“I imagine myself as a huge, blazing comet, a shooting star. Everyone freezes, looks up and is surprised: “Look, look!” And then - shhhh, and I'm gone, people will never see anything like this again, and they will never be able to forget me - never.
Jim Morrison
"Punk rock is alive" - say the gray walls of the abandoned, colorful from the numerical inscriptions of craftsmen. But is this statement true? After all, when the first wave of punk rock was born in the 70s, British bands simply aspired to play stunning and radical music, despite the fact that their musical skills could hardly be called worthy. But most modern punk rock bands are just a pathetic parody, a faded shade great era. They often immerse themselves in electronica, at times they are more like pop-rock, continuing to exchange cheap antics and a pseudo-politicized form.
Many musical intellectuals prefer not to regard punk rock as something special or eternal, much less significant. However, this is a false opinion. Born from the ashes of rock and roll, rockabilly and glam rock, punk rock has given rise to an incredible number of new musical paradigms - the culture of fanzines, straight edge, aggressive hardcore, Oi!, new combinations of ska-punk and post-punk. Megalyrics pays tribute great The Misfits, The Stooges, Sex Pistols, Ramones and many other punk rock bands, bowing their heads to their eternal creativity. To your attention Top 10 pan-rock bands of all time according to the magazine Rolling Stones.
10 Bad Brains
Bad Brains is an American hardcore band formed in Washington DC in 1975. They started their career with jazz fusion, but after only a couple of years, thanks to their punk rock hit Rozz & Negative Trend - Never Say Die, henceforth radically changed their sound. Also, Bad Brains remain one of the few African-American bands to have made it onto the CBGB scene. In a relatively short time, their sound has evolved and improved, experimenting with everything from soul reggae to hard metal. To this day Bad Brains are one of the great bands of the 70's era. Today, Bad Brains continue to tour with the same line-up for three decades and in this moment are working on their ninth studio album.
9. Social Distortion
Inspired by the first generation of punk rock bands, Mike Ness created Social Distortion in 1978, a band that became one of the most famous of the early 80s, and, unlike many of their compatriots, they did not betray punk rock. and to this day. In 1992, in the midst of all sorts of grunge movements, Social Distortion released their incredible album Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell. The band's line-up was changed only once, due to the death of guitarist Dennis Danell in 2000. Since then, Social Distortion has continued to record albums and play regular shows.
8. The Misfits
Glenn Danzig (Glenn Danzig) took the name of the group from the horror film of the same name, the penultimate one with the participation of Marilyn Monroe - Restless. The band was formed in 1977 and seemed to deliberately shock the parents of the kids, as they played incredibly fast songs with killer lyrics and brutal lyrics that would have stunned even The Ramones. The Misfits drew their inspiration from old horror films, even the image of the group was appropriate - gloomy black colors, skulls, skeletons and almost all song themes - a reflection of what they saw in horror. However, such a shocking and shocking appearance had a negative impact on their future, because not a single record company did not agree to release their first two albums, which prevented them from appearing on the shelves of music stores until 1982. By that time, Danzig already had his own vision of a solo career and the band broke up. Over the next few years, bands such as Metallica and Guns N' Roses cited influence legendary The Misfits in their work. The popularity of the group increased only by 1995, since that time The Misfits have been touring the world.
7. Black Flag
The Henry Rollins era was long before contemporary artists and ratings of the most requested musicians of the site VH1. hardcore Black band Flag was actually created back in 1976, inspired by the simplicity and immediacy of The Ramones' first album by guitarist Greg Ginn. Initially, the group had the name Panic, the composition of which was unstable. Wild Black Flag concerts were often held at party houses or other non-traditional venues. They became legends as they inspired countless new bands. A with own creativity the team said goodbye in 1986.
6. Iggy and the Stooges
What could be sadder than the story of the Stooges. When the proto-punk icon fell apart in 1974, no one even noticed. It happened on the eve of the release of their third album, under the label of a major company. In the same period when the brain of Iggy Pop (Iggy Pop) was slowly paralyzed by drugs. However, over the following decades, the legends of Iggy and the Stooges grew slowly but rapidly. Like the Sex Pistols and Guns N' Roses, The Stooges were reformed in 2003, suddenly headlining most of the festivals of the time. Despite the death of their guitarist Ron Asheton, they continue to tour regularly with the album Rawpower.
5. Dead Kennedys
The Dead Kennedys really affected an entire generation of people. With songs like Too Drunk To Fuck, Holiday In Cambodia And Nazi Punks Fuck Off(not to mention their extravagant collective name), many social services in the early 80s had a grudge against them, suggesting that they were just a bunch of rapists, anarchists and moral freaks. But, in our time, anyone who listens to at least a couple of their songs will easily notice sarcastic and ironic notes. The group broke up in 1986, and frontman Jello Biafra (Jello Biafra) subsequently led the Green Party organization and took up art. The rest of the band reunited and have been playing shows without him since 2001.
4 Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols - partially living legend, garnering attention for her obscene television appearances, clothing, arrests, hairstyles, and drug use. It is thanks to all this set that their short but bright career dwarfs even Cobain with his album Never Mind. Almost every Pistols song is a punk rock classic. Their 1996 reunion created a lot of noise and material for the newspapers. Replacing the deceased Sid Vicious with the good old Glen Matlock, they still go on tour every few years.
3. Ramones
In many ways, the Ramones are on the list of the so-called "damned bands". For the first 20 years of their existence, they never rose above position 66 in the world charts. And vocalist Joey Ramone struggled with obsessive-compulsive disorder all his life, while bassist Dee Dee Ramone was a hopeless junkie. When the band disbanded in 1996, in just a couple of years the legends about them grew, and the Ramones' music finally began to appear in films and television shows. They were later honored with a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
2. The Clash
The Clash era lasted only seven years, but in that short time they had an incredible impact on the course of rock history. Even The Beatles failed to make such a breakthrough. The Clash began their careers like many traditional punk bands, releasing debut single White Riot. But soon the guys began to experiment with all sorts of musical styles from rockabilly to reggae and even hip-hop. Their album London Calling often cited as one of the greatest records of all time, and all five that follow are perfect masterpieces. Since 1985, the group has not reunited again.
1. green day
Perhaps the owners of the highest ratings are members of the Green Day group. They are probably even more in demand on the Internet than The Ramones and The Clash. Now it is easier to talk about their significance than in the early 2000s, when Green Day's career seemed disastrous. They lit up while performing on the same stage with Blink-182 in the summer of 2002. And now it is difficult to name a much greater punk rock band on the planet, given the sales of the album american idiot. The brilliant tours of 2004 forever changed the future of Green Day - they began to play for entire stadiums and settled with their hits for a long time on the steps of the world charts, longer than any other pan-rock band.
One of my favorite genres in music is post-punk. Rummaging through it for a long time, I noticed that for the most part its representatives are not popular in the broad sense of the word, that is, they don’t collect stadiums, they don’t flicker in the charts. Cultism - much more suitable characteristic for post-punk bands (by the way, for gothic rock bands too), but even it has its own geography.
I don’t know how the situation with post-punk is developing now in the same UK (the birthplace of the vast majority of post-punk bands from The Lucy Show to some), or in France (which was once also in post-punk topic with bands like Mary Goes Round), or even in the USA (I still can't believe that Talking Heads comes from there, and not from the UK, as I thought before). As for Russia, after a long time of traveling on the Internet, I got the impression that only two categories of people are well versed in post-punk: some are, in principle, post-punk fans (relatively speaking, two and a half people), and others are big lovers to participate in disputes from the series “And I plagiarized everything” (a bunch of trolls raiding the sites of Russian rock fans, as well as just two and a half people with much more adequate views). Of course, the historical factor played a big role - it is impossible to get rid of it completely, but it is possible to reduce its influence, in which great help His Majesty the Internet can provide us.
5 British post-punk bands you need to hear
- low life
After listening to the very first Lowlife song from their first album, the following association immediately appeared in my head: Dave Gahan (from the 80s) performs something from the repertoire of Joy Division. However, it is worth noting that with each subsequent album of the group, the possibility of its appearance is becoming less and less: in particular, the last work of the Gush team in 1995 is more like creativity, to which the spirit of Joy Division was only slightly added.
- Red Lorry Yellow Lorry
But Red Lorry Yellow Lorry with a couple of their first albums would have been quite drawn to the real EBM. There are at least two reasons: firstly, drums, to which an unprepared listener can react only with phrases from the series “It hits the brain!”, And, secondly, vocals in the style of “How did you all get me, I’ll go beat everyone with a bat." Interestingly, in more later works Red Lorry Yellow Lorry began to play softer music, but they no longer had success.
- The Chameleons UK
If it suddenly seemed to you that the previous two points were inserted on a "from one extreme to another" principle, then The Chameleons (listed in the US as The Chameleons UK) is definitely for you. Their repertoire ranges from armor-piercing songs in the vein of early Red Lorry Yellow Lorries to soft ballads. By the way, you should also be pleased with the fact that there are more video clips with the participation of this team.
- Sad Lovers & Giants
Post-punk melancholy, in my opinion, Sad Lovers & Giants did a particularly good job of revealing. What else this group is remarkable for me is the fact that its vocals can hardly be called not only outstanding, but at least memorable, but this does not spoil it at all, because, in my opinion, the melodies are the main ones here. Well, as in Russian rock texts.
- The Psychedelic Furs
This group can boast both much more memorable songs (in terms of the politics of radio stations and TV channels, of course, what do you think?), And the equally memorable vocals of Richard Butler, who sings the way he would sing if he was forced to renounce punk rock. This is probably why one critic called The Psychedelic Furs from post-punk an intermediate link between and, that is, between punk rock and alternative rock, which, like post-punk, also have their own stars and their own bands that have fallen out of sight .
I propose the following experiment. Evaluate the groups included in the material of this article, and vote for the one you like best in the corresponding
In 1975 she gave her first concert at St. Martin's College of Art in London. Sex Pistols group more precisely, they performed only five songs, after which a frightened college employee turned off the electricity. From now on in England started punk revolution- propaganda of personal freedom, anarchy and shocking. Strangely dressed guys and girls appeared on the streets, who behaved defiantly and drank alcohol in front of everyone. Punk was not only musical direction- it has become a kind of ideology, demeanor and fashion style.
Several factors contributed to the emergence of punk culture: in the 1970s, the UK had the highest rate of youth unemployment. A depressive atmosphere of social hopelessness reigned in society. The level of trust in the authorities was rapidly falling. The peace-loving ideology of the hippies did not give way to the accumulated aggression. Gradually moving into the musical mainstream, rock could no longer satisfy the needs of young people in demonstrating protest and rebellious moods. Therefore, the emergence of a new subculture became quite logical.
Punks are a youth subculture, the main features of which were ideological nihilism, nonconformism, denial of social foundations, a critical attitude towards power, protest against material assets And career development, outrageous demeanor, defiant style of dress. Punk culture originated in the 1960s in the United States, and in the 1970s the UK became its center.
The word "punk" is ambiguous: "scum", "scoundrel", "rot", "dirt", "scum". Before the advent of the musical style, it was used as a swear word. musical term characterized "garage rock", the word "punk" in the meaning of "rotten" was used as a metaphor for American groups who sang obscene songs and behaved provocatively.
The famous designer is considered the founder of the punk style in fashion. Vivienne Westwood. Her husband - Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren - created the ideology of the punk movement, and she visualized it in fashion. Ripped T-shirts with provocative inscriptions, leather collars, belts and chains, shoes on high platforms, leather jackets with studs, ripped jeans, studded wristlets appealed to young anarchist rebels.
In 1971, Vivienne Westwood opened Let It Rock, later renamed Sex, which became the fashion center of British punk culture. All members of the Sex Pistols wore Vivien's designs. It was she who first began to wear a mohawk, which has become an invariable attribute of punk style.
Punk culture has left a significant mark on the history of youth subcultures and is still of interest. A good example of this is the Philadelphia College of Art and Design. Moore.
Punk rock(eng. Punk rock) - a genre of rock music that emerged in the mid-1970s in the United States and, a little later, in the UK. Punk rock combined social protest and musical rejection of the then forms of rock: the deliberately primitive playing and perkyness of early rock and roll were cultivated.
The meaning that early punk rock bands put into their genre was the desire to play, which dominates the ability to play; this definition formed the heterogeneous early American punk scene, ranging from the primitive and lightweight Ramones to the sophisticated and experimental Television. This approach allowed punk rock to become the mainstay of a number of subcultures - punk, DIY, fanzine culture, and later - straight edge. In 1976-1977, punk rock begins to emerge in the UK, in a more scandalous and politicized form; thanks to this, by 1977 the genre becomes one of the most notable phenomena in rock music in the UK.
Over time, punk rock spawned
Many varieties. The biggest of these are more melodic and lightweight pop punk, aggressive hardcore and Oi!, as well as combinations with other genres - ska-punk and post-punk, which has become a major genre in its own right.
Name
The word punk in English has many meanings, but before the advent of punk rock, in most cases it was used as a curse word. Among the meanings, depending on the context, could be "prostitute", "homosexual" or simply "bastard", in all cases this is an emotional obscene expression.
The first mention of the word "punk" in connection with rock music dates back to 1970, when the Chicago Tribune newspaper reviewed an album by an avant-garde garage bands The Fugs, their music has been described as "punk rock, hillbilly sentiment". Lester Bangs, one of the alleged inventors of the term "heavy metal", used the word in articles about Iggy Pop. But for the first time, as a term, and not an epithet, the combination "punk rock" began to be used by critics Dave Marsh and Lenny Kaye in the 1970s.
In 1976, the Punk fanzine was created by Legs McNeil. The magazine was dedicated to American punk rock and new wave, already clearly uniting them in a direction. It was this magazine that gave the genre its final name.
Characteristic
Punk rock compositions in general are characterized by a fast pace, sometimes a short duration, simple accompaniment, a cheeky and often aggressive manner of singing. The lyrics of punk rock bands are usually nihilistic, sometimes focusing on social issues. Often, punk rock bands have a shocking image: for example, the New York Dolls dressed on stage in bright women's clothing, The Adicts imitated the film's protagonists " Clockwork orange»; later, such details of the punk image as torn clothes (Richard Hull), pins (Sex Pistols), mohawk hairstyles (The Exploited) appear.
Story
1970s
The musical roots of punk rock are traced by critics as far back as the late 1950s; mostly at that time primitive and hard music was played by garage rock bands. The key representatives of early proto-punk music are The Sonics, Monks, The Seeds, The Who(album "My Generation"), The Kinks (song "You Really Got Me"). A number of recordings of the late 1960s and early 1970s were already in one way or another close to what would later be called punk rock; these records are now conventionally referred to as proto-punk. These include the first albums by The Velvet Underground, The Stooges (and Iggy Pop), MC5, New York Dolls, Patti Smith (Horses album), The Dictators (Go Girl Crazy! album), David Bowie.
The early punk scene formed primarily in New York around several clubs; the scene had its origins in the late 1960s, Andy Warhol's Factory, and the Detroit garage scene, centered on the CBGB club. The first real punk band is considered to be the New York Ramones; their extremely simplified music, accelerated so much that 30 songs fit into half-hour concerts, as well as a “street” image and predetermined everything fundamental principles genre. In the UK, the Damned and the Sex Pistols followed in the footsteps of the American punk scene. The example of these groups was followed by a large number of young teams. While in the US punk was an underground sensation, in the UK it became a full-blown social phenomenon, where it was seen as a real threat to the well-being of the establishment. Many British bands blindly copied the Sex Pistols, but many found their original sound (Buzzcocks, The Clash, the artistic experiments of Wire and Joy Division).
1980-1990s
By the early 1980s, there was some decline in the development of punk. The wave of popularity of the first groups came to naught. However, experiments began around this time to make the punk sound more brutal; bands like Black Flag and Circle Jerks spawned a major sub-genre of hardcore, Sham 69 and Cockney Rejects - oi!, Crass - anarcho-punk. Experiments began to combine punk with metal (The Exploited, Discharge, D.R.I.), ska (Social Drinking, Operation Ivy). For the most part, punk bands of the 80s did not attract wide public attention, being in the underground. However, at the same time, the genres of alternative rock, noise rock, post-punk were developing; key bands in these areas (Sonic Youth, Pixies, Big Black, Hüsker Dü) maintained a strong punk influence while developing new musical ideas.
By the late 80s and early 90s, thanks to the bands Bad Religion and NOFX, pop punk gained popularity; this kind of punk rock differed significantly from the pop punk of the 70s (Buzzcocks) and achieved major popularity. Bands Offspring, Green Day, Rancid became the basis of pop-punk of the 90s; however, it is generally accepted that the genre began to degenerate with the emergence of non-original bands like Blink 182.
Back in 1978, left-wing anarchist punks Crass from the English county of Essex uncompromisingly and unequivocally stated in the song " Punk Is Dead that punk, they say, died and, worse, sold out, the revolution was exchanged for currency. Nevertheless, three years later, the charismatic frontman of the Scottish punk band The Exploited, Watty Buchan, proclaimed his slogan in response to them, which became much more popular and replicated in the mass consciousness: “ Punk's Not Dead ».
One way or another, the debate about whether punk is still alive has been going on ever since its birth on the streets of London and New York in the 1970s. In this material, we decided, if not to answer this question, then at least to understand how modern European punk rock lives - we tried to be very diverse, so we did not focus on one specific manifestation of punk, but collected a vinaigrette: from dance and rhythmic to atonal and aggressive. The formal reason for this was today's Moscow concert of a young Danish punk band Iceage, whose second album "You" re Nothing" received even more rave reviews from critics than the magnificent debut album "New Brigade".
Terrible Feelings
The quartet Terrible Feelings, led by the charming vocalist Manuela Ivansson, was formed in the Swedish city of Malmö in 2010. A year later, they released their first mini-album Blank Heads. musical style bands range from garage punk to something like heavy rock and roll. Judging by their latest EP "Backwoods", released in August this year, the band's sound is gradually becoming more and more pure - probably grown up. But nevertheless the essence remains the same: Terrible Feelings is a very cheerful, a bit naive and cheerful punk in a teenage way.
The Gallows are an English hardcore punk band formed in 2005 in Watford. A year later, they released their first album "Orchestra of Wolves", highly acclaimed by reviewers from Kerrang!, NME and other music publications. In 2011, frontman Frank Carter left the band due to "creative differences" and formed with American guitarist Jim Carroll new group pure love. Despite this, Gallows released their self-titled third album in 2012 with new vocalist Wade McNeil.
We Are the Physics
The Scots We Are the Physics gathered in Glasgow in 2005 and released three years later debut album Are OK At Music. The boys themselves describe their style as "mutant sci-punk rock" and report being famous for their eccentric shows and B-movie aesthetics. Concerning musical influences, then among them are the cult art-punks Devo, the Japanese Polysics with their “screaming pogo-punk” and even the most famous rock and roll bespectacled Buddy Holly. Mixing all this, we get a fashionable dance punk with elements of mat-rock - this, of course, is not what their compatriots from The Exploited had in mind, but formally still punk rock.
The Rue D'la Soif quartet from Rennes, France has a very unusual instrument for punk rock - the accordion. Something similar would probably have happened if the famous accordionist Yvette Orner decided to record with the British punk patriarchs The Clash. The group was formed in 2004, in 2008 they released their debut album "Quoi Qu'on En Dise...", and literally from day to day their second disc "L'Ardoise" should appear - not so hurricane and peppy, but much more lyrical, judging by the first singles.
Danish power trio The Movement was formed in Copenhagen in 2002. They play mod-rock with elements of punk and ska, inspired by The Jam, The Who and The Clash, as well as (carefully!) Karl Marx and Rosa Luxembourg. Influence British subculture mods are also noticeable in the design of the group's records, among which there are already three full-length albums at the moment. It is better to start acquaintance with the band from their debut album “Move!”, replete with good-quality ska-punk action movies with lyrics about the fight against a hypocritical society, wasted youth, but not lost ideals.
Garage punks The Heartburns got together in the Finnish city of Turku in 2001 and released their first record in 2003. After a string of singles, splits and concert tours the group broke up in order to be reborn in Helsinki in 2006 with a new line-up, with only two members of the original, and finally record their debut album “Fucked Up in a Bad Way” with ten songs full of anger, hopelessness and alcohol intoxication. After releasing another album in 2008, the band exists to this day, regularly arranging concerts and reissuing on vinyl their poor legacy.
Lendakaris Muertos
The Spanish comedy-punk band Lendakaris Muertos was formed in Pamplona in 2004, and their self-titled debut album was released a year later. The guys play "fast orthodox punk" (as they say) with ironic lyrics that make fun of many social and political issues, including the confrontation between Spain and the so-called Basque Country, releasing unambiguous witticisms regarding both sides of the conflict.
