Heres my 2 and a half cents worth of "Punk 101"
Punk Music (discussed in previous replies) did indeed start of with rock and roll. Perhaps the first rock and roll artist in which have elevated rock and roll to a higher level would be Elvis Presley in which sometimes known as 'the first white man to black black man's music.' Elvis brought ideas of rebellion to the white suburban middle class. His music wasn't new. It had been in the black community for a long time. A white person was just not supposed to do it. He was being a rebel. He inspired many artists to pick up this new/old music style of the time called rock ‘n’ roll.
"Elvis and rock 'n' roll was the start of the US relationship with the UK music scene which would see us trade sounds and ideas... Rock'n'roll brought the birth of the teenager and as such brought the idea of teenage rebellion and a desire to forge your own identity through clothes and music."
(American Hardcore: A Tribal History)
Some members in which Elvis had inspired were The Who, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones (Early 60's) in whom were into the whole idea of rebellion. This was known during that era as the 'British Invasion' due to the fact that they were all british and we increasingly gaining in popularity and commercial viability. The Velvet Underground was born within that same era in New York with front man Lou Reed. He was known as the Godfather of Punk (though not a punk band), as he laid the foundation of the american movement of punk music.
"Jimmy Osterberg was playing drums in a blues band in Detroit. He moved to Chicago to study his music idols' styles. One night he went to a
party and got high on marijuana. That is when he decided to do blues his own way"
(McNeil and McCain 37)
Jimmy Osterberg formed his owned band called 'The Stooges", After Jimmy was refered more and more to his nickname, that he got from his first band, 'The Iguanas', he finally named his band and of course himself; 'Iggy Pop and the Stooges'
"Iggy heard The Velvet Underground at a party. At First he hated them, but after a while, it sunk in. He was hearing people that were making
good music without being good musicians."
(Dorston)
Iggy and the Stooges didn't know the the common music guidelines in composition, however, they know that music could drive people to tremendous extremes. On stage, The Stooges were like wild animals in a small cage. Iggy Pop would cut himself with broken bottles, cover himself in peanut butter, and throw raw hamburger at the audience. Sometimes Iggy would have to go to the Emergency Room to get stitches in his deeper wounds after a concert. The were tremendously popular, and are probably the first punk band, as some might argue. However, due to bad record sales, the jumped from one record label to another, and due to the combination of bad sales, drug abuse and big ego's; they shortly become broke and burnt out.
"The MC5 was another band from Detroit with the same style of music as they were bored and wrote political and speedy songs. They went
along with the popular anti politics of the time, which of course was hippieism. They created the White Panther Party originally as their fan club,
but it became so much more. Their followers were full of ideas of anarchy and drugs. Eventually the band got tired of the hippie commune
lifestyle, so their once faithful followers turned on them and called them traitors."
(McNeil and McCain)
The New York Dolls took the idea of anti-establishment, and lifestyle and added the "Sensationalism/glam/flamboyence" factor into it. They would tell Nazi jokes or throw-up on stage. They had the guts to try to make their audience mad at them, to make a crowd of drunk people hate them, almost forcing their audience to love them for their courage. Many people liked the New York Dolls because they made rock easy. When the New York Dolls became less popular, the hired Malcom McLaren as manager to help salvage their careers. He knew that shock was very important to this type of band's show. So he dressed them up in red, rubber jump suits and had them adopt communist ideals and put that in their shows. Although The New York Dolls were still very popular, the band split up while on tour due to drug addiction, and Malcom went back to London with some new ideas. The States however had a commercial punk success under its belt with Poet Patti Smith, in which had decided to form a band to "perform her poems". This proved to be a success and in whom sold out concerts and became extremely popular.
"Once Pattie didn’t see where she was going and danced off stage. She broke her neck, but she had no permanent injuries. Many of the people in other bands would see her after that and realize that they are mortals. The Pattie Smith Group broke up when Pattie decided to get married and become a housewife."
(McNeil and McCain 367-372)
Of these, gave birth to The Ramones in whom during that time were bored teenagers watching bands play in clubs. Inspired, they formed the band and played short, hard and fast tunes. They toured England where they were even more accepted then in the New York City. The Ramone's legacy led to inspire bands like; The Clash and The Sex Pistols. The Ramones continued playing all the way till 1991 and are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Ramones are more commonly known as the first Punk band as they were featured in the 1st issue of Punk Magazine, along with Lou Reed. Punk Magazine gave Punk music its name.
After managing The New York Dolls, McLaren wanted to start something like that to U.K. He organized and managed The Sex Pistols. The British youth loved them over "clean, wholesome" music. Malcom McLaren was looking for something to exploit. He decided to use punk because of its rugged appeal and strange style. He found members of The Sex Pistols because of their rough exterior. He made them famous. The Sex Pistols were more of a commercial success then any of their predecessors, except Pattie Smith.
Malcom McLaren made punk famous. (The first boy band?) 8O
There so many streams/sub-cultures in Punk Music even from the beginning. Now, we have Punk, Punk Rock, Pop Punk, Power Punk, Anarcho Punk, Crust Punk, Emo Punk, Mall-Core, Hardcore Punk, the list just goes on and on. The way I see it is that the taste for music and music itself evolves. It happened in the start and always will. The punk culture was a borrowed idea from anti-govt thoughts, anti-estab ideals coupled with the shock factor and sensationalism.
I think I have pretty much dissected the history of Punk Music. I left out the entire postpunk period (early 80's) cos I think it's nothing much to talk about. Do correct me if I have misquoted anything within this article.
I myself play in a punk rock band. However, (I feel) there is a difference between the music and the culture. Perhaps I am a Posuer (some might say) but I'm doing it for the fact that I like the entire structure of how punk music is written in. I just like listening to it. Period.
As for the culture? I honestly don't know, I'm born chinese and am chinese. Does this mean I have to play for the lion dance troupe? That's my culture right? So if I was to "borrow" the culture of punk, does that mean I'm punk?
Just something to ponder on...
Cheers!
Dean
