Introduction and Disclaimers

• Josh introduces 2019 episode on punk rock from SYSK Selects
• Hosts issue warning to punk fans: "get ready to be mad at us"
• Acknowledge punk is culture/movement, not just music
• Compare complexity to hip-hop episode
• Note punk fans protective of genre, may "beat you up" if not wearing right thing
• Irony: protecting punk from commercialization kills its evolution

Early Influences and Proto-Punk

• Earliest proto-punk band: Los Saicos from Peru (1964)
• Had speed and "chugga chugga chugga" characteristic of punk
• Chocolate Watch Band: garage rock with punk sentiments ("I'm Not Like Everybody Else")
• Michigan scene: The Stooges, MC5, Death (African-American brothers from Detroit, 1971)
• Key musical technique: downstroke guitar playing (not up-down strokes)
• Ramones built career on 2-3 chords played fast with downstroke rhythm

Punk as Reaction Movement

• Reaction to bloated arena rock, long songs (Led Zeppelin 11-minute tracks)
• Reaction to commercialized rock and "Hard Rock machismo"
• 1977 chart toppers: Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac, Kansas, Billy Joel, Steely Dan
• Punk deliberately went opposite direction with short songs (Circle Jerks "Wasted" 50-52 seconds)
• Post-hippie movement disillusionment: Nixon, Vietnam, failed peace/love movement
• Johnny Ramone quote: "girls wanted guys with Corvettes, so we climbed rooftops and sniffed glue"

Global Punk Emergence

• Simultaneous development worldwide without internet communication
• Australia: Cheap Nasties (Perth), The Saints
• Parallel timing with CBGB's and Stooges in US
• Movement feeling brought world together through "disdain for hippies"

New York Scene

• CBGB opened 1973 (Country, Bluegrass, Blues) by Hilly Crystal
• By 1975: Ramones, Talking Heads, Blondie, Television playing there
• Max's Kansas City: Patti Smith, Velvet Underground scene
• Common thread: heroin use among early punk musicians
• Heroin was "total burnout" drug, separated punks from mainstream

UK Punk Origins

• Sex Pistols first show: June 4, 1976, Lesser Free Trade Hall, Manchester
• 17-year-old Morrissey covered show for New Music Express
• Single point UK punk spread from
• Within 6 months: major labels signing every punk act available
• Cross-pollination: Damned played US 1977, Ramones played UK 1976

DIY Movement and Record Labels

• Mid-1970s: big labels upgraded equipment, old gear became cheap/available
• First punk labels: Step Forward (Miles Copeland), Fast Product (Bob Last), Factory Records (Tony Wilson)
• First punk single: The Damned "New Rose" (November 1976)
• Buzzcocks "Spiral Scratch" EP (1977): first British homemade record
  • Cost £153 to produce
  • Sold 1,000 copies initially, then 16,000 more
  • Included production instructions on sleeve
• DIY innovations: Ziploc bag record sleeves, mail order distribution
• The Cartel: independent record store distribution network in UK

Commercialization and Major Label Signing

• Six months after Sex Pistols debut: feeding frenzy of major label signings
• Sex Pistols → EMI
• The Clash → CBS
• The Jam → Polydor
• Generation X (Billy Idol) → Chrysalis
• Stranglers → UA
• Buzzcocks → United Artists
• DIY labels either: got pilfered, shut down, grew bigger, or stayed small/underground

Fashion and Aesthetic

• Richard Hell (Television guitarist): credited with safety pin fashion, Mohawk
• Ramones look: ripped black jeans, Doc Martens/Converse, black biker jacket
• New York Dolls: super tight jean jackets, Lycra shiny pants
• Ripped jeans weren't cool then - meant poverty (Dee Dee Ramone had holes because no money for new jeans)
• LA scene: thrift store clothes, cut-up shirts, trash bags as fashion
• Malcolm McLaren (Sex Pistols manager): owned BDSM fashion shop with Vivian Westwood, used band to promote clothing
• Sex Pistols were "the Monkees of punk" - formed by manager, not organic band formation

Punk's Death and Transformation

• February 1979: Sid Vicious death from heroin overdose
• Widely considered end of first wave punk
• Punk transformed into hardcore: faster, louder, angrier
• US hardcore scenes: LA (documented in "Decline of Western Civilization"), Washington DC (Bad Brains)
• UK went more political (class struggle): Crass, The Clash anarchy themes
• US/UK differences: UK less serious (glam rock influence), US more serious/political

Hardcore Movement

• Bad Brains (1979): Washington DC, African-American, jazz fusion/reggae roots
• SST Records: started by Black Flag's Greg Ginn
• Alternative Tentacles: Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys) and East Bay Ray (1979)
• Hardcore harder to commodify due to less melody, more aggression
• Fans violently protected scene from "posers"
• Irony: punk rules/restrictions prevented evolution, kept underground

Post-Punk Evolution

• Influence on later bands: Husker Du, Minutemen, Sonic Youth
• Manchester progression: Joy Division → New Order → OMD → Simple Minds → John Hughes soundtracks
• Pop punk emergence: Green Day, Blink-182, Offspring, Rancid
• Vans Warped Tour scene
• True punks dislike pop punk more than "squares"
• Fugazi example: maintained DIY ethics, refused major labels throughout career

Current Punk Scenes

• Still active in: Japan, Mexico, Islamic countries, Eastern Bloc
• Riot Grrrl feminist punk movement
• Punk "not dead" - evolving in new locations/contexts