Proto-punk
Proto-punk (or protopunk) is rock music from the 1960s to mid-1970s that foreshadowed the punk rock movement.[3][4] A retrospective label, the musicians involved were generally not originally associated with each other and came from a variety of backgrounds and styles; together, they anticipated many of punk's musical and thematic attributes.[4] The tendency towards aggressive, simplistic rock songs is a trend critics such as Lester Bangs have traced to as far back as Ritchie Valens' 1958 version of the Mexican folk song "La Bamba", which set in motion a wave of influential garage rock bands including the Kingsmen, the Kinks, the 13th Floor Elevators and the Sonics. By the late 1960s, Detroit bands the Stooges and MC5 had used the influence of these groups to form a distinct prototypical punk sound. In the following years, this sound spread both domestically and internationally, leading to the formation of the New York Dolls (New York City), Electric Eels (Cleveland), Dr. Feelgood (England) and the Saints (Australia).
Proto-punk
Definition[edit]
The AllMusic guide defined it as "never a cohesive movement" but as "a certain provocative sensibility that didn't fit the prevailing counterculture of the time", most of the time combined with a sound which was "primitive and stripped-down, even when it wasn't aggressive, and its production was usually just as unpolished".[4] In contrast, in the book Screaming for Change (2010), it is defined as a specific sound which included simplistic instrumental work and amateurish compositions. The book cites this style as being pioneered in Detroit by the Stooges and MC5, who were influenced by the Velvet Underground and the earlier garage rock genre, with the sound then spreading to the United Kingdom, New York and Cleveland, Ohio.[5]
History[edit]
Influences[edit]
One of the earliest influences on both punk rock music and the punk subculture as a whole is folk musician Woody Guthrie, often described as one of the first punks, who sung songs about anti-facism and the conditions faced by working-class people.[6]