Punk rock: the story on HearLore

Punk rock

In December 1976, a small fanzine called Sideburns published a now-famous illustration that would become the manifesto of a generation. The drawing showed three simple chords with the caption This is a chord, this is another, this is a third. Now form a band. This image captured the essence of punk rock, a movement that rejected the technical virtuosity and bloated egos of mainstream rock in favor of raw, accessible energy. The term punk rock had been used by critics since the early 1970s to describe garage bands of the 1960s, but it was this moment that transformed it into a call to action. Critics like Lester Bangs and Greg Shaw had been using the word to describe the rough, unpolished sound of bands like the Stooges and the MC5, but by 1976, the term had become a weapon. It was a declaration that anyone could play rock and roll, regardless of their skill level. The movement was not about technical mastery; it was about the need to express oneself through music, even if that meant playing with the simplicity of a child. This DIY ethic stood in marked contrast to the ostentatious musical effects and technological demands of many mainstream rock bands. The punk revolution was not just about music; it was about the idea that the barriers to entry had been removed, and that the gatekeepers of the music industry could be bypassed. The Ramones, often described as the first true punk band, condensed rock and roll to its primal level. Their bass player Dee Dee Ramone would shout 1-2-3-4 at the start of every song, as if the group could barely master the rudiments of rhythm. This was not a sign of incompetence, but a deliberate choice to strip away the excess and get to the heart of the music. The punk movement was a reaction against the bloated, self-indulgent rock of the early 1970s, where endless solos went nowhere and the music had become tame. Punk was the antidote to the flower-power silliness of the hippie myth, and it was aggressively modern in its outlook. The movement was not just about the music; it was about the attitude, the style, and the refusal to compromise. The punk revolution was a cultural phenomenon that would change the course of music history, and it all started with three chords.

The Godfather of Punk

Iggy Pop, the frontman of the Stooges, is often referred to as the godfather of punk, a title that reflects his on-stage antics and confrontational attitude. The Stooges, formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1969, released their self-titled debut album, produced by John Cale, formerly of the Velvet Underground. The album was followed by Fun House and Raw Power, both of which helped establish a blueprint for punk rock. Iggy Pop's influence extended beyond the music; his performance style, which included climbing into the audience and self-mutilation, set a new standard for what a rock frontman could be. The Stooges were part of a broader Detroit scene that included the MC5, a band that began as an R&B and garage rock band before releasing the influential album Kick Out the Jams in 1969. The MC5's guitarist Wayne Kramer's style was retrospectively described as showcasing an edge of atonality and barely controlled chaos. The Detroit scene was a crucible for punk, with bands like the Up, Destroy All Monsters, and Death emerging from the same fertile ground. Death, a band formed by three African American brothers in 1974, recorded scorching blasts of feral ur-punk, but due to their name, they could not secure a record deal. They released the single Politicians in My Eyes backed with Keep On Knockin in 1976 and promptly disbanded, only to be rediscovered decades later. The influence of the Stooges also inspired other early Michigan punk bands such as the Dogs and the Punks. The Detroit scene was a testament to the idea that punk was not just a sound, but a way of life. It was a movement that rejected the mainstream and embraced the raw, the ugly, and the real. The Stooges and the MC5 were the pioneers of a sound that would become the foundation of punk rock, and their influence can be heard in the music of bands from the Ramones to the Sex Pistols. The punk movement was not just about the music; it was about the attitude, the style, and the refusal to compromise. The punk revolution was a cultural phenomenon that would change the course of music history, and it all started with three chords.

Common questions

When did the term punk rock become a call to action?

The term punk rock became a call to action in December 1976 when the fanzine Sideburns published a famous illustration of three chords with the caption to form a band. Critics like Lester Bangs and Greg Shaw had used the word since the early 1970s to describe garage bands, but this moment transformed it into a declaration that anyone could play rock and roll.

Who is considered the godfather of punk rock and what bands did he form?

Iggy Pop is often referred to as the godfather of punk rock and he formed the Stooges in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1969. The Stooges released their self-titled debut album produced by John Cale and were followed by Fun House and Raw Power to establish a blueprint for punk rock.

When was the first punk rock record released and by whom?

Patti Smith recorded the single Hey Joe/Piss Factory on the 5th of June 1974 and released it on her own Mer Records label as the first punk rock record. The single featured Television guitarist Tom Verlaine and heralded the scene's DIY ethic.

When did the Sex Pistols play their first gig as the Sex Pistols?

The group played its first gig as the Sex Pistols on the 6th of November 1975 at Saint Martin's School of Art. Johnny Rotten had auditioned for and won the job of lead singer for the band formerly known as the Strand.

When did the hardcore punk movement emerge in Southern California?

The hardcore punk movement was emerging in Southern California by 1979 and developed a rivalry with the older punk rock crowd. Hardcore appealed to a younger suburban audience and was perceived by some as anti-intellectual and overly violent.

When did the punk rock movement split along cultural and musical lines?

The Great Schism of punk occurred right as the 1980s were approaching when melodic new wave artists began to separate themselves from hardcore punk. By 1979 the hardcore punk movement was emerging in Southern California and the movement had split deeply along cultural and musical lines.

The New York Dolls and CBGB

The origins of New York's punk rock scene can be traced back to the late 1960s trash culture and an early 1970s underground rock movement centered on the Mercer Arts Center in Greenwich Village, where the New York Dolls performed. The Dolls' updated form of 1950s rock and roll later became known as glam punk. The influential New York duo Suicide, who formed in 1970, are credited with being one of the earliest artists to describe their music as punk. While the Dictators, formed in 1972, became another early key band in the scene. In early 1974, a new scene began to develop around the CBGB club, also in Lower Manhattan. At its core was Television, described by critic John Walker as the ultimate garage band with pretensions. Their influences ranged from The Velvet Underground to the staccato guitar work of Dr. Feelgood's Wilko Johnson. The band's bassist/singer, Richard Hell, created a look with cropped, ragged hair, ripped T-shirts, and black leather jackets credited as the basis for punk rock visual style. In April 1974, Patti Smith came to CBGB for the first time to see the band perform. A veteran of independent theater and performance poetry, Smith was developing an intellectual, feminist take on rock and roll. On June 5, she recorded the single Hey Joe/Piss Factory, featuring Television guitarist Tom Verlaine; released on her own Mer Records label, it heralded the scene's DIY ethic and has often been cited as the first punk rock record. By August, Smith and Television were gigging together at Max's Kansas City. The Ramones, who drew on sources ranging from the Stooges to the Beatles and the Beach Boys, condensed rock and roll to its primal level. Their bass player Dee Dee Ramone would shout 1-2-3-4 at the start of every song, as if the group could barely master the rudiments of rhythm. The band played its first show at CBGB in August 1974. By the end of the year, the Ramones had performed seventy-four shows, each about seventeen minutes long. The Ramones' debut album was released by Sire Records in April 1976, with the first single Blitzkrieg Bop, opening with the rallying cry Hey! Ho! Let's go! The early New York punk bands represented a broad variety of influences, but they shared an abrasive attitude. Their shared attributes of minimalism and speed, however, had not yet come to define punk rock. The scene was a melting pot of ideas, with bands like the Heartbreakers, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, and the Dead Boys establishing a distinct musical style. The punk movement was not just about the music; it was about the attitude, the style, and the refusal to compromise. The punk revolution was a cultural phenomenon that would change the course of music history, and it all started with three chords.

The British Invasion of Punk

After a brief period unofficially managing the New York Dolls, Briton Malcolm McLaren returned to London in May 1975, inspired by the new scene he had witnessed at CBGB. The King's Road clothing store he co-owned, recently renamed Sex, was building a reputation with its outrageous anti-fashion. Among those who frequented the shop were members of a band called the Strand, which McLaren had also been managing. In August, the group was seeking a new lead singer. Another Sex habitue, Johnny Rotten, auditioned for and won the job. Adopting a new name, the group played its first gig as the Sex Pistols on the 6th of November 1975, at Saint Martin's School of Art, and soon attracted a small but dedicated following. In February 1976, the band received its first significant press coverage; guitarist Steve Jones declared that the Sex Pistols were not so much into music as they were chaos. The quote has been incorrectly ascribed to McLaren and Rotten, but Savage directly cites the New Musical Express issue in which the quote originally appeared. The band often provoked its crowds into near-riots. Rotten announced to one audience, Bet you don't hate us as much as we hate you! McLaren envisioned the Sex Pistols as central players in a new youth movement, hard and tough. As described by critic Jon Savage, the band members embodied an attitude into which McLaren fed a new set of references: late-sixties radical politics, sexual fetish material, pop history, and youth sociology. On June 4 and the 20th of July 1976, the Sex Pistols performed at Manchester's Lesser Free Trade Hall in what became one of the most influential rock shows ever. Among the approximately thirty to forty audience members were the two locals who organised the gig Howard Devoto and Pete Shelley, who had formed the Buzzcocks after seeing the Sex Pistols in February. Others in the small crowd went on to form Joy Division, the Fall, and the Smiths, the gig would also inspire the formation of influential independent record labels, Factory and Creation Records. In July, the Ramones played two London shows that helped spark the nascent UK punk scene. Over the next several months, many new punk rock bands formed, often directly inspired by the Sex Pistols. In London, women were near the center of the scene, among the initial wave of bands were the female-fronted Siouxsie and the Banshees, X-Ray Spex, and the all-female the Slits. There were female bassists Gaye Advert in the Adverts and Shanne Bradley in the Nipple Erectors, while Sex store frontwoman Jordan not only managed Adam and the Ants but also performed screaming vocals on their song Lou. Other groups included Subway Sect, Alternative TV, Wire, the Stranglers, Eater and Generation X. Farther afield, Sham 69 began practicing in the southeastern town of Hersham. In Durham, there was Penetration, with lead singer Pauline Murray. On September 20-21, the 100 Club Punk Festival in London featured the Sex Pistols, Clash, Damned, and Buzzcocks, as well as Paris's female-lead Stinky Toys. Siouxsie and the Banshees and Subway Sect debuted on the festival's first night. On the festival's second night, audience member Sid Vicious was arrested for having thrown a glass at the Damned that shattered and destroyed a girl's eye. Press coverage of the incident reinforced punk's reputation as a social menace. The punk movement was not just about the music; it was about the attitude, the style, and the refusal to compromise. The punk revolution was a cultural phenomenon that would change the course of music history, and it all started with three chords.

The Great Schism of Punk

By 1979, the hardcore punk movement was emerging in Southern California. A rivalry developed between adherents of the new sound and the older punk rock crowd. Hardcore, appealing to a younger, more suburban audience, was perceived by some as anti-intellectual, overly violent, and musically limited. In Los Angeles, the opposing factions were often described as Hollywood punks and beach punks, referring to Hollywood's central position in the original L.A. punk rock scene and to hardcore's popularity in the shoreline communities of South Bay and Orange County. In contrast to North America, more of the bands from the original British punk movement remained active, sustaining extended careers even as their styles evolved and diverged. Meanwhile, the Oi! and anarcho-punk movements were emerging. Musically in the same aggressive vein as American hardcore, they addressed different constituencies with overlapping but distinct anti-establishment messages. As described by Dave Laing, The model for self-proclaimed punk after 1978 derived from the Ramones via the eight-to-the-bar rhythms most characteristic of the Vibrators and Clash. It became essential to sound one particular way to be recognized as a punk band now. In February 1979, former Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious died of a heroin overdose in New York. If the Sex Pistols' breakup the previous year had marked the end of the original UK punk scene and its promise of cultural transformation, for many the death of Vicious signified that it had been doomed from the start. By the turn of the decade, the punk rock movement had split deeply along cultural and musical lines. The Great Schism of punk occurred right as the 1980s were approaching, when melodic new wave artists began to separate themselves from hardcore punk. This left a variety of derivative scenes and forms. On one side were new wave and post-punk artists; some adopted more accessible musical styles and gained broad popularity, while some turned in more experimental, less commercial directions. On the other side, hardcore punk, Oi!, and anarcho-punk bands became closely linked with underground cultures and spun off an array of subgenres. Somewhere in between, pop-punk groups created blends like that of the ideal record, as defined by Mekons cofounder Kevin Lycett: a cross between ABBA and the Sex Pistols. A range of other styles emerged, many of them fusions with long-established genres. The Clash album London Calling, released in December 1979, exemplified the breadth of classic punk's legacy. Combining punk rock with reggae, ska, R&B, and rockabilly, it went on to be acclaimed as one of the best rock records ever. At the same time, as observed by Flipper singer Bruce Loose, the relatively restrictive hardcore scenes diminished the variety of music that could once be heard at many punk gigs. If early punk, like most rock scenes, was ultimately male-oriented, the hardcore and Oi! scenes were significantly more so, marked in part by the slam dancing and moshing with which they became identified. The punk movement was not just about the music; it was about the attitude, the style, and the refusal to compromise. The punk revolution was a cultural phenomenon that would change the course of music history, and it all started with three chords.