1. Punk Rock History The genre punk rock was developed between 1974-1976 in the United States, originatingfrom rock music. Punk rock created a scene that rock itself was failing to provide which was rebellion. Punkrock usually consists of political, anti-establishment lyrics or something with underlyingmeaning. Many punk bands self produce and distribute their own music through handing out their CDsto people in streets and putting music up on their own self-made website. Punk bands tended to stay away from mainstream media, expressing rebellion through anti-establishmentbeliefs. As punk was a genre that was supposedly created by people who knew little about the rulesof music, individuals in punk bands such as the Ramones were able to break the rules easily. The genre was quickly adopted by England due to the rate of unemployment rising, manyyouths found themselves angry, with a sufficient amount of free time to enjoy wasting onforming punk bands. Due to the wide spreading genre, punk fashion became to emerge. In 1974, shops such asSEX, owned by Malcom McClaren opened, specialising in clothing that was often associatedwith the punk movement. From this Glam punk emanated, a trend which revolved mostly around a particular style offashion with a protopunk sound, which was adopted by artists such as New York Dolls. Thebands style was soon acquired by many other New York bands such as Harlots of 42nd streetduring the mid 1970s. The band was considered the most influential of the 20 years, inspiringeven The Smiths, whose frontman Morrissey organised a reunion for the New York Dolls.

2. From the 16th century to the 18th century, theword Punk began to be used to describegangsters, due to the amount of rebelliousyouth members that followed the trend. EvenWilliam Shakespeare used the word punk todescribe a male hustler type character. Considering this use of the word Punk isfitting considering most of the people who dolike rock music are rebellious in their need toexpress opinions upon societys wrongs. 3. Sound Punk rock bands sound are similar to 1960s garage rockwhich uses bare musical structures with barred chordand distorted power chords known as a buzzarddrone. The usual arrangement for a punk band consists of adrummer, rhythm guitarist, bassist and a lead singer. Lead singers often shout lyrics instead of singing them,much like in more hardcore versions of punk such asBlack Flag. A particular aspect of Punk as a subgenre that makes itstand out is the political/social issues they usually basesongs upon, making lyrics hold importance of amessage which many classic rock songs dont have. 4. Foundations of Punk In the early and mid-1960s, garage rock bands becameknown as where punk originated from. Popular bands such as The Ramones and The Sex Pistolsare known for their success within the creation of punk,inspiring many other bands to further this genre. The Electric Circus was a particularly important venue as itwas a place where fans of punk music could feel part of acommunity of similar music taste , fashion and ideologies. Fans often replicated their favourite bands sense of stylewhich mostly consisted of having no rules and dressing howthey wanted. This style soon became street fashion as itwas linked to punk which was considered undergroundmusic. 5. Fashion This often consisted of hair thats dyed in unnatural ways, including thecut. Often women and men were seen to wear make-up including eyeliner. Safety pins and chains were used on grungy clothes, leather jackets wereusually decorated with studs and rips and tank tops were usually worn. Tight skinny (usually black) jeans are worn that are adorned with rips andstuds. Often combat boots such as Dr Martins were worn. Patches and badges of punk bands were often worn on clothing. The fashion soon became less of a symbol of rebellion usually connectedwith lower class, but soon became simply a side spread fashionmovement. Due to its expanding popularity, designers such as Vivienne Westwoodadopted the style, and was able to market the clothing range to Punk Rockfans as her partner was singer Malcom McLaren of The Sex Pistols. To this day punk fashion is still seen on catwalks and the music industry. 6. Punk Rock Record Labels There are many successful record labels which sign good rockbands, such as Hopeless Record. Hopeless records was founded in 1993, signing artists such asThe Used and All Time Low. Hopeless records sign manydifferent types of rock music including metal, pop punk, punkrock and alternative rock. Some artists such as The Misfits, created their own label inwhich they produced their music with. This was founded in2002 by Jerry Only of the misfits, and only lasted a year.However, they did sign artists such as Osaka Popstar andJuiceheaD. Roadrunner records is an American label that signs more hardcore metal bands such as Slipknot, The Devil Wears Prada,Avenged Sevenfold and Halestorm. 7. The Ramones This American punk rock band formed in New York City in1974. Despite their initial limited success, the band was a majorinfluence upon other bands in the UK and the US. For 22 years the band toured virtually nonstop, playing 2,263concerts. As the bands importance became noticed, they werementioned in popular magazines such as the Rolling Stone,listed as one of the top 100 greatest artists of all time, andthe second greatest band by spin magazine. The Ramones are a particularly important band within therock movement as they were often cited as the first punkband to form. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K56soYl0U1w 8. Post Punk Bands such as Joy Division began to emerge in 1976-77 aspart of the punk movement within the UK becoming centralpost-punk figures. Post-punk was less upbeat like pop punk or punk rock,having a harsher/darker sound such as Wire and SubwaySect. Yet post-punk still involved anti-establishmentelements which relates it to punk. This type of sound is still popular as bands such as TheVaccines have a similar sound. This subgenre of punk soon became known as Indie whenmanagers such as Geoff Travis and Rough trade beganhelping to develop the production and distribution of themusic scene helping it to blossom in the mid-1980s. 9. Movements Queercore was a movement that developed in the 1990s, a numberof punk rock bands such as Pansy Division and Sister George wereinvolved in this particular movement. The lyrics of these bands often consisted of targeting themes ofprejudice, sexual identity, gender identity and individual rights. Themovement has continued into the 21st century by festivals such asQueeruption that supports them. The riot grrl movement is similar in that it also supports of cause. The particular movement is concerned with feminist concerns andleft wing politics in general. Bands such as DIY ethnic were centralelements of the scene. These movements are important due to their message, leading toits popularity and bands forming together such as Sleater Kinney tocreate a band that both support riot grrl and queercore. 10. The Sex Pistols This particular band is significantly popular within the UK asits an English rock band which formed in London in 1975. The band is most well known for their song God Save theQueen as it was linked to the fascist regime becoming highlycontroversial as it was released on the queens silver Jubilee. The lyrics theres no future in England's dreaming suggestsan assault upon the Queen and her Monarchy. However, thesong was really about "You don't write 'God Save The Queen'because you hate the English race. You write a song like thatbecause you love them, and you're fed up with them beingmistreated. Many successful punk songs usually include some formcontroversial view. Even though this song wasnt meant to ofbeen perceived this way, it received a lot of attention whichmade it an extremely popular song. 11. The Kinks The Kinks were recognised as one of the mostinfluential rock groups of their era in 1963 to1996. The music was influenced by a wide range ofgenres such as rhythm and blues, British musichall, folk and county. Their most well known single is You Really Got Me,written by Ray Davies, topping the charts in the USwhich led to releasing many other singles whichwere mostly commercial failures. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2GmzyeeXnQ 12. Punk? The concept of what a punk rock band or song is, isconstantly changing as many bands are now consideredmore pop than punk, such as The Killers, Gerard Way andGreen Day. I believe the most important aspect of a punk band is themessage which makes the band controversial. I do agreethere are more pop forms of punk, though due to thechanging music industry, pop has become more popularand therefore change in inevitable. However, artists such as Nirvana, Green Day, SmashingPumpkins and The Misfits I would consider punk rock intheir genre even if sometimes their songs could beconsidered more pop, they are still alternatives versionsof rock such a Punk of Post-Punk.