When were you 1st aware of punk rock?

[bpdp3]

I'll bet alot of us are similar in age so I'm curious to hear..

For me, born in '66, I was probably about 11 or 12 and remember seeing a segment on punk rock in England on the CBS Evening news. (have searched in vain on youtube for this...anyone??). I wasn't really into music yet, but I found the images on the screen mesmerizing (maybe the pistols?).

It wasn't until 1979 when i started actively listening to and seeking out music. Police debut was my first "new wave" purchase, London Calling second.

I've been collecting it ever since, but I think that 1st exposure was a driving force to me. It looked so dangerous, so far removed from my mundane small-town existence, that I wanted to experience it, badly.

[AS Swanski]

Similar in age? Could say so, I'm also from '66

My brother read a music weekly and around '75-'76 the first stories about Patti Smith and The Ramones appeared. Until then I had been a Status Quo fan and had just started listening to The Doors, and what I was told about The Ramones sounded interesting (sort of Status Quo, but a little primitive, my brother explained but it took a while before I first heard their music.

The first punk records I really liked and listened to were No More Heroes by The Stranglers, which reminded me a little of The Doors (the organ), and Adventure by Television. Both were bought by my brother. He also gave me my first punk record, an EP by Slaughter & The Dogs, a present he had bought during a visit to London. By then I began to understand the impact and background of this music.

I also remember the first TV performance I saw of The Stranglers. They appeared in a Dutch version of Top of the Pops and were the first short-haired and angry looking musicians I had ever seen on this show.

The first punk record I bought myself must have been The Image Has Cracked by Alternative TV. A little later I bought Marquee Moon by Television, which is still one of my all-time favourites.

[toyah]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-0c4lgvpb4

[20ohm20]

When I was 8-9 years old in 1978-1979. My brother, who is six years older than me, religiously listened to and taped Rodney Bingenheimer's show on KROQ. Since we shared a bedroom at the time, everything he'd listen to...I'd listen to. Because of this, I eventually stopped listening to Van Halen and Led Zeppelin and got into bands like 45 Grave, X and The Germs at a fairly young age.

[toyah]

/.........45 GRAVE!!!!!!....

[bigwavedave]

I recall seeing a Time or Newsweek article on the Clash around 1978 when I was 15. About the same time, a friend who was into alternative music told me about a new band called PiL, thus giving me a brief history on the Pistols in the process.

[ghosty]

Had to be that Quincy episode. [8D]

[WoodlandParkPunk]

Seeing Rock and roll high school in the theater.

"You just pick a chord, go twang, and you've got music." ~ Sid Vicious

[KYYX4ever]

I have a strange story 'bout that. For me (born in '68), it was when I first saw that pic in [i]National Geographic[/i] with the punk rockers in Amsterdam. O gosh, 1983 or 84 ? I was so intrigued by the look, I had to find out more. This is so weird recollecting this was b/f the Internet; you remember how much more difficult finding out stuff was back then. Concurrently, as new wave as I was, I was also listening to college radio (89.3 KAOS-FM in Olympia), hearing some [i]strange[/i] loud rowdy stuff that the DJs were all excited about, stuff like Dead Kennedys, JFA, GBH, Circle Jerks, Agent Orange, etc. I didn't "know" it was punk. I liked the attitude. I finally pieced it together, about the time I started seeing & reading [i]Maximum Rock 'n Roll[/i] and all their snarling, snarly, angry articles. So yeah, 1984-5. Later than you guys. It was hard to get exposed to this stuff in its early years, so those were early years for me.

[TragicMagic]

.. when the drugs wore off.

[geoffolehane]

I was in college from 1977-1981 during the height of punk and the beginning of New Wave. So I was exposed to it all the time.

Plastic Bertrands's "Ca Plane Pour Moi" in 1978 was the first punk song I really liked.

I was also exposed via the Stiff label and all of their different acts. At the time my friends and I always looked to the Stiff label to be exposed to new and exciting music.

[harleytexas]

[quote][i]Originally posted by WoodlandParkPunk[/i]
<br>Seeing Rock and roll high school in the theater.

"You just pick a chord, go twang, and you've got music." ~ Sid Vicious
[/quote]

Me too.

[Max Murdoc]

I guess it would have been Feb. 1977 when I bought The Saints I'm Stranded in the import bin at Underdog Records in Youngstown Ohio followed by My Aim is True a few months later. Then all hell broke loose and I went crazy and bought just about everything I found in Trouser Press.

[soundstory]

[quote][i]Originally posted by geoffolehane[/i]
<br>I was in college from 1977-1981 during the height of punk and the beginning of New Wave. So I was exposed to it all the time.

Plastic Bertrands's "Ca Plane Pour Moi" in 1978 was the first punk song I really liked.

I was also exposed via the Stiff label and all of their different acts. At the time my friends and I always looked to the Stiff label to be exposed to new and exciting music.
[/quote]

Yes Stiff was a fantastic label, not sure i would have heard Dave Edmunds or Nick Lowe without them

[toyah]

Stiff had some fun stuff, but hardly any PUNK, and Nick Lowe and Costello may have been New Wave(actually, they were Neil Diamond in drag) but there was nothing PUNK about them...