Overview
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, many Americans were listening to psychedelic music, folk rock, funk, and pop. At the same time, a new genre of music was developing in the underground scenes of the United States and the United Kingdom: punk. Punks rebelled against pretentious, over-produced rock stars and the corporations that promoted them. Instead, punk musicians focused on being as anti-corporate as possible. Punk music’s lyrics often emphasize a sense of isolation and alienation from everyday human emotions and issues. The genre of New Wave arose in the late 1970s as the aloof cousin of punk rock. New Wave music maintained a sense of detachment and alienation, but it often included musical language that was more familiar and relatable than that repetitive, distorted, screamed sounds of punk rock. A number of New Wave artists frequently turned to the music of the 1950s and 1960s for inspiration.
Objectives
- Identify several important proto-punk groups and artists
- Recall how and why New York was the center of the emerging punk rock movement
- Recall how the music of punk rock musicians reflects their aesthetic and social values
- Identify the similarities and differences between punk rock and New Wave
- Recall the significance of CBGB in the early careers of New Wave bands such as Talking Heads and Blondie
- Examine the role of earlier styles of rock and popular music in the recordings of groups such as the B52s and the Cars
Introduction
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, a new genre of music was developing in the underground scenes of the United States: punk. Many in the punk movement distrusted government, society, corporations, and fashion. Punks rebelled against what they perceived as pretentious, over-produced rock stars and the corporations that promoted them. Instead, punk musicians focused on being as anti-corporate and anti-establishment as possible. The music is characterized by repetition, pounding beats, and shouted vocals.
The genre of New Wave arose in the late 1970s as the aloof cousin of punk rock. New Wave maintained a sense of detachment and alienation, but it often include musical language that was more familiar and relatable than that repetitive, distorted, screamed sounds of punk rock. New Wave music and musicians were often quirky, and they embraced this eccentricity in their appearances and in their lyrics.
“To me, punk rock is the freedom to create, freedom to be successful, freedom to not be successful, freedom to be who you are. It's freedom.”
