PARANOIA STAR
(?)Community Member
- Posted: Sat, 03 Nov 2012 05:05:57 +0000
☨POST-PUNK OVERVIEW, ETC☨
post-punk: what happened to punk after it realized it was tired of shouting about politics that it couldn't really properly articulate thoughts about anyways, and decided to cut to the core of punk: RAW ******** EMOTION.
let's educate you about the sound first before we get to history, important acts, and game changing albums.
post-punk's driving musical sound is its heavy focus on the use of bass guitar (you'll have a hard time finding a post-punk band that doesn't focus its sound on the bass guitar) and almost primal drumming. minimal use of synthesizer is allowed, but be careful or you might end up sounding like Genesis.
if you start from the beginning (say, with stuff like Siouxsie Sioux & The Banshees' The Scream, Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures, or The Cure's Three Imaginary Boys) it's terribly easy to see where the punk influence comes in. at the same time, the genre had heavy influences from the new wave moment as it did from punk. this is more noticeable with bands like Echo & The Bunnymen, Tuxedomoon, or The Boys Next Door.
as far as music and lyrical themes go, you're going to hear themes of gloom, doom, and plenty of introspection. themes of suicide and nihilism are prevalent. at the same time you could totally go with less destructive themes and instead focus on simple melancholy (The Cure have made a career of being melancholic).
post-punk is to punk as emo is to hardcore: slowed down music, more experimentation with sound (debatable) and a turning away from political themes in favor of emotional complexity.
post-punk: what happened to punk after it realized it was tired of shouting about politics that it couldn't really properly articulate thoughts about anyways, and decided to cut to the core of punk: RAW ******** EMOTION.
let's educate you about the sound first before we get to history, important acts, and game changing albums.
post-punk's driving musical sound is its heavy focus on the use of bass guitar (you'll have a hard time finding a post-punk band that doesn't focus its sound on the bass guitar) and almost primal drumming. minimal use of synthesizer is allowed, but be careful or you might end up sounding like Genesis.
if you start from the beginning (say, with stuff like Siouxsie Sioux & The Banshees' The Scream, Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures, or The Cure's Three Imaginary Boys) it's terribly easy to see where the punk influence comes in. at the same time, the genre had heavy influences from the new wave moment as it did from punk. this is more noticeable with bands like Echo & The Bunnymen, Tuxedomoon, or The Boys Next Door.
as far as music and lyrical themes go, you're going to hear themes of gloom, doom, and plenty of introspection. themes of suicide and nihilism are prevalent. at the same time you could totally go with less destructive themes and instead focus on simple melancholy (The Cure have made a career of being melancholic).
post-punk is to punk as emo is to hardcore: slowed down music, more experimentation with sound (debatable) and a turning away from political themes in favor of emotional complexity.