To think the 'punk' era of music was essentially over by 1978?

[StirlingWork]

I listened to a track by punk band The Toy Dolls last night - it was their only UK hit - 'Nellie the Elephant' - reached no.4 in the UK charts in December 1984. This is a track that although it reached a high chart position it NEVER seems to get radio airplay - so it was nice to listen to it and replay the associated memories.
In the UK, the peak of the punk era in my opinion was 1977 - with the Silver Jubliee and the Sex Pistols track 'God Save the Queen' and associated controversy. When the Sex Pistols split up in early 1978, being the iconic UK punk group, within a year or so the UK punk scene slowly came to a halt only to be replaced by New Wave, a few years later Ska and the New Romantics.
Whenever, anyone says punk to me - I associate the movement with the year 1977, after which it all seemed to go downhill.

Or is that what you meant. The Post Punk era was the best music era?

I would very happily agree to that

Sorry if I mangled my reading your post. I'm hopping back and forth between here, YouTube and my iPod.

@CuriousaboutSamphire

Yeah I meant those were post punk and the best of all time

Watching the 1978 documentary from Saturday.

I was really into music then so love that era

New wave such as Squeeze, Blondie

Siouxsie and the banshees

Grease and disco.

Punk was brief but it had a huge influence on late 70s music

New wave couldn’t have existed without punk, I think.

New wave was punk - just the commercial /art school version of it

So you could you say punk - new wave- indie?

Because in terms of identity, there’s a connection in there.

Indie to me is a subset of post punk in that it describes a distribution channel (independent record labels) rather than a musical genre per we. So Buzzcocks - who pressed and distributed their first ep themselves - are both post punk and Indie

Indie has changed its meaning though. Now you don’t have to be indie to be indie.

Siouxie was definitely punk, she was with the Pistols on the famous Bill Grundy interview. And if you watch it, It’s Bill Grundy saying something sleazy to Siouxie that leads to Paul Jones calling him a “Dirty old fucker”, or something similar. And the nation collectively clutching its pearls.

But yeah, the Banshees well and truly embraced the goth thing.

Scanned through the thread, all this was before my time but a PP recommended Bad Religion, and there was talk about the LA punk scene.

AFAIK it's still going on. Fat WreckChords is based somewhere around there, NOFX are not only still alive but still recording and touring.

I have to recommend Badcop Badcop for some current feminist punk, and then The Interruptors to bring you towards the ska, which, as a PP said, is very much still alive and really thriving in the U.K.

And those are just my mainstream favourites. There's a lot more beautiful niche and new stuff around. Lots still very politically motivated.

There used to be a poster round here with the username AllMyBestFriendsAreMetalheads, which is a ska reference. She knows!

I think punk ended with the 70s tbh - oh what a breath of fresh air it was 🤩

Anyone remember the Redskins? I think they were called.

Or these. Gaelic ska by The Trojans.

But live they were different. Honest.

Also The Pogues were very punk inspired. Mixed with the trad Irish ballad but the punk spirit was there. Red Roses for Me (first album) had some good tunes.

Siouxie was definitely punk, True! As a person she most certanly was.

But as a group? Siouxsie and The Banshees were not, they were defintiely post punk, very goth and wondrous in all ways. The mix of Siouxsie and Robert Smith just has to make every Goth heart bleed

I saw them live twice, Amazing. Spellbound particularly

I didn't even like the Banshees originally

Siouxsie was most definitely punk to begin with - Sid Vicious was in her first band. The first album The Scream was also full of punk energy. But she /they evolved over time which a lot of the other bands didn't. Same with the Damned. Started as the first punk band to release a single, but ended up goth garage and psychedelic

I've only just found out about the 'Oi!' subgenre punk that seemed to be exclusively English in nature (haven't heard of any Welsh, Scottish or NI bands) that succeeded the 'main' punk bands like Pistols, Clash, Gen X etc.
I sorta fell down the rabbit hole again. So Oi! for example would be
Sham 69
Angelic Upstarts
Dunno if 'Toy Dolls' would be in that category as well. Their sound is unmistakably English. To me this genre symbolises a pint of mild and a cold bacon butty!!

I love the band X (from LA). They've been around for years and have changed their musical style a lot. I don't think any band wants to stay playing the same stuff all the time, it's natural for them to try out new things. So a lot of bands who started out as punk bands might not be described as that now.
Although X have just released their first new album for a long time and I'd say they still have that punk edge.

Punk is about more than the music
Once a punk always a punk
It’s an attitude
It’s why punk as a musical genre is so hard to define
Lots of bands can be described as punk but they don’t all sound the same but they all share a sense of identity, a sense of doing it yourself and not following the crowd.

Oi was a really unpleasant skin head led sub genre that went far beyond Sham and the Upstarts (who were both just post punk really) Oi bands were ones like Screwdriver and 4Skins who were closely associated with the NF movement and racism - not punk at all!

The Vandals were fun though, with oi to the world.

As far as I'm concerned, if it isn't UK 1976-1978 it isn't punk. As much as I love Iggy, Blondie and the Dead Kennedy they don't fit. I can't abide the Ramones and wouldn't class them as punk either.

I think I saw the Damned the most (took my eldest daughter to see them as her first ever gig too, after all she is named Eloise because of them!) always fantastic. Also Stiff Little fingers - superb , buzzcocks - superb , Stranglers - usually great, all multiple times, Siouxsie and the Banshees okay once, and a few minor/later ones. Saw Strummer - amazing- and Cornwell - shit- solo, Blondie - ok- and dead Kennedys- superb.

And the Sex Pistols once. That was the best gig of my life.