Post-punk

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Post-punk
Stylistic origins: Punk Rock, Glam Rock , Krautrock, Dub, Funk, Reggae, Avant-garde art movements, Experimental music, World music
Cultural origins: Late 1970s, United Kingdom
Typical instruments: Drum - Guitar - Bass guitar - Synthesizer - Keyboard - Drum machine - Modified electronics
Mainstream popularity: Large in the early 1980s
Derivative forms: Alternative rock - Gothic rock - Deathrock - Indie rock
Subgenres
Gothic rock - No wave
Regional scenes
Dutch Ultra - German Neue Deutsche Welle - French Coldwave
Other topics
Post-punk revival - Punk rock - Industrial music - Alternative rock - Gothic rock

Post-punk was a musical movement beginning at the end of the 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock "explosion" of the mid 1970s. For the more recent "post-punk" movement in rock music, see post-punk revival.

Contents

[edit] History

During the first wave of punk, roughly spanning 1974–1978, bands such as the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Ramones, and The Damned 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 and attitude. Yet as punk itself soon came to have a signature sound a few bands began to experiment with more challenging musical structures, lyrical themes, and a self-consciously art-based image, while retaining punk's initial iconoclastic stance.

Typically more introverted, complex, arty, and experimental than classic punk rock or the more pop-oriented New Wave music,[1] post-punk laid the groundwork for alternative rock by broadening the idea of what punk and underground music could do, incorporating elements of Krautrock, Jamaican dub music, American funk, studio experimentation, and even punk's traditional polar opposite, disco, into the punk rock genre. It found a firm place in the 1980s indie scene, and left behind several major sub-genres, including Shoegaze, Industrial, Post-Hardcore, College Rock, and Madchester. However, post-punk's biggest influence remains in the vast variety of sounds and styles it pioneered, many of which proved very influential in the later alternative rock scene.

Classic examples of post-punk outfits include The Fall, Gang of Four, Orange Juice, Joy Division, Echo & the Bunnymen, Ultravox, and Wire. Bands such as Crass and Throbbing Gristle also came within the scope of post-punk, as with several outfits formed in the wake of traditionally punk rock groups: Magazine from Buzzcocks, for instance, or Public Image Ltd. 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 (when the punk genre was nearly over), is considered definitively post-punk in style. (However, many would argue that bands such as Television, Talking Heads, and the Voidoids were all core punk, as it was the raw originality and diversity of sound and style that was punk.) Other groups, such as The Clash, remained predominantly punk in nature yet inspired and were inspired by elements in the post-punk movement.

Championed by late night BBC disc jockey John Peel and record label/shop Rough Trade (amongst others, including Postcard Records, Factory Records, Axis/4AD, Falling A Records, Industrial Records, Fast Product, and Mute Records), "post-punk" could arguably be said to encompass many diverse groups and musicians. The original post-punk movement took place largely in the United Kingdom, with significant scenes throughout the world, though North American and other non-British bands weren't often recognized worldwide. Some notable exceptions include North Americans Pere Ubu, Suicide, Savage Republic, early Hüsker Dü and Mission of Burma, Australia's The Birthday Party, The Church, and Ireland's U2 and The Virgin Prunes.

Around 1977, in North America, the New York led No Wave movement, was also tied in with the emerging eurocentric post-punk movement. With bands and artists such as Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Glenn Branca, MARS, James Chance and the Contortions, D.N.A., Bush Tetras, Theoretical Girls, and more. The No Wave movement focused more on performance art, than actual coherent musical structure. The Brian Eno produced No New York compilation is considered the quintissential testament to the history of No Wave.

The original post-punk movement ended as the bands associated with the movement moved 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 & the Banshees, evolved into gothic rock (formerly a style of the larger post-punk movement) and became identified with the goth subculture. Some shifted to a more commercial New Wave sound, while others were fixtures on American college radio and became early examples of alternative rock. Credit for the gradual evolution of post-punk into alternative rock is largely attributed to the band R.E.M..

The turn of the 21st century saw a post-punk revival in British and American indie rock, which soon started appearing in many different countries as well. the earliest signs of a post-punk revival took place with the emmergence of various underground bands in the mid-90's. However, the first commercially successfull bands The Rapture, Liars, Interpol, and Franz Ferdinand surfaced in the late 90's to early 00's. These bands made music with recognisable post-punk influences, even accompanied with arty, almost modish fashions copied from original post-punk bands. Modern post-punk is far more commercially successful than in the 1970s and 1980s. The post-punk revival is unique in modern rock trends, in that it has retained a strong following even after similar 80's revival genres such as electroclash have fallen out of style.

[edit] Origin of the term

The term "post-punk" was used at least as early as 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 band as Gang of Four, The Raincoats and Essential Logic, which he wrote were "sparked by a tension, humour, and sense of paradox plainly unique in present-day pop music."[2]

[edit] Music clips

(audio) This article includes inline links to audio files. If you have trouble playing the files, see Wikipedia Media help.

A few illustrative short clips of post-punk music:

Note: files size vary from 185 kB to 305 kB, and all are 20 seconds long.

[edit] Related styles

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Post-Punk". All Music Guide. Retrieved November 2, 2006.
  2. ^ Greil Marcus, Ranters and Crowd Pleasers, p. 109.

[edit] External links

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