This post wound up being much longer than I was planning. Although I got tired of writing it so the end is much less comprehensive than the beginning.
I don't know anyone who listens to punk who actually likes Hawthorne Heights. Or Good Charlotte. Only fans of "pop-punk," which isn't generally considered punk.
Anyway punk arose out of the music of groups like the Velvet Underground, the Stooges, the New York Dolls, the MC5, the Sonics, the Modern Lovers, Death (not the Chuck Schuldiner group, obviously, but the '70s band from Detroit), Rocket from the Tombs, Suicide, Captain Beefheart, Neu!, Can, the Deviants, the Pink Fairies, David Bowie, Roxy Music, the Who, the Kinks, the Small Faces, and the Doors. However, this list obviously covers a wide range of musical territory and none of these artists are generally considered punk themselves, but they have been cited by many punk groups as core influences and it is basically impossible to conceive of the genre even existing in its current state without some of the more important artists in the above list. The Ramones are generally considered the first proper punk group, and certainly they were at least the first of the early punk bands to draw widespread critical attention. The point of the genre was to be aggressively modern, distancing itself from what was perceived as the bombast and sentimentality of much '60s and '70s rock, and the genre embraced a do-it-yourself ethos which has persisted with many of the bands to this day. Landmark recordings in the genre were made by artists like Blondie, Television, Jonathan Richman, the Heartbreakers, Richard Hell, the Dictators, the Sex Pistols, the Clash, the Damned, the Voidoids, and the Buzzcocks.
Hardcore punk came out of the late '70s, with Black Flag being almost universally acknowledged as the founding fathers of the genre. At the suggestion of his brother, Raymond Pettibon, Greg Ginn so named the band because it was similar to Black Sabbath, it was the name of an insecticide, and it was an anarchist symbol; he stated that he felt comfortable with all three of these associations. Hardcore took the louder-faster-heavier attitude of punk up to eleven; bands almost never signed to major record labels and the anti-establishment politics of many punk bands were part and parcel of the hardcore movement. Key labels included Ginn's SST Records, Epitaph Records, BYO Records, New Alliance Records, Frontier Records, and Slash Records. Important bands in the early period of hardcore punk include Fear, the Germs, the Circle Jerks, X, the Adolescents, Angry Samoans, Bad Religion, the Descendents, Dr. Know, Ill Repute, Minutemen, Suicidal Tendencies, TSOL, Wasted Youth, Social Distortion, Blades, and Youth Brigade. The first four of these were featured alongside Black Flag in a landmark documentary about the genre entitled
The Decline of Western Civilization; most of the other bands formed after the documentary was filmed. Nearly all of these bands were from L.A. A scene in San Francisco started shortly thereafter, with Dead Kennedys often being considered the first hardcore band from San Francisco (although it was not until their second non-single release, the
In God We Trust, Inc. EP, that they made what is traditionally considered hardcore punk); other important bands who originated in the scene include Blast, Crucifix, Flipper, Kwik Way, and Whipping Boy, and Texas bands like the Dicks and MDC relocated to 'Frisco during this time period. D.C.'s hardcore scene is generally acknowledged to have been founded by Bad Brains, which may also have been the first punk group to consist of entirely African-American members. Also in D.C., Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson formed Minor Threat in 1980, which was responsible for starting the straight edge movement (although MacKaye would apparently later abandon straight edge). MacKaye and Nelson ran their own record label, Dischord Records, which would release albums by D.C. bands including The Faith, Iron Cross, Scream, State of Alert (featuring Henry Rollins), Government Issue, Void, and Youth Brigade (not the Los Angeles band mentioned above). A Boston scene formed, but to be honest I've never heard of any of the bands Wikipedia mentions. New York's scene became much better known; although it is generally considered to have been formed when Bad Brains moved to the city from D.C., it would spawn artists such as The Mob, Heart Attack, Kraut, Beastie Boys (yes,
those Beastie Boys; they played hardcore before they played hip-hop), Urban Waste, Agnostic Front, Reagan Youth, No Thanks, The Icemen, Crumbsuckers, Murphy's Law, Cro-Mags, and Warzone. Nearby Jersey would spawn important groups as well, most notably the Misfits, and also including Adrenalin OD, Mucky Pup and The Undead. Other important bands from other cities include Hüsker Dü (who will pop up later in this history as well), the Replacements, Big Black (who became an incalculable influence on industrial rock), Naked Raygun, Cruficucks, the Meatmen, Meat Puppets, Butthole Surfers, the Dicks, DRI, The Fartz, The Accüsed, Melvins (who later became a metal band), D.O.A., and Nomeansno (who are sometimes credited as being the first math rock band). Several of these artists quickly evolved out of hardcore punk and became much better known for playing other styles; Melvins, as you probably already know, became a metal band, while Hüsker Dü, the Replacements, Butthole Surfers and Meat Puppets became alternative rock bands. Important bands from Britain during this time period include Discharge (who advocated anarchy) and the Exploited (who most certainly did not). Discharge would give their name to the subgenre of d-beat, which would become particularly popular in Sweden where groups like Anti-Cimex, Disfear, and Totiltär would form. The Varukers were one of the original bands from Britain.
Britain is also where the scene of anarcho-punk formed. Other bands like Dead Kennedys, the Clash, and the Sex Pistols had advocated anarchy previously, but anarcho-punk is where it really got serious, with many of the members living ascetic lifestyles as free from consumption as possible. Crass are generally regarded as the genre's founders. Bands like Flux of Pink Indians, Conflict, Discharge, the Varukers, Antisect, Sacrilege, Amebix, Rudimentary Peni, TSOL, and Napalm Death emerged out of this scene. Napalm Death merged hardcore with death metal to form grindcore on their landmark recording
Scum. (After their second full-length release,
From Enslavement to Obliteration, which shares its name with an otherwise unrelated earlier demo of the band's as well, they would incorporate even more death metal influence. It is also worth noting that Repulsion's
Horrified is sometimes cited as being the first grindcore recording as it predated
Scum somewhat, but it was less hardcore-influenced than Napalm Death's recordings). Another important early grindcore band was Extreme Noise Terror, who were also important progenitors of the genre of crust. Other important crust bands included Antisect, Sacrilege, and Amebix; crust incorporated a large influence from extreme metal bands such as Venom and Celtic Frost, is defined by its dirty, bass-heavy sound, and is often played at a fast tempo, although there may be occasional slow sections. Vocals are usually guttural, growled, or screamed. Later crust bands such as Iskra would also incorporate influence from genres like black metal, although many of these bands remain obscure. The scene of d-beat, already mentioned above, also emerged out of anarcho-punk. While anarcho-punk is frequently thought of as being a British phenomenon in origin and most of the bands usually grouped under the umbrella have a fairly similar sound, many United States bands around this time with somewhat different qualities would also advocate anarchy; alongside the groups mentioned towards the start of this paragraph, MDC and Reagan Youth would advocate anarchy. Additionally, anarcho-punk would quickly evolve into a much more diverse genre, with bands incorporating influence from ska (Leftöver Crack and Choking Victim), metal (Propagandhi), indie rock and power pop (garage rock (The (International) Noise Conspiracy), powerviolence and thrashcore (Capitalist Casualties, Dropdead), rave culture (Spiral Tribe), reggae and dance music (Back to the Planet, Radical Dance Faction), as well as folk, country, new age, spoken word, traditional Irish music, jazz, and other traditions (Annie Anxiety, The Men They Couldn't Hang, The Levellers, etc.). Naturally, a DIY stance is extremely common among bands of this genre, and the bands'
political stances are frequently infused at every aspect of their music.
By the late 1980s, as could be expected from a genre with such antiauthoritarian views to start out with, hardcore was an increasingly fragmented scene, with many bands combining the genre with other genres such as metal, hip-hop or rap. Metalcore was formed by bands like Earth Crisis, Deadguy and Integrity, with Rorschach later playing the style as well. Sepultura has been credited as a significant influence by many bands in the genre. Well-known rapcore artists include Beastie Boys, Biohazard, Hed PE, Kottonmouth Kings, Suicidal Tendencies, Bloodhound Gang, 311, and Hollywood Undead. Rage Against the Machine are sometimes considered rapcore as well (although they are more commonly considered rap metal), and have covered several hardcore and punk songs. Other genres included powerviolence, pioneered by the guitar-less Man Is a Bastard, and emo/screamo.
Emo and screamo evolved from the works of Rites of Spring and the catalogue of Dischord Records, which quickly branched out from traditional hardcore to release many of the key works in the development of emo. Embrace were another of the key artists on the roster, and members of Embrace and members of Minor Threat would later form Fugazi. I can't really be arsed listing all the artists who pioneered this style again since I already listed them in my first post. This style used to not suck, but its image has been ruined by commercial bull:bou::bou::bou::bou: that has very little to do with the early music in the style, and most of the popular artists considered by the public to represent the style are absolutely terrible. The same goes for metalcore.
Other styles include mathcore (Dillinger Escape Plan, Converge, Botch; an outgrowth of metalcore, with many bands considered to be members of both styles) and thrashcore, but I am fairly certain these evolved much later. As an aside, I am still pissed off at Metal Archives for refusing to accept submissions of mathcore bands. Converge are infinitely more metal than a lot of the crappy symphonic metal bands on that site, not to mention the :bou::bou::bou::bou:ty nonmetal side projects of NSBM band members that somehow manage to make it on there. Whatever.
Bands like Big Black, The Effigies, and Naked Raygun would prove hugely influential to the style of post-hardcore, focusing the attention more on singing than on screaming (though the former does not hold true for all post-hardcore bands while the latter does not hold true for all hardcore bands), with bands like Fugazi, the Nation of Ulysses, and Jawbox laying further groundwork for the style. Sludge evolved out of a fusion of hardcore with Black Sabbath-style doom metal, with bands like Corrosion of Conformity, Eyehategod, Down, Crowbar, and Acid Bath being considered key artists; later bands such as Neurosis, Godflesh, Isis, and Cult of Luna would add even more atmosphere and create atmospheric sludge or post-metal (Tool are sometimes lumped in with this scene, although I consider them an alternative/progressive metal band). But you probably already knew that. As is probably obvious, thrash metal is strongly influenced by hardcore, but it's not generally considered hardcore and I severely doubt you need to be told about Anthrax, Slayer, Megadeth, Metallica, or Testament. However, hardcore bands would borrow from thrash metal, like Suicidal Tendencies, DRI, and Corrosion of Conformity. Thrashcore is separate from crossover thrash, a fusion of thrash and hardcore; thrashcore is even faster hardcore with frequent use of blast beats. Thrashcore evolved into powerviolence, which I mentioned above, proving that I'm not doing a very organised job of writing this post.
Backtracking a bit: It's not generally agreed upon when punk rock evolved into alternative rock, but R.E.M. and Hüsker Dü are cited as the founders of the genre by Allmusic. Certainly the entire '80s discography of each band had an incalculable influence upon the genre. The Hüskers started out as a hardcore band, indicating that the genre has clear roots in punk, but as of their 1984 album
Zen Arcade had exploded the limitations of the genre with songs stretching out to nearly fourteen minutes and incorporating elements of jazz, psychedelia, folk, pop, and piano interludes, all of which according to Wikipedia had never been seen before in the genre of hardcore. As a result it is considered the first post-hardcore album and it is also a seminal album in the history of alternative rock.
Murmur by R.E.M. was released the previous year and sounded like little else that had been released previously; it represented the opposite side of the spectrum from
Zen Arcade and proved equally influential. Incalculable influences on the genre included works from artists like Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth (seriously, listen to
Daydream Nation; listen to it
now), the Replacements, The Feelies, Violent Femmes, the Cure, the Smiths, Minutemen, Pixies, Meat Puppets, Melvins (yes, their music qualifies as alternative rock in addition to metal and hardcore), Green River, Jane's Addiction, Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails (also a key artist in industrial rock, which should not be confused with pure industrial; you'll never confuse a NIN record for a Skinny Puppy record, except maybe "Down in It"), Faith No More, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Alice in Chains, the Stone Roses, Blur, Suede, Oasis, Pulp, Pavement, Superchunk, Sleater-Kinney, Sebadoh, Guided by Voices, Liz Phair, Beck, PJ Harvey, Talk Talk (last two albums only), Slint, Bark Psychosis, and Tortoise. I can't be bothered to give a history of all the subgenres of alternative rock right now. There are just too smurfing many of them. Maybe I'll be arsed to list some of the more important ones later. Some of the artists I listed under alternative rock do not qualify as what is traditionally thought of as alternative rock but can be argued to have emerged out of it (interestingly, Bark Psychosis started out as a Napalm Death cover band and wound up being the first group ever described as post-rock, which probably represents the single most radical sonic shift in the history of music). Key labels in the early development of alternative rock included SST Records, Twin/Tone Records, Dischord Records, and Touch and Go Records. Key post-rock labels are Kranky, Constellation, Drag City (which releases many other styles of music as well), Thrill Jockey, and Too Pure.
Then there's post-punk. I'm going to be even more brief with this: Joy Division, Wire, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Magazine, Public Image Ltd, The Fall, Joy Division, Gang of Four, The Sound, Echo & the Bunnymen, The Birthday Party, The Psychedelic Furs, Joy Division, The Lords of the New Church, Killing Joke, The Cure, Bauhaus, Devo, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Joy Division, Talking Heads, Television, Glenn Branca, DNA, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Swans, Sonic Youth, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Suicide, Pere Ubu, Mission of Burma, Skinny Puppy (also industrial), U2, Joy Division (seriously, listen to Joy Division).
This is not, however, as I suggested above, anywhere close to being comprehensive. Wikipedia's article on punk rock is actually very good and a good point for learning more. Also, Allmusic, as mentioned above, is an invaluable reference. I do not believe I have ever seen them give a five-star rating to an album that did not have incalculable influence on some genre or other, so that's a good bellwether as to what had historical impact. I would recommend investigating albums by the bands listed in this article that received five stars from AMG if you want to give yourself a bare-bones overview of the sonic history of these genres. I should also note as a caveat that I probably have not listened to even a tenth of these bands. I started out listing most of the bands Wikipedia mentioned but later restricted it mostly to artists I had heard of, unless there were only a few artists listed for a style that I wasn't particularly familiar with.
