News & Updates — punk

An OG proto-punk, Chester Burnett aka "Howlin' Wolf" was born on this day in 1910. In my opinion, one of the meanest sounds to ever grace records was his distinctively nasty growling voice and his raging tunes. "Smokestack Lightnin", "Moanin' At Midnight", "Evil", "Spoonful", "Killin Floor"...dosn't get any sicker! He came from Mississippi and learned guitar from Charley Patton, learned harmonica from Sonny Boy Williamson II and his vocal style was influenced by Jimmie Rodgers. In '51 he recorded for Sam Phillips in Memphis and moved to Chicago the next year to record for Chess. In the '50s he learned...

Born day shout-out to Michael Campbell aka Mikey Dread! He operated sound systems, hosted the massively popular Jamaican radio show Dread At The Controls, worked on TV, cut sides with Lee Perry, Sonia Pottinger, Carlton Patterson and Joe Gibbs and performed with the Socialist Roots Sound System. He started his Dread At The Controls label, producing Edi Fitzroy, Sugar Minott, Earl Sixteen, Althea & Donna and Junior Murvin. He also produced music for and toured with The Clash. His contribution can be heard all over Sandinista! and "Bank Robber". In the '80s he worked with Adrian Sherwood and UB40, also...

One of the great figures of post-punk, Martin Hannett virtually shaped the Joy Division sound at Strawberry Studios. A famed producer of many great UK groups of the era, he was also co-founder of Factory Records. He utilized loops, echos, delays, synths with a meticulous obsession for getting the drum sounds exactly as he heard them in his head. He would put the young groups through torture to get what he needed artistically. From about '77 til his early death he produced Joy Division, The Durutti Column, Basement 5, Magazine, Buzzcocks, Psychedelic Furs, A Certain Ratio, New Order, Section 25,...

Today is the birthday of Jeffrey Hyman aka Joey Ramone, front man of The Ramones and pop-punk idol. He came out of Forest Hills, Queens with his love of '60s rock, girl groups and glam and joined Sniper in the early '70s playing shows with groups like the NY Dolls and Suicide. In '74 he formed the Ramones (the name a reference to a Paul McCartney pseudonym). Joey was originally the drummer of the band, but being an excellent self-taught singer it wasn't long before he was the frontman to one of the best punk bands in the world for...

Cockney-accented singer/songwriter/actor Ian Dury was a great punk poet, talented lyricist and cult hero. After getting polio at 8, he went to a school for the disabled that "toughened" him up. Indeed he strutted the stage with confidence, despite the handicap. His first band was Kilburn and the High Roads, who toured with The Who and broke up in '75. His next band was the entertaining music-hall spirited Ian Dury & the Blockheads and they had some lasting hits (mostly in the UK) of the new wave era. Their music was influenced by funk, reggae, disco and jazz and Dury...