The first stirrings of the punk movement lie in America in the shape of the mid-1960's garage rock, followed by the proto-punk sounds of The Velvet Underground, The Stooges and The New York Dolls, all of whom set the scene for The Ramones to kick the movement off in 1974. In the U.K. it was probably the north London pub rock scene, most notably Ian Dury's Kilburn & The High Roads and Nick Lowe's Brinsley Schwartz, that laid the foundations for what was to come later.

Punk exploded in the U.K. in 1976 as a back-to-roots reaction to the excesses of progressive rock, glam rock and disco. The true early punks ( the ones which really scared the establishment - i.e. The Sex Pistols and The Clash ) - produced material which could only loosely be described as songs, although many people regard the latter's Joe Strummer and Mick Jones as fine songwriters. By contrast, Pete Shelley's style for The Buzzcocks was more punk-pop, as was John and Damian O'Neill's for The Undertones. Siouxsie And The Banshees were too arty to be scary and The Jam were more mod than punk, but possessed an exceptional songwriter in Paul Weller.

Punk was almost literally an explosion, very much a reactionary movement at the start, whose energy quickly dissipated into new wave and the alternative indie rock of The Cure, Joy Division and The Smiths, but also inspired the grunge movement in the States led by Nirvana.

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