Explain the asthetics of Punk

it was a response to corporations deciding what 'the message' would be. the germs, the adverts, the buzzcocks, penetration, stiff little fingers the only ones, and on and on and on....thousands of bands. as is always the case, the corporations now package it as nostagia in TV commercials, etc(and censor like everything else). For the uninitiated, start with the clash-london calling, and buzzcocks-singles going steady....if they don't 'knock you out' no harm done, and go back to Fleetwood Mac(sorry to use them as an example..I love them too). Its all poetry at this point anyway......Anarchy In The UK by the pistols is the ultimate loudspeaker 'killer'. It will destroy any speaker not up to the task of rock music....try it.

Punk was not an 'asthetic', it was an attitude. An essential punk primer is the Ramones documentary "End of the Century".

I too was into Punk music in my college years and did a lot of reading after the movement died down in the mid to late 80's before bands like Nirvana started to show a strong punk influence in the early 90's.

The typical historical time line that you read about started in the 60's with bands like the Velvet Underground however it was the Detroit area bands that are even more influencial like Iggy Pop who is considered the Godfather of punk and the MC5. Then the New York scene popped up with the very important Ramones (high energy, simple 3 cord progressions). The Ramone then were suppose to have played in England and sparked bands like the Pistols, Clash, The Damned, etc. Soon after the Hard Core scene popped up around the country, first in LA (Black Flag, Minutemen, Circle Jerks, Germs), and then in San Francisco (Dead Kennedys, Fear) and my favorite, DC with Minor Threat. Of course there were bands all around the country and in Canada. I was lucky to have seen many of them.

This was all very underground at the time but at some point punk went commerical with bands like Green Day, the Offspring, etc. Good bands but a big part of the punk movement was the underground nature of it.

Of course years have gone by and my tastes are much more tame now, but it was a fun time then. Sorry to ramble on, just an interesting topic.

Jaybo, The Clash album to start with is "Give 'Em Enough Rope", still my favorite.

"It's Still Rock and Roll To Me"
-Billy Joel