Surprising longevity: is post-punk the longest-standing genre of modern music?
Compared to most other subgenres of rock, punk felt like the entire collective consciousness hit the reset button. The golden age of rock stars with long flowing hair started to look more than a little phoney, so it was time for people to tear down the established order and pave the way for something new. Although Sex Pistols and the Ramones paved the way for what punk would sound like later, post-punk had a far better shelf life, and even its veteran acts have been leaving their mark on music to this day.
If you really look at it, post-punk dates back to before the golden age of 1977. Sure, there were still artists willing to make something that wasn’t exactly AOR rock, but Marquee Moon by Television actually predates the genre by a few years, what with its emotional vulnerability and its need to venture outside the realm of conventional guitar solos.
If you look at where the genre has gone since its golden age, there are still people just as willing to make this style of album. Although acts like New Order and The Cure both began life as post-punk bands before transitioning into their classic sound, there’s something about those first chilling notes that hits a nerve with people.
First, this was meant to be music for people on the fringes of society. It was not easy listening by any stretch of the imagination, and some of the biggest names in the genre were often proud to make something they knew would not appeal to people looking for the next Boston or REO Speedwagon record.
The more critical part of this conversation has more to do with the instrumentation behind everything. A lot of the songs can be a little abrasive and not always quite at home, but that’s what we all experience at some point in our lives, right? No matter how many times people try to play the cool kid, we all have our insecurities, and hearing those icy guitars and vocals that sound like they’re taking every fibre of someone to actually sing, it’s hard not to relate to that when going through one’s adolescence.
Even when you’re not talking about mainline post-punk records, some of the most timeless albums of the past 30 years have that same kind of aesthetic. A record like Nevermind by Nirvana still fits pretty snuggly into the realm of grunge, but if you replace Kurt Cobain’s voice with someone else, ‘Something in the Way’ is one of the greatest post-punk ballads that never got made.
Let’s not forget that the genre can be fun when it wants to be. Regardless of the number of people talking about being uncomfortable in their own skin, if you can’t find it in yourself to tap your foot or get into the groove of a Talking Heads song, chances are you might be legally dead.
And it’s not like that’s changed after the turn of the century, either. Up until today, some of the biggest names in music are either getting there through post-punk aesthetics or making something that’s a lot more nervy. Paramore has been making some of their greatest strides as a band as of late when making the post-pun-flavoured This Is Why, and if there’s any better indication of where the genre could be going, it’s with Genesis Owusu, who seems to be using that kind of energy as a paintbrush when working on his albums.
More than anything, post-punk works so well because of its myriad contradictions. It’s about making danceable rock, and at the same time, it can also hit on the most personal wounds anyone has ever had. It’s not always a good time, but it’s probably more true to life than most critics would like to admit.
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