Although the actual start of the punk rock movement is undefined, we do know that it began sometime in the 1960’s and is a style of music that is often considered to be noisy and angry. Topics for the punk rock genre were often political and spoke to a younger generation. Andy Warhol managed The Velvet Underground who were one of the foundation blocks of the punk rock movement.
Another of the punk rock building blocks was the glam rock movement, artists such as David Bowie, who dressed wildly and extravagantly with plenty of make-up helped to make the punk rock scene, hair metal and hard rock.
Punk Rock Bands
Punk Rock Bands include The Ramones, Blondie and Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers. They played regularly at CBGB’s in the B
owery District of New York.
Punk Rock wasn’t just limited to New York, London had its own movement. The unemployment rate for the younger generation was poor and this led to a lot of disenchantment with the system, a lot of the London punk rock scene was fired by this. Malcolm McClaren gave us The Sex Pistols.
The Sex Pistols quickly became popular and this spurred on other local bands to push their way forward, so now the British punk rock scene included Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Clash and Billy Idol.
By the time the 70’s were coming to a close, the punk rock movement had become a legitimate music genre spawning several sub genres. It encouraged musicians to create a sound all of their own, to not stick to the norm and to enjoy themselves. Music became less pop and more as a way to speak your mind.