Punk Rock

PHOTOS: The Met's "PUNK: Chaos to Couture" Attempts to be Legit

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is slightly loosening up its tie with their latest Costume Institute exhibition "PUNK: Chaos to Couture," which opens Thursday and is on view through August 14. "Punk began as an impulse, as a feeling," curator Andrew Bolton said during a press preview this morning. ... More >>

BLANK GENERATION

Sex, drugs, and Richard Hell

The Men Get Out of the Gutter

Brooklyn's post-hardcore noise addicts clean up but won't turn it down

Best in Show: Gone Vicious

Waste of Paint: King Tuff Goes Retro, Pissed Jeans Get Pissed Off, Slug Guts Spook, and Sky Ferreira Charms

Illustrations by Debbie Allen CMJ is great. It's got all the stressful clusterfuckery of SXSW, but with none of the late night hot tub parties or surprise Kanye West performances! It brings a ton of acts to town all at once, and you can't really get mad at that. In honor of this grand industry tra ... More >>

SST Records Legend and Music Scribe Joe Carducci on His New Book and Throwing Sonic Youth's Cassette Into the Demo Pile in 1985

By Brad Cohan Joe Carducci not only played a monumental role in helping run and co-own SST Records in its glorious 1980's heyday when Black Flag, Minutemen, Hüsker Dü and Meat Puppets were the reigning kings of the Amerindie underground, but he also famously penned the lyrics for the Minutemen's ... More >>

Q&A: Alex Edkins Of METZ On Signing With Sub Pop, Sharing A Practice Space With Fucked Up, And Bowling With Mudhoney's Mark Arm

Sub Pop's raucous misfit cred has been kept afloat by the white-trash, noise-oozing pranksters in Pissed Jeans, the garage surf-rockers Obits, and the grungester royalty Mudhoney. But new young blood is joining the legendary Seattle label, and it emerges from a town where the Maple Leafs are still c ... More >>

Q&A: Redd Kross's Jeff McDonald On "Familiaritus," Why 2NE1 Are The New Ronettes, And How Survivor Is Like Being In A Band

Legendary L.A. groovy punks Redd Kross are back for reals with a new album, Researching the Blues (Merge), and soldiering on with their insistence that punk is indeed groovy. They were never strictly "punk" according to the norms of the early-'80s California scene they grew up in; nor did they alway ... More >>

Q&A: Keith Morris Of OFF! On Greg Ginn, The Black Flag Days And SST Records

Keith Morris, a few years shy of 60, remains typically snotty as hell, with trademark grimy dreads hanging from a head splotched with bald spots. But he also happens to be one happy camper. The iconoclastic ex-Black Flag bawler—whose bratty freak-puke was on SST Records' initial release (the N ... More >>

Too Much Johnny Business: 14 New Punk Combos Pick Their Favorite Tracks By Birthday Boy Johnny Thunders

So many years later, and still most musicians in the trashy rock'n'roll underbelly can't shake that Ramones rush. In fact, there has been a Rockaway Beach-like surf rolling in for the past couple years; boffo bands from all over have their debt to the four leather-clad lads instantly assessed, in th ... More >>

MALE BONDING

JD Samson & MEN rock the CBGB Fest

Live: Against Me! Buck The Norms, Duet With Joan Jett At Terminal 5

Against Me! w/The Cult, The Icarus Line Terminal 5 Friday, June 8 Better than: Being stuck in pre-tunnel traffic on a Megabus that was supposed to have left Philly at 3:30? (R.I.P. Chinatown buses.) Sorry, sorry. Better than... um, any other rawk band working right now? The critical indifference ... More >>

Butch Vig On Nevermind, Siamese Dream, Garbage, And His History Of Shaping Alternative Rock As We Know It

If you don't think Butch Vig's almost singlehandedly invented two decades of alternative rock as we know it, just look at his resumé: Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, Green Day, Jimmy Eat World, Foo Fighters, AFI. That's without mentioning his membership in the still-cool Garbage or the fact he prod ... More >>

Modernist Kicks: Swissted's Mike Joyce Discusses The Inspirations For 10 Of His Gig Poster Makeovers

​In 1978, the Sex Pistols would have hocked snot at the idea of being associated with prim layouts and orderly type. Sublime's signature colors were not purple, pink, red, and gray; The Replacements had no ties to concentric squares. Dr. Know and Gorilla Biscuits never put pinwheels anywhere i ... More >>

LONG LIVE CBGB

A look back at the last days of the historic club

Q&A: Mission of Burma's Peter Prescott On Boston Punk, Singing Drummers, Volcano Suns And Kustomized

In a recent convo with Sound of the City, Sebadoh/Dino Jr icon and ex-Amherst punker Lou Barlow waxed nostalgic for Boston's music scene, both snickering at the hardcore simpletons brutalizing innocents in the pit and in awe of American underground rock trailblazers like Mission of Burma. Alas, punk ... More >>

Q&A: Joe Lally On Moving To Rome, Wanting To Be In The Melvins And How Being In Fugazi Destroyed His Hearing

Antonia Tricarico​Mass hysteria took over the music web-o-sphere when Pitchfork blew its wad on the "breaking news" that Ian MacKaye revealed Fugazi might emerge from their self-imposed exile and "reunite one day." That's not to imply the members of D.C.'s most storied art-punk crew have been ... More >>

Q&A: Sebadoh & Dinosaur Jr.'s Lou Barlow On '80s Hardcore, Signing With SST Records And How Evil J Mascis Used To Be

via Sub Pop RecordsSebadoh.​The staggering gamut of cred Lou Barlow boasts in the hardcore, post-punk, lo-fi and indie rock realms toes past the line of the ridiculous and the legendary. In the early '80s, Barlow obliterated his guitar in the cataclysmic Massachusetts hardcore band Deep Wound ... More >>

Live: Green Day Get A Little Less Serious At The Studio At Webster Hall

by Joshua Kurp Nadia Chaudhury​Green Day The Studio at Webster Hall Thursday, October 27 Better Than: Hearing blink-182 play "Hybrid Moments" three times. "We're gonna do an older song," Billie Joe Armstrong, dressed as Jack Skellington, told the packed-tight audience at the Studio at Webst ... More >>

Q & A: The Raincoats' Ana da Silva On The Riot Grrrl Movement, Kurt And Courtney, And Being Johnny Rotten's Favorite Band

​ This month has seen quite a bit of ink spilled on behalf of the 20th anniversary of Nirvana's Nevermind. But it's also a moment to remember the ways that lead singer Kurt Cobain's reach went beyond the scope of his band and that record—consider one of his most beloved influences, the U ... More >>

Q&A: dos' Kira On The Physicality Of Bass Playing, Her Definition Of "Punk," And Why Duos Should Stay Duos

​When the subject of women in punk and rock is broached, the usual suspects often come up: Kim Gordon, Kathleen Hanna, Patti Smith, Kim Deal and Debbie Harry. The injustice here is how punk-rock bassist Kira (born Kira Roessler) is rarely mentioned in the same breath—not that she cares m ... More >>

Live: Fucked Up, JEFF The Brotherhood, And Iceage Sweat It Out

​ Fucked Up w/JEFF the Brotherhood, Iceage 285 Kent Ave Saturday, June 25 Better than: Seeing Fucked Up at, say, Terminal 5. After playing the middle slot between two legends of indie in a cavernous Manhattan concert hall this past Thursday, Fucked Up shared Saturday night's bill at the Will ... More >>

This Weekend In New York: Florence Welch And A Perpetual Sweat Machine

​ In Waste Of Paint, our writer/artist team of Jamie Peck and Debbie Allen will review goings-on about town in words and images. This past Saturday was Debbie's birthday, and what better way to spend one's birthday weekend than with punk rock, cheap beer, and a nice, intense, purifying shvitz ... More >>

Live: Getting The Warm And Fuzzies With Dinosaur Jr.

Dinosaur Jr., Fucked Up, Off Terminal 5 Thursday, June 23 Better than: You and your friends sitting around, telling each other how much you appreciate each other. Keith Morris is a founding member of both Black Flag and The Circle Jerks, the co-author of a song called "World Up My Ass," and a pi ... More >>

Fucked Up's Bullet in a Neon Bible

The triumphant David Comes to Life storms the suburbs

Q&A: Ted Leo, Dan Deacon And Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner On Our Band Could Be Your Life, Bus Tours And Cherished Cassettes

Ted Leo; Dan Deacon; Jenn Wasner of Wye Oak.​Michael Azerrad's Our Band Could Be Your Life is one of the definite accounts of the 1980's independent rock scene and the rise of alternative culture. But unlike many cultural historians, Azerrad has little use for nostalgia. When the Voice talked ... More >>

Q&A: Titus Andronicus' Patrick Stickles On "Practical Righteousness," The Replacements' Goof Songs, And His Band's Our Band Concert Set

​Titus Andronicus frontman Patrick Stickles named his band after one of Shakespeare's most violent, least regarded plays. He writes songs named "Upon Viewing Brueghel's 'Landscape with the Fall of Icarus'." His band's most recent album uses the Civil War as a metaphor for political and persona ... More >>

Indie's New Guard Celebrates Michael Azerrad's Our Band Could Be Your Life

His book mapped their lives

We Want The Airwaves, Baby: 10 Songs About The Ramones

Joey Ramone would have been 60 years old on May 19. This week, in celebration of the birthday of the Queens-born gone-too-soon punk legend, Sound of the City will run a series of features on his life and his legacy. ​Imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery--and whose style has been ... More >>

Coliseum+the Austerity Program

Live: Cheetah Chrome, Bob Pfeifer, Mike Hudson, And Eric Davidson Look Back At Cleveland's Fiery Punk Scene

Stephen SlaybaughBob Pfeifer. ​ Cleveland Confidential Book Tour, moderated by Luc Sante and featuring Cheetah Chrome, Mike Hudson, and Bob Pfeifer plus Eric Davidson powerHouse Arena Saturday, April 9 Better Than: Watching the East River burn while sitting in a swank DUMBO loft. There must ... More >>

Download: The Death Set's Charlie-Sheen-Conjuring "Can You See Straight"

Yes In My Backyard is a semiweekly column showcasing MP3s from new and emerging local talent. Pic by Nate "Igor" Smith, as it happens​Brooklyn loft-show firestarters the Death Set are a post-modern pizza party: the tireless punk-o grind of an ABC No Rio bubblecrust band, the whizzing ghosts o ... More >>

Rock Critic Pop Quiz #3: How Many Members Of The Clash Can You Name?

Left to right: Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, Tre Cool, and Steve Mason​In celebration of Pazz & Jop 2010, we are more than happy to explore the sinister reality that most of us rock critics are completely ill-equipped to do our jobs properly. Our ongoing column "Are You Smarter Than a Rock ... More >>

Live: Kathleen Hanna And Friends (Kim Gordon! Amy Andronicus! Care Bears On Fire!) Invade The Knitting Factory

Murray Hill introduces the night's star attraction. The Kathleen Hannah Project The Knitting Factory Saturday, December 12 Better than: Any actual battle of the bands that I've ever attended. We are gathered here tonight at the Knitting Factory to praise Kathleen Hanna, not bury her. Though it ... More >>

American Hardcore: Second Edition Stage-Dives Back Into the Seminal Music Scene

Minor Threat, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys get an encore

No Age's Adrenaline Stage Continues

Everything in Between cements the L.A. semi-punks' graduation to Their Own Sound

No Age's Dean Spunt on How His Band's Rainbow Logo Became a New Punk-Rock Icon

"The idea was to have a visual identity before the band even started, before the music started. It kind of worked because people would be like, 'Dude, what is this? What is No Age?'" Radiohead's Colin Greenwood wearing the No Age "Classic" in January 2008 Dean Spunt's first band was a punk-rock ou ... More >>

Against Me! Make Their Blue Album

White Crosses revels in the suddenly anomalous thrills of power chords

Always A Pleasure: The Times Once Again Finds A Way To Praise Fucked Up Without Printing The Words "Fucked Up"

Rad song too. The Paper of Record's dedication to both safeguarding our sense of verbal decorum and giving shine to Toronto's finest proto-anarchist punk band is a lovely thing: The Times writes about Fucked Up a whole lot considering they'll only render the band's name as ********. (Examples here ... More >>

FLOWERS OF ROTTENNESS

Post-punk, aged to perfection

R.I.P. Malcolm McLaren

​Sex shop entrepreneur, artist, Sex Pistols Svengali, and new wave child pornographer Malcom McLaren has died, reports the UK's Independent. He was 64; cancer was the cause of death.

Revolution, Girl-Style—Shhh!

RIOT GRRRL MOVES OUT OF THE STREETS AND INTO THE LIBRARY

URINE FOR A GOOD TIME

Sorry, we couldn't resist

The Times Mentioned Fucked Up Without Actually Printing Their Name Again

Rebecca SmeyneWhat a day that was​From a weekend profile of the perhaps slightly overexposed Vampire Weekend, detailing Ezra Koenig's improbable appearance at FU's late-2008 Rogan Store debacle:

BLOODY GOOD SHOW

The Times won't write their name, but we will! Over and over!

DRAMA KINGS

Feeling melancholy? Get over it, and dance

FATHERS AND SONS

Music and mayhem with MoB and Fucked Up

On Green Day's Dystopian, Prophetic, and Extraordinary 21st Century Breakdown

A veteran outfit makes its most ambitious record yet

Long Lost Fortress of Solitude Mix CDs Found, Replicated

The Millions posts listenable soundtracks (via Pandora radio) to three books: Legs McNeil'sPlease Kill Me (MC5, Stooges, Velvet Underground, Ramones, Sex Pistols), Michael Azerrad's Our Band Could Be Your Life (Mission of Burma, Minor Threat, Husker Du, The Replacements, Sonic Youth, Butthole Surfer ... More >>

Strummer Mural Touched Up

The invaluable EV Grieve notices on his rounds that the Joe Strummer memorial mural at East 7th and Avenue A has received a touch-up: the Clash frontman no longer has his leather jacket slung over his shoulder, and the New York City skyline has popped up behind him. Joe also seems to have dropped a ... More >>