A brief history of. . .

A Brief History of UK pUnk

I was watching a documentary on the roots of the UK punk scene back in the 70’s. Interesting stuff as this is the era of punk I love the best. It all started out when the youth rediscovered 50’s rock and roll and there was a cult revival of the time, sounds and style. At this time Macolm Mclaren was running a 50’s throw back fashion store and later soon to be punks were buying early rock and roll and RnB music from record traders and car boots. They liked the rebelliousness of the music, the attitude to life and sex and the relative simplicity of the music. The next stage in the birth of UK punk was the London “Pub Rock” scene that emerged. These were typically bands playing old rock and roll standards but without great degrees of musical talent, however the scene was massive but mainly performed by old “beery” guys with beards and it wasn’t until young 18 and 20 years olds reached the age they could properly go out and drink that the punk evolution fully started. Two groups mainly bridged the gap between the pub rock scene and the punk revolution these being “Eddie and the Hot rods” and “Dr Feelgood”. In the case of the latter they were basically an RnB band but they had the angular guitars of Wilko Johnson and raw, aggression of what was to come. Many see “ Dr Feelgood” as the first punk band, well in England at least. “MC 5” probably hold that honour in the USA.

As punk emerged Macolm Mclaren changed his store’s name to “Sex” and started selling punk clothes based around leather, studs and bondage. He was also key in the creation of the “Sex Pistols”. After seeing the “New York Dolls” he decided he wanted to put together a punk band of his own and recruited a number of kids from his store. John Lydon who was to become the infamous “Jonny Rotten” was given the job of singer after he was spotted in Camden wearing an “ I hate Pink Floyd” T shirt. After one audition where he took the piss out of “Alice Cooper” songs the job was his. “King Jonny” and the Pistols were to UK punk - and indeed punk worldwide - what “Black Sabbath” were to metal – although in many ways they were one of the first manufactured bands. Hardly punk is it?

Another of the key bands during the emergence of punk were “The Clash”. Joe Strummer was living in a squat and formed a band called the “101ers” not as a reference to the Orwell novel but just the address of the house they had taken over. Their only ambition was to be a great “Pub Rock” band but after seeing the “Sex Pistols”, Joe was blown away by the hate and energy and after taking on Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Nicky “Topper” Headon “The Clash” were born. The Clash were on of the first punk bands to incorporate elements of Dub, Reggae and funk way ahead of what would become the two tone movement of which they were to be embraced.

Typical 70’s UK punk included a number of diverse bands but they were unified into a scene by a few basic factors such as a hatred of the glitz and pomposity of “Glam rock” and the over complication of “Prog rock”, usually a lack of musical skills often just playing a few simple cords – although bands like “Ian Dury and the BlockHeads” and “The Stranglers” did break this template – and lastly an attitude of raw, angry politics as a reaction to mass unemployment and bleak job prospects for teenagers in England at the time.

There emerged a number of punk bands making a a few good hits like “The Undertones”, “Buzzcocks”, “The Adverts”, “X- ray Specs”, “The Rutts” and a number of other disposable heroes. Later the scene developed in the more pop based “New Wave” with bands and Artist like “Elvis Costello”, “Martha and the Muffins” and “The Tear Drop Explodes”, the embracing of typically black music also lead to the “Ska beat” and “Two Tone” music dominated by such bands as “Maddness” , “The Specials” and “The Police”. Sadly the UK punk scene eventually dissolved into the “New Romantics” movement where all the attitude was changed for eye liner, and the guitars for horrible electronic drums and blippy synths lead by people like “Gary Numan”.

 

A Brief History of Punk Rock – part two, The Us scene mainly

In England, Punk Rock mainly evolved out of the “Pub Rock” scene with early bands like “Dr Feelgood” before taking off with Bands like the “Sex Pistols”, “The Stranglers” and “The Clash”. However in the US the movement in it’s earliest form probably started with the Michigan band “MC5”, largely now seen a “protopunk” group. MC5’s approach to music was stripped down and purposely raw with a revolutionary message and they were to prove very big influence to future bands, “Rage Against the Machine” even did a version of their anthem song “Kick out the Jams” on their own cover album.

Another key band in the emergence of US punk was the trash glam styling of “The New York Dolls” back in the early 1970s. It’s a fact that it was after seeing this group play that manager Malcolm McClaren decided to put together the Pistols back in London, so in essence probably the best known Punk Band of all time wouldn’t even exist without the Dolls. On stage “The New York Dolls” looked like a bunch of druggy drag queens and were’ often criticised over their lack of talent and the unprofessional quality of their “glam punk” music but it can’t be argued they were one of the earliest punk bands in America.

Around the same time a band that were also to be significant on the early punk scene erupted out of Ann Arbor. “The Stooges” fronted by the infamous “Iggy Pop”. Their first self-titled album was produced by John Cale of “The Velvet Underground” - who in their own right inspired, directly or indirectly, many of the artists involved in the creation of punk rock. Musically though the two groups couldn’t have been any more different! “The Velvet underground” made diverse Avant guard, noise pop while “The Stooges” made the low- fi, under produced and fuzzed up sound of “Chuck Berry’s” “Airmobile” - only after thieves stripped it for parts!! “The Stooges” were a key influence on many later outfits such as “The Red Hot Chilli Peppers” amongst many others. I personally think the “RHCP” version of “Search and Destroy” is even better than the original!

Although punk music was largely developed in the UK, Australia and the US, it has to be said New York city in particular, was of vital importance to the scene. At it’s centre was the now legendary “CBGB” club and “The Mercer Art’s Center” in Greenwich Village. “CBGB” it’s self put on many fledgling bands including the “Ramones”, Patti Smith, “The New York Dolls”, “The Dead Boys” – recently sampled by the “Beastie Boys” - “ The “Horror Punk” of the “Misfits”, Television” and even the “Talking Heads”!

Punk was initially dismissed by mainstream culture as something of a bad joke but by 1975 the term Punk was confusingly being used to describe bands as diverse as Patti Smith again, Bruce Springsteen and even “The Bay City Rollers” – I think the jury’s still out on that one! Punk initially referred to the scene in general, rather than a particular sound – the early New York punk bands represented a broad variety of influences. Among them, “the Ramones”, “The Heart Breakers”, “Richard Hell and The Voidoids” and again the “Dead Boys” were establishing a distinct musical style. Even where they diverged most clearly, in lyrical approach – the Ramones apparent guilelessness at one extreme, Hell’s conscious craft at the other – there was an abrasive attitude in common. Their shared attributes of minimalism and speed, however, had not yet come to define Punk Rock.

In 1979 the “Hardcore” punk Movement was emerging in Southern California and with it came a degree of schism and diversification to the musical movement. A rivalry developed between adherents of the new sound and the older punk rock crowd. Hardcore, appealing to a younger, more suburban audience, was perceived by some as anti-intellectual, overly violent and musically limited. In Los Angeles, the opposing factions were often described “Hollywood Punks” and “Beach Punks”, referring to Hollywood’s central position in the original L.A punk rock scene and to Hardcores’s popularity in the shoreline communities of South Bay and Orange County. Some early punk bands transformed into hardcore acts. A few, most notably the “Ramones”, “Richard Hell and the Voivoids” and “Jonny Thunders and the Heart Breakers”, continued to pursue the style they had helped create.

By the turn of the decade, the punk rock movement had split deeply along cultural and musical lines, leaving a variety of derivative scenes and forms. On one side were “New Wave” and “Post punk” artists; one group adopted more accessible musical styles and gained broad popularity while the other turned more experimental and moved in LESS commercial directions. AND on the other side of the spectrum “Hardcore punk”, “Oi” and “Anarcho-punk” bands became closely linked with underground cultures and spun off into many sub-divisions. And also ,somewhere in between, the Start of bands like “GreenDay”, “The Offspring”, “Blink 182” and even “Sum4”1 were sown with the emergence of early “Pop Punk” bands such as “Mekons”, described by founder Kevin Lycett as a “ cross between Abba AND the Sex Pistols”

Post punk itself really took off between 1976 and 77 in the midst of the original UK movement defined by such bands as Manchester’s “Joy Division” and the late Ian Curtis, another of the “RHCP’s” key influences – “Gang of Four”, “Mark E smiths’” “The Fall” and even “Throbbing Gristle” who were in truth more very early pioneers of what would go on to be called “Industrial”. Others such as the “Slits” and “Siouxsie and the Banshees” transitioned from straight up punk rock into post punk and “King Jonny” himself formed “Public Image LTD”. Very different from the rawness of the pistols. “Killing Joke” formed in 1979 and these bands were more artful, musically experimental, less pop friendly and more dark and abrasive. Post punk brought together a new fraternity of musicians, journalists, managers and entrepreneurs such as “Rough Trade’s” Geoff Travis and the owner of loveably shambolic label “Factory Record’s”, Tony Wilson - Watch the movie “24 Hour Party People” if you want to know the full history of that shit! In the 1980’s, from this musical soup, bands like “U2” the more electronic basis of “New Order” and even “The Cure” crossed over to more mainstream US appeal while many of the others remained to have a somewhat of an cult standing at the time but are now seen to been a significant influence on modern popular culture.

“Hardcore” itself was characterized by superfast, aggressive drumming, screamed or yelled vocals and usually socially aware or political lyrical content – if you could understand it! It really kicked off in 1978 among bands scattered around the States and Canada before finding it’s feet in a more unified scene in Southern Cali. Two of the earliest bands to record albums of Hardcore style were “Black Flag” and the rarity of the “Bad Brains” who mixed the unlikely styles of hardcore punk, dub and reggae and both were based in D.C. Hardcore Punk became the most dominant style of punk music around 1981 in the entire US and not just California anymore. A New York scene developed alos including the relocated “Bad Brains”, “The Misfits”, “Reagan Youth” and “Agnostic Front” and the “Beastie Boys” also debuted that year as a hardcore band before going onto much greater success as a, genre mashing, Hip Hop Group. Incidentally did you know the B.E.A.S.T.I.E part of their names actually stands for “Boys Entering Anarchistic States Towards Inner Excellence” and that they also sampled “The Bad Brains” on their “Check You Head” song “Pass the mic?”

The Lyrical content of “Hardcore” music is often critical of commercial Culture and middle class values, as in the celebrated “Dead Kennedy’s” “Holiday in Cambodia”. “Straight Edge” also came into being with bands such as “Minor Threat”, who helped develop a scene which moved away from many of their peer’s lifestyles of self-destruction, alcohol, cigarettes, drugs and casual sex and instead abstained from all and around about this time bands like “Agent Orange” went on to start the beginning of the Skate Punk Movement too.

Another key development of “Punk Music” comes with the “Pop Punk” style and again it’s roots can be traced back to bands like “The Ramones” and if not before in the late 1970’s with UK bands such as “The Buzzcocks” and “The Undertones” who combined pop-style melodies and lyrical themes about teenage lust and love and combined that with punk’s speed and chaotic edge. In the early 1980’s some of the leading bands in Southern Cali’ had began to a adopt a more melodic approach than was typical of their peers, Bad Relgion for instance mixed great political lyrics with the nicest and most accessible of harmonies. Epitaph Records, founded by their member Brett Gurewitz, was also to become the base for many future “Pop Punk” groups, bands who infused punk with light hearted pop hooks like “The Queers” and “Screeching Weasel” who in turn went on to influence bands like “GreenDay” and “The OffSpring”; both of who broke punk’s appeal into the mainstream and had vast record sales before reaching it’s most diluted form with “Blink 182”. Other bands kep to it’s development was bands like “Guttermouth” and “The Vandals” who somehow managed to combine real nice pop melodies but with humorously offensive and intelligent lyrics which may be the reason they never got the same degree of mainstream success.

Which brings us “roughly” up to the present day and I’ll leave you to fill in any of the many blanks and inconsistencies and update it as you will. Thanks for reading.

 

A Brief History of Punk Part 2 New Wave and Two Tone

Towards the end of the 1970’s in the UK the “Punk” movement began to dissolve from its previous agro and basic cord structure and evolve into something new. “New Wave” was an umbrella term for the many facets of this new music. As I said in the last instalment, “Punk” itself took many routes like “Hardcore” in the USA and the more “arty” Post Punk bands but in England, at this time roughly, the main route of advancement took a turn towards more accessible songs with better production, all be it, still infused with the anger of punk, BUT with advanced musicianship, pop melodies, harmonies and hooks written by writers who approached pop music with the sardonic attitude and tense aggression of the previous movement. Artists like “Elvis Costello”, “Joe Jackson” and “Squeeze” emerged with witty songs pop songs full of key boards and harmony but with an edge and often knowing cynicism not previously seen in “pop” music. In The early days of 1970 the term “New Wave” first was used by critics to describe NY bands like “The Velvet Underground” and even “The New York Dolls” - who to me are a pioneering “PuNK” Band and hold nothing in common with what I consider to be “New Wave”. “CBGB” owner Hilly Kristal used the term in 1974 to describe the band “Television”, saying, “I think of that as the beginning of New Wave.” The term itself gained much wider currency beginning in 1976 when it appeared in UK punk Fanzines such as “Sniffin Glue” and also in more mainstream magazines like the “NME” and “Melody Maker”. Early on it was actually used by “Sex Pistols” manager the late Macolm McLaren and was adopted by music jorno Caroline Coon to designate to any music that was at the time not exactly punk but related to, and part of the same musical scene. The term was attached to a large and diverse section of bands like “The Boom Town Rats”, “The Cure” and even “Ian Dury and the Blockheads” - later to be adopted more by the Two Tone movement. Music Historian Vernon Joynson states “New Wave” emerged in the UK in LATE 1976 when many bands began disassociating their selves from Punk. Music that followed the anarchic, garage band ethos of the “Pistols” was distinguished as “Punk” while music that tended towards experimentation, lyrical complexity or more polished production, came to be categorized as New Wave.

A lot of bands like “Joy Division” and “Gary Numan” – once a fully fledged punk – began to use synthesizers at around this time and this led to the “New Romantic” movement, confusing also known as “New Wave” in its early days. I was never much of a fan of this new electronic based music using machines and splashy drum pads and “Top Of the Pops” then cutting edge Video effects BUT bands like “Duran, Duran”, “Ultra Vox”, “Depeche Mode” and “Adam and the Ants” all excelled. The “New Romantics” kept the image of punk, crossed it with “Bowie” esq “Gender bending” and kept the isolation and alienation of punk songs but little else. In the US “New Wave” became a term for any band who used synthesizers where as in the UK by the early 1980’s music journalists were using the term “Synthpop” instead and “New wave” was seen as something else. AS you can see The actual term of “New Wave” is as confused and diverse as the previous Term “PuNK”.

IN 1979 to all but the most dedicated Punk was dead. While many band s had abandoned guitars others craved a different musical direction with the same energy. Previously bands like “The Clash” had adopted elements of traditionally “black” music but now a new trend known as “Two Tone” took this culture mash to the next level. “2 Tone” was a “Ska” revival based around the UK, led most prominently by head of “2 Tone Records” Jerry Dammers and bands like “The Specials”, “The Beat” and “The Selector” based around Coventry and close by in Birmingham. This sound was developed by 1980’s West Midlands youth growing up hearing their parents 1960s “Jamaican music” as well as punk which they then combined with elements of “Ska”, “Reggae” and “Rocksteady” as well as the current genre of “New Wave” as it currently existed. Bands like

“The Police” had previously been a punk band but their style was vastly improved by mixing elements of “reggae and dub” into their minimalist, stripped down “New Wave” Pop but they didn’t fit in with the new “2 Tone” sounds as well as other emerging bands like the ridiculously catchy “Madness” or the Art punk of “Ian Dury”. Most of the bands considered to be part of “Two tone” scene were signed to 2 Dammer’s label at some point. With his company and his band “The specials” Dammers basically created his own genre of music much like “Motown” had in America. “The Specials” were one of the most successful bands of the movement and enjoyed their biggest period of success between 1979 and 1981. Songs like “Too Much Too young” could have been straight up punk but no one could mistake the eerie sound of “Ghost Town”- Actually written about Coventry- for anything but a new step ford in musical history! With two tone came a new dance known as skanking and the iconic black and white album covers – symbolic of white and black youth embracing each other at a time when in England the ****s in the Far right and NF were on the rise – and of course the two tone look of a black suit, white suit , black tie , sun glasses and the porkpie hat!

Although a major movement in the UK, “Ska Beat” was less influential in America, although it has to be stated that “Third Wave Ska Punk” bands like “No Doubt”, “Reel Big Fish”, “Less than Jake”, “Save Ferris”, “Operation Ivy” and even “Rancid” were directly influenced by the UK “2 tone music” and not really the original “Ska” musicians like “Desmond Dekker”, “The Skatalites” or “Toots and the Maytals”, and that they probably wouldn’t exist without it!

 

A BRIEF HISTORY OF UK SYNTH POP

Watched a documentary on the rise of “Synthesiser Pop” in Britain some time back. I have a vague interest in it as I do make music in the field, roughly, although all our synths are all programmed not played.

In the beginning there was “Kraftwerk”. These bunch of Germans are probably one of the most influential groups in electronic music and were real pioneers. On stage they wore matching suits, had no guitars and even played their own self-made instruments and synths. Their music was cold and almost machine like. Apart from their one hit “The Model “ they evaded mainstream appeal but there’s no electronic act going today that doesn’t owe them a dept of thanks. Such was their appeal that when “OMD” singer Andy McClusky saw them perform live at a gig he excitedly rushed backstage to meet them and declared that they were “ the future of music” and that his own group were going to “throw away their own guitars”.

At the time the British “Punk” movement was in full effect but the future was rolling in and tunes like “Donna Summers” ground breaking “I feel love” were to prove very influential. Although electronic music had been produced for decades before this “Giorgio Moroder's” innovative production of this disco-style song, recorded with an entirely synthesized backing track, spawned imitators in the disco genre, and was influential in the development of techno. And the punks were listening. A number of groups were so blown away by the songs radical approach and the on rush of new technology that they vowed to take the energy and attitude of punk but make music with more style and greater musical complexity, melody and harmony – Ironic as that may seem. This could be seen most clearly in groups like “Joy Division” taking guitars and the punk ethos but adding drum machines and electronic elements to their music .Although they were less “synthy” than some of the others in the movement they were a clear cross over band between the two genres.

Early groups like “The Human League” – named after a geeky sci fi game – tried to reflect the alienation and dystopian nature of times and took on music with the first actual affordable synths. Before this Synthesisers had took up whole rooms with massive keyboard stacks. These cheap and new synths were key to the new music taking ground and many musicians bought or assembled their own, in one case even facing the choice between buying a car or a unit. The musician in question still can’t drive but his first synth is still going strong.

Experimental bands like “Throbbing Gristle”, and industrial “Tangerine Dream”, again used self made instruments and although were by no massive success were again deeply influential. Still Synth Pop was hated by the “Musical Press” who didn’t see it as “real music” and the movement wasn’t breaking the charts.

Synthesizer music was first popularized by “Gary Numan” at the end of the 1970’s. He had a string of hits including “Are Friend’s Electric?” – later sampled by the “SugarBabes” – “Down in the Park” and his biggest success even to this day, “Cars”. At the time a lot of the pioneers of the sound were jealous of his success but he added a pop sheen and alien accessibility to the genre which the previous bands had lacked. Numan had first been a punk and had gone into the studio with his guitar to make a rock album but famously someone had left a synthesizer there and when playing about it he instantly fell in love and “The Tubeway Army” was born!

The Music became more popular and not so cold and alienated. Bands like “Depeche Mode” added a more pop element to their music and even sex appeal and the “Human League” added female vocalists. Other band’s appeared like “Ultravox”, and “Soft Cell” - who created an unlikely mix of “Kraftwerk” and soul music - and Yazoo which featured Alison Moyet and former “Depeche mode” member Vince Clarke, who to his surprise now found himself in a second hit band! This was to prove to be a template of the new music, the passionate female or gay male singer and the second and only other member of the band on a keyboard synthesizer and drum machine. By this time the “New Romantic” movement was in the full swing and although the press and reviewers still hated synths the general public was in love But by the mid 80’s it had all broken and became trite. Of course the synth pop’s movements greatest legacy was to go on to form what we call modern “dance music” and there are many revivalists like “Kid Kasio” – formally of the “Modern” - who are still true to the genre even today!

 

A BRIEF HISTORY OF NU METAL

Back in the 90’s Nu Metal was one of the biggest movements of the underground rock scene, with bands like “Deftones”, “Korn”, “Limp Bizkit”, even Irish band “One Minute silence” and much more mellow “Incubus”, blowing open the whole scene. But the roots of the movement started much earlier. As a style “Nu Metal’s” main attribute was when, predominately white kids in America who grew up listening to rock AND rap, decided to make the move to try and combine elements of the two styles of music, linked by a similar vibe and the aggression of “Gangsta rap” they began to make music, which was more stripped down and based more around simple grooves, as opposed to complex riffs and with nearly no solos. “Metal” purists looked down on “NU Metal” as being crude and over simplistic, or just plain retarded, but a lot of kids were turned on by the fusion and I for one know it’s what my ears had been waiting for, changed my life and led to my later love or pure old school hip hop. It opened a lot of ears, including mine.

But the ground work for “Nu Metal” was laid in the decade before. “Faith No More” started as a pretty terrible funk metal band but they turned into a whole other creature when young Mike Pattern joined the bands on their third album “The Real Thing”. Previously the band had released the hit rap/ rock hit single “We Care A lot” but pattern took it to the new level, spitting dark and poetic raps over tracks like the thrash metal, aggression of “Surprise! Your dead!” and “Falling to pieces” but it was the massive cross over hit “Epic” which made the biggest impact. I know both Jonthan Davies of Korn and Branbon Boyd of “Incubus” have both cited early “FNM” as a key influence on their own bands.

Still “FNM” were not alone at this time of genre fusing. “The Red hot chilli peppers” had been mixing rap, funk and rock since their bands early beginnings, “Rage against the machine” took heavy “zeppelin” grooves and attached funk and aggressive political rap and, on the other end of the spectrum, influential Rap group “Public enemy” sampled “Slayer” on their killer track “Channel Zero”, before working with Thrash metal band “Anthrax” on a re-working of the “PE” song “Bring The Noise” and “Ice T” emerged with his all black metal band “Body Count”, talking about the situations of the ghetto over chugging guitars. They weren’t alone either, “Run Dmc” took an old “Aerosmith” song and, under Rick Rubins guidance, turned it into the “Hiprock” monster that was “Walk This way”. Rick Rubin was actually a key figure in “Nu Metal’s” early structure. He’s produced bands like the “Chilli peppers” and “System of a down” as well as adding convincing a lot of bands to add guitars to their rap, or rap to their guitars. The “Beastie boys” - another pioneering Hiprock band, only added guitar to mega hit “Fight for your right” to party due to Rubins’ persuasion and more recently he added classic rock samples to “Eminem’s” joint “Berzerk”.

Another key moment in the birth of the genre was with 1993’s soundtrack album to the film “Judgement Night”. The film is unremarkable but the sound track was very influential to a lot of bands to come. Taking some of the biggest “Hip hop” groups and artists of the time and then combing them with a number of very popular rock and metal bands of the times: “Cypress hill” - influential in the own way, they sampled “Black Sabbath” early in their career before doing a hardcore punk album at the end of the 90s – rapped other “Sonic Youth”, “Dinosaur JNR” combined stoner sludge with underrated MC “Del the Funky Homosapian’s” fluent raps and “Helmet” chugged along a two part song with cross over band “House of Pain” BUT it was again “Faith no More” who shined with the incredibly heavy and savage “Another Body Murdered” with the very nasty “B.O.O.Y.A.A. Tribe”.

At the start of the scene, “Korn” - often seen as the “God fathers of Nu metal” - took some of the “Hill’s” Low-End funk and mixing it with sludge metal creating a new sound with their down tuned, 7 string guitars. Other bands like “Limp Bizkit” – and, at a much later date , The “Deftones” and even “Incubus” - added Hip Hop DJ’s to their bands line up, “Hip Hop” drum patterns and some bands like “Hed (Pe)” and “Primer55” started rapping instead of singing and “Nu metal” was born!

Late comers to the scene included the “System of a down” - who didn’t blend hip hop as obviously but used very heavy drops - “Slipknot” using a DJ and vocals which would sway wildly between screaming, singing and even accomplished rapping and of course the massive “Linken Park” who later took their music in a much more accessible and pop orientated direction but were unarguably “Nu Metal” at their start.

Now a days the movement is almost dead and modern rap metal is often crude and indeed even, laughable, but a lot of modern bands still add much looser elements of rap but it’s blended in more subtlety and the influence is more of a shade as opposed to being a straight up fusion.

 

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