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The Birth of Punk: The Bands That Started It All

It is accepted folklore, history, or rumor that Punk Rock emerged as a named genre, often called first wave punk, in the mid-1970s. The lower east side in New York City and a bar/club called CBGBs are often hailed as the birthplace of Punk Rock. As a defined genre by those who lived it, that is the gospel truth. Like an invasive species, the seeds were planted and dispersed throughout the world.

The essences of the Punk Movement were not confined to one city, one year, one day or one band. Stepping back to take a look at the birth of punk and the bands that started it all, the inspirations of the garage bands of the 60s, and the onstage aggressive instrumentation of The Who, the Kinks, the Sonics and early Rolling Stones must be recognized. Before them all there were Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent and Buddy Holly, each in their own way fertilizing the soil from which the seedlings of First Wave Punk bloomed.

Punk Around the World

Classic Punk or First Wave Punk was a reaction and creation of a disaffected youth rebelling against the homogenized, over produced, corporatization of a sound that once screamed revolution. Rock, once the voice of the marginalized became main street.

In New York City, The Ramones transformed the look, style and sound of rock back to its simplest form. Lightning fast tempos built on simple cord progressions, infectious melodies and lyrics that spoke to a new culture took aim at the overproduced corporate arena rock. Publicity, performance, records, and marketing were hallmarks of the new DIY culture springing up from the garages of suburbia to the marginalized urban neighborhoods left behind by gentrification.

 The Ramones eventually were commercially successful. Along the way they were one of, if not THE most influential bands in the Birth of Punk Rock. The Ramones inspired a generation of hardcore and alternative artists. Over fifty years later multi-generations of Punk look to The Ramones as the leaders of Classic Punk.

While The Ramones were shaking up New York City, John Lydon in the alter ego of Johnny Rotten led The Sex Pistols to claim the mantle as a leading voice of First Wave Punk in London.

Johnny Rotten photographed by Michael Grecco

Releasing only one studio album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols (1977), their influence on the past fifty years of Punk is immeasurable. The Sex Pistols were the political counterpart to the cultural upheaval of The Ramones.

On the razor’s edge of the Birth of Punk and the Bands that started it all are The Clash. It formed in London in 1976, The Clash infused Punk with reggae, ska, rockabilly, dub, and later hip-hop. Musically adventuresome beyond the hard driving relentless grinding tempos, The Clash showed that Punk could and would address the social inequality of racism, unemployment and political change. The Clash remains one of the most respected bands in all rock history, not just as a First Wave Punk Band.

The Clash Mick Jones photographed by Michael Grecco

Recorded History of Punk

There is not often when history is recorded as it happens. The Days of Punk is not one of those eras. Michael Grecco was called upon by the gods of antiquity to record the history of punk. From the founding days of Punk in the late 1970s through its reimagining in the 1990s, Michael Grecco recorded the birth of Punk and the bands that started it all.

Michael Grecco states it concisely in an article for a marketing release when his Days of Punk was a featured exhibit at the Southeast Museum of Photography, a service of Daytona State College, “When I came of age in the late seventies and early eighties, it was in the middle of an artistic rebellion that changed the face of politics and culture forever. This was the era of Punk: bold, self-expressed, free. An era of music, attitude, and fashion that spat in the face of the established norms.” – Michael Grecco.