Can't forget your roots if you don't know what they are.

[holly_evolving]

Edited: Now with citations that aren't wikipedia!

I felt strongly enough about the comment I wrote to a friend's locked LJ that I decided to copy/paste it here:

So. Punk music starts in New York in 1975. No really. That's when Punk magazine was first published, which is how the genre got its name. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punk_(magazine) Before that punk was just another word for a dude who liked it in the butt.

The bands that began influencing the genre were already out there: Iggy and the Stooges, the Kinks, the MC5, the New York Dolls. They didn't sound much alike, or have a unified message.

The bands that were first called punk included the Ramones, Blondie, Television, and the Talking Heads (yes I came up with that list before I read it in the New York Dolls wiki page). They sounded even less alike and had an even less unified message.

While proto-punk was influencing punk bands (the Ramones played their first show in 1974), some English dude was trying to help his girlfriend sell clothes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_McLaren In 1971, he managed the New York Dolls. And by managed I mean helped a bunch die of heroin ODs. He also got an idea. He put together a bunch of cute unemployed English boys to be in a band and wear her clothes onstage. One of those boys was pretty pissed off. None of them could really play or sing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_Pistols Voila! Codified sound and message. To sell clothes. Don't believe me? Read the angry boy's autobiography. He doesn't care enough to lie about it. http://www.amazon.com/Rotten-No-Irish-Blacks-Dogs/dp/031211883X

So, because some guy wanted to help make money on a store, punk got a message and a sound and a definition. But at it's roots, punk is a collection of undefined artists. Deeper down those roots, punk is sodomy.

So, when someone says that steampunk isn't punk, I know that they don't know what punk is.

Punk Magazine published in 1975 and where the name came from: http://outsiderzine.tripod.com/id18.html
Punk as an archaic term for catamite: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/punk
Proto punk band listing: http://musicbitches.blogspot.com/2007/01/proto-punk-is-about-as-much-genre-as.html
First professional publication of Punk Magazine (reprinted in 1976 from 1975 'zine): http://www.punkmagazine.com/vault/back_issues/01/01index.html
Timeline of American punk and the Sex Pistols' placement thereon: http://punkmusic.about.com/od/punk101/a/punktimeline.htm
McLaren "constantly concerned about the façade:" http://www.spin.com/articles/sex-pistols-mastermind-malcolm-mclaren-dies
McLaren mastermind's Vivienne Westwood's fashion career: http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1231_vivienne_westwood/text_panel_r1_03.html
New York Dolls first death from heroin in 1972 under McLaren's management: http://www.punk77.co.uk/punkhistory/newyorkdolls.htm
Johnny Rotten's autobiography: http://www.amazon.com/Rotten-No-Irish-Blacks-Dogs/dp/031211883X
The Uncensored History of Punk: http://www.amazon.com/Please-Kill-Me-Uncensored-History/dp/0140266909
An overview of punk history: http://www.amazon.com/Punk-DK-Publishing/dp/0756636698/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1288974039&sr=1-4

Comments

[transversecity.livejournal.com]

Oh, this, this needs to be expanded, with citations, and then plastered all over the Steampunk world.

[holly-evolving.livejournal.com]

Plaster away, Jeff love.