Punk blues

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Punk blues
Stylistic origins:	Jump blues, R&B, Rockabilly, Punk rock, Hardcore punk, Post-punk, early rock'n'roll, Garage rock
Cultural origins:	Early 1980s United States
Typical instruments:	Guitar - Bass - Drums-Piano-Harmonica-Hammond, Farfisa or Vox Continental organ
Mainstream popularity:	Largely underground and popular with Punks, Teds, Rockers, Greasers and Hipsters. However, bands like The White Stripes have made significant mainstream success.
Regional scenes
England, Europe, United States
Other topics
Timeline of alternative rock, Swamp rock, No wave, Post punk, Deathcountry

Punk blues is a genre that blends musical styles from Blues, Punk rock, Post-punk, Swamp rock, Roots rock, and early rock and roll. According to allmusic.com, "Punk blues take[s] the structure and simple instrumentation of classic blues songs and mixes them with punk's rawness, distorted guitars, and attitude...".^[1]

1 Origins
2 Notable Performers
3 Other Performers
4 References
5 See also

[edit] Origins

Allmusic.com states that punk blues draws on the influence of the "...garage rock sound of the mid-'60s, the primal howl of early Captain Beefheart, and especially in the raw and desperate sound of the Gun Club's landmark Fire of Love LP from 1981."^[2] According to allmusic.com, "...punk blues really came to life in the early '90s with bands like the seminal Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, the Gories, and the Gibson Brothers", and "...continued into the 2000s with even more visibility thanks to the popularity of the White Stripes."^[3]

[edit] Notable Performers

[edit] 1980s

[edit] Gun Club

Denise Sullivan of allmusic.com likens the Gun Club band leader Jeffrey Lee Pierce's vocal style to an “exorcism-in-progress”, and states that “tribal, psychobilly blues is the best way to describe Gun Club's energetic death rock...”. Sullivan calls their 1981 debut album, Fire of Love “a punk/blues hybrid” and refers to the band’s 1985's EP Death Party as “a swingin' piece of punkabilly”. ^[4] According to Greg Prato of allmusic.com, the Gun Club’s “merging...of hardcore punk, rockabilly, and country” made the band’s style an antecedent to the 'pyschobilly' genre. ^[5]

[edit] 1990s

[edit] Flat Duo Jets

The Flat Duo Jets were a drums and guitar two piece band from South Carolina. Fronted by singer songwriter Dexter Romweber they formed in 1983 but did not release a full length album until 1990. They combined blues and rockabilly influences with punk rock and were a big influence on Jack White of the White Stripes.

[edit] Chrome Cranks

The Chrome Cranks played a noisy and sinsister brand of blues influenced garage music, strongly influenced by the Gun Club.

[edit] 2000s

[edit] White Stripes

The blues influences on Detroit's White Stripes can be heard in their electric cover versions of Son House's "Death Letter Blues", McTells' "Your Southern Can Belongs To Me", and Blind Willie Johnson's "John the Revelator". Jack White plays guitar, while Meg White plays the drum kit. A 2000 review stated that the band's "...noisy, wicked electric-slide blues songs...sound like the Reverend Horton Heat...[and] Robert Johnson". In addition, the review states that the band is "...the Blues, as authentic and honest and real as it gets." ^[6]

[edit] Other Performers

Other bands and artists that have "punk blues" influences include: Elam McKnight,The Preston and Crows Experience, 8-Eyed Spy, Boss Hog, Billy Childish, The Cows, Divine Horsemen, Hi Sheriffs Of Blue, Honeymoon In Red, Jim Sclavunos, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Kid Congo Powers, Kim Salmon, The Knoxville Girls, Pussy Galore, Rowland S. Howard, the Beasts of Bourbon, and The Stems, Chrome Cranks and Laughing Hyenas, the Whipping Cats.

[edit] References

Whipping Cats[1]

[edit] See also

Punk rock
2 Tone - Anarcho-punk - Anti-folk - Art punk - Celtic punk - Cowpunk - Crust punk - Dance-punk - Deathcountry - Death pop - Deathrock - Digital hardcore - Electro rock - Emo - Folk punk - Gaelic punk - Garage punk - Glam punk - Gothabilly - Hardcore punk - Post-hardcore - Horror punk - Jazz punk - Mod revival - Nazi punk - New Wave - No Wave - Noise rock - Oi! - Pop punk - Post-punk - Protopunk - Psychobilly - Punk blues - Punk Pathetique - Queercore - Riot Grrrl - Scum punk - Ska punk - Skate punk - Streetpunk - Synthpunk - Taqwacore
Other topics
DIY ethic - Forerunners of punk music - First wave punk musicians - Second wave punk musicians - Punk subculture - Punk movies - Punk fashion - Punk ideology - Punk visual art - Punk dance - Punk literature - Punk zine - Rock Against Communism - Straight edge