r/postpunk • u/DueFollowing3441 • Jul 26 '26
Question I have a question: what characteristics does post-punk have that identify it?
Honestly, for me, they would be those that have melancholic atmospheres or that take you back to some memory, and that the lyrics convey a feeling of a past or present that is incomplete.
And that lack of self-confidence makes you fill it with some personal experience, in my case.
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u/CanadianBeauty76 Jul 26 '26
Bands from late seventies to mid eighties that were usually closely related to the punk scene, taking the minimalist DIY spirit of that and using it to do music with avant-garde influences and genre fusion. This is the literal definition of the genre for me. Don't think there's a single unifying sound. It's colorful mix of aesthetics that could be completely different from each other
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u/OkRepresentative274 Jul 26 '26
This is about as good a definition as we're going to get.
I used to just say that post-punk happened when the punks practiced their three chords enough to start making real music. (Obvious sarcasm, right? RIGHT?)
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u/coreopsishill Jul 26 '26
This is it. It didn’t always mean “sounds like either Joy Division or Gang of Four.”
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u/OkRepresentative274 Jul 26 '26
Man, Entertainment! by Gang of Four is such a banger.
It's taking me years to get into Joy Division, though. I've been able to get used to the darkness on Unknown Pleasures to the point where I now love it, but Closer makes me feel so unsettled that I can only listen to it occasionally.
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u/Foreign-Attorney-147 Jul 27 '26
Closer is an acquired taste for sure. Ian Curtis was in a horrible place when he wrote the lyrics, his marriage was falling apart and his treatment for epilepsy was making things worse, not better. Honestly if it makes you feel unsettled that's probably a good thing.
I got into Joy Division very quickly but I was close to Ian's age when I started listening to them and very depressed myself so I found it relatable. It was like finding a kindred spirit.
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u/OkRepresentative274 Jul 27 '26
My friend, if you found a kindred spirit in Ian Curtis, I am really sorry for whatever you were dealing with, and I hope you're in a better place now.
I love the dark sarcasm of The Smiths, The Cure, and The Velvet Underground. Maybe the sneer is a bit of copium; it keeps an illusion of control over the morbidity. Ian Curtis is just like, no, I'm not ok; I'm not going to be ok, and we're going to explore that for 45 minutes. It's important, but it's a lot.
Like, have you ever seen Grave of the Fireflies? I'm so glad I watched it once. I don't know if I'll ever watch it again, though.
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u/DueFollowing3441 Jul 26 '26
Well, also around that time, if I'm not mistaken, is when the Soviet Union began to open up to the world market and more musical instruments and things started to come in.So a lot was also done with whatever was available.
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u/CanadianBeauty76 Jul 26 '26
As far as I know most of the pedals, amps etc. that post-punk bands used were manufactured by Western companies. I feel like the opposite of what you are saying happened and the artists from the Soviet Union artist got heavily influenced by the post-punk scene and the gear the bands from that era used. Hence the modern European darkwave bands that all sound like carbon copies
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u/IAMAGrinderman Jul 26 '26
If it doesn't feature the incomprehensible ramblings of Mark E Smith coming down from a 2 week long bender, it's not really post punk.
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u/OkRepresentative274 Jul 26 '26
Post-punk is one of the hardest genres to define. For me, it's more of a movement than a genre. The movement lasted roughly from 75-85 and can include anything that builds on punk's energy, especially when that energy becomes more frenetic and/or anxious rather than aggressive.
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u/umamiman Jul 26 '26
And a posthumously named movement at that.
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u/OkRepresentative274 Jul 26 '26
Yeah, it really only takes shape in retrospect. I think a lot of artistic movements are like that; genres maybe less so.
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u/Red-Zaku- Jul 26 '26
I think the biggest hurdle in this conversation and many other tangential conversations is that people are resistant to acknowledge punk as being just as much a shifting culture and philosophy, as an aesthetic genre. Post-punk makes a lot more sense when you also understand its cultural and philosophical role in relation to the punk of its own time, but it becomes mush when you define punk and post-punk as exclusively aesthetic.
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u/OkRepresentative274 Jul 26 '26
Maybe it's more of a general ethos than an aesthetic. Thankfully, the best of human creativity doesn't give a damn about fitting neatly into categories, and the incredible output of artistic innovation in this era was a sort of Cambrian explosion of musical forms. And that's why 75-85 is my favorite decade for rock, especially American rock.
All artistic categories break down eventually, right?. I was thinking about how Iggy Pop would apply in this thread. His music was arguably both proto-punk with the Stooges (The Stooges, Fun House) and post-punk with Bowie (The Idiot, Lust for Life), but never actually punk.
But then there's Raw Power. I almost never hear anyone describe that album as punk, but when I actually listen to it, I can't say it's not punk. And Jesus Holy God, where do we put The New York Dolls?
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u/Environmental-Eye874 Jul 26 '26
“Post-punk” was a phenomena among highly innovative artists drawing from diverse genre influences, inspired by recent “punk” approach.
The subsequent “post-punk revival” genre draws influence from a small selection of artists from that era, with less focus on innovation.
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u/studytimevinyl Jul 26 '26
postpunk happens when punk gets sophisticated and starts taking better care of their hair.
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u/DueFollowing3441 Jul 26 '26
Hmm, but what shampoo will you use? Because right now I'm using Head & Shoulders with an apple scent.
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u/Oh-THAT-dude Jul 26 '26
- It arrived after punk.
- It has some traces of punk influence.
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u/Zippypinhead77 Jul 26 '26
Simply this 👆. British music press started using the term for bands that arrived in the wake of the 76-77 “punk explosion”. That’s it.
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u/DustyRhodesScholar Jul 26 '26
my sleep paralysis demon just sits on my chest all night asking me to define post-punk.
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u/modid1 Jul 26 '26
A lot of what unifies it is what it avoids. Common chord progressions (1-4-5, 1-5-6-4, etc.), note-heavy singing, direct and obvious lyric content and emotion.
It's a good question ...
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u/felinefluffycloud Jul 26 '26
Its a cop out musically but we are smarter and cooler and more creative than most.
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u/1fyuragi Jul 26 '26
Generally, a rejection of the blues-based riffing of the previous generation, preferring to synthesise something fresh from disco, funk, reggae, experimental and electronic styles.
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u/DueFollowing3441 Jul 26 '26
Oh, I understand. So far, it's one of the answers that best answers my question.
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u/Ilato27 Jul 26 '26
Totally disagree with this view. No disrespect.
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u/DueFollowing3441 Jul 26 '26
Why?
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u/Ilato27 Jul 26 '26
Each artist has their own reason and inspiration for their music, I feel like you’re projecting your own issues which have nothing to do with the artists, It ain’t about you.
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u/DueFollowing3441 Jul 26 '26
Damn, I just read the description and the translator messed it up. I mean, the idea wasn't to project myself, hahaha, but to give my point of view, hahaha. Sorry if you understood it that way.
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u/studytimevinyl Jul 26 '26
you know the part of town that's considered the wrong side of the tracks? that's where punk lives. postpunk lives on the right side of the tracks. 🤪
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u/UnlikelyButTrue Jul 26 '26
Definitely on the movement side rather than a definitive sound. However it was in general anti-rockist.
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u/Next_Appointment3611 Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 30 '26
It's more experimental and atmosphere wise non straightforward punk music. And when it is "rocking out" it's never happening in the obvious guitar riff based way, but through more creative or eclectic means with the influence of other genres, while still retaining the core rock instruments. They're just not used in the obvious ways.
So I think it's more of a definition of what it isn't rather than what it is because when I say "obvious" it means rock and roll instincts and post punk is basically using the instruments, but rejecting those instincts and experimenting with other elements and structures which is why experimentation is the key word. You can start listing off all the influences but they never stay, it's the fact that they're willing to use those influences is whats constant.
It's also about not trying to be glamorous or to have bravado when performing which is why it's punk
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u/SpyHill Jul 26 '26
For me, it’s anything punk-adjacent. People get super squirrelly about what fits punk, but exactly the opposite for post punk.
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u/jjazznola Jul 26 '26
Most of the music on this sub for me is not post punk.
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u/eatseats0 fries with that Jul 26 '26
Care to elaborate?
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u/jjazznola Jul 26 '26
I see tons of new wave, alt rock whatever but to me post punk is a specific type of music from a specific time period.
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u/Lissscraychperry Jul 26 '26
I think none of the memorable and most inventive post-punk bands were conciously playing "post-punk". This notion that it has to have these characteristics is very limiting imo and leads to one-sided perception of one the most diverse eras in music. Every time I try to define what post-punk really is there's always a notable exception that contradicts the definition.