Oi! / street 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
Oi! / street punk 1977
Working-class punk with terrace choruses and lyrics about the pub, the factory and football.
Shouted. Barked or chanted, and you can still make out the words.
Put on
Cock Sparrer - Shock Troops. Slade-level choruses with punk guitars.
Cock Sparrer, Cock Sparrer (1978) - 4 Where to go next
Garage rock revival 2000
A reaction to nu metal and radio pop: crisp guitars, plain production, narrow suits. It put guitar rock back on festival bills in the 2000s.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
The Strokes - Is This It. Thirty-six minutes without a gram of fat.
The Strokes, Is This It (2001)
Assembled from the tree: every genre Oi! / street punk descends from, in order. Oi! / street punk has no subgenres, so the last step is the genre that rates closest to it by sound.