How are you?
Following the last week, I am going to
start my 70th lecture.
The topic for this week is “Punk”, the
9th theme of “The History of Rock”.
This lecture is a summary of the
contents of “70. History of Rock Music: 9. Punk” introduced on November 26,
2016.
Punk rock or Punk is a genre of rock music that was formed in the United States, England and Australia in the mid-1970s. Punk rock bands rejected mainstream rock in the 1970s and generally sang short or fast-tempo songs with cool melodies and song styles, the most basic performances excluding everything unnecessary, and often political and dissident lyrics.
The term "punk" was first used by some American critics in the early 1970s to describe the Garage Bands of the 1960s and their subsequent acts. The bands considered to be punk rock pioneers include New York-based Television, Patti Smith and Ramones, London-based Sex Pistols, The Clash and the Damned, Los Angeles-based The Runaways, and the Saints in Brisbane.
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| Patti Smith Group |
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| Ramones |
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| The Runaways |
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| The Saints |
Punk rock vocals sometimes snort, the singing is like a scream rather than song, guitar playing is free and wild without any restriction, and bass players often use picks instead of fingers to play the bass guitar for fast successive playing. The lyrics of punk rock are generally outright, confronting, talking about social/political issues compared to other genres, and the central goal of early punk rock in England was to anger for and shock the mainstream.
The songs such as the Clash's "Career Opportunities" and Chelsea's "Right to Work" talk about the unemployment and gloom of city life, and Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the UK" and "God Save the Queen" undermined British political systems and social stereotypes.
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| The Clash |
American male punk rock musicians settled the image of punk rock with retro style such as the style of biker youths in the 1950s linked to rockabilly style and the style of T-shirts, motorcycles, jackets and jeans favored by British rock musicians in the 1960s. The picture of the Ramones' 1976 debut album cover became the standard punk style, and punk rock musicians imitated it.
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| Ramones (1976) |
Early female punk musicians showed a variety of styles, from the bondage gear of Siouxsie Sioux to the unisex style of Patti Smith. In addition, tattoos, piercings and metal accessories have become common elements of punk fashion for both punk musicians and fans.
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| Siouxsie Sioux |
Many grunge artists in the early 1990s,
including Nirvana, acknowledged that they were influenced by punk rock bands,
and the success of Nirvana led major record companies to re-recognize the
potential of punk rock bands.
As a result, at the end of the 20th century, punk rock began to join the mainstream as pop punk, and punk rock bands such as Green Day, the Offspring and Blink-182 have contributed popularity of the genre.
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| Green Day |
You can also review this lecture from
following media.
Next week, I will lecture 10th topic “hardcore”.
Thank you.
