PUNK BREAKS

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PUNK BREAKS
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1991 The Year Punk Broke

• Alternative rock and Seattle-based Grunge begin
  to dominate the mainstream
  
• This music would have been entirely out of place
  on the radio or MTV just a few years prior
  
• Blends elements of punk, heavy metal, psychedelia
  and classic rock
  
• This musical movement had already been in the
  making for the past 10 years

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Diversification of punk in the 1980s

• In the 1980s, many bands reacted against punks
  being repackaged as new wave for mass
  consumption
  
• These groups strove to maintain the ideology and
  urgency of punk, but incorporated elements of the
  classic rock they had listened to growing up,
  such as melody, virtuosity, and lyrical
  complexity

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Diversification of punk in the 1980s

• Hüsker Dü (1979-1988)
• A Minneapolis-based band, emerges out of the
  hardcore punk movement to make music that blends
  the energy of hardcore with pop melodies. The
  band created a style that was at once vicious,
  moving, and always progressive.
• Their 1984 double-album, Zen Arcade, set the
  standard for all the music the band would make
  for the rest of their career.
  
• Their hometown friends, The Replacements
  (1979-1991)
  
• Wrote melodic, extremely personal music that
  still embraced the punk aesthetic of amateurism
  and self-destruction.

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Diversification of punk in the 1980s

• SONIC YOUTH (1981-present)
• Drew on a wide range of influences, including
  punk, psychedelia, Americana, and the avant-garde
  music of composers like John Cage and
  (especially) Glenn Branca
• Experimented with alternate guitar tunings and
  prepared instruments
  
• Standard guitar tuning is E-A-D-G-B-E
• Examples of tunings used by Sonic Youth
• F-F-F-F-E-B
• G-A-B-D-E-G
• G-G-D-D-F-F

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Diversification of punk in the 1980s

• REM and U2 play a less aggressive style of
  punk-influenced rock and roll that becomes
  popular on college radio
  
• Black Flag and The Minutemen, like Hüsker Dü,
  begin as hardcore bands, but eventually begin
  incorporating different stylistic elements
  
• Butthole Surfers and The Flaming Lips make
  psychedelic punk rock, and are known for wild,
  theatrical concerts
  
• Dinosaur Jr and The Pixies, coming later in the
  decade, combine folk rock melodies and structure
  with punk and layers of guitar noise, and are an
  early indication of things to come in the 1990s

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Climate of the 1980s underground scene

• Bands rely heavily on one another to set up shows
  and provide each other with a floor to sleep on
  while on tour
  
• Many bands are forced to start their own record
  labels in order to release albums. The most
  notable of these was SST Records, which was
  created by Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn. SSTs
  roster included, at various times The
  Minutemen, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, and Hüsker
  Dü (who was the labels biggest seller)
• Unfortunately, SST cant quite cut it the label
  is unable to press records in large enough
  quantity, and many bands on the label complained
  about questionable bookkeeping and not getting
  paid properly, so

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Climate of the 1980s underground scene

• Hüsker Dü is the first major band in the American
  indie community to sign to a major label (The
  Replacements are not far behind). The band moved
  to Warner Brothers in 1985, an unprecedented move
  in a community that had very little aspiration to
  reach a mainstream audience
• The bands record contract would become a model
  for other groups signing to majors, as it
  offered the band complete creative control.
  Thurston Moore, of Sonic Youth, consulted with
  Hüsker Düs Bob Mould, before his own band signed
  to Geffen.

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Indie makes the transition into the mainstream

• Shortly after signing to Sire Records, The
  Replacements founding guitarist, Bob Stinson,
  leaves/is fired from the band. Furthermore, the
  band seems averse to success, and refuses to make
  videos for their songs.
• Although they were able to achieve some
  mainstream success, the bands last few albums
  are a lackluster showing, and what remains of the
  group eventually breaks up in 1991
• After releasing two albums on Warner, Hüsker Dü
  breaks up in 1988

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Indie makes the transition into the mainstream

• Sonic Youths staying power earns them status as
  godfathers of the indie community.
  
• They championed Dinosaur Jr (Sonic Youth brought
  them to SST), and later Mudhoney.
  
• The band signs to Geffen after releasing their
  masterpiece, Daydream Nation, in 1988. The
  label sees Sonic Youth as a sort of badge of
  coolness, and hopes that they will attract other
  up-and-coming groups to Geffen, as they did with
  Dinosaur Jr and SST.
• This decision pays off beyond Geffens wildest
  expectations when Sonic Youth brings Nirvana to
  the label.
  
• Kurt Cobain was hugely influenced by the music of
  The Pixies, who were in turn hugely influenced by
  the music of Hüsker Dü. While the latter two
  failed in their attempts to bring this more
  aggressive sound into the mainstream, Nirvana was
  able to carry the torch.

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Suggested Listening

• Hüsker Dü - Zen Arcade (1984)
• Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation (1988)
• The Replacements - Let it be (1984)
• Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime (1984)
• The Pixies - Surfer Rosa (1988)
• Dinosaur Jr - Youre Living all over me (1987)
• The Flaming Lips - In a Priest Driven Ambulance
  (1990)
  
• Butthole Surfers - Locust Abortion Technician
  (1987)
  
• REM - Reckoning (1984)
• My Bloody Valentine - Loveless (1991)
• Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted (1992)

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Separated at Birth?

• Pavements Stephen Malkmus

• Ben