Anarcho-punk, from the outside in. Each step is a genre and the single record this encyclopedia would put on first. Play them in this order and the last one should sound like a next step rather than a wall.
- 1 The way in
Rock 1954
The whole family: guitar, bass, drums and a beat borrowed from blues and rhythm and blues. Every branch below grows out of this trunk, metal included.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
The Beatles - Revolver, if you want to understand why everything branched so fast.
The Beatles, Revolver (1966) - 2 Then
Punk rock 1974
Three chords, two minutes and zero patience for solos. A full reset of rock, and the second major source of extreme metal.
Shouted. Barked or chanted, and you can still make out the words.
Put on
Ramones - Ramones. Fourteen songs in twenty-nine minutes, not a wasted note.
Ramones, Ramones (1976) - 3 What you asked about
Anarcho-punk 1979
Total political punk: collectives, self-releasing and militant pacifism. It laid down the DIY ethic the underground still runs on.
Shouted. Barked or chanted, and you can still make out the words.
Put on
Crass - The Feeding of the 5000. Not pleasant listening, and never meant to be.
Crass, The Feeding of the 5000 (1978) - 4 Where to go next
Zeuhl 1970
Operatic rock sung in an invented language, with fretless bass and choir. A tiny French branch with fanatical disciples.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Magma - Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh. It resembled nothing then and resembles nothing now.
Magma, Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh (1973)
Assembled from the tree: every genre Anarcho-punk descends from, in order. Anarcho-punk has no subgenres, so the last step is the genre that rates closest to it by sound.