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Pop music historians love to claim—and they’ve certainly left enough relics behind to prove it—that Americans were actually the ones who paved the way chronologically.
That said, those who swear by that classic British sound tend to argue that the whole thing really kicked off during the summer of 1975 over in the United Kingdom...
So, I'm curious, do you find yourself leaning more toward the American side of things or the British flavor of punk?
That said, those who swear by that classic British sound tend to argue that the whole thing really kicked off during the summer of 1975 over in the United Kingdom...
So, I'm curious, do you find yourself leaning more toward the American side of things or the British flavor of punk?
When we talk about proto-punk, we’re really looking at a handful of trailblazing, hard-to-label bands that started popping up in the late '60s, right up until punk truly exploded as a global phenomenon around 1975-76. Of course, nobody back then would have called themselves "proto-punk"; it wasn't a unified movement, and there wasn't one specific sound that linked everyone together at the time. What really binds them is a shared, provocative spirit that just didn't mesh with the dominant counterculture. These bands weren't just pushing back against standard rock tropes; they were actively rejecting the wide-eyed optimism of the hippie era. They were intentionally subversive and leaned into being outsiders—sometimes because they had high-concept, artistic goals, and other times just for the sheer fun of being rebellious. In terms of its lasting influence, a lot of proto-punk was intentionally raw and stripped back, even when it wasn't playing aggressively, and the production usually felt just as unrefined. There was also this tendency to dive into taboo topics, painting vivid pictures of the gritty underside of society and expressing a level of personal alienation that felt deeper than anything seen before. For several reasons, the Velvet Underground stands as the very first proto-punk group: they shattered boundaries with their lyrics, played with feedback, distortion, and white noise, and balanced an unpredictable, experimental edge with a focus on songwriting, all while maintaining a somewhat amateurish, raw energy. Emerging around 1969 , The raucous , almost amelodic rock of The MC5 and The Stooges did more to set The sonic blueprint for punk Than Any other bands. In the early '70s, the New York Dolls kickstarted what would become the New York City punk scene with their raw, Stonesy rock and glammed-up image; around the same time, you had these smaller recordings featuring the soon-to-be-iconic poets Patti Smith, Richard Hell, and Television's Tom Verlaine. most of The British artists Who could be considered proto-punk were also part of The glam rock scena , which inspired many futur punks with its simple , crunchy guitar Riffs , its outrageous sense of style, and the fact that the artists sang with British accents (not to mention the unique personas of David Bowie and Roxy Music).