A (not so) brief history of punk
Watch out! Punk is coming!
Legs McNeil, John Holmstrom, Ged Dunn: Punk Magazine
Punk is everywhere. Its ethos of DIY, political consciousness, and community is as present today as when the movement first exploded. I started noticing a spark come back in 2020, when it seemed like there was truly no shortage of infuriating or agonising headlines. What would you like to be angry about, to protest? Take your pick.
I noticed its return first in the outrage, then in the fashion and hairstyles (yes, the return of the now inescapable mullet. Everyone wished they were my mum). But it truly started 65 years ago, its first breaths detectable in 1958 when Jerry Lott (AKA The Phantom) released Love Me. In the same year, Link Wray released the roaring, distorted, feedback-ridden, banned-from-the-radio, instrumental Rumble A pioneer in the proto-punk movement. Yet the true flag in the ground moment between rock & roll and proto-punk was The Kingsmen’s Louie Louie. Its slurred lyrics and distorted chords paved the way for the half-singing that characterises punk. The song also established punk’s tendency to protest, or at the very least question, the structure of the world. If that wasn’t enough, the song was subject to FBI investigation about the potentially profane lyrics (ending with no prosecution).
To take it back another step, proto-punk was born from garage rock’s habit of playing rhythm and blues fast and loose. Its influence is audible in The Trashmen’s Surfin' Bird’s fast and insane singing, in The Sonics’ manic and speedy drums, in The Kinks’ distorted and chord-heavy instrumentation in 1964, in The Who’s powerful bass and stuttering vocals in 1965’s My Generation, in The Monks’ I Hate You “out-sex(ing) the Sex Pistols 10 years before any other punk band emerged”, according to Kelley Stolz. In 1968, The Velvet Underground released White Light/White Heat, bumping elbows with experimentation and noise rock. Its 3-chord structures, distortion, and Lou Reed’s half-sung words paved the way for many punks to follow.
“People were getting sick of 17-minute psychedelic songs. They wanted fast-paced, powerful music. So they made it.”
But punk as we know it truly started in 1969 in Detroit. A melting pot of creativity and aggression, Detroit was home to icons such as Iggy Pop & The Stooges and MC5, where people were getting sick of 17-minute psychedelic songs. They wanted fast-paced, powerful music. So they made it. Iggy Pop traded his debate team for rolling around on broken glass and smearing peanut butter and glitter on himself onstage.
MC5’s Kick Out The Jams took everything that came before it and intensified it. It switched the 17-minute jam that was Sister Ray for a 2-minute commanding anthem with one of the most iconic pieces of stage banter ever (“Kick out the jams, motherfuckers!). This speed and attitude went on to influence The Stooges, releasing I Wanna Be Your Dog in the same year. This was the spark that ignited the flame.
The first band to truly be described as “punk” in the press was ? And The Mysterians in 1970. Yet there’s another, often forgotten band in the 70s that had a big role in shaping punk: The Modern Lovers. They’re not usually mentioned in the same breath as the rest of the genre, they deserve the recognition. Massive Velvet Underground fans, their 2-chord and stream-of-consciousness, half-sung lyrics influenced punk’s roots in their 1974 self-titled album. As described by SPIN Magazine, “Jonathan (Richman) didn’t have a standard voice. He just wanted to show the world that anyone could do it. All you had to have was feeling”.
Another often forgotten but important band is Death. The three brothers fused funk elements with The Who’s aggression. It introduced politics into punk and influenced bands such as Bad Brains, Fugazi, and Rage Against The Machine. Politicians In My Eyes was released before The Ramones’ debut, and yet all the elements of punk are already audible.
And then, Patti Smith released Horses. The album released in 1975 solidified punk not only as a music genre but as a way of being. It was “the first legit undeniable punk album". It fused everything that came before it in 43 minutes and 8 seconds: the politics of Death, the simple structures of garage rock, and the poetic lyrics of The Velvet Underground.
Then came 1976. Punk’s year zero. The year The Ramones released Blitzkrieg Bop, The Sex Pistols released Anarchy In The UK, and The Damned released New Rose. It was all a result of everything that came before it: Patti Smith, Death, MC5, The Stooges, Link Wray, The Phantom. It exploded as a global movement, a voice for those who weren’t heard until this point. A rejection of the flower-child approach of the 60s with a more demanding way to make their point.
The influence still exists. Some of the most important bands today were influenced by the afterglow of the genre. Not only in direct sonic influences such as Australian punks The Chats or Mini Skirt, also in attitude. A questioning and rejection of the powers that be. It lives in our ability to do things for ourselves, by ourselves.
“This wonderful vital force that was articulated by the music was really about (…) advocating kids to not wait to be told what to do, but make life up for themselves, it was about trying to get people to use their imaginations again, it was about not being perfect, it was about saying (…) that real creativity came out of making a mess.”
And yet, the very people who associated the word “punk” with what it is now, actively reject it. In 1975, John Holmstrom, Ged Dunn and Legs McNeil founded Punk Magazine. They started with the goal to create a way to talk about the things they would see., the people they would meet, and the music they listened to. Prior to their re-introduction of the word, it was used as a derogatory term referring to a person, and they literally changed the definition. But after its explosion and its indistinguishability from the Sex Pistols, it morphed into something else. It became another business, just as commodified as any other genre. The Sex Pistols were not punk the way it was meant to be, they were industry-approved rage.
Legs McNeil himself has said “Overnight, punk had become as stupid as everything else. This wonderful vital force that was articulated by the music was really about corrupting every form – it was about advocating kids to not wait to be told what to do, but make life up for themselves, it was about trying to get people to use their imaginations again, it was about not being perfect, it was about saying it was okay to be amateurish and funny, that real creativity came out of making a mess, it was about working with what you got in front of you and turning everything embarrassing, awful, and stupid in your life to your advantage. But after the Sex Pistols tour, I had no interest in doing Punk magazine. It just felt like this phony media thing. Punk wasn't ours anymore. It had become everything we hated. It seemed like it had become everything we had started the magazine to rage against.”
So where does punk lie today? Is it back to its roots or is it another product? It’s hard to tell, with the trend cycle s0 short, every fad so far-reaching. How many people who dress in punk-influenced fashion do it because they associate with the culture, and how many do it just because they think it looks cool? How many people wearing a Vivienne Westwood necklace know what her brand initially stood for? And potentially a very controversial question in this context: how much does this matter? I don’t know, I go back and forth in my own brain trying to find an answer.
What I do know is that punk today lives in many forms, not limiting itself to how someone chooses to outwardly present themselves. DIY, political consciousness, and community feels stronger than it has in a very long time. It seems like everyone in my generation has a cause, working toward something. We put our rage into action, going to the streets to protest, boycotting brands, starting conversations, and questioning why things are the way they are.
The way McNeil described punk, as something that tells people to construct your own life, to play with the cards you are dealt and make the best of it, it feels that this is still alive. We are no longer only complaining about the powers that be, but we are also taking action to change the world from the mess it’s becoming. We don’t accept defeat anymore, but we use every method that we can to construct our own life.
I wonder if we’re doing it right.
For more details about punk, listen to my episode of the My Mum Had a Mullet radio show about the topic here:
