Who created Punk?
The punk of today is a little different to the punk of old. Whereas the punk of old was driven by a political agenda, punk today has lost this anti-establishment bite, retaining just the ‘punk’ sound - although that's not true of bands like the Living End, the Offspring and Green Day .
A forerunner of the punk movement was the 1920’s German expressionist movement, which pushed out the boundaries of creative expression, opposing Nazism and the cultural uniformity it imposed. When the Nazis came to power the movement was forced underground, re-emerging at various times in new artistic forms.
Punk has always been about being non-conformist. The dictionary meaning of punk is rock music with deliberately offensive lyrics expressing anger and social alienation; in part a reaction against progressive rock. During the 1960’s it was bands like the Who and the Rolling Stones who were offending and ‘standing up for their rights’. During the Vietnam War many anti-war bands protested loudly. But these bands still played acid, folk and progressive rock.
During the mid '70s a genre developed that was opposed to previous forms of music and was anti-establishment. The band that first created the punk sound must be penned to the American band the Ramones. They released a punk album first in 1976. The 'get out my face', out of tune singing and the fast-tempoed songs kicked it off. After this came classic songs such as Beat on the Brat and Blitzkrieg Bop. The following year the Clash and the Sex Pistols released their debut albums. Although popular the Clash took two years to hit it big with London Calling. The Sex Pistols were instantly popular with Never Mind The Bollocks and Here’s The Sex Pistols, which appealed to the angry and rebellious youth of England.
Although only releasing two studio albums, due to the lead singer, Sid Vicious, dying of an heroin overdose, the Sex Pistols are often heralded as the band that popularized Punk as a genre. They defiantly influenced the way people dressed and behaved. Through the 80's, the Clash and the Ramones kept punk in the mainstream, although very 'alternative' to popular music at the time. Other bands that joined in the punk movement were Black Flag and the Dead Kennedys, who like the Clash, were very political .
Out of Punk a different genre called Ska emerged in the 80's. This was a fusion of punk with reggae and jazz. Popular bands of this movement were the Smiths, the Specials and Madness. Without punk, ska would not have existed and the eventual creation of grunge may not have happened, but more about that another time.
The Ramones are underrated as actors in the creation of punk. As other genres took off in '74 (such as Metal and Glam) the Ramones were not yet seen in this light.
A forerunner of the punk movement was the 1920’s German expressionist movement, which pushed out the boundaries of creative expression, opposing Nazism and the cultural uniformity it imposed. When the Nazis came to power the movement was forced underground, re-emerging at various times in new artistic forms.
Punk has always been about being non-conformist. The dictionary meaning of punk is rock music with deliberately offensive lyrics expressing anger and social alienation; in part a reaction against progressive rock. During the 1960’s it was bands like the Who and the Rolling Stones who were offending and ‘standing up for their rights’. During the Vietnam War many anti-war bands protested loudly. But these bands still played acid, folk and progressive rock.
During the mid '70s a genre developed that was opposed to previous forms of music and was anti-establishment. The band that first created the punk sound must be penned to the American band the Ramones. They released a punk album first in 1976. The 'get out my face', out of tune singing and the fast-tempoed songs kicked it off. After this came classic songs such as Beat on the Brat and Blitzkrieg Bop. The following year the Clash and the Sex Pistols released their debut albums. Although popular the Clash took two years to hit it big with London Calling. The Sex Pistols were instantly popular with Never Mind The Bollocks and Here’s The Sex Pistols, which appealed to the angry and rebellious youth of England.
Although only releasing two studio albums, due to the lead singer, Sid Vicious, dying of an heroin overdose, the Sex Pistols are often heralded as the band that popularized Punk as a genre. They defiantly influenced the way people dressed and behaved. Through the 80's, the Clash and the Ramones kept punk in the mainstream, although very 'alternative' to popular music at the time. Other bands that joined in the punk movement were Black Flag and the Dead Kennedys, who like the Clash, were very political .
Out of Punk a different genre called Ska emerged in the 80's. This was a fusion of punk with reggae and jazz. Popular bands of this movement were the Smiths, the Specials and Madness. Without punk, ska would not have existed and the eventual creation of grunge may not have happened, but more about that another time.
The Ramones are underrated as actors in the creation of punk. As other genres took off in '74 (such as Metal and Glam) the Ramones were not yet seen in this light.
posted by Rock Daze at 1:08 AM
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