# Post-punk bands that predated punk **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 6, 2012, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-punk-bands-that-predated-punk/618018 "2012-04-06T17:47:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashley_Pomeroy)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-punk-bands-that-predated-punk/618018/1 "2012-04-06T17:47:43Z")
I was reading an article in _The Onion_ a while back about Devo, the cult post-punk / new wave / synthpop band from the late 1970s stroke 1980s. Here in the UK they rose from obscurity into utter oblivion - the trendy music press briefly hated them, and then forgot them, and they never troubled the charts - but they’re fascinating, because they had an ideology, dammit. A _weltanschauung_. The Police sold more records than Devo but they were boring, because they never had a _weltanschauung_. They never dressed up as sperm whilst [a semi-naked woman wearing fake breasts spat on them](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hardcore_Devo_Volume_One.jpg). No-one ever called Sting a fascist clown. But, yes, Devo’s early history is well-documented, in a series of demo compilations called _Hardcore Devo_, and the thing that fascinates me about them is that they were a post-punk band that went around being post-punk in the pre-punk era; at a time when punk bands were scattered and punk as a genre was an amorphous thing for most people. Devo were bashing out “Jocko Homo” and “Mongoloid” at a time when John Lydon was still hanging around Malcolm McLaren’s clothes shop in a cut-up Pink Floyd t-shirt. So I gots to thinking about other post-punk bands that predated the punk explosion. By which I mean bands that could have been plucked from 1974, 1975 and dropped wholesale into the post-punk music scene circa 1978, 1979, without seeming old-fashioned. I don’t mean bands that existed before punk but only became popular after changing their style in the wake of punk; I mean bands that had a recognisably post-punk sound at a time when punk bands were still struggling to get record contracts. And when I think of _post-punk_, I think of a specific _style_. Dire Straits were technically post-punk, in the sense that they came to public attention after punk had shot its load, but they didn’t have a post-punk sound. To my mind the post-punk sound consisted of: - scratchy guitars, a la Gang of Four, and/or cheap-sounding synthesisers - miserable frowny singers who seemed angry that people might be having fun somewhere - lyrics where the word love was always in “quotes”, e.g. I really really “love” you, “love” is fantastic, I’m so in “love” with you - and in fact everything was in quotes. Punk was a scream of rage; post-punk was a lot more restrained - the band dressed smartly, in shirt and tie, or plain t-shirts The other bands that spring to mind are Pere Ubu, who had the scratchy guitars and “quotes” down pat in 1975, and Television, who had been around for years before they had a chance to release _Marquee Moon_. Kraftwerk, possibly - not a guitar band, but they had a consistent weltanschauung, although their music circa 1978 was a lot darker and colder than it had been before punk. Google tells me that Swell Maps formed in 1972, although as with Television they didn’t get a chance to release anything until the punk era. Talking Heads were just about pre-punk, and although they didn’t wear shirts, everything about them was in ironic quotes, from the name onwards. Any more? Blondie? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-punk-bands-that-predated-punk/618018/2 "2012-04-06T19:18:44Z")
I’m at work right now, but I promise to come back to this thread when I get home tonight. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-punk-bands-that-predated-punk/618018/3 "2012-04-06T19:29:04Z")
Blondie would be the obvious one. Maybe also the New York Dolls, the Tubes, the Modern Lovers, and the Residents. Lou Reed’s early solo LPs certainly could qualify. Roxy Music had a certain New Wave sensibility. Iggy and the Stooges were pre-punk punks. Also check out the Monks for 1960s post-punk. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-punk-bands-that-predated-punk/618018/4 "2012-04-06T20:03:49Z")
[7 and 7 is](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc_LzMHIbYg), from 1967. (Well, maybe actual punk rather than post-punk.) Also, do the MC5 count? ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-punk-bands-that-predated-punk/618018/5 "2012-04-07T10:42:15Z")
Birthday Party? Definately MC5. Or at least MC5 and Wire were considered proto punk bands in the US hardcore scene. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-punk-bands-that-predated-punk/618018/6 "2012-04-07T10:52:09Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > [7 and 7 is](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc_LzMHIbYg), from 1967. (Well, maybe actual punk rather than post-punk.) > ? Wow. That’s the band Love, BTW. And recorded in 1966! Ten years ahead of its time. Thanks for the link! I had no idea. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-punk-bands-that-predated-punk/618018/7 "2012-04-07T11:20:15Z")
There’s a difference between **proto** -punk bands like the Stooges or the MC5 or the New York Dolls and the **post** -punk sound as specified in the OP. My nominations are the German Kosmiche Musik/Krautrock bands of the early 70s, particularly [Can](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Can_%28band%29) and [NEU](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neu!)! ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-punk-bands-that-predated-punk/618018/8 "2012-04-07T12:15:20Z")
I came here to mention Roxy Music’ self titled 1972 debut, LISTEN TO IT seriously it is nothing like Avalon era. It is a mad mixture of rock and experimentalism, the song Ladytron still amazes. It is one of my favorite albums and is most likely the birth of new wave sound. This is rather late in the game at 1978 but the debut from the band Magazine titled Real Life is almost a blue print for post-punk, bonus points as it was headed by Howard Devoto one of founders of the Buzzcocks. Strange lyric matter like Tibetan myths and literary references delivered by a nasally brit matched to great guitar work and not afraid to embrace the stuff punk got right. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-punk-bands-that-predated-punk/618018/9 "2012-04-07T12:42:17Z")
Most definitely [David Bowie](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf0fmqWS-kI), eh? Maybe [King Crimson](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCo00hwrlK0), if slightly. ---
**Author:** ![living\_in\_hell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@living\_in\_hell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/living_in_hell)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-punk-bands-that-predated-punk/618018/10 "2012-04-07T12:46:39Z")
I just woke up but wanted to say I love this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-punk-bands-that-predated-punk/618018/11 "2012-04-07T13:01:10Z")
Me too, but dammit, I hate when the OP supplies so many answers in advance. Television was the band I intended to list as THE example, maybe even more so than Devo. And I think that although Wire often gets called proto-punk, the term is a little misapplied there & they maybe fit the OP better. I’ll think some more. I like the question. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-punk-bands-that-predated-punk/618018/12 "2012-04-07T13:04:26Z")
Oh, and a vote against Blondie. I mean, I still love them, but so much of that first album is pop. ---
**Author:** ![Ichbin\_Dubist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-punk-bands-that-predated-punk/618018/13 "2012-04-07T13:29:48Z")
The Red Krayola’s first record came out in 1967 but they sound exactly like a mid-80s postpunk band to me, [to wit.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h03mh0MEMU) It took the world 20 years to catch up: Bandleader Mayo Thompson (who ended up joining Pere Ubu briefly in the 80s) more or less merged with the 80s avant garde, belonging there more than his own time. The Deviants in the UK were doing crazy shit like [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAb1-glPEpM) in 1967. I don’t know much about them. [the electric eels](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUBgh4nanIE) kicked around Ohio for years before there was any context for them (1972-1975). There’s also the Peru Ubu precursor Rocket From the Tombs. When did Cleveland stop being Amercian’s weirdest city, exactly? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-punk-bands-that-predated-punk/618018/14 "2012-04-07T14:12:06Z")
The books to check are From the Velvets to the Voidoids, Please Kill Me and Rip it Up and Start Again… I would go with Death, The Monks, and Television, Yo La Tengo and that other Cleveland band - what is it? Rocket from the Crypt? But I am really dwelling on proto-punk more that early post-punk… ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-punk-bands-that-predated-punk/618018/15 "2012-04-07T14:13:58Z")
> [@Ichbin\_Dubist](#): > > The Red Krayola’s first record came out in 1967 but they sound exactly like a mid-80s postpunk band to me, [to wit.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h03mh0MEMU) It took the world 20 years to catch up: Bandleader Mayo Thompson (who ended up joining Pere Ubu briefly in the 80s) more or less merged with the 80s avant garde, belonging there more than his own time… Wow. Once again, I am amazed. Makes you wonder who is doing something\* now \*that will represent some musical zeitgeist of the 2030s. Guess there’s just no way to know. (This evokes the challenge which faces makers of documentaries like “Hoop Dreams”, where they have to pick a couple of likely future-winners from a large pool, follow them around for a few years, and hope they go at least one of them right.) ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-punk-bands-that-predated-punk/618018/16 "2012-04-07T14:23:31Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Wow. Once again, I am amazed. Makes you wonder who is doing something\* now \*that will represent some musical zeitgeist of the 2030s. Guess there’s just no way to know. > > (This evokes the challenge which faces makers of documentaries like “Hoop Dreams”, where they have to pick a couple of likely future-winners from a large pool, follow them around for a few years, and hope they go at least one of them right.) Pere Ubu! That’s it. ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-punk-bands-that-predated-punk/618018/17 "2012-04-07T14:43:04Z")
I’ve never known how to categorize him, but I’d think the brilliant Ian Dury fits in here somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-punk-bands-that-predated-punk/618018/18 "2012-04-07T14:56:49Z")
> [@Chicken\_Fingers](#): > > I’ve never known how to categorize him, but I’d think the brilliant Ian Dury fits in here somewhere. Pub Rock, like Brinsley Schwartz. ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-punk-bands-that-predated-punk/618018/19 "2012-04-07T15:24:08Z")
The New York duo Suicide, by all indications, had a post-punk sound in 1970 though they didn’t put out a record till 1977. I’ll second the vote for the German groups Neu and Can. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-punk-bands-that-predated-punk/618018/20 "2012-04-07T22:49:24Z")
How about [Cheap Trick](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sAm5UCJ9vA), formed in 1973? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-punk-bands-that-predated-punk/618018.md?page=2)