Punk Rock & New Wave Photography

In the early 1970s, Punk Rock stripped down rock ’n’ roll to its barest essentials. Rooted in ’60s garage rock, Punk’s esthetic was anti-establishment irreverence, social alienation, and rejection of the overproduced “corporate” rock of the era. The raucous three-chord onslaught of the Sex Pistols, the Clash, and the Ramones sparked a musical revolution.

Punk’s counter-cultural shockwave swept the globe, but by the end of the decade, it had already started to lose its impact. Angry young men grew older. Bands renouncing the mainstream became what they swore against. Punk had served its purpose and began to evolve and divide into a variety of post-Punk subgenres, New Wave among them.

New Wave artists like Blondie, the Police, and Elvis Costello were part of the Punk scene and shared the same basic principles, but rejected the sonic excess. New Wave artists produced songs that were more polished and accessible, incorporating innovative electronic sounds into a Punk/disco hybrid. Though only dominating the charts for a few years, New Wave will always resound with those who grew up with MTV in the early ’80s.