To what extent can music pre- 1970 be termed ‘punk rock’?
Thomas Purvis
‘ What a fucking rotter! ’ spits an inebriated Steve Jones, sporting a white shirt with a pair of breasts printed on it. 1 The fallout as a result of the immortal Bill Grundy interview from 1976, which brought punk rock to the attention of the mainstream, was gloriously extensive. The following morning, the Daily Mirror headline screamed: ‘The Filth and the Fury’ and famously reported that ‘one man was so furious that he kicked in the screen of his £380 colour T.V’. 2 For many, this moment is punk’s genesis; indeed, a poll conducted in 2008 by Freemantle Media found the interview to be ‘the most requested T.V. clip ever’. 3 Yet, punk’s origins can be traced back much further. The early to mid -70s saw the rapid development of the punk aesthetic. While never a cohesive movement, many bands of this era have subsequently been allocated the somewhat woolly label of ‘proto - punk’ and are bound together, perhaps not musically, but by a ‘certain provocative sensibility’. 4 In the U.S., two New York night clubs, CBGB and Max’s Kansas City acted as a centre for the burgeoning (punk) scene. These venues saw frequent performances from a plethora of ‘proto - punk’ royalty, such as Television, Patti Smith, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, Wayne County, the Heartbreakers, Pere Ubu, the Runaways, Rocket from the Tombs, the Modern Lovers, Suicide, Blondie, the Ramones, New York Dolls, DEVO, and the Electric Eels – a short-lived band with a lawnmower-wielding singer, who, with a fellow bandmate, enjoyed pretending to be a homosexual couple in working-class bars. 5 In the U.K. meanwhile, ‘proto - punk’ assumed a more polished form; that is, glam rock and pub rock. Although often much-derided now, glam rockers, such as the Sweet, T. Rex, Mud, Bowie, and Mott the Hoople, are often cited as influences by punk rockers, notably John Lydon. 6 John Robb of the Membranes concurs, stating that glam rock’s ‘stomping songs with big fuck - off choruses would have a strong influence on punk’. 7 He adds that pub rock acts, such as Eddie and the Hot Rods and Dr. Feelgood, which played ‘stripped down rock’n’roll’, were ‘pretty much the grounding for the upcoming punk explosion’. 8 The movement towards a more ‘punk’ sound was not limited solely to the U.S. and Britain. In Australia, the Saints’ seminal 7’ , (I’m) Stranded , pipped the release of The Damned’s New Rose . 9 It too has been argued that select Krautrock tracks, such as Neu!’s Super and Amon Düül II’s Archangel Thunderbird fall into the realm of ‘proto - punk’. 10 However, this essay is instead going to delve further into punk’s origins, exploring music released before the rather arbitrary date of 1970. Predictably, much attention will be given to garage rock (also known as ‘60s punk), the music and attitudes of whi ch overlap significantly with punk 1 youtube.com, Sex Pistols: The Grundy Show incident 1/12/1976 , [video]. 2 philjens.plus.com, God Save The Sex Pistols – Never Mind The Bollocks: United States of America WB Promo Materials 1977 Press Pack , [online]. 3 nme.com, Sex Pistols on Bill Grundy’s ‘Today’ show most requested clip , [online]. 4 allmusic.com, Proto-Punk Music Subgenre Overview , [online]. 5 ranker.com, Best CBGB Bands , [online]. 6 faroutmagazine.co.uk, John Lydon lists his first musical influences , [online]. 7 Robb, PUNK ROCK: AN ORAL HISTORY , 60. 8 Ibid., 51. 9 songfacts.com, (I’m) Stranded by The Saints – Songfacts , [online]. 10 browardpalmbeach.com, Top Twenty Proto-Punk Bands: An Incomplete List , [online].
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