The 5: Proto-Punk Bands of the 60’s and 70’s

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This Week on The 5:  Garage Rock Jam Glam Bands of the 60’s and 70’s

Dave Marsh coined the term “punk rock” in 1971. The bands that are most associated with creating punk rock as we know it today were formed between 1974 and 1976 – The Ramones, The Sex Pistols and The Clash. But years before punk hit the scene there bands laying the groundwork. Below are five bands from the 60’s and early 70’s that could of been considered garage rock, jam bands, or glam but they are now also considered to be proto-punk.

sonicsthemc5Stoogesdeathny dolls

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  • The Sonics (1960).  Formed in the early 60s in Tacoma, Washington, the Sonics played a lot harder and more aggressive than their contemporaries. They’ve been thrown in with hard rock and garage rock acts of the era, but their fast playing and original songs like Strychnine and Psycho, dealing with drugs and crazy pussy, but them in their own class. They were broken up by 1968 but the emergence of punk in the 70s brought attention back to them. They still tour today.
  • The MC5 (1964). Nothing is more punk than Kick Out the Jams. It’s just a fact. The first of the three bands out of Michigan, the MC5’s influence on the genre can’t be ignored. They played fast and hard, but could also jam out songs that could go for 8 minutes plus. The members were a product of their time, they all were part of the radical White Panther party, who were aligned with the Black Panthers. The were initially the only band to show up to the 1968 DNC. The band broke up by 1972, but their influence will forever be associated with punk rock, especially their mentoring of the next band on this list, The Stooges.
  • The Stooges (1967).  Iggy Pop might of just said recently that he doesn’t like punk and finds the music tedious, but he’ll forever be linked to it as one the greatest front men of all time, in all of rock and roll. Iggy Pop took his stage name after seeing the MC5 in Michigan, and he formed the Stooges, who were eventually signed to Elektra records. Their insane live shows, with Iggy flashing the crowd and rubbing himself with peanut butter and hamburger meat are legendary. And it’s all backed up by incredible blues infused rock. The spirit of punk rock lives in Iggy pop, whether he wants it to or not.
    • Listen to 1969 below or on YouTube
    • Listen to Raw Power below or on YouTube.
  • Death (1971).  The third band from Michigan, Death was comprised of three brothers from Detroit who went the opposite way of Motown. While not many people actually heard the band Death until way after they stopped making music, you can’t help but hear that these guys were punk rock. Out of all the bands on this list, they captured the sound of what was to be called punk rock best a few years from when they played. Did they influence anyone? Not very likely since they weren’t heard by many. They may not of been super influential, but the music they were making in the early 70s was years ahead of what anyone else was doing.
  • New York Dolls (1971).  If only for their aesthetics, the Dolls should be here. Luckily for everyone else, they made brilliant music. Dressed in drag and playing what some would call glam rock, they were deep in the glam scene, they freaked people out in the best way possible. They blew up after being invtied to open for Rod Stewart. Their classic self titled album was produced by Todd Rundgren but this was to be short lived. By 1975, due to drug abuse and in fighting, the band broke up. They reunited in 2004, which was documented in the film New York Doll.

 

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The Sonics

Strychnine

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Have Loev, Will Travel

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The MC5

Kick Out the Jams

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Rocket Reducer No. 62

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The Stooges

1969

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Raw Power

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Death

Politicians in My Eyes

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Keep on Knocking

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New York Dolls

Private World

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Personality Crisis

Interrobang Staff
Interrobang Staff