Punk In Depth. Part 2: The 80's Punk & DIY

By the end of the 70’s disco had been thoroughly routed via the Disco Sucks movement and the boredom of the public with the same old synthesized beats. People began finding new and often shocking ways of beating the conformity. Punk had a huge surge in supporters during the 80’s thanks in part to two extremely strong and unique U.S. scenes and a DIY (Do-It-Yourself) movement that created an international scene. Reagan and Bush Sr.’s administrations also influenced progressive, left wing punk movements throughout the country.

The DIY scene was a move for punks to do it all by themselves. Independent record labels sprung up all over the country and before long even African nations had thriving punk scenes. Punk bands also started shying away from major labels. Even today, punk bands who sign right on to major labels are labeled as “sell-outs” and are not considered true punk, but this is a topic of much debate. The first band to “cross over” in the 80’s was Husker Du, who where followed by several others such as Jawbreaker.

There were several dominant scenes in the United States. The first to be described here is the So Cal scene in southern California, where it got its name. The So Cal scene was not only for punks, but many, many ska patrons also shared the scene. Punk/ska became really popular in the area and for the most part (there are exceptions to every rule), So Cal was a place of lighter, poppier punk with ska influences. Many bands today borrow heavily or simply come from the So Cal scene. Examples of the So Cal sound are Nofx, Goldfinger, T.S.O.L, Agent Orange, and Social Distortion. To clarify, Social Distortion was actually and exception to most of the So Cal bands of the time, they represented a more street-punk style that is very alive today in California

In The southwest U.S., bands like Blackflag and Meat Puppets started releasing records under the SST record label (started by Blackflag member Greg Ginn), quickly branching out to other bands like Husker Du and Bad Brains. In fact, there where hundreds, maybe even thousands of indie/punk/ska/hardcore labels at the time, and it would be far too much for this article to mention them all. The more prominent ones still exist today like Epitaph. Also, punk “zines” (short for magazines) sprung up everywhere. Many also still exist today.

The other big scene in the western United States was in the nearby East Bay. The sound of the East Bay movement tended a bit towards hardcore and street, which is where exceptions of the So Cal scene got their inspiration. The biggest bands from the East Bay scene were Operation Ivy, Dead Kennedies, and Rancid. Rancid was not actually an 80’s band, however it was the brainchild of two musicians from Operation Ivy (Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman), possibly the most notable East Bay band outside of the Dead Kennedies. Operation Ivy actually only put out one full length album, several other songs where of course made, but only one full length album was ever produced (very similar to what happened with the Sex Pistols in the 70’s). Operation Ivy is still easily recognizable in the punk scene, though they broke up before the 80’s ended.

In the east, there was more of a hardcore/emocore type of sound coming out. The scene was focused mainly around Washington DC, and the name of the scene became harDCore. Bands like Minor Threat and Bad Brains and Misfits had the hardcore sound, though Misfits where from New Jersey and where mostly successful during the late 70’s/early 80’s. New York’s scene remained strong through the 70’s and 80’s, along with CBGBs.

And now for the last paragraph, where I proceed to summarize and explain in my own words, the following ramblings are not necessarily facts, but are merely speculation and educated guess.

In the 80’s, the DIY scene was possibly the only thing that kept punk from merging completely with new wave or pop-metal. The global punk movement is very near dead today (maybe it’s because Africa has that AIDS thing to worry about now…) but is gaining some ground due to the Peer2Peer music distribution system (now being prosecuted by the RIAA in the U.S.). However, Peer2Peer gives no money to record labels, and the small independent record labels that DIY helped in the 80’s are now facing serious financial problems. In spite of this, many DIY labels still exist, though many punks are once again turning to the majors (which can be seen in both good and bad lights, it is all a matter of opinion).

Comments

[deadkenedy]

yay

[billiejoe_dirnt]

cool

[_1LaStTrY]

good article, keep 'em coming !

[hobo8917]

Well written. Keep up the good work.

[V12]

well if he keeps going there will only be 1 more of these articles, (90s) seeing as tough the 00's arent done. If god is good to us then this will be the case..

[MrLucky77713]

maybe, v12, i will make one on the current state of punk rock (as unbiased as humanly possilbe) JUST TO GET YOU. You seem to be in a minority who hate these articles, what exactly is your big problem with them?

[V12]

what are you talking about, that was a positive comment. holy shit...

[m3e6oHocK]

i dont even see how he misinterpreted it like that???

[V12]

true dat m3e6ohock

[change_needed]

i'm pretty sure that he read the last line of your comment and misenterpreted that. by you saying "if god is good to us then this will be the case" you were pretty much saying that if "god" is good to you then he wont write any more of these articles. that often times will get misunderstood as you saying that you dont like these articles and you wish he would stop writing them. At least thats how i read it.

also, v12 are you a climber?

[MrLucky77713]

oh crap..im sorry. i thought he meant that if god is good there will only be one more...sorry man

[reed]

Another well written article! Keep it up!

[EpitaphMan440]

You left out one of the most influential Punk Bands of all time. Bad Religion, and by the way Mr. Brett owns that label....

[MrLucky77713]

I notice that BR was left out, they're going to be in the 90's along with a short blurb about Epitaph, because BR and the rest of the bands form that label got famous in the 90's, though many of them started then in the 80's. BR's Greg Graffin started up Epitaph

I don't know who Mr. Brett is

[Unseen_hero]

yea uh...one thing to mention, it wasn't greg graffin who started epitaph it was the guitarist brett gurewitz. that would be mr. brett

[yungbassist]

definatly a good article its nice to see sum one
tellin ppl about tru punk bands so we dont have mosre little ppl runnin around screamin about how good charlette is tru punk~i hate those ppl!

[strangled]

for someone as young as you are your writing is very impressive and unbiased
very well written

[V12]

not a climber, but i do take acid

[MrLucky77713]

Was it Brett? I was under the imrpession it was Greg, he's the frontman and all and is really educated. I'll check it out on the Epitaph site, but there's a plenty good chance that you're right, Unseen. It'll all be in the next article anyway.

[letsgomurphys06]

Misfits, Bad Brains and Minor Threat were emo sounding, a little constructive criticism here, but:
Die Die Die my Darling
Don't utter a single word
Die Die Die my Darlin
You're futures in an oblong box...
not really whiny emo? the first article was better but this one was still good. Nice job.

PS-What about Agnostic Front in the East? They are still known as the godfathers of Hardcore Punk.

[change_needed]

tell me why minor threat were in any way shape or form emo, and then i will tell you why they arent.

[Purem8]

(/me) Looks for something wrong with this column.
I could be picky, but §eriously...
In light of most of the other articles on UG, you might be the best columnist... But the mindless fools high on drugs might think I said "best communist" and you know that is just... umm...
How the fuçk did I go from commenting on your article to communism? (I guess I fit into the "high on drugs" category) =P

Decent grammar.
Solid subject analysis.
Refreshing column, continue writing, sir.

-Ryan-

[MrLucky77713]

about the minor threat/bad brains/misfits, the harDCore stuff was either hardcore OR emo, not always both. I'm very aware that those bands are the complete antichrist of emo. I'm sorry if it appeared that I appeared to say otherwise.

In fact, I state "Bands like Minor Threat and Bad Brains and Misfits had the hardcore sound..."

[RatiugLink]

Dude, "progressive punk" is an oxymoron. What the hell!?

[MrLucky77713]

Dude, "progressive punk" is an oxymoron. What the hell!?

I'm not even going to touch that... No one else should either... No genre bashing of any kind

[swansongs]

no lets have lots of genre bashing

[haines62]

punk sucks anyway

[musicicallad]

i dunno how anyone can say punk sucks when its led to so many different kinds of genres,,or sub-genres...and then im shure some ones gunna come in here and say something like punk takes no talent to play (if u write a punk article expect assholes to respond) but wouldnt everyone agree lars from metallica is a good drummer...well on their album garage inc. they wanted to cover green hell by the misfits..but they couldnt cause lar couldnt play the thrash beats... im not tring to bash anyone cause i like most genres of rock..but i dont like it whn assholes try to convince people tht something that is incorrect is correct...also i dont think solos belong in punk...personally i think it sounds corny... even if afi's dancing though monday ( or watever its called) the solo is awesome but i dont like the way the go into it..like everything just stops and then the drummer whales on the snair...its just my opinion

[UseYourBrain]

good job Mrlucky

[EpitaphMan440]

Brett Gurewitz. Hes the (one of the) guitarist from the bad, him and Greg are the only original memebers left in the band. Brett started the label in 81' i beleive with the release of BR first album "how could hell be any worse". In 1994 Brett left the band to put his full support into his label, who just got a suprise hit from "The Offspring", a little album called Smash, for all you who don't know...

Anyways BR started in 81', and have been a major influence for countless band since then.

[Tcurtis]

good article. cant wait for the next one.

[evilville]

i will say this once....if you dont get signed to a major record label..thats because your band sucks...if you stay independent or underground your whole time you serioulsly aren't good enough...but there are a few exceptions.

[scumfuc_69]

i have to agree; it's good 'cause it's unbiased.
Husker Du sucks ass, & i don't consider them to
be a punk band, butr that's just my personal opnion
I wanted to throw in. (goldfinger is bullshit too)
But anyway, pretty nice article.
anyone who hates punk hates free thought.

[scumfuc_69]

don't you mean peer2peer is being "persecuted"
by the RIAA???

[scumfuc_69]

^^evilville...you're an idiot

[MrLucky77713]

scumfuc: No, I did state it unclearly, but those who use p2p are being prosecuted legally. to persecute is not essentially a legal action, to prosecute is, and that's what is going on.

BR is going to be in the next one...Thanks a LOT for the brett gurewitz info. But I guess I just believe that most of Epitaph's fame came with the big "skate-punk" explosion (for lack of a better thing to call it...psychobilly????) in the 90's with Millencolin, NOFX, Pennywise, Offspring, etc. (I know that at lots of these kinds of bands started in the 80's, but it wasn't really big until the 90's, so that is when they will be talked about.)

This article was not my best, the 80's are the time where my knowledge is the lowest. I knew stunningly little about the 80's when I started this, you guys can thank the punks in the forums here for a lot of this information.

[whiplash911]

you know your shit

[nasty_santa409]

*clap clap clap clap clap*

EAST BAY FUCKING RULES!

[biohazardous56]

ne one here like anti flag?

[ShoeLaces907]

Pretty decent rundown of everything. The only real complaints I have is that Black Flag is two words, not one and that maybe you didn't elaborate on the Meat Puppets enough. Otherwise, good job.

[MrLucky77713]

My own complaint is that I really didn't elaborate on really any band... Except for kind of Husker Du and Op Ivy/Rancid..

I like anti-flag....

[lambo202]

Typical American inward thinking. No mention of Punk Scenes thriving in the Mid 70's when you guys were still pussying around with Disco.

[MrLucky77713]

lambo..I already did an article on the 70's that included a lot about early punk and oi! I didn't NEED to talk about it again.

[letsgomurphys06]

hahaha.
lambo-disco? nice.
Thank you Britain for punk rock-the best and the brightest.
I hate Disco.

[sloppyjoe109]

good charlotte sucks

[GuiTarPlaYnPunK]

great article
keep em coming
loved ur first one
i like anti flag

[anti-goth]

i like anti-flag too and evil ville-r u meaning ville valo?

[anti-goth]

o and good article

[the_beastly_one]

Why weren't Bad Religion mentioned in the section on So Cal?

[MrLucky77713]

They'll be in the 90's. I've said it a million times.

[JoeMacFadzen]

good article.

[Publicservices]

coolio

[soankeyman820]

FA SHO!