proto-punk

Proto-punk emerged in the mid-1960s through early 1970s as a raw, confrontational precursor to punk rock, stripping away the increasingly ornate production and extended instrumental indulgences that had come to define rock music. Pioneered by bands like The Velvet Underground, The Stooges, and MC5, the sound weaponized simplicity—driving three-chord riffs, fuzzed-out guitars, and primal rhythms—while injecting lyrical content that was darker, more provocative, and often nihilistic. Unlike garage rock's party-ready amateurism or psychedelic rock's exploratory sprawl, proto-punk channeled aggression and alienation into tightly coiled sonic assaults. The Sonics' distorted wail, the Velvet Underground's avant-garde menace, and Iggy Pop's feral stage presence all signaled a deliberate rejection of mainstream rock's polish, establishing a template of rebellion that valued attitude and energy over technical virtuosity.

What separates proto-punk from its neighbors is intent: where classic rock reached for anthemic grandeur and noise rock would later pursue dissonance as art, proto-punk used rawness as a weapon of cultural defiance. These artists—from the glam-tinged snarl of the New York Dolls to Death's prescient hardcore velocity—weren't just playing louder or weirder; they were dismantling rock's self-seriousness and foreshadowing the coming punk explosion. This is the sound of rock and roll rediscovering its dangerous edge, a vital bridge between the primal howl of early rock and the Year Zero ethos of 1977. Listen to proto-punk to hear the exact moment when rebellion stopped being a pose and became a sonic manifesto.