One of the defining characteristics of NY punk was that, unlike their British counterparts, NY punks had a sense of history and musical appreciation, whereas denial of everything that had gone before was integral to the Stalinist ‘Year Zero’ approach of the UK scene.
While British punks quickly hid their Jimi Hendrix, Beatles and Santana records under their beds, donned “I Hate Pink Floyd” t-shirts and sneered statements like ‘Never Trust A Hippy’, a few thousand miles away was a less isolating punk culture; a scene that shared so many of the same values as the British counterparts, yet was pioneered by artists as diverse as transsexual Wayne/Jayne County, right-wing militarist Johnny Ramone, alpha-male pro wrestler ‘Handsome’ Dick Manitoba, and performance artist and poet Patti Smith.
The New York Dolls, arguably the first and certainly one of the finest examples of the New York punk scene, covered old blues songs and camped it up on stage like the Stones in all their OTT glory. The Ramones adored the pure pop of Phil Spector’s 60s girl groups. Television’s Marquee Moon owes as much to Miles Davis and Frank Zappa as it does to any thing as feral as the Pistols. Much of Blondie’s music was championed as much by pop and disco fans as it was by new wavers. Only The Dead Boys were anything like the Brit punk holy trinity of the Pistols, The Clash and The Damned.
The roots of New York punk actually go all the way back to 60s West Coast garage bands such as The Seeds, who were in turn inspired by the British Invasion and bands like The Kinks and The Yardbirds. The Stooges, the Velvets and the MC5 stoked the flames, but they don’t trouble us here: this is the guys who came after – what Classic Rock believes is the ultimate guide to New York punk. So with a ‘Hey’ and a ‘Ho’, let’s go…
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