S1E2: Road to Ruin

In my early teens, I was an avid listener of progressive rock. bands like Yes, Genesis, Jethro Tull, and especially Emerson, Lake, and Palmer were the staples of my budding music collection. I, of course, had the more popular albums of the time. Just about everyone had The Eagles’ Hotel California or Frampton Comes Alive but progressive music is what got me going.

That is until I discovered Punk and New Wave. Still an underground scene at this point, a chance gift of a group of singles from the Ramones, Dead Boys, and Richard Hell and Voidoids changed my perspective and turned me into a Punk Rocker.

Since then Punk Rock has been an integral part of my life. It’s been with me when I was angry, sad, and lonely spilling out those feelings in music. Punk also reminded me not to take myself too seriously. I always loved the humor of Punk.

The good news is that Punk has persisted for 45 years until today. It’s actually a bigger deal than it was in the 70s. The fragmentation of Punk in Hardcore and Pop Punk especially breathed new life into the genre and allowed it to continue until today.

My latest podcast on Tunes Past to Present is entitled Road To Ruin. This reflects both the attitude of Punk and the album title of the Ramones fourth album from 1978. I this episode, I examine the history of Punk through, the lens of my own experience, talk about some of the modern Punk bands that I really like to day.

You can find it on Anchor and on Spotify .

There is also a rather lengthy playlist on Spotify. Given the scope of Punk rock, it was hard to shorten it by much. It’s just under 3 hours but worth the listen.

My next podcast is going to be about Dream Pop. Dream Pop is a bit more obscure than Punk but it’s effects are felt across genres, especially in Trip Hop and electronic music.