All formed in 1980 or earlier.Think those bands were considered Oi! or Street Punk bands ??, although probably sub-genres more closely associated with first wave punk, it was by far a more underground movement.

Hardcore was the most popular (although less commercially oriented) genre from the broad based 'punk' movement (also part of the second wave of punk), unless you include goth rock which was even more popular.Commercial exploitation of first wave punk bands drove many fans away who were connected to those initial bands, both in the UK & the US.There was definately a sea change.Although not getting as high a profile as the more 'pop' based first wave 'Punk' bands.

I liked Eater. Dee Generate and Brian Haddock.

Punk gave music a kick up the ass, something that is more than needed now, with all the rubbish boy and girlbands, and the waterman and cowell cash making machines.

There are a few good bands around at the moment, but nothing thats going to be remembered in 10years or so.

Pretty much this, you don't need any talent to actually make it in the industry today... if you're good looking, they will find you a place in some boyband/girlband.

Peter Hamill - Nadir's Big Chance

that's the first punk album

february 75, somewhat predates the pistols and clash
unfortunately for some punk fans who find it difficult to handle
it's by a founding member of that great prog rock band Van der Graaf Generator

the nyd and ramones popularised the sound but never really connected to the british audience the way the pistols did. hence the pistols headed the punk explosion. never liked the clash myself...

but yes, kathy burke is right, punk had a huge impact on my generation giving it back some real vigour and the message of 'do it yourself' 'why not' and thinking for yourself, expressing yourself.


yeah, a second wave of hardcore, politicised punk took off...i liked crass!

the ramones and nyd predate the pistols etc, but they didnt connect to our generation the way the pistols did... otherwise punks would have been influenced by them and not the pistols, clash etc.

There was a change in attitude as the 80s came in. The Oi! bands were seen by many as a joke and hardcore bands like The Exploited, GBH, Dishcarge etc. were regarded as passée (notwithstanding The Exploited's album "Punk's Not Dead" - the cry from most people I knew back then was "yes it is!")

American hardcore was more credible but I recall that having minimal impact in the UK. By the mid 80s I'd heard of bands like the Dead Kennedys and Black Flag but they were known by a very select few.

Post punk's influence was felt most strongly in the Goth scene. Indie music seemed to go in the opposite direction from punk and went all fey and jingle-jangle (god, I hated all the Postcard anoraks) until bands like the Mary Chain emerged in the mid 80s.

Still, punk's continuing influence can still be felt today. Big bands of the last decade like the Libertines and the Arctic Monkeys owe a huge debt to post punk if not directly to the punk originators. Nowadays no-one seems to be doing the angry stuff any more, though. Where is punk's original spirit? Where are all the angry young men? Playing Call of Duty on their Xboxes instead of forming punk bnads?

yeah, either doing that or walking down the street listening to crappy hiphop through the speaker of there mobile phone.

I was 16 and would avidly listen to the great John Peel show every night. The Eddie & The Hot Rods ep was the 1st sign of the new phenomenon to my young ears. I'm so glad you mentioned Magazine - we were big fans.
John Peel's Ruts session was one of the best.
Punk produced 3 of the best intros of all time.
PIL - Public Image
The Damned - Love Song
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Jigsaw Feeling.
I heard that on Radio 6 this morning. I was jumping around like a student.
Punk spawned some of Britain's finest music over the next few years. Gang of Four to name just one.
"akhenaten" is right. The Goth scene did prevail. I was drawn to Dead Can Dance, even though I've never seen a real goth connection. I still love DCD to this day.

Not punk related. But having been a fan of ex-Gong and one of prog-rocks finest guitarists, Steve Hillage, and also of early Simple Minds music, the quality that is their Sons and Fascination/Sister Feelings Call album was released in 1981. And it was produced by Steve Hillage. It changed his path.
Simple Minds moved on to become tedious stadium rockers.

I was never around at this time so I can only really view it from what I prefer listening to. Would've loved to have seen it all first hand though.

Can't believe no one's mentioned Patti Smith yet! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgNeBNMJFZs

"Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine"

"I'm so young,so goddamn young,so goddamn young young young" etc etc.
I loved it.

I have all their albums and singles. Peter Murphy has one of the great voices in rock. A shame they split up so quickly (and again and again).

I felt Scarfo had more in commen with Punk and I always felt Artic Monkeys like Kiser Chifes and Kasabian was Brit Pop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJC80fdHVB8

It's sad Placebo out lasted them and Jaime wen't on to The Kills.

punk was like a bloody great broom which swept all the pompous crap away, but in retrospect it was more important culturally than musically, with a few exceptions. The second wave like Exploited etc was a travesty. More interesting was post-punk, a whole range of weirdness you'd never get today.

Oddly, given how he turned out later, early Adam & the Ants was as interesting as anything
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rD2fAS3QDw

I was listening to Adam and the Ants first John Peel session last week. So so different. I think his good looks and voice meant stardom was an option, so he rode the £££ New Romantic wave. Can't blame him really. And AATA's guitarist Marco Pirroni, was in the original Siouxsie and the Banshees line up. He also played guitar on the Feedback Song by Rema Rema. One of my favourite dark and brooding eps of all time. And feedback guitar it is.

Just to say that there were many 'rough and ready' punk bands that would have you believe they were working class... when they in fact came from middle class backgrounds.

Btw, my childhood would have been pretty sad without punk. It kept me going through my early teenage years

I wonder if there are more myths, legends, and half-truths, about any other genre of music than there is about punk....

The original ethos of Punk was dead by the end of 1976.

When what was termed "Punk" by the media exploded on to the TV screens, mostly because of the Bill Grundy interview of The Sex Pistols, pretty much any young band were defined as a punk band and marketed as such by the major label that had signed them. Iron Maiden, for example, turned down numerous offers of a record deal because they refused be be marketed as a punk band. Others, however, such as The Stranglers, Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Buzzcocks, etc, saw the opportunity being labelled as punk offered them in terms of commercial success and were more than happy to sign up.

Let's not forget The Sex Pistols were as much a manufactured band as any boyband/girlband today, put together and carefully controlled by Malcolm McLaren. He used the career of another band he managed, The New York Dolls, as a template for The Sex Pistols and much of what they did was carefully stage-managed by him for maximum publicity because, of course, there is no such thing as bad publicity and notoriety is even better.

It is a bit odd to talk about an ultimate punk band when the original ethos was get up and do it yourself. It was a tremendously creative era between about '76 and '80.

Just listening to the John Peel show at that time was a revelation. I remember him saying one night, just how many bands are there out there?

The Undertones were of the era and very important. The Clash, The Pistols, Siouxsie, Crass were the ones I listened to.
Joy Division and U2 were part of the New Wave thing that overlaps with punk. And they are pretty outstanding bands.

Ha Iron Maiden were a bunch of old men in flares and still are.

I think you'll find in 1976 the members of Maiden were @ 20....

I first saw Iron Maiden in 1980 and they wore Spandex, I've never, ever, seen Maiden play live in jeans - flared or otherwise.....

A bit of revisionism there, especially in relation to Siouxsie and The Buzzcocks who weren't as cynical as you suggest. Yes, the original motivation didn't last much beyond late '76 but the desire to write songs and entertain people does not imply mercenary motives. That came a wee bit later!

While I'd agree with the general gist of your argument, I would add the following points ...

The Sex Pistols were obviously heavily manipulated by McLaren, but I wouldn't say John Lydon necessarily played the game his manager wanted ... otherwise he would have stuck around for longer and not made the kind of records he did with Public Image Limited.

And I wouldn't say they were as manufactured as any boyband/girlband today. None of them would dare to challenge the establishment in the way the Pistols did. Two major record companies signed and dropped the group because they were such a hot potato. I can hardly see that happening with the likes of The Saturdays or One Direction.

While The Stranglers jumped on the punk bandwagon to further their careers, the other groups you mention did not really exist until after The Sex Pistols had made their mark. And Siouxsie & The Banshees fought hard against the punk label: they went out of their way to be as difficult with Polydor as possible, with no single releases from their debut album and refusing to allow their tracks to appear on the label's cheesy punk compilation.

For me, the ultimate punk group was The Clash. Yes, the Pistols had six months of notoriety based primarily on two great tracks but, musically, they didn't really have that much to offer. Contrast that with The Clash, who broke down musical boundaries, evolved their sound and opened up themselves, and their fans, to artists as diverse as Mikey Dread, Suicide and Grandmaster Flash. Now that's what I call punk. It was much more than just a three-chord thrash ...