Generation X emerged during the punk explosion of 1976. Singer Billy Idol had previously worked with bassist Tony James in the short-lived band Chelsea. With Bob “Derwood”…
Browsing: Punk
The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle was Malcolm McLaren’s self-aggrandising, self-congratulatory rewrite of recent history. His beloved Sex Pistols figured only as puppets, with McLaren tugging…
Johnny Moped formed in Croydon, South London, in 1974 and bridged the gap between mid-seventies pub rock and punk with their amalgam of free festival boogie…
Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren was born on 22 January 1946 in North London. His father left when he was two and he and his brother…
The Newtown Neurotics hailed from Harlow in Essex; a stereotypically inhospitable and lifeless post-war “new town” of grey concrete and roundabouts (a la Stevenage or…
In 1977, following exposure to The Sex Pistols, Penetration sprang out of Durham pit village Ferryhill only to find themselves allergic to the music industry.…
With album titles like Pissed and Proud, The Mating Sounds of South American Frogs and The Loud Blaring Punk Rock LP, Brighton nutters Peter & The Test Tube Babies were…
In the mid-1970s, the massive tornado of the British Invasion of the 1960s was a fading memory, and its survivors sat atop the charts with…
If you thought Jefferson Airplane was a weird name, let some of these drop off your tongue. Talking Heads. Tuff Darts. Ramones. Planets. Heartbreakers. Shirts.…
This punk/skinhead band from Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, was led by vocalist Dunk. Formed in September 1981, the band had their own label, called Rot, which they…
Just three months after the September 1976 punk festival, the Roxy opened in a former gay club called Chaugerama’s at 41-43 Neal Street in London’s…
A favourite of the late great John Peel, The Ruts emerged from Southall, a heavily Asian-populated west London suburb. Their anti-racist stance fused punk and…
God bless The Sex Pistols. During their chaotic two-year existence, they introduced real musical anarchy to the world, yoking their working-class anger and disgust to…
Formed in Hersham, Surrey in 1975, Sham 69 was the ultimate “lads” band. All pints of lager, football terrace chants and menacing cocksure attitudes. Jimmy…
Siouxsie Sioux (real name Susan Janet Ballion) grew up in Chislehurst, Kent. When punk rock hit the UK she was part of the now-legendary ‘Bromley Contingent’ -…
Slaughter and the Dogs emerged from the Manchester punk scene in 1977, led by Wayne Barrett (vocals) and Mick Rossi (guitar). With Brian Grantham on drums and…
This eight-piece new wave band from Chislehurst (Kent) provided a messy mix of punk thrash, novelty songs, and covers of standards such as Roy Orbison’s Pretty…
Starshooter was one of the most famous bands to come up with punk rock in France, releasing Pin-Up Blonde, their first single, as early as 1977.…
While many of the punks with whom they shared a stage opted for a brand of anger that was – at best – cosmetic, Ulster’s Stiff…
Tongue-in-cheek good-time Geordie punks The Toy Dolls contributed two songs to the most infamous Oi! album, Strength Thru Oi!, and released a self-financed single (Tommy Kowey’s Car) on…