Punk
Punk music, or punk rock, originated in the United States in a club called CBGB's in New York City in the mid-1970s with Television (band) and The Ramones followed by the still popular The Dead Kennedys. It was seen as a response to the cultural sterility of progressive rock and other highly commercialized forms of rock. Although punk had limited popularity in America, it quickly spread to the UK where bands such as The Sex Pistols, Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Clash became massively popular.
Musicality
Punk is charactarised by up-tempo arrangements, and seldom employs instruments other than guitar, bass, and drums. By design, the songs are usually structured to be very simplistic, with the 1-4-5 chord progression being typical. The lyrics, which are almost always written in a 1-1, 2-2 rhyme scheme, can be concerned with any topic, but usually deal with some aspect of youth culture or express some theme of "punk attitude" such as opposition to authority.
Dancing
Various methods of dancing to punk rock have emerged, such as skanking, pogo-ing, and slam dancing. Most punk-style dancing is synasthetically expressive of an emotion, rather than a particular representational style, such as a jitterbug. Dancing tends to be individual or communal, seldom couples-oriented.
Punk Culture
Punks typically distinguish themselves from others with their unmistakable appearances. This has included things such as Mohawk hairstyles, tight pants, studded leather jackets, bullet belts, combat boots, etc. Clothing and hairstyles vary widely throughout the punk scene, and often particular outfits denote particular strains of punk or core-beliefs. Most true punks however will claim that the punk subculture is more based on the idea of non-conformity.
Subgenres of punk
As punk-rock grew in popularity, several subgenres became apparent, some of which represent very fine distinctions (such as anarcho-punk), or small (Muslim punk) or localized (Nardcore) groupings. Some subgeneric names are probably useful, however, or at least well-known. Hardcore punk, usually characterized by fast tempos and a stripped-down/minimalist sound was a staple of West Coast punk during the 1980's, especially in the important Southern California-region and has since spread throughout the world. New Wave, despite being descended of punk, developed its own distinctive sounds and subculture respectively. Forms such as Grunge and Emotive Hardcore(both descended of the Post-Hardcore punk movement) each developed largely into their own subcultures respectively in their own right.Among the many punk subgenres, real or imagined, are:
