Last time, we traced the meaning of the word punk from the late 1500s to the 1950s. For all those centuries, the word had nothing to do with music. So how did that word come to describe a certain type of rock?
The first time anyone saw the word in print in a musical context was 1969, when the critic Lester Bangs used the word to describe a band called the MC5 in a review in Rolling Stone. In 1971, the writer Dave Marsh used the term “punk rock” in Creem magazine in May 1971. In June ’71, we’re back to Lester Bangs using the word in a long essay called “Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung” while referring to bands with loud, fuzzy guitars. From there, it graduated to the New Yorker, where they used it in an article about the New York Dolls.
And finally, there was a mid-70s fanzine in New York that covered the weird underground stuff in the city. That magazine was called Punk, (a name chosen by writer Leggs McNeil). For many people, any band that appeared in Punk (like the Ramones, for example) was a “punk band.” From there—well, here we are.
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