PLAYLIST: Post-Punk's First Wave

Hello friends, happy Friday to you all!

It's way too hot in way too many places right now, so if you're stuck inside this weekend, why not dive into a little genre history with us.

This week's Subscribers Only playlist takes a look at the origin of Post Punk, a genre that is both difficult to pin down and somewhat annoying in that it gave birth the "post-" convention of music subgenre...

When Punk exploded in the mid/late 70s, it was fresh, exciting and paradigm shifting. It burned bright, but it flamed out fast. It's simplicity of form made it visceral, but a number of artists (mostly art school kids) felt constrained by it's rudimentary structures. So, they set out to evolve it, pulling in elements from Kraut Rock, New York's No Wave and Art Rock scenes, incorporating more complex angular guitars and even synths, all with the broad goal of capturing the "punk" spirit through composition rather than pure volume. This led to more experimental, sophisticated and often darker songs, laying groundwork for a litany of genres to come in the process, including New Wave, Goth Rock, Alt Rock, Grunge and even Industrial.