Taking a similar approach, a crop of newly established independent imprints then began to mushroom on both sides of the Atlantic. Suitably inspired, Rough Trade quickly established their own label, issuing their first 45, ‘Paris Maquis’, by French punks Metal Urbain, late in ’77. Though frequently overlooked in punk histories, this latter title was actually UK punk’s first truly independently issued LP, released through an imprint called Raw Edge, which had been set up by The Outsiders’ frontman Adrian Borland’s parents. Initially specialising in garage-rock and reggae, this remarkable operation, set up by founder Geoff Travis in February 1976 (and based upon San Francisco’s similarly “community-based” bookstore City Lights), stocked both Spiral Scratch and also May ’77’s Calling On Youth by Wimbledon trio The Outsiders. Recorded and mixed in just five hours with future Joy Division producer Martin “Zero” Hannett at the controls, Spiral Scratch was entirely self-funded by the band (who borrowed around £500 to cover costs) and its release was a watershed in the history of independently released music: not least because it eventually sold out its original 1,000 pressing and then shifted a further 15,000 copies.Īrguably the most forward-thinking commercial outlet to sell Spiral Scratch was the Rough Trade shop, originally situated on London’s Kensington Park Road. Not so the tiny New Hormones label, which was established specifically to release Mancunian punks Buzzcocks’ debut EP, Spiral Scratch, on 29 January 1977. The result of two frantic, cider- and speed-fuelled days at Islington’s tiny Pathway Studios, the record was rightly recognised as British punk’s first full-length LP, yet while Stiff were certainly independently minded, their two founding mavericks, Dave Robinson and future Elvis Costello manager Jake Riviera, were already well-known figures on London’s pub-rock circuit and their label was still broadly run from within the industry. The Damned also notched up another significant milestone on 18 February 1977, when Stiff issued their magnificently raw, Nick Lowe-produced debut album, Damned Damned Damned. Indeed, the UK’s first official “punk” 45, The Damned’s manic ‘New Rose’, appeared on the small (if upwardly mobile) independent imprint, Stiff Records, on 22 October 1976, beating Sex Pistols’ EMI-sponsored ‘Anarchy In The UK’ to the punch by five weeks. In North America, for example, Californian power-pop label Beserkley had been operating outside of the mainstream since 1973, while Cleveland’s avant-garde pioneers Pere Ubu released their landmark debut single ‘30 Seconds Over Tokyo’ on their own Hearthan label in 1975.ĭIY, however, figured prominently in punk’s manifesto right from the start.
However, one aspect of punk’s anti-establishment ideology endures to this day: its inherent DIY ethos, most often identified with the quintessential punk commandment: “This is a chord, this is another, this is another… now form a band!” Incorrectly attributed to Mark Perry’s seminal punk fanzine Sniffin’ Glue (the quote actually appeared, along with the relevant chord shapes, in the January ’77 edition of punk ’zine, Sideburns), this impassioned plea to create – and promote – music independently is always associated with 1976, yet there are pre-punk precedents.
Having eventually signed to Virgin Records, Sex Pistols split in disarray in January ’78 their nearest rivals, The Clash, set their sights on America by the turn of the 80s, “punk” had been neutered and hijacked by hordes of identikit, Mohican-sporting Exploited clones. Yet while this defiant new genre’s very existence apparently posed a threat to the music industry’s established status quo, it ultimately dissipated with a whimper, rather than a bang. Suddenly, punk appeared too hot to handle.