The legacy of proto punk's influence is in its stripped-down, basic approach, usually matched by stripped-down no-frills production. Lyrically, the bands often aimed to shock, or provoke reaction. Topics included everything from hard drugs to s&m to gender-bending, to revolution, to the degeneration of society, and any number of seamy and tawdry topics. Most were of an in your face realistic noir variety; escapist dreamscapes were absent.
![The New York Dolls [Poster]](http://img225.echo.cx/img225/5540/newyorkdollsposter6yn.jpg)
The Seeds coined the attitude, the Velvet Underground brought in the artistic vision and white noise and feedback attack, the Stooges and MC5 kick started an aggressive hard rock scene in Detroit. In New York, the New York Dolls emerged in 1972 as mascara wearing glam-rock sleazoids who had a rugged, Rolling Stones-on-speed sound. In England, proto punk was mainly an offshoot of glam-rock, which also stripped away unessential arrangement to get to the crunchy guitar at its heart.
By 1975, a whole punk scene had cropped up on a urine-smelling skid row sidestreet called The Bowery, home of CGBG, the New York showcase for what was becoming the New York Punk movement. Already commited to small-time singles were the work of quasi-street-poets Patti Smith and Richard Hell, who would become local heroes during the punk era. The Ramones' debut in 1976 would draw the dividing line between what was proto-punk and what became punk.
Some important/influential proto-punk artists/songs include:
1. The Velvet Underground: Heroin
The Velvet Underground's first album languished in the vaults while their record company, MGM, fretted about what to do with it. MGM was as Establishment as you could get in the 60's, and the Velvets, led by leather-clad hustler (and college grad) Lou Reed, had come up with an album's worth of avant-garde noise-rock, full of seamy reports from the sick underbelly of society, such as this clear-eyed account of heroin justification, accompanied by scraping viola and screeching guitars that mimic a drug rush. While the song cannot be construed as pro-heroin, it didn't matter to MGM. Finally, the album was released on MGM's jazz subsidiary, Verve, and it made history in the rock underground. The mainstream read about it in the paper, due to Andy Warhol's involvement in the project, but few of them dared to actually buy it.
Article comments
1 - SFC SKI
Another great history lesson.
I never got into the Velvet Underground, but they do have a place in the lineup.
2 - gonzo marx
what?...no Ramones or Motorhead?
ah well..any excuse to listen to Iggy
good list, thanks for the nostalgic read
/golfclap
Excelsior!
3 - mike hollihan
Certainly, glam rock was an important root for British punk. Ultravox! was a glam band from an apocalyptic alternate universe. But I think you're short-changing pub rock. The Jam's later music (and Paul Weller's) show that influence. The Clash began as The 101'ers ("Key to my Heart"). And bands like the The Motors, Nick Lowe, Brinsley Schwarz (sp?) straddled the line between punk and pub rock.
Had history gone just a tiny bit different, pub rock was likely The Next Big Thing in mid-70s England.
Otherwise, an excellent list and primer. As always.
4 - uao
I'm saving glam-rock for its own piece, but very good points, Mike. Thanks!
5 - mpho
"a turd in the punchbowl of flower power"--great turn of phrase. love the column to. i never actually knew what proto-punk is, though i apparently own a lot of it!
6 - Dick Weed
Would you describe the sound that comes from my pee-hole as proto-punk?
7 - DJ
That was a terrific list.
Its hard to find good lists of proto punk, i think all the ones you list are proto punk standards.
8 - thomasM
Don't forget about the Sonics. They have some demo tapes I think that date back to 1961! They were blowing up amps even at that stage in their short career.
Like many loud bands of he early pre-metal and pre-punk in the sixties, their distortion sound came from turning up their amps until the speaker cones crackled. Some of the old Fender amps simply just started distorting once you started turning them up.
Wikepedia has a great list of Protopunk rock bands with a pretty good historical overview of a lot of these bands.