, including Siouxsie and the Banshees and Joy Division, that expanded the definition of punk (Britannica Student Encyclopedia 1). Sid Vicious died in February, 1979 of a heroin overdoes. This signified the end of the original punk momentum (Page Wise, Inc. 2).
In that same year, a lot of old punk bands released classic albums. The Clash included reggae, ska and pop elements on their double album, “London Calling”, and later became the best known of the politically conscious bands. The Undertones re-released “Teenage Kicks” and also released a punk-pop album (Page Wise, Inc. 2).
1980 was “The End” of punk rock. Ian Curtis of Joy Division hung himself right before releasing their second album “Closer”. It was an intimate and despairing album, but still a classic. Many punk bands gave up in light of his death. The clash tried to hang on by releasing “Sandanista”, but it failed and ended up helping to end their careers (Page Wise, Inc. 2). The Undertones left punk behind as an influence. Punk was almost completely dead, but it lived on in the youth culture (Page Wise, Inc. 3).

Today’s punk rock has become more mainstream, but it’s kept many of the old punk traditions. Straightedge punk in the 80’s took over the ideas of most punk bands of today. Punk has branched off into different types, instead of having the typical fast, raw, loud music of the 80’s (Heimberger 1).
Punk music has been through a lot over the years and is still changing. As time goes on, punk will continue to evolve, go through eras, and create legends. The rock world can only look forward to the future of punk music.

Works Cited

AEC One Stop Group, Inc. “Punk Rock.” 1992-2004. Nettrekker. Lincolnview High School Lib., Van Wert, OH. 15 April 2004 http://www.nettrekker.com/

Britannica Student Encyclopedia. “Punk Rock.” 2004. Infohio. Lincolnview High School Lib., Van Wert, OH. 15 April 2004. http://infohio.com/

Heimberger, Chad. “Punk, Today and Yesterday.” 24 Feb. 1999. http://www.greenapple.com. 15 April 2004.

Jaffe, Eric. “The History of Punk Rock.” April 2004. http://www.inmusicwetrust.com. 16 April 2004.

Oh, Charles. “History of punk rock: origins and significance.” 2002. http://mt.essortment.com. 16 April 2004.

Page Wise, Inc. “History of punk music in England: 1976-1981.” 2002. http://id.essortment.com. 15 April 2004.

Posted by band3/gc_rocks at 2:45 PM EDT
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