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Punk Era

     "Sex, drugs, and rock and roll" was the rallying cry for a movement that
changed American culture forever. Rock and roll first startled the American
scene in the mid-1950’s, but no one then could have predicted the remarkable
vitality and staying power of this new music. The early tradition of rock has
gone through many transitions. Provocative and outlandish stage attire and
behavior have been an important resource since the birth of rock and roll.

Decades following the birth of rock and roll, many have witnessed a steady ever
changing parade of hair styles, costumes, gestures and props. As the level of
tolerance and acceptance grew, rock stars adopted more bizarre and shocking
images. It is in this context that "punk" rock, seen by some as a startling
new direction in the late 1970’s must be considered. Rock music achieved a new
respectability and power at the same time (Ward, Stokes, Tucker, Rock of Ages,

547). Punk was rock’s most notable attempt in the late 1970’s to inject
angry, rebellious, risk taking notations into the music. The musical style
called punk rock developed in the United States out of raw and energetic music
played by the garage bands of the mid-sixties. These bands were mainly teenagers
playing basic guitar chords, and failing away at drums and cymbals in their own
garages. This resulted in sounds that were rough, raw, and musically
undisciplined, which expressed their interests and brought music to their level
(Charlton, Rock Music, 204). Given that the greatest garage bands could barley
play, we may assume not only that virtuosity has nothing to do the form, but
also that the Utopian dream of every man and artist can come true right here, in
our suburban land of opportunity-- the ultimate proof that rock and roll is the
most democratic and all-American of art forms (Miller, History of Rock &

Roll, 261). While teenage garage bands were becoming a hit and making it onto
the pop charts, slightly older, artistically trained but jagged musicians were
writing poetry and singing about urban decay. This artistic expression was not
the first, this sort of idea far artistic expression had been at the root of
several literary, artistic, and musical styles in the twentieth century,
including the dadaist movement and the Beat movement (Charlton, Rock Music,

204). The dadaists, a group of artists from Switzerland, expressed their views
of madness and chaos exemplified by World War I. The dadaists saw this kind of
devastation and destruction of human life that took place during the Was, and
expressed their views by fashioning artwork out of trash or other material put
together in a chaotic form. The same fear of the potential human animal had for
violence, along with the awesome power of modern-day weapons, influenced many
later artists to share the concerns and emulate the work of the dadaists
(Charlton, Rock Music, 204). The Beat poets and writers of the fifties, directed
their feelings of anger towards society in their poetry and writings. The manner
in which the Beats openly confronted the problems that most people ignored, as
well as the dada, influenced desire to produce an anti-art to express the belief
that society had lost all sense of value was at the philosophical root of the
punk movement, which eventually spawned a style of music (Charlton, Rock music,

204). The grandest example of a risky, aggressive, cynical yet ambitious
sensibility worming it way into the rock world was the man many called a
godfather of punk: Lou Reed (Ward, Stokes, Tucker, Rock of Ages, 547). Lou Reed
stands as crucial figure in 1970s rock. Reed wrote poetry about street life,
prostitution, and drugs in New York. He was Classically trained to play the
piano, but felt he could not express what he had to say about society playing

Mozart (Charlton, Rock Music, 204). Reed combined controversial common places
with a profound cynicism to yield music. Reed maintained a highly adversarial
relationship with his audience. He would insult them one minute and challenge
them the next. Reed’s influence on others, good or bad, can be heard in the
work of other rockers, such as David Bowie and The New York Dolls. Before there
was Lou Reed as a solo artist, there was the Velvet Underground, a band that in
the midst of the utopian, freedom-loving, feel-good 1960’s, proffered
apocalypse, addiction, and feel bad. The Velvet Underground left traditional
rock and roll styles aside to experiment with new forms of expression. The

Velvet Underground consisted of Lou Reed, Sterling Morrision, John Cale, who was
later replaced by Doug Yale, and Maureen Tucker. Reed recited his poems to
simple and repetitions melodies while Cale played a continuos, pulsating drone
on his electric viola. True to the Style of the dada artists of the past,

Maureen Tucker sometimes added trash-can lids to her drum set (Charlton, Rock

Music, 205). The Velvet Underground met op with Andy Warhol who was a pop artist
well known for his transformation of soup cans into images of art. Wharhol
painted the banana on their first album, the Velvet Underground & Nico, and
had them ass Christa Paffagin to sing on some cuts. Reeds sounds concentrated on
the harsh themes such as drug addiction and sadomasochism. The music on the
album was repetitions, unemotional, and only vaguely related to most commercial
rock. The Velvets second album called White Light/ White Heat, expressed themes
such as drugs on the element of street life. the albums title was Reed’s
anthem to amphetamines. Traditional song and musical forms were ignored and
repetitious drones occasionally interrupted by screeching feedback, were
established to accompany Reeds monologues (Charlston, Rock Music, 205). This
expressed the coldness and gloom Reed saw in the world. Reed’s contributions
to the band included the furious "White Light/white Heat" and the ultimate
drug-rock songs "Waiting for the man" and "Heroin." Reed was writing
beautifully detailed, emotionally and lyrically complex songs such as "Pale
blue Eyes" and "Beginning To See The Light." The Velvet Underground’s
first efforts influenced the development of punk as a musical style. Their
emotionless portrayal of themes centering on alienation from human concerns and
their use of repetitious musical ideas became characteristics of both punk and
new-wave. This highly emotional expression of anger at the heart of most punk
music came from the garage band sound. Musically, this anger was expressed
though a constantly pounding eighth note beat and shouted vocals. A traditional
rock back beat was played behind the fast throbbing pulse of guitar and bass
(Charlton, Rock Music, 205). Other influences on the development of punk music
were the MC5, Iggy Pop and the Stooges. The MC5 developed out a loud and angry
style. Their first album, Kick Out the Jams, which expressed obscene lyrics, was
criticized and refused airplay. The MC5 combined the power of heavy metal with
the raw garage band sound combined with their own belligerent, indigent
attitude. Iggy Pop and the stooges played repetitious, angry, and pessimistic
music. Iggy Pop would act out his disgust with society and hit himself the
microphone. Iggy pop would also cut himself on stage with pieces of glass and
smear the blood. John Cal, formally of the Velvet Underground, produced their
first album called the Stooges. It was James Jewel Osterbery’s, a.k.a. Iggy,
self-destructive image the had a great influence on the movement of punk music.

The loud, raw, rebellious sound of the MC5 and the Stoogies and the alienated
attitude of the Velvet Underground was picked up in the early seventies by The

New York Dolls (Charlton, Rock Music, 206). The New York Dolls has a glam-rock
style, they added some glitter to punk and then passes it onto other New York
groups and to the angry youth of London. The fine members of The New York Dolls
wore lipstick, heavy eye make-up, and stacked heels to perform songs about"bad" girls, drugs, and New York street life. The New York Dolls had a less
serious attitude but their themes were similar to the Velvet Underground. From
the Stoogies and the MC5, The New York Dolls used heavy distorted guitar lines
and a powerful pounding beat which they combined with Rhythm and Blues. On the
groups debut album this can be heard in the song "Personality Crisis"
(Charlton, Rock Music, 206). The Middle of the decade, brought the first
stirrings of a nascent music scene. In 1975, Hilly Kristal, owner of a
nondescript Bowery bar called CBGB and OMFUG (Country, Blue Grass, and Blues and

Other Music For Urban Gourmets) allowed a few local musicians to talk him into
using the rear of his long, narrow bar as a stage on which to perform for free.

Before long, Kristal had a list of regular bands rotating at CBGBs (Ward,

Stokes, Tucker, Rock of Ages, 552-553). CBGB’s was the starting place for many

New York bands, including Television, The Patti Smith Group, and the Ramones.

Word was beginning to spread among hip arty types that CBGCs was the place to
be; both to hear music that stood in stark contrast to the polished stuff that
was coming to overrun the rock industry, and to be seen in the new "in"
spot. Television member, Tom Valaine tried to emulate French symbolist poet Paul

Verlaine with his use of symbolism, metaphor, and lyricism in the lyrics he
wrote for the band. Televisions first bass player, Richard Hell, spiked his hair
and wore torn clothing. Their image would later become a standard for British
punks. Televisions’ music combined a Velvet Underground - influenced punk
sensibility with melodic lead guitar lines and psychedelic - style wandering
improvisations (Charlston, Rock Music, 207). Poet and protopunk Patti Smith
moved in for a seven-week stint in Mid 1975 and established CBGB as a beachhead
of the rock and roll avant garde (Ward, Stokes, Tucker, Rock of Ages, 553).
patti Smith began reading her poetry, latter singing it to simple guitar
accompaniment by Lenny Kaye. John Cale also produced The Patti Smith Group debut
album, Horses, which combined the musical simplicity of the Velvet

Underground’s with Smith’s gusty and energetic vocals and a pounding punk
beat. The album included a new version of the song "Gloria" in which

Smith’s singing of male text was intended to shock the average listener in the
same was the Beat poetry had also done before (Charlton, Rock music, 208). Smith
also had a new version of the song "My Generation" in which she shouted
obscenities, making it clear to every one that her generation was new and
angrier. Most of the Ramones’ songs did not last more than two minuets, but it
was arguably the most exhilarating half-hour in rock and Roll. The Ramones’
very simple, fast high-energy music and monotone vocals became a prototype for
much punk rock to follow (Charlton, Rock Music. 208). The Ramones’ were the
first of the New York Bands to tour extensively, and their appearances in

England in 1976 was later cited by many English punk bands as the original
inspiration for that country’s do-it-yourself rock revolution. This high
energy can be heard in their album calls Too Tough To Die. Groups of British
lower- and middle- class teenagers in the mid-seventies had grown to detest the
lifestyles and traditional values of their parents, and had come to believe they
were caught up in an economic and class ridden social system over which they had
no control, one they viewed as relegating them to a life of weak poverty with no
hope of jobs that would pay enough to better themselves (Charlton, Rock Music,

208). Many of these teenagers copes with their feelings of anger and frustration
with violence. Many were antigovernment, antisocially, and antifashion. They
adopted a way of dressing in torn second- hand clothing with large safety pins
holding the pieces together. This look reflected their rejection of the standard
image of respectability and became a symbol of their feelings of alienation
(Charlton, Rock Music, 208). Realizing the financial potential behind these
sociological traits, the astute Malcolm McLauren kept an eye on the rock music
underground as a bell whether indicator for the British youth. It was here that

McLauren recognized they highly visible, widely energetic and ant-social punk
was the heir apparent for the youth of the UK. in order to capitalize on this
new sound and evolving trend, he bean promoting the Sex Pistols. The Sex Pistols
evoked disgust every where they went. Their music had the constant pounding a
loud distorted guitar that had been part of the punk sound in Detroit and New

York, but unlike The New York Dolls, The Sex Pistols were not just toying with
rebellion. they were completely caught up in highly emotional anger. The Sex

Pistols wanted to repulse the establishment and provoke authorities into
retaliating against them (Charlton, Rock Music, 208). This notion attracted more
fun then their music itself. The Sex pistols had such a bad reputation that many
other bands began copying their sound and look. The energy levels were high and
violence at their performances became common. The pogo dance was started at the

Sex Pistols concerts. The lyrics of "God Save The Queen" were so foul and
insulting that the song was banned from British television and radio. The Sex

Pistols were so popular underground that they made it on the pop charts as a
black line. The Damned, another British band managed by McLauren, played fast
and angry music. Damn engaged in punk activities such as taunting and spitting
at the audience. They were the first British punk band to release a single,

"New Rose" on the album Damned, Damned, Damned. The Damned traveled to New

York to play at the CBGB. The Damned played fast, hard punk music that stressed
anger for angers sake. they toured the US, and along with the Sex Pistols served
as a major influence on the development of punk in California. The Clash, one of
the longest lasting groups of the British punk movement expressed the
multidirectional anger the Sex Pistols has, their songs zeroed in the causes of
punk rebellion: youth unemployment, racism, and police brutality. In addition to
using punk’s familiar rhythmic throb, they took Jamaica’s music of rebellion
and added a reggae beat to some of their music (Charlton, Rock Music, 210). The

Clash had two top forty us hits, with "Train in Vain (Stand By Me)" and

"Rock The Casbah". Other bands followed expressing these same similar
feelings. Chelsea expressed the anger of unemployment and the "Right To

Work", Generation X in "Your Generation". X-Ray sex brought a violent
feminist message to punk with the single "Oh Bondage Up Yours!". The

Buzzcocks expressed youthful attitudes in "Breakdown" and "Boredom". The
energy level and simplicity of punk soon spread beyond its original
antigovernment and antisocially causes and themes. The Jam hammered away at a
fast pulse similar to British punk groups. The Jam was in effect a group of
latter-day mods who mixed a punk beat with music by earlier Mod groups,
particularly Motown-stle soul. The Jam had a different look to them then the Sex

Pistols. They wore conservative suits and ties and were openly supportive of the

British Monarchy and government. When British punk bands toured the US, they
struck a nerve in California and started a punk movement in both San Francisco
and Los Angeles. Despite the American teenagers having jobs, food, and clothing
readily available to them they did not keep the anger and violence out their
music, However, they did have plenty to say about their ex-hippie parents and
the government involvement in politics. The Dead Kennedys, a punk band formed in

San Francisco, played fast, heavily distorted music with shouted monotone vocals
that condemned the US government and other institutions for a multitude of
offenses, and yet displayed a sense of humor (Charlton, Rock Music, 212).

"Kill The Poor" had a strong satirical statement against those who put money
into the development of the neutron bomb, but resisted governmental aide to

Americas poor. A large hard core punk culture developed in Los Angeles during
the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, including such bands as the Black Flag,

The Germs, X, and Catholic Discipline. Black Flags music had fast beats
distorted guitars, and monotone vocal style of British punk bands, and their
short songs expressed their anger towards everyone. latter on they began to
break away and included some very long songs with heavy metal charastics such as
distorted guitar solos and repeating drones, but often added occasional touches
of country music, rockabilly and heavy metal styles. Around the late seventies,
many rock fans began to fell that the music was getting old. Fans felt that
their needed to be a new energy that was less violent and antiestablishment then
punk music. Punks half beat pulse, monotone vocals, and emotional alienation’s
were adopted by groups that played within more mainstream popular rock styles
and the term "new wane" began to be used to catorgize this music (Charlton,

Rock Music, 213). Many of the bands formed during the mid to late seventies
played with enough of the musical characteristics of punk or new wave to gain a
population within those styles, even though much of their music did not really
fit into the new wave genre. the group Blondie fit into this category. After

Blondie put out their first album, Blondie, it put the group on the commercial
outskirts of new wave, but their music had even less characteristics of this
style (Charlton, Rock Music, 215). Blondie experimented with all types of music.

Blondie toyed with disco in "Heart of Glass", and "Call Me", and with
reggae in "The Tide Is High" and also commercial brand rap in "Rapture".

The Cars combined the unemotional vocals and pounding beat of punk with Chuck

Berrys influenced guitar and angular version of rhythm and blues beat to form a
traditional rooted new wave style. the Cars expressed a sense of allegation from
emotional attachments in "My Best Friend’s Girl". Once again, these new
styles of punk made there way back to the British. As New York had the CBGBs,

England had pubs. This pub rock influenced many artists. Elvis Costello
expressed relationships, the insecurity, women, and politics. Costello was also
influenced by the different styles of rock music in "Less Than Zero", he
influenced pop rockabilly style, and with reggae in "Watching The

Defectives." Costello began to move away from the pop rock into the new wave.
his songs began to deal wiith powere struggles, in "(Wahts So Funny’ bout)

Peace, Loce, and Understanding." He made songs about relationships such as

"Baby Plays Around" but nevertheless still wrote about poltics in "Tramp
the Dirt Down" and "Let Him Dangle". Other artists begain to be influenced
by this change in music style. While Elvis Costello began his career by
portraying an extreme example of male insecurity in modern culture, Chrisse

Hynde displayed a strong, tough, and yet somewhat vulnerable female image
(Charlton, Rock Music, 217). Hynde soon formed The Pretenders which had a heavy
strong backbeat and heavy-metal-influenced guitar lines in ehich gave The

Pretenders a hard rock sound that was new wave beacuse of Hynde’s vocals were
generally viod af any sort of tender emotion. The energy, and often the anger,
of punk was present, but Hynde made the element of melody, whether it was her
singing or Honeyman-Scott’s guitar playing,more important than the fast,
pounding punk beat. such great melodies can be heaerd in the 1994 album Last of
the of the Independents, "Stand By You". Messages of song lyrics differed
from one style to the other, with punk generally expressing multidirectional
anger and new wave displaying a cool, modern, detached approach to life,
unaffected by emotional concerns. Both styles were trimmed down from the
grandiose rock styles of the seventies, which had created an unbridgeable
distance performer and the audience. Punk was a way for teenagers to express
their feelings through their music without having to have the technical
proficiency to play. They were able to perform music that was meaningful to
themselves and to their peers. As punk music has influenced others from its
beginning garage band sound, nothing new had happened togay, it still carries
those same energetic pulses that in had in the past. Punk is still here, it has
set the trend today with its histiric style making it the norm of today.

Bibliography

Charlton, Katherine, Rock Music Styles, A History, McGraw-Hill Co., Inc.,

Boston, Massachusetts, 3rd ED., 1998. Miller, Jim, History Of Rock & Roll,

Random House, New York, New York, 1976. Ward, Ed, Stokes, Geoffrey, Ticker, Ken,

Rock Of Ages, Summit Books, New york, New York, 1986.