Category: Proto Punk & Pub Rock Live Albums

Proto Punk & Pub Rock Live Albums

Proto Punk is a phrases that has developed after the event to describe the bands that influenced the creation of punk and new wave.

If the punks were rebelling against the excesses and music flatulence of prog rock groups like Emerson Lake & Palmer and blues rock groups like Led Zeppelin, what were their influences?

Early songs by The Who were an obvious source but by the mid seventies The Who had well and truly ruined their reputation with their rock operas Tommy and Quadrophenia.

After all what is punk rock all about?

Attitude, aggression, speed and the motivation to get out there and just do it.

Sources of inspiration can be traced back to The Velvet Underground, MC5, Iggy Pop & The Stooges, Flamin’ Groovies, Patti Smith and the New York Dolls provided the attitude. In Britain, Mott the Hoople and Slade provided a hard edge to glam rock

The Modern Lovers provided a DIY spirit.

Speed came from Dr Feelgood, Eddie & The Hot Rods and The Ramones. In Britain.

Pub rock developed in the UK in the early 1970s with a back to basics approach to music with an emphasis on R&B, funk and country rock.

There was nothing flashy about the music created by the pub rock groups. That was the entire point.

Groups included Brinsley Schwarz, Ducks Deluxe, Kursaal Flyers, Kokomo, Dr. Feelgood and Kilburn & The High Roads.

Graham Parker and the Rumour caught the end of pub rock as it was overwhelmed by punk and new wave music.

But pub rock had done an important job. It had provided an alternative to the flashiness of prog rock and hard rock and made live music a viable alternative in many pubs around London. This gave the punk rockers small venues to appear in at the beginning of their careers.

Pub rock also supplied some of the proto punks that influenced punk rock and Joe Strummer of The Clash played with the 101ers and Ian Dury led Kilburn & The High Roads. The Strangers were effectively a pub rock group with a punk rock attitude.

For a music genre that thrived live, it’s said that many of the best pub rock groups don’t have their own live albums.

Eddie And The Hot Rods – Live In Concert 1977 & 1978
MC5 – Kick Out The Jams 1968
Graham Parker – The Parkerilla 1978
Velvet Underground – Velvet Underground Live 1969