Punk

In the mid-1970s, at a time when pop music (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3) was dominated by soft-rock singer-songwriters and disco (see entry under 1970s—Music in volume 4), punk rock burst forth with an angry snarl that reawakened the original rebellious spirit of rock and roll. Like rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) in the mid-1950s, punk in the mid-1970s was more than a musical style. It was a new musical style, a new fashion style, a new attitude of political and cultural awareness and criticism, and a new lifestyle. Like early rock, punk challenged both American and British society. Love it or hate it, punk was not easy to ignore. It was an in-your-face movement that demanded to be heard. Punk influenced music and fashion far beyond its core supporters.

The first punk band was the Ramones, formed in 1974 in New York City. The Ramones reduced rock to its original elements of guitar, bass, drums, and singer. They played fast and furious in short songs such as I Wanna Be Sedated and Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment. These songs often commented, sometimes in a humorous way, on the darker side of life. Their energy, creativity, and pure power as a group inspired a whole host of punk bands in the United States and in Great Britain. Both New York and Los Angeles were key centers of punk music and style, producing influential punk bands such as Black Flag, X, and The Minutemen.

In Britain, the Sex Pistols (see entry under 1970s—Music in volume 4) became the most notorious of punk bands with their antiauthoritarian lyrics, their playing style that bordered on chaotic, and their boisterous live shows. Their personal behavior, including the death of bassist Sid Vicious (1957–1979) from a drug overdose in 1979, added to their notoriety. Although the Sex Pistols folded in 1979, the British punk scene lived on in such bands as the Clash, known for their Marxist politics and for pushing punk in new, more musical directions in such albums as London Calling (1979) and Sandinista (1980).

The heyday of the punk movement was largely over by the early 1980s. Many of the original punk bands, including the Ramones, carried on the tradition for many years thereafter. Punk music also influenced other musical trends, most notably new wave music in the late 1970s and early 1980s and in later bands such as Sonic Youth and Green Day. Punk also had an influence on fashion trends. Although that impact has largely passed, in most large cities one can usually find punk bands and punk fans sporting the original punk leather jackets, boots, and mohawk hairstyles. (A mohawk is a narrow strip of hair, usually styled to stick straight up, running from the front to the back of the head. It is created by shaving the hair on the sides of the head.) More important than these fashion trends, punk served to energize rock music at a time when many believed it badly needed it.

—Timothy Berg

For More Information

Boot, Adrian, and Chris Salewicz. Punk: The Illustrated History of a Music Revolution. New York: Penguin Studio, 1997.

Haimes, Ted, writer, producer, and director. The History of Rock 'n' Roll: Punk (video). Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 1995.

Laing, Dave. One-Chord Wonders: Power and Meaning in Punk Rock. Philadelphia: Open University Press, 1985.

McNeil, Legs, and Gillian McCain. Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk. New York: Grove Press, 1996.

Miller, Jim, ed. The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll. New York: Rolling Stone Press, 1980.

Punkmusic.com.http://www.punkmusic.com/ (accessed March 26, 2002).