dead boys
20 songs that transformed punk, from "Raw Power" to "Rebel Girl"
There are a lot of people out there who know what punk rock is but have no idea how to explain it to a novice or an outsider. It would seem simple enough to define it as “three-chord teenage rebel music,” but what about all those songs that have four or more chords? Or all […]
These 10 bands prove that Cleveland was one of punk’s earliest capitals
Alternative Press’ native home of Cleveland, Ohio, stands alongside New York City and London as one of punk’s birthplaces. Yet, few outside of U.K. music journalist Jon Savage, in his crucial ‘70s punk history England’s Dreaming, acknowledge this. But how could Cleveland—a torched-and-trashed post-industrial landscape by the ‘70s, famed for the Cuyahoga River being so […]
11 artists from the '70s who formed the frontlines of NYC’s punk scene
Since the world first became aware that there is such a thing as punk, there’s been a nonstop argument about its birthplace. The clueless mainstream media reported for years that it began in England, simply because the Sex Pistols’ snarl was more extreme. Which royally pissed off New York City, the first place to essentially […]
10 bands who put the Canadian punk scene on the map
Though all but forgotten by this point—save for documentary films like excellent Vancouver overview Bloodied But Unbowed and recent Teenage Head retrospective Picture My Face—Canada once boasted one of the world’s best punk scenes. The quality/quantity of Great White North pogo-rock acts, plus their music’s sheer ferocity, belied our neighbors’ more mild-mannered and civilized reputation. […]
15 punk albums that set up 1994 to be a year of major change for the genre
To consider Alternative Press’ list of 1994’s top 15 punk albums, one has to bear in mind two factors: Green Day’s Dookie was released Feb. 1. Kurt Cobain died by his own hand April 5. The alternative nation’s voice was suddenly, shockingly stilled. After three years of the most popular music being an agonized scream […]
10 times punk rockers stole the show on American TV in the ’70s and ’80s
You would think television (the medium, as opposed to Television, the band) and punk rock were a match made in heaven. After all, the music and culture are sharp, edgy and visually arresting. This should have made punk flawless televisual fodder, right? Truthfully, punk and TV collisions have more often resulted in mutual incomprehension and […]
New York Dolls guitarist Sylvain Sylvain dies at age 69
Sylvain Sylvain Mizrahi—born in Cairo, Egypt on Valentine’s Day, 1951—died Wednesday, losing a battle with cancer. He was 69. You knew him as Sylvain Sylvain, or Syl Sylvain, the corkscrew-haired guitarist bopping at stage right in vintage videos of punk-rock architects the New York Dolls. “As most of you know, Sylvain battled cancer for the […]
Record Store Day's Black Friday clearly saved the best releases for last
We hope you saved some money because Black Friday is Record Store Day’s final shopping event of 2020. If your toes don’t curl at the breadth of this month’s selections, well, do you even like music? There are plenty of great titles being reissued on the vinyl format for all of your post-Thanksgiving wonderment. Here […]
These 17 punk guitarists from the '70s truly forged the cutting edge
Part of the initial hype around punk rock was it had “no guitar heroes.” That was an exaggeration. To clarify, punk (in part) was meant to destroy the cult of technique. The obsession with 15-minute guitar solos, cramming in every note and lick you know at lightning speed. After all, what’s the point of playing […]
QUIZ: Do you know when these classic ’70s punk albums were released?
Record collectors of any sort can be a persnickety bunch. But few can be worse than punk-rock record collectors with titles spanning from the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and beyond. They can make Simpsons character Jeffrey “Jeff” Albertson (aka “Comic Book Guy”) look positively well-adjusted. Come on: In a world in chaos, much like the lyrics […]
