The History Of Punk Rock Music

Author Article by Rio Forzia

Iggy and the Stooges

     One of the bands that is considered one of the innovators of punk rock music was Iggy Pop and the Stooges from Detroit. The Stooges played a unique form of rock music and their live shows consisted of frontman Iggy Pop contorting his body into strange positions, some self mutilation and other acts of the bizarre. The Stooges were considered rock and roll but their influence is what spawned the punk rock music movement in the seventies. In the opinions of many punk rock music fans the first bands to truly be considered punk rock were The New York Dolls (but many consider them glam), Patti Smith, and The Ramones, coming from New York City, some will try and say it was the Sex Pistols from England, but that is not true because Malcolm Mclaren, the founder of the Sex Pistols was the manager for the New York Dolls before he even formed the Sex Pistols. The Sex Pistols and other band such as the Clash made the English punk movement widely popular though but in many minds the first true punk rock album was The Ramones self titled album in 1976.

    Punk rock music was a music that was anti everything and many of the English punk bands considered themselves anarchists and tried to ensure they were social outcasts. Punk music was very simplistic, usually consisting of a couple chords, fast drum beats, and nihilistic lyrics. Many punk rock music bands and their fans wore raggedy clothes covered with punk rock patches and held together by safety pins.  Another signature of the punk rock movement, especially in the British punk movement in the late seventies was the new and unique hair styles and hair colors. Hairstyles such as the Mohawk and the liberty spikes became extremely popular among punk rockers, and they were usually died colors like green, red, and blue. Punk flourished through the late seventies and into the eighties. Many bands started taking punk and branching out from it and many different forms of punk rock are in existence today, and a majority of today’s top music acts are variations of punk rock.

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