Protopunk

Primary Stylistic Influences:

• Rock & Roll, The British Invasion, Garage Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Girl Group pop

Secondary Stylistic Influences:

• In some cases, various kinds of Experimental or Avant Garde Music, Jazz

Before there was Punk Rock, there was Proto Punk (or Proto-punk), a largely retrospective term for a genre that blossomed between 1963 and 1976: a raw, energetic, frenetic relative of Garage Rock where Three Chords and the Truth were the ammo and rebellion was the spirit.

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Protopunk bands didn't get much mainstream appraisal: critics called the minimalist, less polished sound "amateurish" or "sloppy", and the hippie crowd was turned off by the brutality and sleaziness. When Punk Rock broke to the mainstream in 1977, some of the rock bands before them began to be seen in a new light as the missing link between Rock and punk, thus the name protopunk.

Proto-punk is difficult to define and was never a movement like Punk Rock was. However these are some tropes that apply to it:

• Audience Participation: During concerts the audience was often intentionally stirred up into a frenzy or provoked by the band members.
• Careful with That Axe: Singers are often very energetic, incorporating shouting and screaming into their vocals.
• Darker and Edgier: Artists liked to shock audiences with dark songs played at ear-splitting volume.

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• Genre Roulette: It borrows elements from Surf Rock, Garage Rock, Rockabilly, Hard Rock, and Pub Rock.
• Flyover Country: Many bands hailed from midwestern cities like Detroit (The Stooges, MC5) and Cleveland (Rocket from the Tombs, Pere Ubu).
• Intercourse with You: In contrast to the "peace & love" hippie crowd, protopunkers were very much about lust.
• Limited Lyrics Song: The overall sound and attitude are more important than writing insightful lyrics.
• Protest Song: Some bands were out for anarchy and shocking the establishment.
• Rated M for Manly: This is one genre where having balls is required.
• Stylistic Suck: Reacted against the overproduction of late '60s and early '70s Psychedelic Rock and Progressive Rock by bashing out loud, simple songs.
• Three Chords and the Truth: The sound is often primitive; the songs not very complicated to play.

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• Trolling Creator: Performers liked to bait crowds into angry reactions.

Examples of protopunk musicians

• Big Star (the Trope Maker for Power Pop)
• John Cale
• Can
• Captain Beefheart
• Eddie Cochran: Though technically not considered proto-punk, he has been cited as a significant influence on bands that can considered to be proto-punk or punk, (The Who, Johnny Rotten, Sid Vicious) to the point where some more modern punk musicians refer to him as the "Grandfather of Punk"
• Alice Cooper
  • Love It to Death (1971)
• Death (the late 60s / early 70s Detroit band, absolutely not to be confused with the Death Metal pioneers of the same name)
• Destroy All Monsters
• The Dictators
• Doctors of Madness
• The Doors
  • The Doors (1967)
  • Strange Days (1967)
  • L.A. Woman (1971)
• Electric Eels
• The Fugs
  • The Fugs First Album (1965)
  • The Fugs Second Album (1966)
  • It Crawled Into My Hand, Honest (1968)
• Gary Glitter
• Hackamore Brick (Notable for being perhaps the earliest band to be heavily influenced by the Velvet Underground)
• Richard Hell and the Voidoids
• Hollywood Brats (essentially the U.K. equivalent of New York Dolls)
• The Kingsmen
• The Kinks, in the early days at least.
• Love
  • Forever Changes (1967)
• MC5
  • Kick Out the Jams (1969)
• The Modern Lovers
• The Monks
• Neu!
• New York Dolls
• Nico
• Pere Ubu
• Question Mark and the Mysterians
• Radio Birdman
• Lou Reed
  • Transformer (1972)
  • Berlin (1973)
  • Metal Machine Music (1975)
• Paul Revere and the Raiders
• Rocket From the Tombs (Notable for containing future members of Pere Ubu, The Dead Boys and Devo)
• The Seeds
• The Shadows of Knight
• Simply Saucer
• Patti Smith
  • Horses (1976)
• The Sonics
• The Standells
• The Stooges
  • The Stooges (1969)
  • Fun House (1970)
  • Raw Power (1973)
• Suicide
• Television
  • Marquee Moon (1977)
• The Trashmen
• The Troggs
• The Up
• Velvet Underground
  • 1967 - The Velvet Underground & Nico ^note A collaboration with Nico
  • 1968 - White Light/White Heat
  • 1969 - The Velvet Underground
  • 1970 - Loaded
• The Who (to the point where Johnny Rotten, Johnny Ramone, and Joe Strummer all said something along the lines that punk wouldn't even exist without them)
  • 1965 - My Generation
  • 1966 - A Quick One
  • 1967 - The Who Sell Out
  • 1969 - Tommy
  • 1971 - Who's Next
  • 1973 - Quadrophenia

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