Punk Rock Music Guide: History and Bands of Punk Rock

Punk rock is a subgenre of rock ‘n’ roll music that emerged in the mid-1970s as disco, progressive rock, and string-heavy pop dominated the music charts. Punk rockers built a reputation for rejecting the trappings of mainstream pop music. They embraced raw energy, fast tempos, short song forms, shouted lyrics, and a DIY ("do it yourself") work ethic that allowed them to thrive on the fringes of the music industry.

With strong punk music scenes in London, New York City, Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, and Washington, DC, punk rock inspired many younger musicians who would go on to explore other genres. Grunge pioneer and Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain—although not a punk rocker—frequently cited the punk energy of groups like Killing Joke and the Germs in shaping his own musical language.

Punk music traces its roots to 1970s London, though some argue that punk rock started simultaneously in New York City.

• British punk: The British punk scene was led by groups like the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned, and the Buzzcocks that merged the catchy melodies of folk music with the raw edge of garage rock, the speed of hard rock, and (in the case of The Clash) reggae.
• NYC scene: British punk quickly inspired a punk rock music surge in New York City. There, bands like the Ramones, Blondie, Television, Patti Smith, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, and the New York Dolls packed crowds into now-legendary punk venues like CBGB on the Bowery in Manhattan.
• Punk across the US: US punk rock scenes emerged in Los Angeles (home of X, the Germs, and Black Flag), the San Francisco Bay area (home of the Dead Kennedys and Flipper), Detroit (home of the MC5 and Iggy & The Stooges), and Washington, DC, (home of Bad Brains and Minor Threat).
• Punk rock labels: Record labels specializing in punk rock sprouted up in various locations, including Long Beach's SST Records, Washington's Dischord Records, San Francisco's Alternative Tentacles Records, and Long Island's Homestead Records. However, some bands, like the Ramones and the Sex Pistols, managed to exist on mainstream record labels, in the spirit of past anti-establishment bands like The Velvet Underground.

Today, punk is widely accepted with many subgenres and local music scenes contributing to a diverse fabric of sound. Punk groups such as Green Day achieved mainstream success in the 1990s that continued into the new millennium, while independent acts proliferate among a network of similarly indie record labels.

Punk rock fuses many popular genres but generally tends to be faster and more aggressive than pop music. Punk bands may be smaller in size than traditional rock groups, though fewer members rarely translates to a softer sound.

Many punk rockers came from working-class backgrounds and listened to traditional mainstream radio growing up. This exposed them to styles like folk rock, British Invasion rock (from The Beatles and The Rolling Stones to The Kinks), country music, rockabilly, and '60s psychedelia. All of these genres show their faces in punk records by groups like the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, and the Dead Kennedys.

In London, The Clash bandleader Joe Strummer drew inspiration from reggae music, even covering reggae songs, which can be heard in the band's recordings. DC's Bad Brains also drew inspiration from reggae along with other Jamaican genres such as ska.

Although “punk” can mean many things, and the genre in its earliest form is inherently nonconformist, classic punk rock exhibits some recognizable characteristics. Short song forms, fast tempos, anti-establishment lyrics, and simple melodies and harmonies are all common punk sounds.

In rare cases, punk bands embraced more ambitious classic rock song structures and instrumental riffs. New York group Television and English band Wire both mined classic rock music in their major works. Bands such as the New York Dolls were heavily influenced by garage rock and brought an avant-garde, punk-meets-glam sensibility to their performances.

Punk bands were also known for their DIY ethos and minimal concern for instrumental virtuosity. Many also prided themselves on a hard-edged visual aesthetic, which included mohawks, leather pants and jackets, ripped T-shirts, and (in some cases) makeup.

Punk rock has spawned many subgenres, some of which remain popular to this day:

• Hardcore punk: Hardcore punk burst out of New York and Los Angeles in the 1980s and 1990s, headlined by groups like Black Flag, the Rollins Band, Biohazard, Misfits, the Bags, and Gorilla Biscuits. In a splinter movement, Seattle’s The Accüsed and New York’s Cro-Mags brought a thrash metal aesthetic to hardcore punk, in a style sometimes called crust punk.
• Post-punk: Post-punk music embraces the hard edge of punk rock but with more sophisticated harmonies and song structures. Notable post-punk bands include Fugazi (led by ex-Minor Threat punk rocker Ian MacKaye), Drive Like Jehu, Gang of Four, Jawbox, and Shudder to Think.
• Noise rock: Some post-punk bands explored sonic experimentation alongside pop songwriting. Groups like Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo, and the Melvins toggle back and forth between pop hooks and blasts of overdriven guitar noise. Even Velvet Underground rock star Lou Reed dabbled in noise rock at points in his career.
• Glam punk: Inspired by the visual aesthetics of the New York Dolls (and non-punk rocker David Bowie), glam punks were the precursors to glam metal. The early efforts by groups like Mötley Crüe and the Manic Street Preachers embrace elements of glam punk.
• New wave: New wave bands like Joy Division, New Order, Blondie, and Talking Heads operated under a DIY ethos, but their music embraced funk and pop traditions.
• Pop punk: Pop punk has been a highly lucrative genre, as groups like Green Day, The Offspring, Blink-182, The Strokes, and Rancid have sold many millions of albums combined. The earliest pop punk bands include the Ramones, Buzzcocks, The Damned, and Bad Religion.

Numerous punk rock bands have populated the radio airwaves, from Generation X onward. Some of the most notable punk bands from Great Britain and the United States include:

1. 1. Sex Pistols: Managed by Malcolm McLaren and led by famously crass lead singer Johnny Rotten, British punk rockers the Sex Pistols scandalized mainstream audiences with songs like "Anarchy in the UK" and "God Save the Queen."
2. 2. Ramones: The first major American punk band, The Ramones brought catchy melodies to rowdy teenage audiences. Their national presence was enhanced by a featured role in Roger Corman's 1979 film Rock ‘n’ Roll High School.
3. 3. Buzzcocks: Hailing from Manchester, England, Buzzcocks were the UK's answer to the Ramones's poppy take on punk music.
4. 4. Minor Threat: Although DC's Minor Threat did not achieve the mainstream notice of the Sex Pistols or the Ramones, they may have influenced more musicians, from art rockers like Shudder To Think to arena rock acts like Pearl Jam.
5. 5. Patti Smith: A rare woman in the male-dominated punk scene of New York City, Patti Smith made her name with legendary performances at CBGB and debut album Horses.
6. 6. Black Flag: Led by SST Records founder Greg Ginn and Washington, DC, transplant Henry Rollins, Black Flag was a touchstone for smoldering, riff-heavy West Coast punk and post-punk.
7. 7. Iggy and the Stooges: Hailing from Ann Arbor, Michigan (just west of Detroit), Iggy & The Stooges showed that punk rock was not just a coastal phenomenon. Their brash, desperate take on punk grew ever more experimental.

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