The world gave birth to punk circa late 1960s early 70s. “Why?” you ask. Well, just because. Okay, the real reason was that it was a backlash to the commercialization and mass production of music that promoted trends over music for the sole purpose of profit with no attention to substance or individual creativity. In layman’s terms: the music sucked so some people got tired of listening to it.
Where did it start? That question is a hard one to answer. Both the United States (which we will call America) and Great Britain (though most of influential bands came out of England) like to claim they started the punk revolution. For time’s sake, we will say that punk started in both places at the same time, one not knowing of the other because punk was, to begin with, an underground experience.Here we go…
The punk genre began in England about 1976-81 (but as we discussed previously, it also began in America) with the simplest form where it began and ended. Emphasizing simplest. This does not mean punk is dead but instead, has become more complicated in its structure and meaning. The exact year punk came into existence is hard to pinpoint because ’76 is the year it was introduced into the mainstream; ironic, don’t you think? The most popular music at the time, what we call disco and the other just as equally embarrassing and confusing music, wasn’t connecting with the youth.
At this time in New York (America), young unknown artists like Patti Smith, the Velvet Underground, and the New York Dolls (first the Dolls of New York) that began a punkish style what was labeled more as “alternative-bohemian” of entertainment with the “do-it-yourself”-ism. They presented angry messages towards consumerism at venues like New York’s CBGB’s that started the punk movement to the west of the Atlantic. Bands like the Ramones and the Talking Heads emerged from this movement. They undoubtedly became influences for those who shared the similar distaste for was occurring in the music industry. “Frustration and anger from being treated as sheep” and the “politics of boredom” fueled punk rock.
The first wave of bands to attack the mainstream in the ‘70s was The Sex Pistols, the Clash and the Damned, to name a few. Believe me, there were lots more but once again for time’s sake, we’ll narrow it down to a few that were a bit influential, or at least memorable. Such bands gained their following by playing to small, yet hostile, crowds. These crowds become more and more distinguishable by their ripped clothing, leather accessories, and dyed hair (the image we now readily associate with punk). The 100 Club in Britain was a popular place to play and the site of a gig that initiated punk as a genre.
In February of ’75 the New York Dolls tried to revive their career by hiring Malcolm McLaren as their manager. McLaren used the valuable shock –value tool and reintroduced the band as born again communists and covered themselves in communists flags and said things like “better red than dead” (this broke the punk rule of being an individual). Needless to say (but I’ll say it), the band failed. Poof! McLaren relocated to England and teamed up with Bernie Rhodes to work with The Sex Pistols.
The Sex Pistols ( who you will get to know more intimately later) formed in ’75 and by ’76 had already reeked havoc with their song “Anarchy in the UK”; the song’s success thought to be due to the controversy of the band’s members and an interview with Bill Grundy (I’m supposing that went over real well). Later in November of that year, The Damned released their album Damned Damned Damned to a punk-familiar audience. Not two years from forming, The Sex Pistols already traded their bass player Glen Matlock for someone else. That someone else was the big fan Sid Vicious, but had no experience on the bass. His image, reputation, and heroin habit more than made up for his musical inability and added to the band’s controversy. (I have a feeling they broke a precious punk rule here.) They signed to A&M records first but dropped a week later to sign with the famous Virgin Records and released the singles “God Save the Queen” and “Pretty Vacant.” Under the label they released the album Never Mind the Bollocks later that year.
As punk picked up momentum, other bands tried their hand at records but many flopped. In ’78 John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, left The Sex Pistols onstage with his famous question “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?” following a tour of America. In Britain, talentless and characterless punk bands released so-so singles and albums. Soon pop punk began with bands like the Undertones. Sid Vicious, punk icon, died from a heroin overdose and with him went punk as well. Old school punk bands adapted music to include reggae, ska and pop, like the Clash on their London Calling album. A new punk scene rose from the ashes with British bands such as Joy Division. Their angry and paranoid album Unknown Pleasures experimented with the modern sound of silences and white noise and driving rock rhythms. The Fall released two albums in ’79; the first of which was a very punk Live at the Witch Trials and the second, Dragnet, signaled their moving away from punk.
