Who invented punk rock?

Heard some tracks.Fairly pedestrian stuff. Obviously doesn't have the lyrical brilliance or delivery of Rotten but I doubt he could have saved it.

 

Well as far as late mid to 70s punk was concerned, guitar solos were OUT. Some simple "solos" were in there but nothing to do with MC5, Stooges psychedelic solos. So again those Detroit bands were hard rock and nothing to do with punk (apart from the anti-establishment attitude as you say).

 

the sonics, the monks, the VU, patti smith, captain beefheart, stooges

 

Niccolò Paganini

 

The Beatles. They invented everything post 62

 

Johnny Burnette "Train Kept A 'Rollin'"

 

The Trashmen "Surfin' Bird" is the answer.

 

Howlin' Wolf

 

The MC5 came from a straight r'n'b background. Nothing psychedelic about their solo's. Straight outta the 2 note, Chuck Berry songbook. Sure, they might've twisted it up a bit, but it was pure bursts of energy. And it was that energy which greatly influenced guys like Brian James, and Derwood Andrews, Mick Jones, even John McKay of the Banshees(my favorite of all their illustrious guitarists...whatever happened to him?) etc. The only reason that there weren't more trad solos in the earliest days was because guys couldn't play well enough. None of them would've minded playing like Kramer/Smith, and eventually, they more or less got there. Until they did, Ron Asheton was very much a key influence, especially his raw playing on the 1st lp. His playing on some of that early stuff might seem psychedelic, but that was more his over reliance on the fuzz and wah wah pedals to hide his inabilities at the time.

 

Yes but that Cream/Hendrix style fuzz/wah wah playing was a million miles away from what punk was about. Also, MC5 were playing stuff like "Tutti Fruity", "Motor City Is Burning" and freak-outs like "Starship" which were the antithesis of punk. True they had some raw, simplistic songs in their repertoire but it was straight ahead rock 'n' roll or hard rock, not punk.
The New York Dolls were more punk if anything, with their outrageous, shocking image and basic music (Johnny playing the same three note solo on nearly every song). This isn't to say that punks were lousy musicians at all, it was just a question of approach.

 

So called 'Punk' is like any other genre. You ask 10 people you will get 10 different answers. The Stooges were one of the early precursors with simple, repetitive, but effective lyrics (Real Cool Time) and equally primitive musical ability(with great results). MC5 a touch harder to categorize, but definitely an aggressive, heavy r N b approach. Classifying either as "Hard Rock" is an oversimplification: Ac/DC, Aerosmith, Nugent would fall in that category because they invented it!

 

I thought bands like Steppenwolf, Deep Purple, and Mountain invented Hard Rock first.

 

Different discussion

 

But a lot of the punks were lousy musicians, at least in the beginning. Ask any of them(and I have) why they played those early songs the way they did. It was because that's the best they could do. The Dolls and Stooges and yes the MC5 were instigators. No way around that. The type of guitar solos that they hated was the type played by Pink Floyd, The Dead, Yes, Eagles, etc. That's the stuff they hated. All you have to do is read the interviews of guys like Brian James, Bob Andrews, Mick Jones, Steve Jones, not to mention Bob Quine. etc etc etc to see what got them to pick up the guitar in the first place. Hell, the Pistols covered "No Fun" and the Damned covered "Looking At You".

I agree with you on the concept of playing 15 minute songs with pointless solos. Sure, we all hated that, but taking a solo that was fast, quick and powerful wasn't ever a bad thing if the player knew how to.

Anyway, enough debate. I'm happy to end this by agreeing to disagree.

 

No to all those. Cream, Hendrix, MC5, Blue Cheer and The Stooges invented hard rock.

 

Yup, pretty much the idea, inspirational so that anyone felt they could be in a band. Anyway it looks like it's a Brit vs US scenario. But to conclude It was the Pistols and that's it.

 

I think most of those were too psychedelic to be the true originators of the "Hard Rock" sub genre.

 

The Monkees. It's very punk to not write your own songs and have someone else play on them.

(joke)

 

Your definition of hard rock needs some sub genres: Iggy is known as "Godfather of punk" for a reason . Hard rock is too broad.

 

Possibly the Kinks.

 

This or quite a few other 1950's Rockabilly artists played what would later be termed as Punk. I've heard a few Punk bands do Eddie Cochran, Johnny Burnette, Buddy Holly and some other Rockabilly tunes, and it fit perfectly!

 

The Kinks - You Really Got Me and All Day And All Of The Night.

 

MM didn't invent anything and had very little (if anything) influence over the Pistols in terms of their sound or attitude.

And sadly, that's when Punk stopped being Punk and turned into a circus.

 

McLaren promoted it as a way to make money. He made it more a shocking spectacle and less about the music.