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Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental.^[1] Post-punk laid the groundwork for alternative rock by broadening the range of punk and underground music, incorporating elements of Krautrock (particularly the use of synthesizers and extensive repetition), Jamaican dub music (specifically in bass guitar), American funk, studio experimentation, and even punk's traditional polar opposite, disco, into the genre.

It found a firm place in the 1980s independent scene, and led to the development of genres such as gothic rock, industrial music, and alternative rock.

Origin of the term[link]

The term "post punk" was used in 1977 by Sounds to describe Siouxsie and the Banshees.^[2] In 1980 critic Greil Marcus referred to "Britain's postpunk pop avant-garde" in a July 24, 1980 Rolling Stone article. He applied the phrase to such bands as Gang of Four, The Raincoats, and Essential Logic, which he wrote were "sparked by a tension, humor, and sense of paradox plainly unique in present-day pop music."^[3]

History[link]

During the first wave of punk, roughly spanning 1974–1978, artists such as Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned, Ramones, Patti Smith and The Saints began to challenge the current styles and conventions of rock music by stripping the musical structure down to a few basic chords and progressions with an emphasis on speed. Examples of post-punk outfits include Public Image Ltd, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division and New Order, The Fall, Magazine, The Cure, Gang of Four, Wire, Subway Sect, The Pop Group, The Birthday Party, Crass, Devo, Echo & the Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes, Bauhaus, The Psychedelic Furs, Killing Joke, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Sisters of Mercy, The Lords of the New Church, The Sound, Neu Electrikk. Several bands formed in the wake of traditional punk rock groups: Magazine was formed by Howard Devoto, formerly of Buzzcocks, for instance, and Public Image Ltd derived from the Sex Pistols. A list of predecessors to the post-punk genre of music might include Television, whose album Marquee Moon, although released in 1977 (and recorded in 1976) at the height of punk, is universally considered post-punk in style. Other groups, such as The Clash, remained predominantly punk in nature, yet were inspired by the experimentalism of post-punk, most notably in their album Sandinista!.

Championed by late-night BBC DJ John Peel and record label/shop Rough Trade (among others, including Factory, Cherry Red, Mute, Glass, Fast, Postcard, Industrial, Axis/4AD and Falling A), "post-punk" could arguably be said to encompass many diverse groups and musicians.

Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, walking over her bass guitar.

Around 1977, in North America, the New York No Wave was also tied in with the emerging eurocentric post-punk movement. Bands and artists included Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Glenn Branca, Rhys Chatham, Mars, James Chance and the Contortions, DNA, Bush Tetras, Theoretical Girls, Swans, and Sonic Youth. No Wave focused more on performance art than actual coherent musical structure. The Brian Eno-produced No New York compilation is considered the quintessential testament to the history of No Wave.^[4]

The original post-punk movement ended as the bands associated with the movement turned away from its aesthetics, just as post-punk bands had originally left punk rock behind in favor of new sounds. Many post-punk bands, most notably The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees, evolved into gothic rock and became identified with the goth subculture. Some shifted to a more commercial New Wave sound (such as Gang of Four),^[5][6] while others were fixtures on American college radio and became early examples of alternative rock. In the United States driven by MTV and modern rock radio stations a number of post-punk acts had an influence on or became part of the Second British Invasion of "New Music" there.^{[7][8][9][10]}

Post-punk revival[link]

The turn of the 21st century saw a post-punk revival in British and American alternative rock, which soon started appearing in other countries, as well. The earliest sign of a revival was the emergence of various underground bands in the mid-'90s. However, the first commercially successful bands - The Strokes, Franz Ferdinand, Interpol and Editors - surfaced in the late 1990s to early 2000s. Modern post-punk is more commercially successful than in the 1970s and 1980s.

See also[link]

• List of post-punk bands
• Art punk
• Cassette culture
• New Music (music industry)
• Ultra

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Post-Punk at Allmusic
• Julian Cope's Post-punk essay and sampler
• Hour-long public radio interview with Simon Reynolds, author of Rip It Up and Start Again: Post-Punk 1978–1984 on The Sound of Young America
• Simon Reynolds' Rip It Up and Start Again: Post-Punk 1978–1984, Fast 'n' Bulbous review

Further reading[link]

• Hebdige, Dick. 1979. Subculture: The Meaning of Style. London: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-03949-9
• Heylin, Clinton. 2007 Babylon's Burning: From Punk to Grunge. (Initially issued on Viking). Reissued in 2008. 720 pages. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-102431-8
• McNeil, Legs and Gillian McCain. 1997. Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk. London: Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 978-0-349-10880-3
• Reynolds, Simon. 2006. Rip it Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978 - 1984. London: Faber&Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-21570-6

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