Punk rock, 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 What you asked about
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 Where to go next
Pop punk 1977
Punk speed, garage-pop choruses and lyrics about suburban boredom.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
The Descendents - Milo Goes to College. The manual, written twelve years before the boom.
The Descendents, Milo Goes to College (1982)
Assembled from the tree: every genre Punk rock descends from, in order. The last step is the gentlest of Punk rock's 9 subgenres - least harsh vocals first, then least heavy.