viewimages.com
In this blog for the '70s decade, I am going to look at Punk music, a style of rock that emerged in The United States and the United Kingdom during the early 1970s. It is a genre that is still very much alive today, with bands from the time such as the Sex Pistols and Ramones still popular with rock and Punk fans, even though they split up years ago. The genre was very much about rebellion, devil-may-care attitude, and giving a two-finger salute to society and the establishment.
Punk influences came from a number of places, some of which are quite surprising. The Punk attitude can be traced back the '50s Rock 'n' Roll, a genre which caused quite a stir in the late 1950s by combining influences from both black and white styles of music, something which was unheard of beforehand. The importance of this is that the Rock 'n' Rollers did what they liked when they liked, and did not care what anyone said of thought of them, a burning torch of rock music that was picked up by Punk musicians. Elvis Presley and his Rock 'n' Roll colleagues fall into a genre known now as 'Proto-Punk'. This genre is made up of places and artists where original Punk artists found influence. Another important Proto-Punk influence was David Bowie in the shape of Ziggy Stardust, who showed that it was okay to be a freak. Other artists include the New York Dolls, whose swagger and attitude very much paved the way for the arrogant, anarchistic punks. Iggy Pop and The Kinks were other important influences.
The sound of Punk was a raw, guitar-driven sound, stripped down to the very basics. Most Punk bands featured one or two guitars, bass, drums and a vocalist, usually (but not always) male. Instrumental ability was not an important factor in Punk, as long as you had the attitude and knew how to make enough noise. Many songs were distorted three-chord anthems, very much a reaction to the Progressive Rock which was around at the same time, which was all about long, self-indulgent songs. The Punk live show was raw and energetic, just like the music that was being played. This energetic and simplistic attitude to making music was a very obvious influence on Grunge music, which emerged over the next decade or so. See my first blog for more information on the genre. Punk singers often shouted or chanted lyrics, especially choruses (the chorus to Ramones 'Blitzkreig Bop' comes to mind - the infamous "Hey ho, lets go!" chant).
The image of punk was centered around the clothing sold by Malcolm McClaren and Vivienne Westwood in their boutique 'Let It Rock', on Kings Road in London. The shop originally sold Teddy Boy outfits, but McClaren grew tired of the problems caused by the Teddy Boys who were the store's main customers. In 1974 he traveled to New York, when he first saw the New York Dolls in action. He returned to the UK in May 1975, with new fresh new fashion ideas inspired by what he had seen in New York, especially the New York Dolls and Neon Boys. These fashions included leather, spikes and torn clothing. Let It Rock was re-named SEX, and began to sell clothing designed by Vivienne Westwood inspired by the look that Malcolm McClaren had seen in the US. These clothes were sold alongside fetish and bondage clothing, and shaped the stereotypical punk image that everyone can recognise.
Punk spawned many different sub-genres, some of which are still very prominent today, including Hardcore, Pop-Punk, Folk Punk, Horror Punk, and Oi!.
Pop-Punk is almost certainly the most commercially successful brand of punk music, although its MTV and radio-friendly approach to music flies in the face of the original punk values. Bands that would fall into this genre include Blink 182, who sold millions of records during their 13-year career, biggest selling being 1999's Enema Of The State which went 6 times platinum, and Green Day, whose major label debut album 'Dookie' sold over 10 millions units inside the US. Other Pop-Punk bands worthy of mention include Bowling For Soup, The Offspring, Anti-Flag and NOFX. The sound of the genre is more melodic that traditional Punk, and not all of their songs are about particularly serious issues, with bands such as Blink 128 (in their earlier material mainly) and Bowling For Soup opting for often humorous lyrics.
Hardcore Punk is a faster, heavier more aggressive version of punk, featuring artists such as Black Flag and Bad Brains. The lyrics take a political stance, covering issues such as war, and politics itself. Hardcore Punk paved the way for Metalcore, a genre combining elements of Hardcore Punk with the heavier, more technical sounds of metal. Bands which fall into this genre include Killswitch Engage (one of my personal favorite bands), Hatebreed, As I Lay Dying and Diecast.
Folk Punk is a sub-genre that fuses elements from both folk and punk rock, bringing into play instruments which would not normally be used in punk, such as banjo, bagpipes and mandolin. The Pogues are probably the most famous British Folk-Punk band, their most famous track being the 1987 single 'Fairytale Of New York', which reached #1 in Irish charts and #2 in British charts, featuring guest vocals from singer Kirsty MacColl. The song is, in my opinion, possibly the only good Christmas song ever! Some modern bands worth mentioning include Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphys.
The reason I chose Punk Rock to look at in this blog was that I think that Punk had a huge influence on rock music as a whole, not so much the sound but the attitude. These days most rock musicians, be they punk, alternative, grunge, metal or any other genre related to rock have that attitude of doing what they want, making the sound they want, how they want, and not caring what anyone may think.
Sources:
www.wikipedia.org
www.punk77.co.uk
www.punkplanet.com
