The first punk songs to reach the singles chart
Ever since the advent of pop music, success has largely been measured in chart placement. If commercial success is equal to music talent, though, then that would mean that Cliff Richard is among the greatest artists the UK has ever seen – and that is a fact that I certainly cannot abide by. Luckily then, when the punk rock revolution came around, bands would very rarely make any effort to create chart-pleasing tracks. No punk band has ever formed with the main purpose of making money, but a select few succeeded in infiltrating the singles charts anyway.
The origins of punk rock are undeniably linked to the concrete jungle of New York City. From the proto-punk stylings of The Velvet Underground, to the vibrancy of the East Village CBGB scene, populated by bands like The Ramones, Richard Hell, and Blondie. In fact, it was the New York Dolls who first introduced punk to a transatlantic audience, performing ‘Jet Boy’ on The Old Grey Whistle Test back in 1973. Although host Bob Harris lamented the group, scoffing “mock rock” after their performance, the NYC natives would inspire the UK’s younger generation to establish a riot of their own.
English punk tended to be a little more rough-and-ready than the art school students that populated CBGBs over the ocean. Nevertheless, it was within the UK that punk experienced its first flirts with the singles charts. In 1976, The Damned released the first-ever punk single in the UK, ‘New Rose’. Despite the song’s theme of love and relationships being a fairly route-one choice when it comes to pop music, the band were beaten to the charts by the Sex Pistols.
Although they often drew criticism from the rest of the scene due to their manufactured beginnings, there were few punk bands in the UK that commanded the same infamy as the Pistols. Their debut single, ‘Anarchy In the UK’, essentially established the manifesto of the punk movement, preaching the joys of non-conformity and tearing down the musical establishment. The message proved popular with audiences, earning the Pistols the honour of having the first punk single to break into the singles charts, reaching a modest 38 in December of 1976.
Despite America being a little earlier to the punk party than their UK counterparts, it seemed to take a little longer for US audiences to appreciate the revolutionary sounds. After all, the USA is a big place, of which a small club in the East Side of New York represents only a fraction. Richard Hell might have been an icon to the underground music obsessives, but his influence was hardly going to reach out to the arse-end of nowhere in Wyoming or Nebraska.
Punk found its first slice of commercial success in America in the spring of 1977, months after the Sex Pistols had found commercial success with ‘Anarchy in the UK’. Unsurprisingly, the band that would introduce the Billboard Hot 100 to the abrasive sounds of punk were the New York natives, The Ramones. The band had always embraced pop sensibilities, as opposed to the shocking harshness of groups like Black Flag or Dead Kennedys. Their iconic track ‘Sheena is a Punk Rocker’ would reach number 81 in the US singles chart, making it the first punk song to break into the charts in the country.
Unfortunately, The Ramones would not maintain that level of commercial success throughout their career, gradually falling into obscurity throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s. Nevertheless, they are often hailed among the most influential groups to ever arise from the punk period, and it is easy to see why. With tracks like ‘Sheena is a Punk Rocker’, the group managed to give the rebellious sounds of punk some universal appeal.
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