While bands like The Ramones and Pistols were credited with started 'punk' as we know it (although 70s punk is very different to what we now know as 'punk'), where do you think is the very origin of 'true punk' (try to narrow it down to a song). Personally I think the Troggs 'Wild Thing' in 65' or 66' would be an example of pre-punk, although the pre-punk may have been fostered by the Stones.etc in earlier years. Many say the New York Dolls were the pre-cursors of punk, although I think it may have originated earlier. Anyone with more knowledge than me have an answer to the question?

summertime blues by blue cheer, kick out the jams by MC5 and everything done by iggy and the stooges would be considered proto-punk.

Patti Smith :)

To quote another rocker's perfect vision of her...

I see this little girl - she's dressed in black
She's spittin' on the stage
And like some stray cat, she arches her back
She leads the anarchist's parade

She's a poet with street-walkin' rhymes
They say she's got no shame
And as she screams about some factory
Her eyes burn with Rimbaud's rage...

A lot of the early Who songs have a punkish attitude to them.

It's a bit of a confusing issue, because there's so many ideas of what 'true punk' is...

For what it's worth, I'll chip in with 'Louie Louie' by The Kingsmen...a breathtaking record which was completely at odds with what had come before and what was to follow (it hit in late 1963, just before The Beatles hit the US...)

It has that 'attitude', and was also the subject of a FBI investigation, so legend has it...!!

This is one of those questions that is more of a matter of opinion than anything, so I'll give you mine: After thinking about this for a while, I'd have to say that any list of possible candidates for "first true punk song" would have to include "Rumble" by Link Wray (1958). This was the first song to intentionally use guitar distortion/fuzz.  And despite the fact that it was an instrumental, "Rumble"  was actually banned in several cities for its alleged association with "juvenile delinquency" ("rumble" being 50's slang for "gang fight"). Link Wray had a few other minor hits in the late 50's/early 60's, but none as well-known as "Rumble." His music, while having an overall rockabilly structure and sound to it, also had a much harder and more aggressive edge to it than anything else that had preceded it. Some of his later songs were "Raw-Hide" (1959) and "Jack The Ripper" (1961).  While he is relatively unknown today, Link Wray deserves his place as one of the founding fathers, if not THE founding father, of hard rock, heavy metal, and punk.

This is one of those questions that is more of a matter of opinion than anything, so I'll give you mine: After thinking about this for a while, I'd have to say that any list of possible candidates for "first true punk song" would have to include "Rumble" by Link Wray (1958). This was the first song to intentionally use guitar distortion/fuzz.  And despite the fact that it was an instrumental, "Rumble"  was actually banned in several cities for its alleged association with "juvenile delinquency" ("rumble" being 50's slang for "gang fight"). Link Wray had a few other minor hits in the late 50's/early 60's, but none as well-known as "Rumble." His music, while having an overall rockabilly structure and sound to it, also had a much harder and more aggressive edge to it than anything else that had preceded it. Some of his later songs were "Raw-Hide" (1959) and "Jack The Ripper" (1961).  While he is relatively unknown today, Link Wray deserves his place as one of the founding fathers, if not THE founding father, of hard rock, heavy metal, and punk.


link wray, the father of the power chord.

I would say Heroin by the Velvet Underground (circa 1968) was a true punk song.

Historians often hail the group for their incalculable influence upon the punk and new wave of subsequent years...
              AMG All Music

                                          http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/pic200/drp100/p100/p10057r7e48.jpg

I would say Heroin by the Velvet Underground (circa 1968) was a true punk song.

Historians often hail the group for their incalculable influence upon the punk and new wave of subsequent years...
              AMG All Music

                                          http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/pic200/drp100/p100/p10057r7e48.jpg


Yes! If you hadn't have said it, I certainly would have. That first album of theirs (with Heroin on it) was simply incredible and WAY ahead of its time. Not only that, but it was before '68. The album was released in 1967 and recorded in '66... It was "The Velvet Underground and Nico" and it was produced by Andy Warhol.

While bands like The Ramones and Pistols were credited with started 'punk' as we know it (although 70s punk is very different to what we now know as 'punk'), where do you think is the very origin of 'true punk' (try to narrow it down to a song). Personally I think the Troggs 'Wild Thing' in 65' or 66' would be an example of pre-punk, although the pre-punk may have been fostered by the Stones.etc in earlier years. Many say the New York Dolls were the pre-cursors of punk, although I think it may have originated earlier. Anyone with more knowledge than me have an answer to the question?


I believe that in the olden day 50s and 60s, any new wave of pop music was called punk, and that the Beatles were described as that.

I believe that in the olden day 50s and 60s, any new wave of pop music was called punk, and that the Beatles were described as that.


actually, the word punk was used to describe someone who was a homosexual. the beatles and a lot of other rockers were called punks by the establisment who saw rock musicians as effeminate.

I've done it ;D I'm B A D Simone :o First true punk song..........(drum roll)...........19 and 63............
by the Trashmen

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/pic200/drp300/p311/p31124clyhz.jpg are these not true  punk rockers? They ain't Devo :D 

S U R F I N  B I R D 

Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-
Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow Papa-ooma-mow-mow

Helter Skelter off of the White album had sort of a harder, faster-paced sound that was kind of punkish.

actually, the word punk was used to describe someone who was a homosexual. the beatles and a lot of other rockers were called punks by the establisment who saw rock musicians as effeminate.


Can Liberace be called punk allegedly?

Can Liberace be called punk allegedly?


yes. actually joe strummer and john lydon both cited liberace as a major influence. there was a punk tribute album to liberace that came out in the 80s called "i wish my brother george was punk"

yes. actually joe strummer and john lydon both cited liberace as a major influence. there was a punk tribute album to liberace that came out in the 80s called "i wish my brother george was punk"


Thank you for clearing that up of me.

there was a group a few may remember from the early sixties called the Fugs that were "out there"  They got arrested a couple of times, they were the bad boys of music and there were many who distanced themselves from them because of it.  Hard playing, I hear they are still around

there was a group a few may remember from the early sixties called the Fugs that were "out there"  They got arrested a couple of times, they were the bad boys of music and there were many who distanced themselves from them because of it.  Hard playing, I hear they are still around
Frank Zappa mentioned them in his autobiography. He said when he was living in New York in 1967-68, Consolidated Edison, the power company in NYC, was doing something (I forget exactly what--a rate increase, perhaps) to screw its customers.  Zappa said the Fugs encouraged their fans to mail their snot to ConEdison as a way of protesting.

Frank Zappa mentioned them in his autobiography. He said when he was living in New York in 1967-68, Consolidated Edison, the power company in NYC, was doing something (I forget exactly what--a rate increase, perhaps) to screw its customers.  Zappa said the Fugs encouraged their fans to mail their snot to ConEdison as a way of protesting.


Yup, that would be the Fugs.  ;D  Here are some lyrics, I'd say this is as early punk as it gets (1965) So yesterday, so today

Kill, kill, kill for peace
Kill, kill, kill for peace
Near or middle or very far east
Far or near or very middle east
Kill, kill, kill for peace
Kill, kill, kill for peace
If you don't like the people
or the way that they talk
If you don't like their manners
or they way that they walk,
Kill, kill, kill for peace
Kill, kill, kill for peace

I think the first wave of "punk" occured between 1964-66, with the explosion of "garage-rock" bands that took place around that time. Some examples:

"Psychotic Reaction" - Count Five (one of my all-time faves)
"Dirty Water" - The Standells
"Little Girl" - Syndicate Of Sound
"Talk Talk" - The Music Machine
"Action Woman" - The Litter
"The Witch" - The Sonics (definitely one of the hardest rocking bands of the pre-psychedelic era)
"Out Of Our Tree" - The Wailers (like the Sonics, the Kingsmen, and Paul Revere and the Raiders they were out of the Pacific Northwest and IMO these bands were a precursor to the grunge movement that took place 25 years later).

60's garage rock is one of my favorite musical genres. I first heard most of these songs off of the "Nuggets" 4 CD boxed set. Like all boxed sets its not cheap but if you're into 60's garage rock I recommend it. The "Teenage Shutdown" series (available only on vinyl, I believe) is even better. It has bands from that same era that maybe had one or two singles that might have gotten airplay in their local markets but never much further than that, and faded back into obscurity. But most of them have a raw sound that directly influenced the punk revolution of the 1970's.

Here's a link to an Internet radio station that plays primarily music from that genre:

http://www.live365.com/stations/turnmeondeadman

Another interesting topic. :)


It's a bit of a confusing issue, because there's so many ideas of what 'true punk' is...

For what it's worth, I'll chip in with 'Louie Louie' by The Kingsmen...a breathtaking record which was completely at odds with what had come before and what was to follow (it hit in late 1963, just before The Beatles hit the US...)

It has that 'attitude', and was also the subject of a FBI investigation, so legend has it...!!

On the subject, the Beatles were, to me, the first huge band of the 60's, and created the British Invasion rock sound that would define the rest of the decade. So, out of curiosity, I was doing a search to find out what rock songs came out from before 1964 (since the early 60's were -- including musically -- an extension of the 50's) that could've pointed toward that sound when I discovered "Louie Louie" was released toward the end of '63.

It would be interesting to think of what effect it had in the few months after it came out but before the Beatles hit big here in Febuary of '64. I know it's perceived as the first "garage band" song - and that could be a precursor to punk.

I do agree that "My Generation" was probably one of the first punk-like songs too (back in 1964/65), although the Kinks are sometimes considered the first 'hard rock' band.