Music
Punk history told band by band and record by record: from the Ramones and the Sex Pistols to Discharge, Swedish käng, crust, hardcore and everything that grew out of them. We write about the records that matter, the scenes that made them and where to start listening.
Black Flag's Damaged: Rollins, SST and Hardcore's Breakthrough
How Black Flag's 1981 album Damaged, with Henry Rollins on vocals, defined American hardcore and set the template for DIY punk.
Conflict: south London anarcho-punk and the long argument
Conflict came out of early-80s Eltham with a harder, angrier take on anarcho-punk. A look at their records, animal-rights politics and why they still matter.
Crass, Dial House and the birth of anarcho-punk
How Crass built anarcho-punk from Dial House in Essex: their own label, Gee Vaucher's stencilled art, and the bands who followed their lead.
Crust Punk: Amebix, Antisect and the Noise That Wouldn't Die
How Amebix, Antisect, Doom and Hellbastard spawned crust punk – its politics, its look, and its messy split from grindcore.
What d-beat is: from Discharge to Swedish käng
A plain guide to the d-beat drum pattern, Discharge's Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing, and how Swedish bands turned it into käng.
Dead Kennedys' Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables: Satire, Label and San Francisco Punk
How Dead Kennedys' 1980 debut Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, Jello Biafra's satire and Alternative Tentacles defined San Francisco punk.
Discharge's Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing: The Album That Defined D-beat
Released in 1982, Discharge's Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing fused nuclear-war fury with Cal's barked vocals and Bones' guitar wall, shaping crust…
Diskonto: Swedish Hardcore and the Käng Scene
Diskonto, the Swedish hardcore band from the 1990s: their sound, their records and their place in the käng scene.
Swedish Punk's First Wave: Ebba Grön, KSMB and the Suburbs
How Swedish punk broke out of Stockholm's inner city between 1977 and 1983, from Ebba Grön and KSMB to Rude Kids and the suburbs of Rågsved.
Starting a small DIY punk label: tapes, vinyl and distro trades
A practical guide to running a small DIY punk label: cassette and vinyl pressing, distro trades, Bandcamp, realistic costs and the mistakes to avoid.
Minor Threat, Dischord and the Birth of Straight Edge
How Minor Threat and Dischord Records launched straight edge in Washington DC, 1980–83, and what the X on the hand came to mean.
Never Mind the Bollocks: The Sex Pistols' Punk Testament
How the Sex Pistols made Never Mind the Bollocks, the label chaos with EMI, A&M and Virgin, Jamie Reid's cover, and why it still defines punk.
Ramones 1976: The Debut That Built Punk
How the Ramones' 1976 debut, recorded for $6,400, distilled CBGB chaos into 14 two-minute songs and set the template for punk worldwide.
Käng: how Sweden became a d-beat superpower
A guide to Swedish käng and crust punk from Anti Cimex to Wolfbrigade, what the word 'käng' means, and why a small country shaped d-beat so heavily.
London Calling at 45: The Clash's Punk Leap Beyond Three Chords
The Clash's London Calling (1979): how the title track, the Paul Simonon bass-smash cover and the album's politics pushed punk past three chords.
UK82: the second wave that kept punk ugly
How The Exploited, GBH, Discharge and the Varukers turned '77 punk into something faster, harder and regional — and why 90s street punk picked up the thread.
Musik — på svenska
Band, skivor, scener och historien om punk, hardcore, crust och allt oväsen däremellan.
Första vågen: svensk punk 1977–1983
Ebba Grön, KSMB, Rude Kids och Rågsved – en genomgång av den första svenska punkvågen 1977–1983, från Oasen till spelningarna som formade scenen.
Svensk kängpunk: Från Anti Cimex till Wolfbrigade
Sverige blev en stormakt inom kängpunk och d-beat. Vi går igenom band som Anti Cimex, Mob 47, Totalitär, Asocial, Shitlickers och Wolfbrigade – och varför…