The 1970s – Punk
Punk is a term given to a genre of music that developed in the 1970s. It began in the USA, UK and Australia. Some of the more popular bands included: The Sex Pistols, The Clash, and The Ramones.
Punk often tends to sound very bare. A typical Punk Rock band would consist of one or two electric guitars, an electric bass, a drum kit and vocals. The sound tends to be very raw and minimal. Barre chords or power chords were often used over a repetitive bass line. Most tracks tended to be a typical ABAB form; however the songs usually were shorter than most other songs in popular music, usually around the two minute mark. The songs were mostly in 4/4. I think the fact that the style of music was raw and straightforward helped to further convey their image as being a Punk. It also to a certain extent made room for the lyrics to be the main features of the song. Punk was often about getting a message out so this worked particularly well.
Lyrically, Punk was often about causing controversy and stirring a fuss. A good example of this is the song ‘Anarchy in the UK ‘by the Sex Pistols on which Lead vocalist Johnny Rotten slurs ‘I am an Anti-Christ’ on the first line. Many Punk songs were also often about current political and social issues. A great example this is the song ‘My Brain is hanging upside down’ by The Ramones. Apparently the song is about former US President Ronald Reagan’s trip to Germany where he attended a memorial at a cemetery which held quite a lot of Nazi’s. The song was first titled ‘Bonzo goes to Bitburg’; however it was soon changed by Johnny Ramone due to his Right Wing Pro Reagan’s beliefs.
The Sex Pistols are probably the most significant punk rock band. They formed in London in 1975. Although their actually career lasted only 2 and half years, they are still regarded as one of the most influential bands ever. The Sex Pistols consisted of Johnny Rotten AKA John Lydon, Steve Jones, Paul Cook and Glen Matlock. Matlock was later replaced by Sid Vicious in ’77.
Lydon describes how the band came together: ‘Early Seventies Britain was a very depressing place. It was completely run-down, there was trash on the streets, total unemployment—just about everybody was on strike. Everybody was brought up with an education system that told you point blank that if you came from the wrong side of the tracks...then you had no hope in hell and no career prospects at all. Out of that came pretentious moi and the Sex Pistols and then a whole bunch of copycat wankers after us’ this statement really defines typical Britain at the time.
Some of the most important albums include
• The Ramones – The Ramones 1976
• The Clash – The Clash 1977
• The Sex Pistols – Never Mind the Bollocks: Here’s the Sex Pistols 1977
• Crass – The feeding of 5000 1978
Punk was influenced by a number of previous genres glam rock, garage rock and surf rock to name a few. Bands like the New York Dolls, The Velvet Underground and Roxy music are examples of artist which influenced the genre as a whole.
Punk was not only about the music though. Fashion was a big part of the Punk Culture. Many punks use clothing and fashion as a way of making a statement. The typical punk look generally consisted of unkept, short hair styles, dirty simple clothes. Punk was all about relating to the working class Britain and the fact that bands were dressing like this helped fans relate to what they were bringing forward.
The list goes on and on as far as post influences from Punk are concerned. During 1976 and 1978 post punk bands like Joy Division, The Fall and Magazine started to come about. Then in the late 70s in the USA hardcore bands began to emerge, bands such as Black Flag, The Dead Kennedys and Bad Brains. More recently we have pop punk bands with the likes of the Offspring, Blink 182 and Greenday at the for front of the subgenre. There is now, Emo, Ska-Punk, queercore and all the above categories that have been directly influenced by Punk.
It seems like without punk, without bands like the Sex Pistols, The Ramones and The Clash, so, so many of today’s artists we know and love would simply not exist, or at least not in the way they do today.
Webography
http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/XD45LVDUO79F
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punk_rock
www.songmeanings.net
