Link to source: http://www.lovefilm.com/film/Punk's-Not-Dead/113263/?play_immediately=1
This rockumentary explores the evolution of punk-rock from provocative underground movement to mainstream pop. Featuring interviews with bands, fans and industry insiders, plus fantastic performances and behind the scenes footage.
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock. Punk bands created fast, hard-edged music, typically with short songs, stripped-down instrumentation, and often political, anti-establishment lyrics. Punk embraces a DIY ethic; many bands self-produced recordings and distributed them through informal channels.
By late 1976, bands such as the Ramones, in New York City, and the Sex Pistols and The Clash, in London, were recognized as the vanguard of a new musical movement. The following year saw punk rock spreading around the world, and it became a major cultural phenomenon in the United Kingdom. For the most part, punk took root in local scenes that tended to reject association with the mainstream. An associated punk subculture emerged, expressing youthful rebellion and characterized by distinctive styles of clothing and adornment and a variety of anti-authoritarian ideologies.
By the beginning of the 1980s, faster, more aggressive styles such as hardcore and Oi! had become the predominant mode of punk rock. Musicians identifying with or inspired by punk also pursued a broad range of other variations, giving rise to post-punk and the alternative rock movement. By the turn of the century, pop punk had been adopted by the mainstream, as bands such as Green Day and The Offspring brought the genre widespread popularity.
Here are the top 4 punk bands as voted by MusicianForums.com punk forum users out from the list of 100 bands. Pennywise made number 75.
| Ramones Starting out in the New York City Underground in 1975, the Ramones played fast, catchy punk rock, taking influence from the New York Dolls and the glue they sniffed. Many consider them the founders of punk and pop-punk. Their 3 chord songs were simple and catchy, everything that punk rock was supposed to be. The Ramones' first album inspired a ton of bands across the Atlantic. They released great album after great album in the 70's and continued to play into the 90's. The Ramones weren't the most talented or political band, but that didn't stop them from making some amazing music. | ||||
| Bad Religion The most influential band to come out of the 80s Southern California hardcore-punk scene, Bad Religion are, very ironiclly, gods of their genre. They inspired many bands to start up their own bands, playing hardcore-punk and getting a scene started up in there area. And with the founding of Epitaph by Bad Religion's own Brett Gurewitz, these bands were able to be signed to a label that would respect their needs as musicians and would help them get their name out there. Not only were Bad Religion pioneers in their genre, but they were also proof that punks could be intelligent. With many of the members going to college, finishing college, and even getting Master's degrees. And this intelligence shows in their music, provoding points of views on religion and politics that could get any young punk thinking differently about the world around him. | ||||
| The Clash The Clash were formed in 1976 when Mick Jones and Paul Simonon got Joe Strummer to quit the 101ers and join their band, soon to be known as the Clash. Their first album had Terry Chimes on drums and blended punk with rock 'n' roll and hints of ska and reggae. Topper Headon soon came in as the band's permanent drummer, and in late 1979 London Calling was released and changed punk (and all music for that matter) forever, moving away from their original sound. The Clash scored some pop hits with their fifth and final album, Combat Rock. With Joe Strummer's amazing songwriting, Mick Jones's talent as a guitarist and arranger, Paul Simonon's "screw Sid Vicious I don't want to play root notes" basslines, all supported by Headon's smooth percussion, the Clash defined and perfected punk by playing what they wanted to. | ||||
| Dead Kennedys The Dead Kennedys formed in 1978 in San Francisco, CA after Jello Biafra and Klaus Flouride answered East Bay Ray's ad to start a band in a local magazine. The 3 joined together with drummer Ted and started playing hardcore-punk together in the every changing SF scene. DK is known by nearly all punk fans because of their revolutionary changes in hardcore-punk, bringing in politically charge lyrics with high quality musicianship. The Dead Kennedys changed hardcore-punk forever. |
Here are some examples of music videos of these artists. Bare in mind it is hard to come across a punk rock band official music video because punk is not about becoming mainstream and being another sheep, so these songs may not be their best made.
Dead Kennedy's seem to only have distributed live videos of their concerts. So here's my favourite which contains some conventions
Riot - The Dead Kennedy's
This video was created by a Dead Kennedy's fan in 2010 who has put clips of live performance which synchronize with the song most of the time and some real life riot clips which could've been found on the internet or taken by the creator them self. Like many punk rock video's, this video has a lot of montage editing which dominates the video. The marching of the riot control officers synchronize with the song as well which shows talent within their editing. The storyline is the love of rioting, being violent and rebelling against law enforcement.
I Fought the Law - The Clash
Los Angeles Is Burning - Bad Religion
Rock N Roll High School - The Ramones