Post-punk

Post-punk
Stylistic origins	Punk rock, experimental rock, krautrock, art rock, dub, funk rock, disco, glam rock
Cultural origins	Mid–late 1970s, United Kingdom, United States, Australia
Typical instruments	Guitar, drums, bass guitar, synthesizers, drum machine, modified electronics
Derivative forms	Gothic rock, coldwave, alternative rock, industrial music, dark wave, dance-punk, post-punk revival, synthpop, shoegazing, post-rock
Regional scenes
Netherlands - Germany - France
Other topics
No wave - New wave

Post-punk is a rock music genre that paralleled and emerged from the initial punk rock explosion of the late 1970s. The genre retains an association with punk, especially art punk, but is more complex and experimental. Post-punk laid the groundwork for alternative rock by broadening the range of punk and underground music, incorporating elements of Krautrock (particularly the use of synthesizers and extensive repetition), dub music (specifically in regard to the use of bass guitars), American funk and studio experimentation into the genre. It was the focus of the 1980s alternative music/independent scene, and led to the development of genres such as gothic rock and industrial music.

1977–79

In November and December 1977 writers for Sounds used the terms "New Musick" and "post punk" to music acts described what Jon Savage called acts such as Siouxsie and the Banshees that sounded like "harsh urban scrapings/controlled white noise/massively accented drumming". The term came to signify artists with sounds, lyrics and aesthetics that differed significantly from their punk contemporaries and soon became applied to other British musicians, including The Pop Group, This Heat, Subway Sect, Wire, The Fall, Public Image Ltd and Magazine. This occurred as a scene emerged in the United States around protopunk/art punk survivors like Devo, Suicide, Television and Talking Heads, as well as the New York no wave artists, including Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Glenn Branca, Rhys Chatham, Mars, James Chance and the Contortions. Similarly, a pioneering punk scene in Australia during the mid-1970s also fostered influential post-punk acts like the Boys Next Door/The Birthday Party and The Go-Betweens.^{[citation needed]}

1980s

By 1980, critic Greil Marcus referred to "Britain's postpunk pop avant-garde" in a Rolling Stone article. Marcus applied the phrase to such bands as Gang of Four, The Raincoats and Essential Logic, which he wrote were "sparked by a tension, humour and sense of paradox plainly unique in present day pop music." By that time, iconic British post-punk bands such as Gang of Four, Joy Division, The Cure, Echo & the Bunnymen, Bauhaus, The Teardrop Explodes, The Psychedelic Furs and Killing Joke had also appeared, while The Smiths formed in 1982. Championed by late-night BBC DJ John Peel and record label-shop Rough Trade (among others, including Factory, Cherry Red, Mute, Glass, Fast, Postcard, Industrial, Axis/4AD and Falling A), "post-punk" could arguably be said to encompass many diverse groups and musicians.^{[citation needed]}

Other prominent US post-punk artists included Hüsker Dü, The Replacements, Mission of Burma, R.E.M., The Lounge Lizards, DNA, Bush Tetras, Theoretical Girls, Swans and Sonic Youth. No wave focused more on performance art than actual coherent musical structure. The Brian Eno-produced No New York compilation is considered the quintessential testament to the history of no wave.

In Australia, other influential acts to emerge during the late 1970s included: Primitive Calculators, Tactics, The Triffids, Laughing Clowns, The Moodists, Severed Heads and Crime & the City Solution.

Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, walking over her bass guitar

The original post-punk movement ended as the bands associated with the movement turned away from its aesthetics, just as post-punk bands had originally left punk rock behind in favor of new sounds. Some shifted to a more commercial new wave sound (such as Gang of Four), while others were fixtures on American college radio and became early examples of alternative rock. In the United States, driven by MTV and modern rock radio stations, a number of post-punk acts had an influence on or became part of the Second British Invasion of "New Music" there. Perhaps the most successful band to emerge from post-punk was U2, who combined elements of religious imagery together with political commentary into their often anthemic music.

Influence

Post-punk led to the development of many musical genres such as gothic rock, industrial music, synthpop, post-hardcore, neo-psychedelia and most prominently, alternative rock.

Post-punk revival

See also: Post-punk revival

The turn of the 21st century saw a post-punk revival in British and American alternative rock, which soon started appearing in other countries, as well. The earliest sign of a revival was the emergence of various underground bands in the mid-'90s. However, the first commercially successful bands – The Strokes, Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, Editors and Neils Children – surfaced in the late 1990s to early 2000s. Modern post-punk is more commercially successful than in the 1970s and 1980s however clubs continue to air the original post-punk bands.

See also

• List of post-punk bands

References

Sources

• Thompson, Dave (1 November 2000). Alternative Rock. Miller Freeman Books. 
• Marcus, Greil (1 March 1994). Ranters & Crowd Pleasers. Anchor Books. 
• * Kootnikoff, David (2012). Bono: A Biography. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 0313355096. 

Further reading

• Hebdige, Dick (1979). Subculture: The Meaning of Style. London: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-03949-9. 
• Heylin, Clinton (2007). Babylon's Burning: From Punk to Grunge. Viking, Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-102431-8. 
• McNeil, Legs; McCain, Gillian (1997). Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk. London: Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 978-0-349-10880-3. 
• Reynolds, Simon (2006). Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984. London: Faber&Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-21570-6. 
• Reynolds, Simon (1996). The Sex Revolts: Gender, Rebellion, and Rock 'n' Roll. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9067480273X . 
• D. Nicholls (1998). The Cambridge History of American Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-45429-8. 

External links

• Post-punk at Allmusic
• Post-punk essay and sampler by Julian Cope