The history of punk rock really starts in the mid 1960s with the garage rock scene. The term punk rock was first used to describe 1960s garage rock acts such as The Kingsmen.
The Kingsmen had a hit with their 1963 version of Richard Berry's song "Louie, Louie." This song heavily influenced what is probably the biggest hit of the Proto-Punk era with The Kinks "You Really Got Me" from 1964. And then in 1965 The Who released "My Generation" which would go on to define the British punk rock scene of the 1970s.
As we move forward you can't mention the history of the early punk rock world without talking about Iggy Pop and the Stooges. Iggy Pop, who is credited as being the "godfather of punk" truly began his musical career with The Stooges self titled album which released in August in 1969. This began a really exciting time for the beginning of punk. The New York Dolls released their self titled album in 1973 and they would go on to define a subgenre of punk called Glam Punk, which by all accounts could be considered the first subgenre of punk.
Three African American brothers would go on to change punk forever.. without ever releasing an official album when it was recorded. While multiple albums were recorded from 1973 to 1977, the only one released at the time was Politicians In My Eyes in 1975, however only 500 copies were released. The band recorded their records at Colombia Records, funded by Clive Davis, but the funding was pulled after the brothers refused to change their name from Death to something more marketable. Despite the issues and their albums not being released until 2009 it is hard to mention proto-punk without mentioning death. In a time where punk wasn't even officially a genre, to me they are the first real punk band.
And that is where we will end part 1 of the History of Punk. In part 2 we'll pick up from 1974 and cover the essential early years of punk.
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