Almost from its inception, Punk was declared dead and over.
The basic idea behind that early mortality and the surprising staying power post-mortem seems to mostly to do with the belief within the early scenes -- New York's Lower East Side and London -- that once punk was on the radar of the mainstream, it was no longer punk. Pivotal music writer Lester Bang felt this way, as did the pioneering punk band Crass which delivered the song "Punk is Dead" in 1978. Mark Perry, founder of the zine Sniffin Glue, argued punk died the minute the Clash signed to a major record deal.
While it all started for me with the Ramones, Clash and Sex Pistols in the early 1980s, past the date punk was declared dead, punk actually gained steam and became the counterculture that exists to this day with the second wave punk bands and scenes sprouting up across the United States and the world. From New York to Washington, DC to Los Angeles to the Bay Area, the spirit of punk -- grounded in the DIY attitude that "I can do that, too ... even better," -- invigorated the culture of punk, and it moved beyond anything the small crew of independent musicians and writers may have imagined in the mid-70s.
Punk is an interesting phenomenon -- for something seemingly grounded in simplicity, it's actually quite a complex history discussion. And stories of punk history and scenes and culture and artists and the "punk ethos" are endlessly fascinating to me. With that in mind, I truly enjoyed this recent piece in Ultimate Guitar magazine that points to the pivotal role "two bands, two songwriters, and two labels" played in maintaining punk for what it was, is, and will become. Punk Survived Growing Pains in The '80s: But These Two Bands Are (Likely) Responsible for Saving the Genre | Ultimate Guitar
The rise and relatively quick near fall of punk is well documented in the genre's history. While early punk scenes in the UK, NYC, and LA flourished, they just as soon began to flicker, for a variety of reasons. In the UK, early leaders of the movement who had mainstream success, like The Clash and Sex Pistols, eventually fell apart, while across the Atlantic in NYC, a good chunk of the scene embraced the post-punk movement. Things went a little differently in LA, however, as I would argue the punk scene took a bigger hit, or had a higher fall from grace, than it did in either London or New York.This is well documented, especially if you read my favorite band memoir, "Do What You Want," written by the whole Bad Religion crew. In Southern California, the scene had dried up, so to speak. Bands were shelved, broken up, and the general enthusiasm and energy from the early scene was replaced by rage, agitators, and anarchy. And then, Bad Religion released "Suffer."
"Suffer" was widely seen as the rebirth of SoCal punk and made waves across the national scene here in the US. But I'm not really here to talk about how good the music on that album is. I'm more interested in the infrastructure that would soon be built up by members of Bad Religion, namely guitarist/songwriter Brett Gurewitz. A big part of the Bad Religion story is Epitaph Records, founded by Gurewitz, but closely intertwined with the band's story. And you know what else is highly intertwined with Epitaph Records? Basically, all the punk rock that came after "Suffer."
As the band grew more successful, so too did the record label. Several bands were signed who emerged not only as commercial successes for the indie label, but as huge factors in the rise and continued development of punk in the late '80s, all the way through the 21st century. Bands who were signed included NOFX (more on them later), L7, Less Than Jake, The Offspring, The Vandals, Circle Jerks, Rancid, and Pennywise. Need I say more? The idea of a punk band and punk artist putting out other punk bands wasn't necessarily Gurewitz's original idea, but I'd argue he did it a whole lot better than Greg Ginn did with SST Records.
