Few genres have had the lasting impact of punk. 1976 is one of those seismic dividing lines in popular music. A history destroying year zero. The point after which everything changed. It was the year that The Ramones debut was released, the year that the first singles from the UK Punk scene were set loose upon a unprepared public. And while the punks wanted to remove themselves from the past, burn all that had come before, nothing happens within a vacuum. These bands didn’t appear out of nowhere with the key principles of the genre locked in place. This innovative minimalist, three-chords and the truth, turbo-powered music had to have precedent. There were other artists that lead up to this era-defining moment in music that are either forgotten, ignored or not given credit. This is how Punk became punk.
This video delves in everything from “Louie Louie”, “Rumble” and “Surfin Bird”, through The Sonics “Psycho”, “Sister Ray” by Velvet Underground, “Kick Out The Jams” by The MC5, “I Wanna Be Your Dog” by The Stooges onto the what became the standard for punk rock: “Gloria” by Patti Smith, “Blitzkrieg Bop” by the Ramones and “Anarchy in the UK” by Sex Pistols.
