A History of Punk

Right now a bored teenager is listening to a punk rock album not really caring that the founding fathers (and mothers) of punk are probably
polishing their Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame awards then placing them carefully on the shelf of the bungalow in a retirement village. Youth, music,
and rebellion have always been what rock 'n' roll was based on. Taking those basics and making the music ten times faster, and the youth ten
times more rebellious, and one gets punk. This rebellious music has expanded since the 1950's into many branches of modern day music.

Punk is rock ‘n’ roll in a faster form. Many said it was concentrated rock. It took all the unnecessary additives out, such as ten minute long
guitar solos. Many said it was the return of the three minute pop song. It was the music and lifestyle of the outcast.

There is an on-going debate on who started punk, what makes one punk, what is punk, why did punk come, etc. One can try to give an
account of what happened to start it all to the best of one's ability though.

Rock ‘n’ roll started with Elvis Presley, the King, the hip swiveling monster himself. Elvis brought ideas of rebellion to the white suburban
middle class (anonymous 1). 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.

Some of the groups of musicians Presley inspired to pick up guitars and learn to play the blues were The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and
The Who. These groups called the British Invasion, because they all came from England at about the same time in the early sixties, loved the
idea of rebellion. They had long hair, played loud music, and were foreign. American parents hated this.

The bands of the British Invasion were getting more and more popular. Record companies were jumping at anything that was British rock or
sounded like British rock. Music was getting very commercial. There was no room for real music from the heart and soul. Popular bands and
record executives alike had no idea what was starting to happen under their noses in New York.

The Velvet Underground was described as a squalling orgy of noise (Dorston). They were seen a uncomfortable performers. They didn't
really know how to play their instruments. Their name suited them, sort of. Their sound wasn't exactly "velvet," but they were definitely
underground. Only the people in the New York club scene knew who they were when they started. But, word slowly got out about them.
Though they always stayed in the underground scene. Lou Reed, the leader of the Velvet Underground was seen as a genius, joke, or jerk
by his followers, but mostly, he was seen as all three. Lou is called today the Godfather of Punk and not the father because The Velvet
Underground wasn't exactly punk. They laid the foundation for punk.

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). He went back to Detroit and
formed a band with his friends who could hardly play their instruments (Dorston). They formed a group called The Stooges. Later, after Jimmy
was being referred to as his nick-name more and more, that he got from his first band the Iguanas, they were called 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). The Stooges knew little about the common musical guidelines to interfere with what they
would come up with. "…that music could drive people nuts-that music could drive people to such dangerous extremes. That's when I realized,
this is definitely what I wanna do."- Ron Asheton former bass player for Iggy Pop and The Stooges

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 Stooges became tremendously popular and are considered legends today. Many people educated in punk history credit The Stooges as
the first band of punk. But, becoming incredibly popular doesn’t always translate into record sales and The Stooges couldn’t sell as many
albums as was desired. They bounced from record company to record company until eventually they broke up due to ego clashes and drug
abuse.

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 MC5 is sometimes credited as being the first punk band, but many will argue that The Stooges are. They both arrived on the Detroit music
scene at about the same time so that it is hard to tell who came first. It's kind of like the chicken and the egg question.

The New York Dolls were a bunch of guys who just wanted to play music in front of people. They were very flamboyant. The often wore
women's clothing and showy make-up. Most people thought they were homosexual. They did this because they rejected the rock star image
(McNeil and McCain 115-119). They thought Rock ‘n’ Roll was about flamboyance and show. Their stage show was very edgy. The loved to
test their audience. 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. It was no longer meant for an elite few. They brought new life into the then bland rock world. They aren't
recognized commonly as a punk band because of their appearances. They were called "glitter rock."

When the New York Dolls were starting to deteriorate, they hired Malcom McLaren, a fashion entrepreneur from London, as their manager to
try to save 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.

A poet named Pattie Smith moved from New Jersey to New York for a change of scene. She conquered the poetry scene. She put out a
book of poems. She wasn't satisfied. She had poems that sounded good in performance, but they lost their context when it was put on paper.
She suggested to some of her friends that they should start a band. They started the Patti Smith group. Their songs were musical poetry. Their
shows were a punk rock ballet. It was something different, even for punk rock.

The Pattie Smith Group was a huge commercial success compared to the other bands of their genre. They would open for sold-out concerts
and immensely popular performers. 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)

The Ramones were a bunch of bored teenagers who hung out and watched bands at clubs. They played together only a short time before
they played in public. They conquered the New York City music scene easily with their short fast, and loud songs. The toured England, where
they were ten times more famous than in New York City. The crowds were rougher, dirtier and uglier and practically, if not actually,
worshipped The Ramones. The Ramones inspired many bands, such as The Clash and the Sex Pistols(Dorston).

The Ramones lasted longer than most band of their time, most only lasted a few years. They stayed together until 1991 and are now in The
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Ramones are most commonly recognized as the first punk band. Mainly, because they were the in the first
issue of Punk magazine, along with Lou Reed. Punk was the first "fanzine," a magazine put together by fans for fans. Punk magazine gave
punk music its name.

The Sex Pistols were Malcom McLaren's brainchild. After managing The New York Dolls, McLaren wanted to start something like that to The
United Kingdom (anonymous 1). He organized and managed The Sex Pistols. The British youth loved them over "clean, wholesome" music
like a two-year-old would rather eat stuff off of the ground instead of food off of a plate. 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. Malcom McLaren nearly destroyed punk.

Fame was punk's destroyer(Chamberlain). Punk was a lash back at the overly commercial music of this sixties(Oh), but in 1977 Punk was
reaching the commercial intensity of the music era before it lost its substance. Punk was no longer for just the outcast. It was for every one that
wanted to look and act like an outcast and still be accepted.

Was that the end of Punk? That was the end of an era, not punk itself. Would Punk ever be the same? No, it would never get back the feeling
of being new and unused. Punk had been exposed, like film. It went black. Punk needed to back into the dark world of the underground.

During the eighties most people thought punk had died, but one could see the remains of punk in a teenager with spiked hair and chains
hanging from their ripped clothes(anonymous 2). Punks were often ridiculed for their appearances. Many of the boys would get beat-up for
having colored hair of a mohawk. "Punks reminded me of armadillos: people whose attire was a kind of armor to protect themselves form the
tetacles arising from the iridium to get them."-Ed Sanders, poet (McNeil and McCain 256).

Punk was hidden behind the glitter and hair of the commercial bands of the eighties. During the eighties mainstream music seemed as if all that
mattered was how big can one's hair be and how much make-up one man could fit on his face, not actually about music. Thank goodness
that was confined to the eighties.

Punk went to back to the underground where it was more comfortable. Punk was meant for the outcast and only the outcast again. Punk was
kept alive by a few die-hard fans and bands. The bands were supported by a few independent music labels that specialized in punk. This was
considered by many to be punk's best time. It had been chewed up and spit out by the mainstream. It was trying to return to its original glory,
but it was a sad time in punk history. Most of the members of the bands of punk's beginnings were dying off. Mostly from drug abuse or
complications from earlier drug abuse.

In 1991, music, all types of music, was given a breath of fresh air from Seattle. Nirvana made it big, proving that music could be commercially
successful and still have substance(Ultimate Albums). Nirvana had a dark and meaningful sound. Them, and the many other bands of their
genre from Seattle, were commonly called grunge or, justly so, post-punk.

In 1994 Kurt Cobain, the leader of Nirvana and now a legend, committed suicide. Grunge tried to go on without him, but failed. People were
tired of the dreary music of post-punk(Ultimate Albums). They wanted something a little more up-beat.

It was then time for punk's triumphant return. Green Day burst onto the major label scene. Their first major label release, Dookie, was a huge
success, but punk had been underground for so long that punkers felt violated by the attention and many abandoned the bands that went to
major labels (Ultimate Albums). Punk's second time in the spot light wasn't such a disaster as the first. The people in the bands were more
prepared for the spot-light

Today punk is a popular kind of music and is going strong. Punk has lasted longer than any other sub-genre of rock 'n' roll that I can think of,
nearly thirty years. The Ramones have recently been inducted to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and I can also probably find some
teenagers practicing punk music in a garage somewhere, right now. As long as there is a kid with some kind of musical instrument and has a
taste for something fast and rebellious, there will always be punk.