70's Punk; part 1.

(For my next blog for Pop in Practice, I decided to do a write up on the genre "punk" formed in the late 70's.)

The Birth of Punk

The birth of punk music came around in the mid 70's. Punk followed the genre "protopunk" of late 60's garage bands such as the Ramones, The Who and MC5. As a genre formed from protopunk, punk opened up doors for bands like The Ramones to be one of the leading artists of the genre throughout the 70's.

The genre, on what appeared to be just noise for the rebellious youth, became a revolution. Strong poilitical themes and Instrumentalists who could only play 3 guitar chords starting bands were all the rage.

Bands and artists like The Clash and Patti Smith exemplified everything punk music stood for, and their stripped-down music and thought-provoking lyrics proved that punk was a distinct genre apart from everything else.

You didn't need to have the voice of angel to front a punk band, as many punk vocalists just shouted lyrics or even made them up.

"Punk culture originated as a movement of shock, rebellion, and discontent."Like most genres nowadays, the music was only part of it. Image was everything, well mostly. Ranging from Vivienne Westwood styles to blue jeans and leather jacket look from the clash. Nearly every dress of other sub-culture groups have been inspired or influenced by the Punk Image of the late 70's. For example the "standard punk" consists of leather jacket, blue jeans, combat boots, spikes and chains. However, there was a big influence on the DIY attitude that soon reflected on the clothing such as, ripped or stitched together jean and shirts. Hair was typically dyed bright unataural colours like red, blue and pink and often liberty spikes or a mohawk. This is sort of just me stereotyping, but you get my point....

Punk Trends and Themes.

"In its original nature the punk culture is primarily concerned with an individual's perceived right to freedom." - taken from a wikipedia source.

Devotion to the idea of freedom, tends to create strong beliefs in concepts such as Individualism political, Free Beliefs and Ethics. Punk ideaoligies often have a critical view of the world, seeing the modern day placing extensive limits on life. Punk ideology usually achieves its expression through music, independently published literature, and spoken word albums.

Punk was an incredible movement in the music industry and has influenced alot of artists long after its peak in the late 70's. There have been many subclutures of the genre, such as pop punk, hardcore and many, many more.

k.