Billy Joe Armstrong - Janet Street Porter TV - Dominic Sandbrook TV - Arena: Who is Poly Styrene? TV - Sid Vicious - More Dangerous Songs TV - Pop Britannia TV - How The Brits Rocked America TV - When Albums Ruled The World TV - Chrissie Hynde - John Lydon - Adam Ant - Kurt Cobain - Joey Ramone - Patti Smith - Billy Idol - Iggy Pop - Marc Jacobs - Vivienne Westwood - Westwood: Punk - Icon - Activist - Tom Hodgkinson - Tony Parsons - Siouxsie Sioux - Don Letts - Paul Simonon - Punk Britannia TV - Teen Spirit: The Punk Explosion TV - Mark Steel - Punk 76 TV - Crass: There is No Authority But Yourself 2006 - Crass: Punk is Dead - The Sex Pistols: Anarchy in the UK - Conspiracy TV - Punk: Attitude TV - Sid Vicious: Who Killed Nancy? TV - Sid & Nancy 1986 - Arena: Punk and the Pistols TV - When Nirvana Came to Britain TV - Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché TV - When Blondie Came to Britain TV -
Punk has always been about doing things your own way. What it represents for me is ultimate freedom and a sense of individuality. Billy Joe Armstrong
A lot of Punk rock is not going to be in the mainstream. It’s below the radar. The beauty of it is that you’re not supposed to always know. It’s subterranean. Billie Joe Armstrong
Now Punk represented the ultimate in two fingers to the pompous self-satisfied Pop that had gone before it. And the most important thing about Punk was that it was about attitude. Now everybody could be creative. Janet Street-Porter, The Genius of British Art: Modern Times, Channel 4 2010
In the vanguard the Sex Pistols ... Punks were assaulting Britain’s most cherished icons ... For the originals Punk was great fun. Dominic Sandbrook, The 70s III: Goodbye Great Britain 75-77, BBC 2012
I chose the name Poly Styrene because it is a lightweight disposable product. Arena: Who is Poly Styrene? BBC 2012
You just pick up a chord, go twang, and you’ve got music. Sid Vicious
We are better than anyone, ain’t we? Except for the Eagles. The Eagles are better than us. Sid Vicious
Well you know like I don’t really give a fuck what the general public think. Sid Vicious
The Sex Pistols’ debut single Anarchy in the UK was banned following their controversial appearance on the TV news programme Today. More Dangerous Songs: And the Banned Played On, BBC 2014
46,970. The 1970s: a miserable time for Britain. A series of economic and social crises meant modern life was rubbish. And our Pop was pretty boring. We were drowning in a surfeit of over-the-top Glam and self-indulgent Prog-Rock. Something had to change. And in late ’76 it did. Pop Britannia: Two Tribes, BBC 2008
Punks concerned themselves with overthrowing all aspects of the British establishment. But ultimately Punk itself would prove to be a short-lived fad that would have a surprising legacy on British Pop. ibid.
The [Sex] Pistols did not begin to have the same impact in America as in England. How the Brits Rocked America III: We’re the Kids in America, BBC 2012
In 1977 The Sex Pistols released their debut album Never Mind The Bollocks. When Albums Ruled the World, BBC 2013
1977 also saw debut albums from The Stranglers, The Clash and The Damned. ibid.
Every punk band that I knew in London ... had both the New York Dolls albums. Chrissie Hynde, Pretenders
That was their revolution, you know. They were the hangovers from the Sixties. I always knew the Sixties wasn’t the revolution. They were really just was a bunch of university students, some with wealthy parents having fun. John Lydon
Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated? Good night. John Lydon, Sex Pistols’ last gig
There would be no Punk without Glam. Adam Ant
Punk is musical freedom. It’s saying, doing and playing what you want. In Webster’s terms nirvana means freedom from pain, suffering and the external world, and that’s pretty close to my definition of Punk Rock. Kurt Cobain
I wanted to be in a Punk band before I had even heard any Punk music. Kurt Cobain
To me, Punk is about being an individual and going against the grain and standing up and saying, This is who I am. Joey Ramone
To me, Punk rock is the freedom to create, freedom to be successful, freedom to not be successful, freedom to be who you are. It’s freedom. Patti Smith
I don’t think Punk ever really dies, because Punk Rock attitude can never die. Billy Idol
‘Punk rock’ is a word used by dilettantes and heartless manipulators about music that takes up the energies, the bodies, the hearts, the souls, the time and the minds of young men who give everything they have to it. Iggy Pop
Grunge is a hippyed romantic version of Punk. Marc Jacobs
The reason why I am proud of my part in the Punk movement is that I think it really did implant a message that was already there. The hippies told it to me, but Punk made it something cool for people to stand up for, which is that we do not believe government, that we are against government. Vivienne Westwood
If you hear Anarchy in the UK today your hair stands on end. It gives you the shivers. Vivienne Westwood
The night before Vivienne Westwood’s London Fashion Week show: I don’t know if I want to show any of this shit. And I don’t know what the fuck this is. Westwood: Punk – Icon – Activist, BBC 2019
At the age of 11, 12, I was making my own clothes. ibid.
We invented Punk. ibid.
We wanted to undermine the establishment. ibid.
It affected fashion such a lot … It was being marketed all the time. ibid.
We weren’t attacking the establishment. We were just part of the distraction. ibid.
Punk was a protest against work and against boredom. It was a sign of life, a rant, a scream, a rejection of bourgeois morals. But have things improved since then? Arguably, they’ve got worse. Tom Hodgkinson
This was our music. And our generation. Tony Parsons, writer
I just loved the contradiction. I’d never seen anything like it. Siouxsie Sioux, re Sex Pistols
Fuck me ... It was a cultural ground zero. Don Letts, filmmaker
Career opportunities. The kids are supposed to be factory fodder. You don’t learn nuffin’. All you’re working for is some factory which is round the corner. Paul Simonon, The Clash
The aforementioned iceberg cometh. And that iceberg, dear readers, is you. Punk Britannia I: Pre Punk 1972-1976, BBC 2012
The foundations of Punk were actually forged by a gateway generation, sandwiched between the Sixties’ Hippies and the Seventies’ Punks. ibid.
All of a sudden London pubs were happening: Brinsley Schwarz were joined on the scene by groups like Ducks Deluxe and Bees Make Honey. ibid.
There were no bells and whistles at a Punk rock show. ibid.
Humdrum daily life for youngsters in the early Seventies ... was in dire need of something new. ibid.
The short sharp shock of Punk. ibid.
By 1973 Punk rock gigs had gained a reputation of a good night out. ibid.
Only The Kilburns who met at Canterbury College of Art had their own aesthetic. ibid.
Ian Dury wrote songs depicting real life on London’s streets. ibid.
Pub rock established a live music scene. ibid.
Billy Bragg: The line between Pub rock and Punk rock is straddled by not only Dr Feelgood but Eddie and the Hot Rods. It was fast and it was urgent. ibid.
Hailing from Canvey Island, Eddie and the Hot Rods were direct descendants of Dr Feelgood. ibid.