What Makes Punk, Punk? A Retrospective

(Author’s Note: This retrospective focuses primarily on the Punk scene in the US. Countries like Japan, Italy and England also had their own influential and important Punk scenes. To discuss that would add even more to this already bulky essay.)

(Disclaimer: Punk is a heavily political genre of music and ideology, and as such, politics will be mentioned a bit. I will try to stay neutral, but show how the Punk community overall reacted).
If I asked you what Punk is, you would probably think of dyed mohawks, jean jackets with tons of patches, spiked accessories, etc. If I asked you what Punk music is, you’d probably think of loud distorted guitars, fast pulsing drums, and screamed vocals. And while yes, those are Punk, that isn’t all Punk is.

First, I’ll start with the origins of Punk, and we go back to the 60s, with a genre called Garage Rock. Garage Rock took what Rock did: distorted guitars, high energy, and made it more raw and aggressive. It also replaced the advanced instrumentation of the bluesy roots of Rock for a simpler, versatile style of playing. One such example is the “power chord” which in its simplest form, is a note and it’s fifth. This type of “chord” isn’t really considered a chord technically as it is only two notes, and the simplest chord is a triad (three notes). Later forms of power chords would add in an octave of the root note to make it a triad. Garage Rock is probably the most well known form of Rock. These changes to the Rock formula would be the foundations for Punk.

In the mid 70s, Punk emerged for the first time, with notable musicians as Television, Patti Smith, and The Ramones. They took what garage rock did, and ran with it. These band’s original punk songs were often short, usually less than two minutes in length, fast, loud, and often politically (although sometimes it was more so just about society itself, still there was always commentary and that was a big part of what made Punk stand out) charged. Punk also made two big changes from Rock, it almost completely got rid of solos, and made bass a much more involved instrument, with some of the (in my opinion) best bass lines coming from punk music. These bands were also incredibly unknown at the time, and tied into the DIY movement, a movement where all “social rejects” could come together to create and indulge in creations together. Punk was one of the first times people really challenged what is considered music, and it sparked a movement that still lives to this day. 

Song Of The Genre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=268C3N2dDYk

As Punk grew, many began to want to experiment with this new genre, and in the late 70s, early 80s, Hardcore came out kicking and screaming. Quite literally. This genre took the Punk genre, and expanded on it in every direction. If Punk was loud, Hardcore was deafening. Hardcore began to take on the political leanings Punk is known for to this day, with anti-war and government-crticial messages being very abundent. Hardcore also took the vocals of Punk and made it as loud and prominent as every other part. Instead of normal clean vocals, Hardcore began to implement screamed vocals. This would become something of a standard in Punk music. It challenged all preconceived ideas of what was and wasn’t “music”, which was something Punk was built off of. Hardcore also began to pull in the usage of instruments tuned to tunings outside of the standard. The prime example being guitars. They realized that these new tunings called drop tunings made it easier to play the types of chords and melodies that Hardcore wanted to use. Another big development was the creation of “slam-dancing”, which would later influence “moshing”, a form of dancing that fit the fast and aggresive nature of Punk music, especially with hardcore. These changes made Hardcore stand out as its own distinct genre.

Song of the genre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sdocmu6CyFs

Move forward a decade, and Hardcore was still evolving. Ronald Regan was the last president and George H. W. Bush was the new president, both infamous among leftist communities. The Punk community was one such leftist community, and was angry with both presidents, especially as the 90s progressed. This, along with several other turmoils of the world, led to a direct shoot off of Hardcore, Screamo was born of a insatiable rage and a drowning sorrow. While Hardcore focused on the rage aspects, Screamo would lean more to the focus of the sorrow that came with all that was going on through the world. Screamo songs would use the same harsh instrumentation and vocal styles of Hardcore, to discuss the sorrow of topics such as war, racism, disease, government corruption, and death, to name a few. The genre would explore the sorrow, hopelessness, and pessimism surrounding these topics. Screamo especially covered the conflict in Iraq, the war on drugs, and the AIDS epidemic, as these were all pressing matters that disproportionately affected minority communities. More and more bands would continue to cover these concepts, with something coming in with a softer approach. Song Of The Genre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l2OOdrVhco&ab_channel=ZegemaBeachRecords

These gentler bands came in the form of a genre called Emo, although originally “softer” just meant there was a dynamic level of distortion in the instruments, and screaming was almost always the preferred method of vocals, with some using spoken word in its place. Emo tackled the topics of late Hardcore, but also the more personal aspects of these topics, and even completely personal problems, following the theme of hopelessness and pessimism, along with bitterness. Emo would become one of the first Punk offshoots to gain a larger mainstream audience. This happened in the early 2000s, with bands like My Chemical Romance, The All American Rejects, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, and several more. These bands would help propel the Emo genre forward, causing a “Emo Renaissance” if you will. The Emo genre would then peak in the mid to late 2000s, would die down in the 2010s, and then resurge a bit in the late 2010s and early 2020s.

Songs of the genre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mhmx4weZ3uo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ux6SlOE9Qk 

For the rest of this Essay, I will be breaking the chronological order I’ve been going through a bit. And that is so I can discuss topics like Pop Punk. It’s what it says on the tin, Punk, but with elements of pop music. This typically means simpler melodies, a more typical song format, and a drop back on some of the aspects of punk that broke preconceived notions of what was and wasn’t “music”. A big example of this was that early Pop Punk almost completely dropped all forms of unclean vocals in form for a more traditional style of singing. (Early Pop Punk bands included Green Day, Fall Out Boy, Blink-182, Good Charlotte, and more.) It still held many punk beliefs however, and would merge with several genres overtime. This includes Hardcore and Emo like we already discussed, but also other genres we will mention later, like Metalcore and Ska. Punk Pop would become well meshed within Emo music, making the two hard to distinguish at times, this changed during the early 2010s when Pop Punk really merged with Hardcore, thus forming a new era of Pop Punk referred to as the “Sad Boi” era. 

This era of Pop Punk had bands like Knuckle Puck, Real Friends, Neck Deep, The Wonder Years, Four Year Strong, and several more, which all were power houses in terms of influence. Many of these bands still exist and release music to this day, along with newcomers to the genre rearing their heads like Hot Mulligan and Sympathy Card.

Songs of the genre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAEKdrX0wCs Punk Pop/Emo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIwvPg4nEj8 Punk Pop/Hardcore

Next, we take a detour to talk about Ska. “What is Ska?” I hear you asking, probably. To make it short, it was the precursor to Reggae music. It was a genre that started in the 60s in Jamaica, and was a largely melodic and upbeat genre. Saying this is ironic, as the genre focused on the downbeat, which is the first and third notes of a measure of music. Ska is usually separated into three periods or “waves”. The original form of Ska in the 60s was the first wave, then in the late 70s there was the second wave, called 2 Tone which mixed Ska with punk elements, and mainly happened in Britain, and never really left Britain. And the third wave, which gave us the two genes I’ll be discussing. 

The first Genre is Ska Punk, which is considered to be the main genre of the third wave, it jumped the gap between the two titular genres (Ska and Punk) and combined them in a flawless manner. This gave us bands like Operation Ivy and Less Than Jake. These bands focused more on the Ska side of the genre, but still the Punk aspects were present and flourished. The genre witnessed a brief decline period where it fell into being a niche genre, before a revival period in the 2010s until now. Ska Punk today flourishes with new blood, with bands like We Are The Union, Mad Caddies, Bad Operation, and many more. The next Genre, went the opposite route, however, and focused on the Punk aspects more than the Ska at times.

Song of the genre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dMVHxFzNK4

This Genre, is Skacore, an amalgamation of Ska and Hardcore. It followed the same idea as Ska Punk, but got a vastly different outcome, with bands like The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Stupid Stupid Henchmen, Anti-Venom and more. The genre focused more on Punk centric songs, with little Ska breaks thrown into the mix for good measure. But some bands in this genre, did put more Ska in than others. Overall, not a lot to be said about this genre that’s different from Ska Punk, it has lived alongside Ska Punk, and more often than not they are mixed together and hard to distinguish.

Song of the genre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIGMUAMevH0

The final genre I will discuss, is perhaps my personal favourite, and one that has had a good history with many successful bands to write about. This genre, is Metalcore, a fusion of Hardcore and Metal, two genres that blend beautifully together when done correctly. Notable bands of the genre include: Of Mice and Men, A Day To Remember, The Devil Wears Prada, The Amity Affliction, I Prevail, Memphis May Fire, We Came as Romans, and many, many more. It’s roots are in the 90s, with bands like Agnostic Front, Cro-Mags, The Exploited, and Hatebreed. They combined Hardcore with Heavy Metal and Thrash Metal, to create a even higher energy genre than Hardcore already was. The genre still lives to this day, although many of the once big bands have either disbanded or have changed sounds. This genre also had heavy emphasis on breakdowns, a section of a song where the tempo slows to sluggish speeds and instruments take turns playing individual parts (think of a guitar solo, but shorter and not as complex). Metalcore would go on to influence several other -core genres. Song of the genre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8atNu_LuV58

Before I wrap up this project I would like to quickly list off some honorable mentions and give short descriptions of each one.

Emocore - A combination of Hardcore and Emo, forming a melodic but heavy sound with emphasis on personal subjects. Band Recommendation: Get Scared

  Mathcore- A combination of Metalcore and Math Rock (Math Rock is a technically advanced form of Rock music) with heavy emphasis on the Math Rock instrumentation with occasional breaks into a heavier riff based section.  Band Recommendation: Dance Gavin Dance

Grunge: A combination of Punk and Metal to form a harsher soundscape with focus on societal issues. Band Recommendation: Soundgarden

Straight Edge: A subgenre of Hardcore punk focused on abstinence from recreational drugs, the music itself is nearly identical to Hardcore, but the lifestyle around it is extremely different. Band Recommendation: AFI

Midwest Emo: A subgenre derived from the Emo scene in the midwestern US, it focuses on a more “twinkly” sound. Band Recommendation American Football

Anti-Folk: A subgenre created off of Folk music, using elements of Folk while focusing more on Punk ideals for the lyrical content, it also existed to mock the “seriousness” of mainstream music. Band Recommendation: Crywank

Crust Punk: Aesthetically it is stereotypical punk. It is another fusion of metal and Punk, focused on pessimism and lingers on socio political ills. Band Recommendation: Hellbastard

Folk Punk: Punk using the instruments and techniques of Folk music.

Band Recommendation: Against Me! (Note: they are not solely a Folk Punk band)

Riot Grrrl: A Punk subgenre focused on women’s rights and is largely led by women. The genre focuses on women’s issues as well.

Band Recommendation: The Butchies

Queercore: A Punk subgenre that focuses on queer rights, queer issues, and has queer folk at the front of the genre.

Band Recommendation: Aye Nako

Autpunk: A subgenre of punk focused on breaking from neurotypical standards and discussing problems faced by Autistic folk.

        Band Recommendation: Cut Me Some Slack

So, what makes Punk, Punk? It surely can’t be distorted guitars, because acoustic and folk punk exist. It can’t be screamed vocals because early punk barely used it. It can’t be mohawks or leather because several punks don’t wear leather or have mohawks. I, personally, think it comes down to the ideology, the culture. The idea of, pushing the boundaries, the idea of bringing light to issues that matter the most to you, the idea of fighting for what you believe is right. In other words, Punk is heavily rooted in the ideas of activism, and I think that is why Punk speaks to me, and many others, on such a deep level. That is what makes Punk, Punk.