Punk music originated in the late 1970s, primarily as a response to the cultural sterility of progressive rock, in the United Kingdom with bands such as the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Buzzcocks. It quickly spread to the USA and has continued to rise in popularity.
Musicality
Punk is charactarised by up-tempo guitar/bass arrangements. The lyrics can be concerned with any topic, generally, but are almost always written with a 1-2, 1-2 rhyme scheme. By design, the songs are usually structured to be very simplistic rock songs of the 1-4-5 chord progression variety.
Dancing
Various methods of dancing to it have emerged, such as skanking and pogo-ing. Punk-style dance is typically designed to be synaesthtically expressive of an emotion, not of a particular representational style, such as a jitterbug.
Punk Culture
The punk scene is supposedly characterized by rebellious styles and fashions; many punks wear their hair in styles such as mohawks, spiked or shaved into different patterns, in a attempt to get attention. The purpose, for punks, is to break from conformity (as they see it) so defining the cultural attributes can present difficulties. However, they "conform" within their subculture by adopting the styles common to their particular group. The original punks of the mid-1970s either dressed quite normally or modified their own clothes, rather than becoming slaves of consumerism.
Sub-Genres
Notable Punk bands
United Kingdom
United States
- The Ramones
- Blondie
- Television
- Pixies
- New York Dolls
- Bad Religion
- Death By Stereo
- Dropkick Murphys
- Green Day
- NOFX
- Black Flag
Some Christians claim punk to have satanic roots, although none of the mainstream bands admit that they adhere to such a faith. There are also many punk bands who are christians as well as punk bands that play Christian Punk music.