Who invented punk rock?

Not saying The Stones invented punk, but this track has always struck me as proto-punk, definitely moreso than anything The Kinks did. Heck, even the cover looks pretty punk.

 

Adele.

 

Tough question and I doubt there's a definitive answer, just as who invented rock 'n roll can't be answered definitively. Big Joe Turner used to say he'd been playing rock 'n roll since 1938 and in a pretty credible sense it's hard to argue. Still, you can dig up antecedents that predict a style. There's a 'first rock record' comp that starts with some kind of recording of a 1916 church camp meeting. Maybe that's stretching it but you see my point.

 

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The Who.

 

The Ramones. Everything before that is proto-punk at most.

 

Dave Clark 5

 

The Trashmen

 

Yeah, I'd agree that "She Said Yeah" is proto-punk in style, but the Stones were too respectful of their blues roots to have a punk attitude. "I Wanna Be Your Man" has a similar level of aggression which could be said to prefigure punk.

That Bob Dyaln's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" has something punky about it, but it's too clever for punk.

I would say the MC5, but their politics may be slightly too serious for punk.

Oh I dunno and I don't caaaaaare!

 

Sonics

 

Simple four chord 'good time' riff. Slurred lyrics that caused controversy over alleged obscenity. Screaming before the solo. At 0:54 the drummer yells 'f**k' in the background and it got past the radar. It's got to be The Kingsmen's version of Louie Louie.

 

The Stooges were proto-punk, but they had material that wasn't punk.

The Saints were the first 100% bona fide Punk Rock band. they were playing live in late '73 - several months before The Ramones (1974).

 

sam the sham

 

Al Gore... right before he invented the Internet...

 

Look: Richard Hell. It's pretty well established.

Music and lyrics: The Stooges.

 

Elvis Presley.

He had the attitude early on. Even invented the sneer

 

Herman's Hermits

 

I am greatly pleased that two people before me site The Sonics from Tacoma, WA. It is hard to fathom what people thought of them when they emerged in about 1960 considering that rock and roll was in something of a nadir at that point. With songs like Strychnine and Psycho they certainly almost appeared as a strange anomaly. Certainly a forefather to the movement, Iggy Pop, in 2011 interview with GQ magazine sited The Sonics as a direct influence on The Stooges. This would indicate a very clear path and pedigree as to what The Sonics meant to "punk rock" Listening to a song like Psycho, released in 1965, would indicate a very edgy band that like punk was not going to appeal to the peace and love aesthetic that is typically associated with the 1960's

 

Love with "7+7 is"
Music Machine with "Talk Talk"
Plus other 60's garage rock bands that had songs as raw as these 2. The 2 above songs were ahead of there time. Not your average 60's pop.

 

I never heard that before, but I would definitely classify it as punk. Besides, of course, that the song is over 3 minutes long.

 

Crushed Butler

 

Music-wise...Syd Barrett and the Pink Floyd live. As evidence, listen to the proto-punk sound, especially the vocals, on this early live version of Matilda Mother, starting at 1:34:

 

^^^ This.

Unless you regard Punk as an attitude rather than a musical genre, in which case you could probably go back to Richard III to thank for that.

 

Like any genre it didn't just appear out of nowhere, but I agree with Dudley above that you have to call stuff from the 60's and early 70's 'Proto Punk' at most.

So in my view the Ramones invented US Punk, the Sex Pistols UK Punk, which are two quite different things. UK Punk was far more angry and political and so had a completely different aspect to it.