Educate Us About Punk!
 

I'm sure there are guys here who can really get in to the nitty gritty of this. What are the differences between British, New York and California punk? Who are considered the founding fathers? Who are the modern inheritors and what are they doing now?

Me? I'm illiterate. I just know what I like and I recognize they are different but not their influences and where I can get more guys like them. For instance: NOFX awesome, D Generation really loved. Like the Ramones and Dead Kennedys and the Clash, Generation X, Social Distortion, Sex Pistols. Not sure many of those are really alike. I see the Ramones in D Generation. If I like D Generation, who else should I look for?

I don't know man, I think Punk is kind of tricky.
Who started what, and what it means, and and who's is and is not a poser.
In America, I think Iggy Pop, And the MC5, and Ramones are given credit as the pioneers of Punk.
Although, I don't think they ever called themselves punk.

As far as the look of punk, I think that Johnny Rotten can take credit, and I think he does. See the movie THE FILTH AND THE FURY.
He was protesting the garbage strike in london by wearing the garbage. The way he puts it is, he started wear this junk on stage and by the next couple of shows everyone showed up doing the same.

Funny thing for me is, some of this, "Punk Rock", just sounds like heavier 50's rock and roll, with anti lyrics. With that , I would say that Jerry Lee Lewis is the Godfather of Punk. That dude was crazy, he didn't give a fuck, and he set his Piano on fire.
In the 50's!!
JERRY LEE! JERRY LEE! JERRY LEE! JERRY LEE! JERRY LEE! JERRY LEE! JERRY LEE!

I think that's why so many true punk afficiendos are also true fans of rockabilly/psychobilly. They have similar roots.

I was working college radio in the late 70's when the first true punk music started coming out. No one at my little Georgia college wanted to have anything to do with it but me and a handful of others. It was for me from the New York scene...New York Dolls(kinda early), The Ramones, Richard Hell and the Voidoids.....from the UK.... The Damned, the Stranglers, the Pistols and of course The Clash. Later on the LA scene with X, Black Flag, the Circle Jerks...

New York seemed to almost want to carry on in the tradition of the Velvet Underground and kind of a mutant Doo Wop sound.

England was just plain angry.

The West Coast scene seemed to be where thrash came along. Other than X which was almost rootsey but still punk , the West Coast seemed louder and faster.

By the way this looks like a pretty interesting addition to the forum. I'm heading out for pizza and beer for a while. I'll have to check this out in a bit. I love talking music!!!

Just wish I could type better and faster...............

I agree with Trondi. Punk began in the States in Detroit and NYC with the Stooges, MC5, and the CBGB's scene and Max's Kansas City in the late '60's and early '70's. It didn't really get a name until the British movement in the later '70's with the Pistols , the Clash, etc.

Hopefully some of the earlier stuff I put up is still available in this thread:

http://www.drunkenstepfather.com/for...ead.php?t=2709

It has some of the early influences and I took it up to about 1984-85, before I lost interest / ran out of available time.

As for the West Coast stuff, it came much later and was more hardcore thrash than what came before. The important part is it finally closed the coffin on disco, or so we thought. In any case it has kept the concept of music as an art form alive despite the best efforts of music moguls to kill that idea forever.

just my $.02, feel free to flame away!

Right!! I would 3000 posts, and would have written 5 or 6 books by now.