malcolm mclaren

As long as there’s been a punk scene, its denizens have argued as to which city invented it — New York or London? Truth be told, it was neither because history’s first proper punk band was the Stooges from Ann Arbor, Michigan. Which would make Detroit punk’s proper birthplace. But if much of the sound […]

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 […]

“Government authorize education/(Don’t mean a thing)/They’ll teach you what they want you to think/(Don’t mean a thing)/Saturation of stars and stripes/(Don’t mean a thing)/The only freedom worth fighting for is for what you think/Why bother spending time/Reading up on things/Everybody’s an authority/In a free land” Those 11 lines comprise the entire lyric of “In A […]

This past March 5, the French punk label Guerilla Asso quietly slipped a genius album into the marketplace: Rocket To Kingston, credited to Bobby Ramone. The melding of the isolated vocal tracks from nine of Bob Marley’s most deathless classics to edited Ramones backing tracks, it sounds like a joke on paper. The cover even […]

Nashville songwriting great Harlan Howard once defined country music as “three chords and the truth.” Many have said that definition could also be applied to punk rock. Therefore, it stands to reason that the figure writhing behind the mic stand might be the most essential member of any punk band. After all, it isn’t the […]

As recently established here, the 45 RPM record was the greatest medium for punk rock. It’s compact, it’s affordable and brevity’s of essence—distill all of your best moments in three minutes or less. You can also master these seven-inch beauties hot, perfect for loud music. Then you have the picture sleeves. With punk being so […]