UPFRONT/LISTEN
THERE IS NO official start date for punk rock. No congress of spiky-haired musicians, adorned with safety pins, met to declare a revolution. But a strong, sneering case can be made that this form of rock started 50 years ago in, of all places, a country music bar.
The now-legendary CBGB—which stood for “country, bluegrass, blues”—opened in Manhattan’s seedy Bowery neighborhood in 1973. But by ’74, the struggling club was featuring rock acts—and became a scene populated with brash young musicians. The Ramones, considered the godfathers of punk, played their first CBGB gig in August of that year.
Here’s a look at punk’s impact. Hey, ho, let’s go!
MUSIC > Others who emerged from that CBGB scene include Blondie, Talking Heads and Patti Smith Group. And punk spread to the U.K., as bands like the Sex Pistols, the Clash and the Damned shocked and stimulated the queen’s subjects. A second, more underground wave of punk hit in the 1980s, with groups like Black Flag (many Gen Xers have a tattoo of the band’s logo), the Misfits and Bad Brains. Some who started in punk became mainstream, like the Go-Go’s. John Doe of the Los Angeles band X points to ’90s hitmakers Green Day as evidence of punk’s lasting popularity: “They took it to the teenagers, which is what the Ramones, Blondie and everybody else wanted to do.”
FASHION > Technicolor hair, spiky cuts (like Billy Idol’s), skinny jeans, distressed clothing, Doc Martens boots: These are some of the hallmarks of punk fashion, which have been adopted by even the most popular singers. Consider Madonna, in cutoff T-shirts, ripped fishnet stockings and rubber bracelets. “Madonna was influenced by punk street culture,” says Susan Seidelman, who directed her in the 1985 film Desperately Seeking Susan.
MOVIES > Punk rock has been featured in major films, including Trainspotting (starring Ewan McGregor) and Sid & Nancy (Gary Oldman). Even one of the biggest hits of last year has a bit of punk breaking through the Day-Glo. In Greta Gerwig’s Oscar-nominated Barbie, Kate McKinnon’s Weird Barbie—with her quirky spirit, jagged hair and bizarre makeup—looks every bit a punk rock girl.
THEATER > Punk came to Broadway in 2010, with American Idiot, based on a Green Day album. “I was listening to the CD a lot, and I started to see a story form in my mind. I thought, Wow, that would be an amazing thing to do onstage,” says playwright-director Michael Mayer. The musical logged more than 400 shows, some featuring Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong himself.
SPORTS > Skateboarding and punk go together. Watch clips of Tony Hawk and you’ll likely hear SoCal punk by bands like Descendents or the Germs (with singer Darby Crash). But mainstream sports have also embraced punk anthems. “I played the Dead Milkmen’s ‘Punk Rock Girl’ at a Navy football game,” says stadium DJ Robert Popik, “and immediately received responses of praise.”—Craig Rosen