A Brief History of Punk

The Punk Movement first reared its head in the mid-70s in defiance of societal norms and conformity. It is, in essence, a call for authenticity and individuality in a society that demands everyone to fit neatly into the boxes povided for them. Punk is generally seen as a counter-culture, in fact the word "punk" itself is a reclamation of an initially derogatory term, as its core ethos encompasses anarchy, direct action, and generally sticking it to the man. In essence, punk is whatever makes you happy that pisses off someone who is used to having total control.

The punk subculture is inextricable from its music. The term "punk rock" refers to how many of the musicians that emerged from the scene were self-taught and unpolished, with their music being mainly based around vocals and guitar. The earliest known use of the term in rock journalism was in the 1971 issue of Rolling Stone, used by Greg Shaw to describe The Guess Who. In the very early days, before the movemnt properly took off, th term was mostly used in rock journalism when referring to early garage rock bands of the mid-1960s and even some very early psychedelic rock groups.

Important bands for the emergence of punk include New York Dolls, The Ramones, Blondie, Patti Smith and Talking Heads in New York, emerging from the foundations laid by other bands such as The Velvet Underground. In London, seminal bands include Sex Pistols, who inspired the likes of The Clash, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Buzzcocks. The 1977 book The Boy Looked at Johnny by Burchill and Parsons declared the punk movement dead, and every now and then people talk about rock and roll being over already, but it will never truly die. With grunge in the 90's, particularly thanks to Nirvana, pop punk acts like Green Day and Blink-182 were able to establish themselves in the pop culture consciousness, even inviting a resurgence with American Idiot in 2004 thanks to disillusionment with the Bush administration in a post-9/11 world. Even now new punk bands continue to emerge - The Chats, Meet Me @ The Altar, The Home Team, Honey Revenge.

Any time you find disillusionment and disatisfaction with the state of the world, punk is there to help people feel a sense of belonging and cameraderie in this increasingly isolating and confusing world. Nobody likes feeling alienated, or like they don't matter, and punk gives people a way to scream. And that's why I love it.