Descended from the sonic experimentation of the Stooges and the Velvet Underground and the glam performance of the New York Dolls, punk rock developed in New York City, NY at the CBGB club on the Bowery in 1974. The sound was alternately loud and fast, abrasive, discordant and melodic as practiced by such performers as the Ramones, the Patti Smith Group, and the Heartbreakers. Both retro-populist and avant-garde experimental, punk was defined more by attitude than musical style, as expressed in such song titles as “I Don’t Care,” “Blank Generation,” and “I Wanna Be Sedated.” In 1976 punk traveled across the Atlantic Ocean, becoming an international media sensation when British groups like the Sex Pistols and the Clash topped the charts with their scandalous calls for anarchy and violence. In London and New York punk caught the spirit of the decline of the West in the 1970s.

Punk rock spread in the following years and, by the end of the 1970s, vibrant local scenes had developed in Los Angeles, CA, San Francisco, CA, Austin, TX, Athens, GA, Vancouver, British Colombia (Canada) and countless other towns across North America. By 1980 a mutant offspring called hardcore had developed, most vibrantly in the suburban communities of Southern California. Bands such as Black Flag, the Middle Class and the Adolescents carried on the spirit of punk protest through such songs as “No Values,” “Love is Just a Tool,” and “Kids of the Black Hole.” The hardcore punk scenes were especially noted for their violence, both between various punks and between punks and police.