71-409: The Gun Club were an American post-punk band from Los Angeles that existed from 1979 to 1996. Created and led by singer-songwriter and guitarist Jeffrey Lee Pierce , they were notable as one of the first bands in the punk rock subculture to incorporate influences from blues , rockabilly , and country music . The Gun Club has been called a "tribal psychobilly blues" band, as well as initiators of
142-428: A new wave revival. Their music ranged from the atonal tracks of bands like Liars to the melodic pop songs of groups like The Sounds . They shared an emphasis on energetic live performance and used aesthetics (in hair and clothes) closely aligned with their fans, often drawing on fashion of the 1950s and 1960s, with "skinny ties, white belts [and] shag haircuts". There was an emphasis on "rock authenticity" that
213-508: A dense (and often playful) style of criticism that drew on philosophy, radical politics and an eclectic variety of other sources. In 1978, UK magazine Sounds celebrated albums such as Siouxsie and the Banshees' The Scream , Wire's Chairs Missing , and American band Pere Ubu 's Dub Housing . In 1979, NME championed records such as PiL's Metal Box , Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures , Gang of Four's Entertainment! , Wire's 154 ,
284-438: A genre of music than a space of possibility", suggesting that "what unites all this activity is a set of open-ended imperatives: innovation; willful oddness; the willful jettisoning of all things precedented or 'rock'n'roll ' ". AllMusic employs "post-punk" to denote "a more adventurous and arty form of punk". Reynolds asserted that the post-punk period produced significant innovations and music on its own. Reynolds described
355-569: A gig in Paris. The band carried on and he was replaced with former roadie Peter Kablean, known as Desi Desperate, despite having no rehearsal. The Gun Club broke up in January 1985, Pierce remaining in London with then-girlfriend Romi Mori, who he had met during the final December 10–11 shows at Dingwalls, London. After the breakup, Powers, Morrison and Desperate formed a band called Fur Bible (Morrison later joined
426-469: A handful of tracks). Released on June 25, 1984, this album marked a significant change for the band; it represented a shift away from the punk rock of Fire of Love and Miami and a step towards a more polished alternative rock sound. After US gigs supporting Siouxsie and the Banshees , in September the band embarked on a European tour in support of the album, but after five weeks Graham again departed after
497-576: A hub for this scene and provide it with its namesake. A pioneering punk scene in Australia during the mid-1970s also fostered influential post-punk acts like The Birthday Party , who eventually relocated to the UK to join its burgeoning music scene. As these scenes began to develop, British music publications such as NME and Sounds developed an influential part in the nascent post-punk culture, with writers like Savage, Paul Morley and Ian Penman developing
568-708: A large output of music. By 1980–1981, many British acts, including Maximum Joy , Magazine, Essential Logic, Killing Joke , the Sound , 23 Skidoo , Alternative TV , the Teardrop Explodes , the Psychedelic Furs , Echo & the Bunnymen and the Membranes also became part of these fledgling post-punk scenes, which centered on cities such as London and Manchester. However, during this period, major figures and artists in
639-531: A more commercial new wave sound (such as Gang of Four), while others were fixtures on American college radio and became early examples of alternative rock , such as R.E.M. One band to emerge from post-punk was U2 , which infused elements of religious imagery and political commentary into its often anthemic music. Online database AllMusic noted that late '80s bands such as Big Flame , World Domination Enterprises , and Minimal Compact appeared to be extensions of post-punk. Some notable bands that recalled
710-609: A new version of the band in October 1986. Powers, who had also been recruited into Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at this time, resumed his place at guitar, with Mori switching to bass and Sanderson retaining his spot on drums. This lineup of the Gun Club recorded a handful of albums, including Mother Juno , released October 19, 1987, on Red Rhino Records . This album, produced by Robin Guthrie of
781-485: Is a broad genre of music that emerged in 1977 in the wake of punk rock . Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experimental approach that encompassed a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-rock influences. Inspired by punk's energy and do it yourself ethic but determined to break from rock cliches , artists experimented with styles like funk , electronic music , jazz , and dance music ;
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#1732856100142852-504: Is not with what Reynolds left out of Rip It Up ..., but, paradoxically, that too much was left in". Ogg suggested that post-punk pertains to a set of artistic sensibilities and approaches rather than any unifying style, and disputed the accuracy of the term's chronological prefix "post", as various groups commonly labelled "post-punk" predate the punk rock movement. Reynolds defined the post-punk era as occurring roughly between 1978 and 1984. He advocated that post-punk be conceived as "less
923-551: The Bags , Rob Ritter and Terry Graham, respectively. Ritter was temporarily replaced on bass by Anna Statman for two months in the fall of 1980. Kid Congo Powers then left, on amicable terms, to join The Cramps in November 1980 and was replaced by lead and slide guitarist Ward Dotson (ex-Der Stab) who had initially hoped to join The Cramps. During this period, the Gun Club often opened for X,
994-651: The Divinity album, released in August 1991 on New Rose Records, but the band were inactive during the remainder of that year as Pierce was hospitalized during his travels in India and Vietnam. Pierce also recorded with Cypress Grove . Simon Fish, who had previously played with Pierce on one of his solo albums, joined the band in March 1992. At the conclusion of a European tour in May 1992, Powers left
1065-843: The blues ", while Thom Jurek of AllMusic noted that "nobody has heard music like this before or since". Fire of Love sold well and received strong reviews upon release. Billy Persons of the Weirdos temporarily replaced Ritter for several shows in late 1981. In April 1982, the Gun Club signed to Blondie guitarist Chris Stein 's Animal Records, a subsidiary of Chrysalis Records . The band temporarily relocated to New York City to record their follow-up album, 1982's Miami . This album featured not only Stein as producer, but Blondie's Debbie Harry singing backup vocals on several tracks. Ritter left in June 1982 to concentrate on his other band, 45 Grave , and changed his name to Rob Graves. Before leaving, Ritter taught
1136-505: The production techniques of dub and disco ; and ideas from art and politics, including critical theory , modernist art , cinema and literature . These communities produced independent record labels , visual art, multimedia performances and fanzines . The early post-punk vanguard was represented by groups including Siouxsie and the Banshees , Wire , Public Image Ltd , the Pop Group , Magazine , Joy Division , Talking Heads ,
1207-557: The punk blues sound cowpunk – "He (Pierce) took Robert Johnson and pre-war acoustic blues and 'punkified' it. Up until then bands were drawing on Iggy & The Stooges and the New York Dolls but he took it back so much further for inspiration." The Gun Club were formed by Jeffrey Lee Pierce (guitar and vocals) with friend, chief of the Ramones fan club and fellow music enthusiast Brian Tristan, also known as Kid Congo Powers . Pierce
1278-459: The Art of Noise , would attempt to bring sampled and electronic sounds to the pop mainstream. Post-punk artists such as Scritti Politti's Green Gartside and Josef K 's Paul Haig , previously engaged in avant-garde practices, turned away from these approaches and pursued mainstream styles and commercial success. These new developments, in which post-punk artists attempted to bring subversive ideas into
1349-600: The Bags, Circle Jerks and the Blasters. Securing a record deal with Ruby Records , a division of Slash , the group released their debut album, Fire of Love , on August 31, 1981. The album was produced by Tito Larriva (of the Plugz ) and Chris D. (frontman of the Flesh Eaters). Critic Stevo Olende wrote that the "album's lyrical imagery is plundered from voodoo , '50s EC Comics and
1420-461: The Banshees and Wire were experimenting with sounds, lyrics, and aesthetics that differed significantly from their punk contemporaries. Savage described some of these early developments as exploring "harsh urban scrapings", "controlled white noise " and "massively accented drumming". In November 1977 Siouxsie and the Banshees' first John Peel Session for BBC radio 1 marked the transition to post-punk when they premiered "Metal Postcard" with space in
1491-517: The Blacks , and Lizzy Mercier Descloux pursued a formula described by Lucy Sante as "anything at all + disco bottom". Other no wave-indebted artists such as Swans , Rhys Chatham , Glenn Branca , Lydia Lunch , the Lounge Lizards , Bush Tetras , and Sonic Youth instead continued exploring the early scene's forays into noise music 's abrasive territory. The original post-punk movement ended as
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#17328561001421562-576: The British post-punk scene in the late 1970s. The genre later flourished into a more widespread and international movement of artists who applied the spirit of psychedelic rock to new sounds and techniques. Other styles such as avant-funk and industrial dub also emerged around 1979. Midwestern groups such as Pere Ubu and Devo drew inspiration from the region's derelict industrial environments , employing conceptual art techniques, musique concrète and unconventional verbal styles that would presage
1633-629: The Cocteau Twins , was a successful comeback, garnering a positive critical reception. After the release of Nick Cave's album The Good Son , Powers departed from the Bad Seeds in May 1990 to focus more on the Gun Club. The band's fifth studio effort, Pastoral Hide and Seek , which Pierce produced himself, was released October 1, 1990, on the Fire label. Sanderson departed in December 1990 to focus on his other project, World of Twist. Desperate rejoined to record
1704-588: The Gun Club (Mori and Sanderson formed Freeheat in 1999 with Jim Reid and Ben Lurie of the Jesus and Mary Chain ). Sanderson and Marche formed Earl Brutus. In the fall of 1994, Pierce put together a new lineup featuring Marche, bassist Efe and the returning Fish, lasting until November. An increasingly ill Pierce put together a penultimate Gun Club lineup for two shows in Los Angeles in August and September 1995, including guitarists Powers and Mike Martt (ex- Tex &
1775-633: The Horseheads ), and the Wayne Kramer rhythm section of bassist Randy Bradbury and drummer Brock Avery. The final lineup of the Gun Club, with bassist Elizabeth Montague replacing Bradbury (who was touring with Pennywise ), played only one show, the band's last, at The Palace in Hollywood on December 18, 1995. On March 25, 1996, Pierce was found unconscious at his father's home in Salt Lake City , Utah. He
1846-732: The Jerks , Mars , DNA , Theoretical Girls , and Rhys Chatham instead experimented with noise, dissonance and atonality in addition to non-rock styles. The former four groups were included on the Eno-produced No New York compilation (1978), often considered the quintessential testament to the scene. The decadent parties and art installations of venues such as Club 57 and the Mudd Club would become cultural hubs for musicians and visual artists alike, with figures such as Jean-Michel Basquiat , Keith Haring and Michael Holman frequenting
1917-625: The New York band Bush Tetras ). A spare recording session, originally booked for another band, led to the impromptu recording of the Death Party EP with bassist Jimmy Joe Uliana quickly filling in for Morrison and Linda 'Texacala' Jones on backing vocals. Released April 13, 1983, by Animal, it was the only recording of the short-lived lineup featuring Duckworth and Pop. During this time Pierce refrained from playing guitar, focusing solely on singing. After eight months Graham returned, replacing Pop, and on
1988-933: The Pop Group and the Slits had begun experimenting with dance music, dub production techniques and the avant-garde, while punk-indebted Manchester acts such as Joy Division, the Fall , the Durutti Column and A Certain Ratio developed unique styles that drew on a similarly disparate range of influences across music and modernist art. Bands such as Scritti Politti , Gang of Four , Essential Logic and This Heat incorporated leftist political philosophy and their own art school studies in their work. The unorthodox studio production techniques devised by producers such as Steve Lillywhite , Martin Hannett , and Dennis Bovell became important element of
2059-554: The Raincoats ' self-titled debut , and American group Talking Heads ' album Fear of Music . Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, Bauhaus and the Cure were examples of post-punk bands who shifted to dark overtones in their music, which would later spawn the gothic rock scene in the early 1980s. Members of Siouxsie and the Banshees and the Cure worked on records and toured together regularly until 1984. Neo-psychedelia grew out of
2130-413: The Raincoats , Gang of Four , the Cure , and the Fall . The movement was closely related to the development of ancillary genres such as gothic rock , neo-psychedelia , no wave , and industrial music . By the mid-1980s, post-punk had dissipated, but it provided a foundation for the new pop movement and the later alternative and independent genres. Post-punk is a diverse genre that emerged from
2201-606: The Sisters of Mercy and the Damned ), while Pierce embarked on a solo career. Pierce assembled a band, the Jeffrey Lee Pierce Quartet, consisting of former members of the Cure and Roxy Music , and released Wildweed in 1985. He organized a new band to tour in support of the album, including Mori on guitar and Nick Sanderson of Clock DVA on drums. After a short stint doing spoken word performances, Pierce decided to reform
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2272-665: The Wallendas in 2006 and is currently the lead guitarist for Buffalo Jack & The Parlor Snakes. In between bands, Duckworth did a lot of session work. References [ edit ] ^ Coley, Byron (1988) " Underground ", Spin , August 1988, p. 85. Retrieved November 16, 2013 ^ Sullivan, Jim (1982) "Panther Burns stalls after strong start", Boston Globe , January 19, 1982, p. 1 (Arts/Films) ^ Gendelman, David (2011) " Alex Chilton 1975-1981 ", Paste , July 20, 2011. Retrieved November 16, 2013 ^ Green, Jim & Robbins, Ira " Charlie Pickett and
2343-574: The art school tradition found in the work of artists such as Roxy Music and David Bowie . Reynolds noted a preoccupation among some post-punk artists with issues such as alienation , repression , and technocracy of Western modernity . Among major influences on a variety of post-punk artists were writers William S. Burroughs and J. G. Ballard , avant-garde political scenes such as Situationism and Dada , and intellectual movements such as postmodernism . Many artists viewed their work in explicitly political terms. Additionally, in some locations,
2414-555: The band to focus on his other project, Congo Norvell . In February 1993, the band reconvened as a trio of Pierce, Mori and the returning Sanderson, to record the Lucky Jim album. For their spring 1993 European tour, they were joined by guitarist Rainer Lingk of Die Haut . Lucky Jim was released September 20, 1993, by Triple X Records , and Robert Marche (formerly of Subway Sect and JoBoxers ) joined on guitar in October. In May 1994, Mori and Pierce split up, and she and Sanderson left
2485-570: The bands associated with the movement turned away from its aesthetics, often in favour of more commercial sounds. Many of these groups would continue recording as part of the new pop movement, with entryism becoming a popular concept. In the United States, driven by MTV and modern rock radio stations, a number of post-punk acts had an influence on or became part of the Second British Invasion of " New Music " there. Some shifted to
2556-595: The bass parts to his former Bags bandmate Patricia Morrison (also ex- Legal Weapon ) and trained her as his replacement. For their West Coast shows in August 1982, Annie Ungar was added as a second guitarist. Upon the release of Miami on September 20, 1982, the album received good reviews but has been criticized for Stein's thin production. Due to increasingly frequent arguments, Pierce dismissed Graham and Dotson in December 1982. In January 1983, Graham and Dotson were replaced by guitarist Jim Duckworth (formerly of Tav Falco's Panther Burns ) and drummer Dee Pop (formerly of
2627-713: The break-up of his pioneering punk band the Sex Pistols , citing his disillusionment with punk's musical predictability and cooption by commercial interests, as well as his desire to explore more diverse territory. In May, Lydon formed the group Public Image Ltd with guitarist Keith Levene and bassist Jah Wobble , the latter who declared "rock is obsolete" after citing reggae as a "natural influence". However, Lydon described his new sound as "total pop with deep meanings. But I don't want to be categorised in any other term but punk! That's where I come from and that's where I'm staying." Around this time, acts such as Public Image Ltd,
2698-432: The broad umbrella of " new wave ", with the terms being deployed interchangeably. "Post-punk" became differentiated from "new wave" after their styles perceptibly narrowed. The writer Nicholas Lezard described the term "post-punk" as "so multifarious that only the broadest use ... is possible". Subsequent discourse has failed to clarify whether contemporary music journals and fanzines conventionally understood "post-punk"
2769-404: The charts. Far Out magazine claimed a 2010s revival of the genre as having "claws firmly in the past, with many of the original post-punk bands such as The Fall and Bauhaus hailed as gods". Referring to bands such as Denmark's Iceage , England's Eagulls , Savages and Sleaford Mods , Canada's Ought , America's Preoccupations , Protomartyr and Parquet Courts . Further stating "This
2840-407: The concerns of a largely white, male, working-class population and abandoned its continued reliance on established rock and roll tropes, such as three-chord progressions and Chuck Berry -based guitar riffs . These artists instead defined punk as "an imperative to constant change", believing that "radical content demands radical form". Though the music varied widely between regions and artists,
2911-438: The creation of post-punk music was closely linked to the development of efficacious subcultures , which played important roles in the production of art, multimedia performances, fanzines and independent labels related to the music. Many post-punk artists maintained an anti-corporatist approach to recording and instead seized on alternate means of producing and releasing music. Journalists also became an important element of
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2982-540: The critical community—American critic Greil Marcus characterised "Britain's postpunk pop avant-garde" in a 1980 Rolling Stone article as "sparked by a tension, humour and sense of paradox plainly unique in present-day pop music" —as well as media figures such as BBC DJ John Peel , while several groups, such as PiL and Joy Division, achieved some success in the popular charts. The network of supportive record labels that included Y Records , Industrial, Fast, E.G. , Mute , Axis/4AD , and Glass continued to facilitate
3053-410: The cultural milieu of punk rock in the late 1970s. Originally called "new musick", the terms were first used by various writers in the late 1970s to describe groups moving beyond punk's garage rock template and into disparate areas. Sounds writer Jon Savage already used "post-punk" in early 1978. NME writer Paul Morley also stated that he had "possibly" invented the term himself. At
3124-839: The culture, and popular music magazines and critics became immersed in the movement. In the mid-1970s, various American groups (some with ties to Downtown Manhattan 's punk scene, including Television and Suicide ) had begun expanding on the vocabulary of punk music. During the punk era, a variety of entrepreneurs interested in local punk-influenced music scenes began founding independent record labels, including Rough Trade (founded by record shop owner Geoff Travis ), Factory (founded by Manchester -based television personality Tony Wilson ), and Fast Product (co-founded by Bob Last and Hilary Morrison). By 1977, groups began pointedly pursuing methods of releasing music independently, an idea disseminated in particular by Buzzcocks ' release of their Spiral Scratch EP on their own label as well as
3195-428: The debut albums of those bands layered the foundations of post-punk. Simon Reynolds ' 2005 book Rip It Up and Start Again is widely referenced as post-punk doctrine, although he has stated that the book only covers aspects of post-punk that he had a personal inclination toward. Wilkinson characterised Reynolds' readings as "apparent revisionism and 'rebranding ' ". Author/musician Alex Ogg criticised: "The problem
3266-447: The early 1980s, Downtown Manhattan's no wave scene transitioned from its abrasive origins into a more dance-oriented sound, with compilations such as ZE Records ' Mutant Disco (1981) highlighting a newly playful sensibility borne out of the city's clash of hip hop , disco and punk styles, as well as dub reggae and world music influences. Artists such as ESG , Liquid Liquid , The B-52s , Cristina , Arthur Russell , James White and
3337-906: The emerging music. Labels such as Rough Trade and Factory would become important hubs for these groups and help facilitate releases, artwork, performances, and promotion. Credit for the first post-punk record is disputed, but strong contenders include the debuts of Magazine (" Shot by Both Sides ", January 1978), Siouxsie and the Banshees (" Hong Kong Garden ", August 1978), Public Image Ltd (" Public Image ", October 1978), Cabaret Voltaire ( Extended Play , November 1978) and Gang of Four (" Damaged Goods ", December 1978). A variety of groups that predated punk, such as Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle , experimented with tape machines and electronic instruments in tandem with performance art methods and influence from transgressive literature , ultimately helping to pioneer industrial music . Throbbing Gristle's independent label Industrial Records would become
3408-700: The eve of the October 1983 Australian tour, both Duckworth and Graham quit, refusing to board the plane. Arriving minus half the band, Pierce recruited drummer Billy Pommer Jr. and guitarist Spencer P. Jones from support act the Johnnys to fill in on the tour, while former member Powers also flew over to play guitar. When they returned to the US in November, Graham resumed his place on drums. Pierce returned to guitar playing during this lineup, and both he and Powers are credited with guitar on their third album, The Las Vegas Story (the Blasters' Dave Alvin also played lead guitar on
3479-471: The experimental seriousness of earlier post-punk groups, the club-oriented scene drew some suspicion from denizens of the movement but also achieved commercial success. Artists such as Gary Numan , Depeche Mode , the Human League , Soft Cell , John Foxx and Visage helped pioneer a new synthpop style that drew more heavily from electronic and synthesizer music and benefited from the rise of MTV . In
3550-472: The 💕 American musician James Duckworth (born January 14, 1957) is an American blues guitarist. He was a member of Memphis group Tav Falco's Panther Burns alongside Alex Chilton in the early 1980s. He played with Charlie Pickett on the latter's 1986 album, Route 33 , and was also a member of the Los Angeles punkabilly blues band The Gun Club joining in January 1983. He formed
3621-690: The movement, including particular brands of krautrock , glam , art rock , art pop and other music from the 1960s. Artists once again approached the studio as an instrument , using new recording methods and pursuing novel sonic territories. Author Matthew Bannister wrote that post-punk artists rejected the high cultural references of 1960s rock artists like the Beatles and Bob Dylan as well as paradigms that defined " rock as progressive , as art, as 'sterile' studio perfectionism ... by adopting an avant-garde aesthetic". According to musicologist Pete Dale, while groups wanted to "rip up history and start again",
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#17328561001423692-408: The music was still "inevitably tied to traces they could never fully escape". Nicholas Lezard described post-punk as "a fusion of art and music". The era saw the robust appropriation of ideas from literature, art, cinema, philosophy , politics and critical theory into musical and pop cultural contexts. Artists sought to refuse the common distinction between high and low culture and returned to
3763-424: The original era during the 1990s included Six Finger Satellite , Brainiac , and Elastica . In the early 2000s, a new group of bands that played a stripped down and back-to-basics version of guitar rock emerged into the mainstream, led by Interpol , Franz Ferdinand , The Strokes , and The Rapture . These bands were variously characterised as part of a post-punk revival , as well as a garage rock revival and
3834-405: The period as "a fair match for the sixties in terms of the sheer amount of great music created, the spirit of adventure and idealism that infused it, and the way that the music seemed inextricably connected to the political and social turbulence of its era". Nicholas Lezard wrote that the music of the period "was avant-garde, open to any musical possibilities that suggested themselves, united only in
3905-557: The pop mainstream, began to be categorised under the marketing term new pop . Several more pop-oriented groups, including ABC , the Associates , Adam and the Ants and Bow Wow Wow (the latter two managed by former Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren ) emerged in tandem with the development of the New Romantic subcultural scene. Emphasizing glamour, fashion and escapism in distinction to
3976-605: The post-punk movement by several years. A variety of subsequent groups, including the Boston -based Mission of Burma and the New York-based Talking Heads, combined elements of punk with art school sensibilities. In 1978, the latter band began a series of collaborations with British ambient pioneer and ex- Roxy Music member Brian Eno , experimenting with Dadaist lyrical techniques, electronic sounds, and African polyrhythms . San Francisco 's vibrant post-punk scene
4047-439: The post-punk movement has been characterised by its "conceptual assault" on rock conventions and rejection of aesthetics perceived of as traditionalist , hegemonic or rockist in favour of experimentation with production techniques and non-rock musical styles such as dub , funk , electronic music , disco , noise , world music , and the avant-garde . Some previous musical styles also served as touchstones for
4118-505: The scene began leaning away from underground aesthetics. In the music press, the increasingly esoteric writing of post-punk publications soon began to alienate their readerships; it is estimated that within several years, NME suffered the loss of half its circulation. Writers like Paul Morley began advocating "overground brightness" instead of the experimental sensibilities promoted in the early years. Morley's own musical collaboration with engineer Gary Langan and programmer J. J. Jeczalik ,
4189-400: The scene. According to Village Voice writer Steve Anderson, the scene pursued an abrasive reductionism that "undermined the power and mystique of a rock vanguard by depriving it of a tradition to react against". Anderson claimed that the no wave scene represented "New York's last stylistically cohesive avant-rock movement". British post-punk entered the 1980s with support from members of
4260-452: The self-released 1977 singles of Desperate Bicycles . These DIY imperatives would help form the production and distribution infrastructure of post-punk and the indie music scene that later blossomed in the mid-1980s. As the initial punk movement dwindled, vibrant new scenes began to coalesce out of a variety of bands pursuing experimental sounds and wider conceptual territory in their work. By late 1977, British acts such as Siouxsie and
4331-643: The sense that it was very often cerebral, concocted by brainy young men and women interested as much in disturbing the audience, or making them think, as in making a pop song". Many post-punk artists were initially inspired by punk's DIY ethic and energy, but ultimately became disillusioned with the style and movement, feeling that it had fallen into a commercial formula, rock convention, and self-parody. They repudiated its populist claims to accessibility and raw simplicity, instead of seeing an opportunity to break with musical tradition, subvert commonplaces and challenge audiences. Artists moved beyond punk's focus on
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#17328561001424402-547: The sound and serrated guitars, creating a music being "cold, machine-like and passionate at the same time". Mojo editor Pat Gilbert said, "The first truly post-punk band were Siouxsie and the Banshees", noting the influence of the band's use of repetition on Joy Division . John Robb similarly argued that the first Banshees gig was "proto post-punk", comparing the rhythm section Public Image Ltd's Metal Box , which would be released three years later. In January 1978, singer John Lydon (then known as Johnny Rotten) announced
4473-558: The time a music critic for the Los Angeles Times ; and Brad Dunning (drums), now a prominent designer and writer. In April 1980, they changed their name to "The Gun Club" on a suggestion by Pierce's roommate, Circle Jerks singer Keith Morris . Kid Congo commented that the early Gun Club incarnation were "too arty for rock people, far too rock for arty people, too cuckoo for the blues crowd and too American for punk". Snowden and Dunning departed in June 1980, replaced by two ex-members of
4544-426: The time, there was a feeling of renewed excitement regarding what the word would entail, with Sounds publishing numerous preemptive editorials on new musick. Towards the end of the decade, some journalists used " art punk " as a pejorative for garage rock-derived acts deemed too sophisticated and out of step with punk's dogma . Before the early 1980s, many groups now categorised as "post-punk" were subsumed under
4615-818: The top ten in the UK, while Idles ' Ultra Mono , Fontaines D.C. 's Skinty Fia and Wet Leg 's self-titled debut all reached number one on the UK album charts. This scene is rooted in experimental post-punk and often features vocalists who "tend to talk more than they sing, reciting lyrics in an alternately disaffected or tightly wound voice", and "sometimes it's more like post-rock ". Several of these bands, including Black Country, New Road, Black Midi and Squid, began their careers by playing at The Windmill , an all-ages music venue in London 's Brixton neighbourhood. Many of them have also worked with producer Dan Carey and have released music on his DIY label Speedy Wunderground. Jim Duckworth (musician) From Misplaced Pages,
4686-515: The way that it was discussed in later years. Music historian Clinton Heylin places the " true starting-point for English post-punk" somewhere between August 1977 and May 1978, with the arrival of guitarist John McKay in Siouxsie and the Banshees in July 1977, Magazine 's first album, Wire 's new musical direction in 1978 and the formation of Public Image Ltd . Music historian Simon Goddard wrote that
4757-661: Was centered on such groups as Chrome , the Residents , Tuxedomoon and MX-80 , whose influences extended to multimedia experimentation, cabaret and the dramatic theory of Antonin Artaud 's Theater of Cruelty . Also emerging during this period was downtown New York's no wave movement, as well as a short-lived art and music scene that began in part as a reaction against punk's recycling of traditionalist rock tropes, often reflecting an abrasive and nihilistic worldview. No wave musicians such as The Contortions , Teenage Jesus and
4828-1132: Was hospitalized and remained in a coma until his death from a brain hemorrhage on March 31, effectively ending the Gun Club. The White Stripes played "For the Love of Ivy" and "Jack on Fire" (both from Fire of Love ) at live shows. That band's vocalist and guitarist, Jack White , said, "'Sex Beat', 'She's Like Heroin to Me', and 'For the Love of Ivy'...why are these songs not taught in schools?" Swedish punk and rock singer-songwriter Joakim Thåström has referenced The Gun Club and Pierce in several songs, including " Ingen sjunger blues som Jeffrey Lee Pierce", " Samarkanda " and " Beväpna dig med vingar ". Singer Mark Lanegan included Miami among his favorite recordings, and covered Pierce's "Carry Home" on his 1999 album of cover songs, I'll Take Care of You . Canadian rock band Japandroids included "For The Love of Ivy" on their sophomore album Celebration Rock . Brian King (vocalist/guitarist) said "the magnitude of discovering The Gun Club cannot be understated." Post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick )
4899-458: Was seen as a reaction to the commercialism of MTV-oriented nu metal , hip hop and "bland" post-Britpop groups. Because the bands came from countries around the world, cited diverse influences and adopted differing styles of dress, their unity as a genre has been disputed. By the end of the decade, many of the bands of the movement had broken up, were on hiatus, or had moved on to other musical areas, and very few were making significant impact on
4970-657: Was the former head of the Blondie fan club in Los Angeles and previously a member of the Red Lights, the E-Types, the Individuals , Phast Phreddie & Thee Precisions, and the Cyclones. The Gun Club's precursor band, The Creeping Ritual, formed in late 1979. Along with Pierce (lead vocals and guitar), the first lineup consisted of Brian Tristan (lead guitar); Don Snowden (bass), who was at
5041-576: Was the perfect time for post-punk to return, against a backdrop of hideous geopolitical happenings such as the financial crash of 2008, the ascendence of Donald Trump and the Brexit vote." During the late 2010s and early 2020s, a new wave of UK and Irish post-punk bands gained popularity. Terms such as "crank wave" and "post-Brexit new wave" have been used to describe these bands. The bands Black Country, New Road , Squid , Dry Cleaning , Shame , Sleaford Mods , and Yard Act all had albums that charted in
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