What was the first Punk Rock-type song? "Louie, Louie"? "96 Tears"? "Talk Talk"?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Steve Hoffman, May 19, 2005.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    NS, Canada
    "I've Had It" - The Bellnotes
     
  2. Jack White

    Jack White Senior Member

    Location:
    Canada
    There's a wide choice for the earliest proto-punk song, and it most certainly must be a rockabilly tune. My choice would probably be something by Johnny Burnette and the Rock 'n' Roll Trio, Gene Vincent or Eddie Cochrane. There's also numerous 'suspects' at Sun Records to choose from: Billy Emerson, Warren Smith, Billy Riley or even Jerry Lee Lewis. These guys were the real thing.
     
  3. Sean Keane

    Sean Keane Pre-Mono record collector In Memoriam

    Jack, I was thinking Eddie Cochran, too. Somethin' Else/1959.
     
  4. Vinylbob

    Vinylbob Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ambler, PA
    For me it's the Stooges first album from 1969. It had down and out punk attitude, not just a punk sound.
     
  5. MikeM

    MikeM Senior Member

    Location:
    Youngstown, Ohio
    I think we ought to nail down our definitions a little better.

    First, many hear "punk rock" and think of the movement that started with The Ramones, The Sex Pistols and others who came along in the mid-70s.

    But the fact remains that this very term was applied to 60s rock of the "Nuggets" variety before the 70s punk explosion ever happened (I'm assuming in the pages of BOMP! -- or was it in Alan Betrock's The Rock Marketplace?)

    One hears this music referred to more frequently as "garage rock" today, but for those of us who lived through both eras, the term punk may always first conjure up 60s rockers. I suppose the thing to do to make yourself clear is to refer to "60s punk" for that lot, and perhaps "punk rock" for the 70s variety.

    Given the examples Steve included, I'm inclined to believe he had the 60s stuff in mind when he posed the question.


    Also, I think it's valuable in these discussions to distinguish between the real deal and its precursors, or influences on it.

    I can certainly relate to those who mention Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, etc. But in fairness, they had the attitude but not the sound of 60s punk.

    Similarly, The Kinks' attack was a seminal influence on 60s punk, but not the actual animal itself. On the other hand, I would agree that with The Pretty Things, you had all the essential elements in place. And I think that's what you need to have.


    All in all, if I were the moderator, I think I'd call the contest here and declare The Sonics' "The Witch" as the winner!
     
  6. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    ...including most mentioned...I vote for Iggy in 1969!...there's a vast amount of bands in the 60's that fill the bill...many of them are on Sundazed, Bid Beat, Edsel, Ace, Rep...such a wealth of talent back then. The air was electric!
     
  7. Steve E.

    Steve E. Doc Wurly and Chief Lathe Troll

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY, USA
    The Music Machine's "Talk Talk" was a ripoff of Arthur Lee's vocals. I'd have to put Love's first album (mono please!) as one of the first great complete punk statements. And the Sonics' first two, before that. "Here are the Sonics" is wonderfully recorded! Any better fidelity and it woulda sucked!! The needles pin on the whole thing.
     
  8. rene smalldridge

    rene smalldridge Senior Member

    Location:
    manhattan,kansas
    Hello! Seem to have showed up late at the party.Several great minds have selected The Sonics as the rosetta stone of 60s punk and well, let's consider it, hmmmmmm,Cinderella,Shot Down,Strychnine,Psycho not to mention a killer diller version of punk forshadowing, Louie Louie. Yeah that about clinches it. I do give kudos to The Wailers earlier version-definitely a huge influence directly on Northwest band but indirectly on garage band hooligans from coast to coast. Jeez to be a kid at one of those Pacific Northwest dancehalls in the early 60s waiting for the wildness to begin! 70s punk-I'd nominate the Ramones,lobotomies,baseball bats and sniffin' glue sounds about right!
     
  9. DanK

    DanK Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Anselmo CA USA
    Just about what I was gonna write. And the "alt-country" kids think they invented something.
     
  10. Lord Hawthorne

    Lord Hawthorne Currently Untitled

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    1965. The Novas - The Crusher
     
  11. Beatle Terr

    Beatle Terr Super Senior SH Forum Member Musician & Guitarist

    Mike,
    Yep this would be exactly what I would consider as an early punk rock song. No doubt about it. Just pick which ever group you want it from.

    THEM or Shadows of the Night's versions!! :righton:

    This has to be the definitive answer, just listen to the HENDRIX version! WOAH!!! :D
     
  12. rene smalldridge

    rene smalldridge Senior Member

    Location:
    manhattan,kansas
    Yeah definitely great just not quite early or prototypical enough though certainly covered enough by adolescent teen bands in the 60s. Shadows of Knight-great. Them-greater. Hendrix-well,er, I pass.Likewise with the Doors. On this song only.
     
  13. DrZhivago

    DrZhivago Hedonist

    Location:
    Brisbane Australia
    First Punk Rock song for me would be "Surfin Bird". First punk rock band "The Silver Beatles" before Brian Epstein styled them. Early Elvis was also very punky, before they made him do those stupid movies.

    Cheers
     
  14. Dr. Weber

    Dr. Weber New Member

    Location:
    USA
    Link Wray, "Rumble," 1958.
     
  15. Kubrick

    Kubrick Forum Resident

    Location:
    Balmore, hon.
    The guitar on Del Shannon's Hats Off To Larry after the intro always sounded punk-ish in my opinion.
     
  16. indy mike

    indy mike Forum Pest

    You folks are working all the angles - keep tying things together!
     
  17. audio

    audio New Member

    Location:
    guyana
    Hasil Adkins-"She Said"
     
  18. stereoptic

    stereoptic Anaglyphic GORT Staff

    Location:
    NY
    Indy, Jack White and Dr. Weber share my theory that punk rock records actually predate the 'punk rock' title. How about 'Red Hot' by Billy Lee Riley (1955?)? Bash it Out, record it, inscribe it in wax. Sound+attitude
     
  19. stereoptic

    stereoptic Anaglyphic GORT Staff

    Location:
    NY
    :righton: that's a great example! Radical song structure, crunching sound!
     
  20. GoldenBoy

    GoldenBoy Purple People Eater

    Location:
    US
    I agree that 'Punk' definitely predates the 'Punk Rock' era of the 1970's.

    With that said, I can't believe that no one has mentioned anything by The Velvet Underground, such as 'White Light/White Heat', 'Heroin' or 'Waiting for the Man'.

    There's also 'Helter Skelter', by The Beatles, which someone already mentioned, and one that may not immediately come to mind when you think of 'Punk' and that's 'Henry VIII' by Herman's Hermits. The Ramones even used the 'second verse, same as the first' line in one of their own songs.
     
  21. joelee

    joelee Hyperactive!

    Location:
    Houston
    I'll go with "You Really Got Me" or "All Day and All of the Night"(which came first?).
    Yes Steve, I think about stuff like this all the time.

    Joe L.
     
  22. Corey

    Corey Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Mark me down as another on the Sonics' love train. First band I thought of when I opened this thread, especially The Witch and their version of Louie, Louie which I believe did owe a debt of gratitude to The Wailers.
     
  23. Ryan

    Ryan That would be telling

    Location:
    New England
    I'll third the Sonics for those reasons too.
     
  24. MikeM

    MikeM Senior Member

    Location:
    Youngstown, Ohio
    Certainly, these and other Velvets songs have punk elements to them. But there's something about the New York artsy origins of the band that disqualifies them as pure punk in my mind. Absolutely great stuff, though!

    But let's remember the question posed...the first punk song. By late 1968, there had been literally thousands of them...some of which no doubt influenced this Beatles song.
     
  25. Jack White

    Jack White Senior Member

    Location:
    Canada
    (This post goes off on a tangent, away from the primary question originally posted. You may want to skip to the next post.)

    I hate to dispute your memories, but I do not believe that the term 'punk rock', signifying an identifiable musical style or movement, came in use (or at least not in common, accepted usage) in reference to the 1960s 'garage bands' (for lack of a better term) you mentioned in your post, in their own time. The term 'punk rock' in reference to the 60s bands you write about is used commonly today, but in retrospect (perhaps originating with the 'Nuggets' collections, issued several years ago by Rhino), with the era of 70s 'punk rock' in clear view and as a reference point. (In the context that the 60s bands were 'punk' before there was 'punk rock'.) Quite frankly, you're the only person I know that claims this 1960's musical style was contemporaneously, commonly and identifiably known as 'punk rock'.

    I do not deny that the term 'punk' was (occasionally) used prior to 1976 in rock 'n' roll circles or literature - the word itself predates rock 'n' roll by about 500 years. (I can recall a recorded interview, circa 1956, in which someone refers to Elvis as a punk.) It vaguely sounds like a term Lester Bangs would have used or that might have appeared by the hand of another author in the pages of 'Creem' or 'Crawdaddy' magazines, in the early 1970s. It certainly wasn't a term that stuck in the public consciousness of the 1960s or is readily identified with the music of the 1960s. The term 'punk rock', originally used derisively to describe (insult) English bands, their fans and fashion followers, was turned against itself and adopted as a badge of honour, circa 1975 or 1976. It first appeared in print (AFAIK) in the pages of 'Melody Maker' and the amateur English fanzine 'Sniffin Glue' in 1976. I believe that the music of the English punks' immediate, American predecessors (the New York Dolls and the Ramones ) was not even commonly referred to as punk rock before the English coined the phrase. [I could be wrong about this last detail, though.]

    I am sure that there are members of this forum, who are more skilled rock 'n' roll etymologists than myself, who could clarify this issue to pin point accuracy.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine