Contributions
These bands paved the way for pop punk, from Descendents to NOFX
“Teenage dream, so hard to beat…”: 1970s pop-punk roots As long as there’s been punk rock, pop punk — a more tuneful variant — has existed. What’s wrong with washing down your high-speed guitar crunch with some sunny melodies? Many of the earliest punk rockers grew up in the ’60s, their ears glued to transistor […]
15 bands that defined LA punk in the ’80s, from Black Flag to the Go-Go's
As the 1980s began, most of the world was under the impression that punk rock failed when the Sex Pistols imploded at the end of their 1978 U.S. tour. Bassist Sid Vicious then drove the final nails into its mainstream coffin via self-administering his own fatal dose after allegedly murdering girlfriend Nancy Spungen in New […]
12 great standalone punk-rock singles, from the Clash to the Libertines
The seven-inch 45 RPM single was the perfect punk–rock medium, insofar as anything about a musical genre and culture as fly-by-the-seat-of-your-bondage-pants as punk can be designed. This is because it was originally rock ‘n’ roll’s perfect medium, and punk’s initial goal was reducing rock to its fundamentals. And if you restrict your presentation’s time to […]
A history of riot grrrl, from “Rebel Girl” to “Racist, Sexist Boy”
In 1991, Anita Hill testified before a Senate Judiciary Committee about being the target of sexual harassment from African-American judge Clarence Thomas at his Supreme Court confirmation hearing. The hearings were televised, and Hill’s lurid testimony sent bolts of shock and disgust across an America yet to become completely tabloidized. When this all-white, all-male committee […]
11 bands influenced by New York Dolls, from Social Distortion to Guns N' Roses
After the Stooges, New York Dolls were the most important of all protopunk bands. The standard belief is that in their original lifetime — 1971 to 1976 — they invented the sound and attitude of ‘70s punk rock and the look of ‘80s hair metal. Blame the latter on their desire to, as their definitive […]
DOA discuss the legacy of second album 'Hardcore 81'
Burnaby city councilman Joe Keithley (aka “Joey Shithead”) has led Vancouver, B.C. punk pioneers D.O.A. since 1978, the band’s sole mainstay. In part one of our conversation, he was interviewed one hour before going onstage. The trio — these days, guitarist/vocalist Keithley, drummer Paddy Duddy and bassist Mike “Corkscrew” Hodsall — were touring to commemorate the […]
11 bands that shaped Detroit punk, from MC5 to the White Stripes
Detroit in the 1950s and ‘60s was a “boomtown,” according to MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer. “It was the manufacturing center of the world,” he wrote in the October 2003 issue of Mojo magazine. “If you wanted it built, we could build it in Detroit. Jobs were there for anyone willing to put in an honest […]
The best punk drummers of the 2000s, from Travis Barker to Meg White
As the new century’s first decade unwound, things evolved or deteriorated rapidly, depending on your perspective. The entire world was changing in every aspect. So of course, punk rock was gonna change with it. The fundamentalists would scream and moan about how these changes weren’t punk at all, that we needed to go back to […]
The 15 best punk albums of 2003, from Anti-Flag to Against Me!
After months of President George W. Bush beating the war drums, bearing false evidence that Iraq had a hand in the 9/11 attacks on The Pentagon and World Trade Center, the U.S. and U.K. launched war on the Middle Eastern nation March 19, 2003. Thus began an ill-advised, misguided military action that cost us many […]