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WHo is the most influencial post-punk band of all time? who is the most underrated?? Post up your favorites, and hopefully we can get a nice list here. I myself are torn between the Smiths and The Cure. I also have a band and you could probably hear great influences in my own songwriting. Thanks guys! take care!
Bradlee-
auto defiance
http://www.myspace.com/theautodefinace

there is no such thing as post punk because true punk is still out there if you know where to look.

usually, i find that bands that call themselves post punk are the ones that want to be punk but lack the real, raw energy.

i also listened to the music on your page. while im not saying its bad music because other people might of course like it, i will say that i really recommend you stop referring to your band as anything with the word punk in it. i honestly think your band would get a lot more respect if you did that.

g!,

As you once said to me: this isn't meant to be an attack...

There actually is such a thing as Post-Punk. Punk, as it's own original sub-genre, was only around from the mid-to-late seventies. It was revolutionary by stripping away the artiness of Hard Rock/Heavy Metal, returning rock and roll to its simple three-chord form, and playing it fast and loud (and with socially conscious lyrics, most of the time). It was born out of the Proto-Punk of the '60s and early seventies (Stooges, Velvet Underground, Faces, New York Dolls, Kinks, etc.). It ended, as an original sound in popular music, when Punk groups arrived that were themselves influenced by Punk Rock. These subsequent groups spawned sub-genres like Post-Punk, Hardcore Punk, New Wave, Alternative, Punk-Pop (gag me!), etc. all from original Punk Rock. Bands can play 'real' punk but it is still 'post-punk' because that genre isn't a new, driving, revolutionary force as it was back then. Parents used to be afraid that 'punks' would destroy the world or something but now everyone sees a punk rocker as someone who simply likes Punk Rock - it's not a revolutionary thing anymore.

auto defiance,
I would have to say that Joy Division was the quintessential Post-Punk group. They pretty much started Alternative Rock (fusing Punk, Heavy Metal, and Hard Rock) which started booming in the '80s and hasn't gone away yet. If you want to hear some of the very best Post-Punk, listen to Joy Division's records 'Unknown Pleasures', and 'Closer'...

this is probably more of an opinion on my part, but the bands/examples that you gave for "protopunk," i usually think of them as "classic punk." there are bands people always associate with the punk movement of the mid 70's like the sex pistols, and thats hard for me to really accept because the sex pistols were actually formed as, basically, a joke, to promote a local sex shop.

also, if you consider punk to be, above all else, counter-culture and counter-mainstream, then those "proto" bands were doing it years before the pistols.

i dunno, its a blurry subject. i think that people see the end of the 70's as the end of true punk because it began to lose its punch, but i honestly believe its still out there. it may have evolved and changed a bit, but then again so has the world and social issues, so i think to have the same punch and the same focus as it did in the 70's would just be, well, boring.

anyway, because i dont consider punk dead, thats why i dont really see a need for "post-punk," even though i know the era it refers to.

g! wrote:this is probably more of an opinion on my part, but the bands/examples that you gave for "protopunk," i usually think of them as "classic punk." there are bands people always associate with the punk movement of the mid 70's like the sex pistols, and thats hard for me to really accept because the sex pistols were actually formed as, basically, a joke, to promote a local sex shop.

also, if you consider punk to be, above all else, counter-culture and counter-mainstream, then those "proto" bands were doing it years before the pistols.

i dunno, its a blurry subject. i think that people see the end of the 70's as the end of true punk because it began to lose its punch, but i honestly believe its still out there. it may have evolved and changed a bit, but then again so has the world and social issues, so i think to have the same punch and the same focus as it did in the 70's would just be, well, boring.

anyway, because i dont consider punk dead, thats why i dont really see a need for "post-punk," even though i know the era it refers to.

Yeah, Proto-Punk/Classic Punk - same thing.

The Sex Pistols were one of the greatest Punk bands of all time. Britain actually thought that they would rile their entire generation to bring down the Monarchy and banned them from almost everywhere! Nobody can do that or even come close any more. Britney Spears is more controversial than any modern Punk acts, unfortunately.

Punk of the '70s was counter-culture and, you're right, so were the Proto-Punk groups. Actually, Rock and Roll was counter-culture music in the late '50s as well - parents were very afraid of Elvis Presley... People don't realize that the Beatles were the sound of the street at the time, too. They were all involved with street gangs and a violent club culture in their hometown. Best example of counter-culture music was the San Fransisco scene in the mid-to-late '60s. Imagine anyone in our generation putting that together! But, what started out as good intentions turned out to be a commercialized/superficial drug culture that killed off some amazing people/musicians.

Punk is still out there, but it was a fad. It's not a force like it used to be... Clearly moronic Alternative-Metal, Pop-Punk/Emo, Pop-Rap. Pop-Country, and 'Indie' are what record companies are selling now (again, unfortunately). Your guess is as good as mine on how to change all the superficial bullshit that sells around into something worthwhile again. But I don't think prolonging a style that already came and went will work - we already know where those styles landed contemporary music (turn on MTV).

g! wrote:there is no such thing as post punk because true punk is still out there if you know where to look.

usually, i find that bands that call themselves post punk are the ones that want to be punk but lack the real, raw energy.

STOOGES ; RAMONES

redstrat wrote:

g! wrote:there is no such thing as post punk because true punk is still out there if you know where to look.

usually, i find that bands that call themselves post punk are the ones that want to be punk but lack the real, raw energy.

STOOGES ; RAMONES

..im not sure what thats referring to.

Anyone like Magazine? I've got their album Real Life and I used to listen to it every day!

Yeah that's a very good record. I haven't listened to it for a couple years but I used to. I love the cover art, among other things.

Joy division didn't start alternative rock, Wire and Ultravox were doing it when JD were still called warsaw and playing the local clubs in Manchester. I know that for a fact because I hung about with Ian Curtis and Hooky & gigged with them several times with my own punk band at the time.

One thing I will agree on is that they were all influenced by Lou Reed, David Bowie, Ian Hunter etc.

The trouyble with the punk scene in the UK was that the real punk bands who were usually kids who couldnt play very well were overun by the rock bands that jumped on the bandwaggon of punk at the time. It was mostly these bands that continued to enjoy success well after the punk scene had died out.

Bands like the Clash, The Jam, Elvis Costello etc. These bands were never really true punk in the first place but they swamped the scene very quickly

C.Cat wrote:Anyone like Magazine? I've got their album Real Life and I used to listen to it every day!

Magazine were a fantastic band, and I'd vote them as the most influential post-punk band. If you've only got Real Life, you're missing loads. Get "The Correct Use Of Soap" and "Play" (best live album ever IMO) at the very least.

Whoa! Nearly forgot about "Magazine". One of my favorite songs by them was "Permafrost", from the album "Secondhand Daylight".

I was also a big fan of "Howard Devoto's" first band, "The Buzzcocks"!

The Replacements

g! wrote:there is no such thing as post punk because true punk is still out there if you know where to look.

usually, i find that bands that call themselves post punk are the ones that want to be punk but lack the real, raw energy.

tell em!!!