Proto-Punk or Post-Punk?
 

It's pretty obvious what you need to do.... just choose which one is your favorite: proto-punk or post-punk.

Now, I realize that proto-punk isn't technically a genre, but just a term used to refer to musicians who were influential in the making of punk rock, but just roll with it... To be honest, I'm not entirely sure if post-punk is a complete genre either...

Some examples of proto-punk: The Monks, The Stooges, MC5, Death, The Sonics, The Velvet Underground, The Deviants, New York Dolls, etc.

Some examples of post-punk: Joy Division, Magazine, Swell Maps, Wire, The Pop Group, Tuxedomoon, The Raincoats, etc.

Post punk for me.

equal measures

That's a tough one, I love a lot of bands from both brackets. At a push I'd go for proto-punk, but I get a lot of satisfaction from each of them.

Good poll. Very different genres, despite their mutual connection to punk. I guess I respect post-punk for having higher artistic aspirations a lot of the times, but I think I've listened more to proto-punk, especially the Stooges, VU and the Sonics.

Post-punk 4evs.

Post punk is everything I love about music.

While I enjoy both genres of music, I listen to far more post-punk then proto-punk, however that said Raw Power (1973) by The Stooges is in my top 5 favorite albums of all time.

Proto-punk

Post Punk because of the sheer diversity. Proto punk was setting down the rules without really knowing it and Post Punk tore them apart and reassembled them.

Hard to compare really, practically different genre's all-together.

I think so too. Proto punk can get old quite quickly at times. I find that I have extreme cravings for proto punk at times though. Even though I listen to post punk way more I would have to say I like them equally.

I feel that both certainly have their merits. Lately, I've been into way more post punk, but I'm not going to say definitively that it's my favorite. They're two very different animals, but both quite inviting to me.

proto punk for me.

I couldn't possibly compare, I like them both equally! Both have their gems; The Stooges and Delta 5 etc.

I really don't know why post-punk is named as such. Certainly doesn't sound very punk to me, though I'm quite a fan. I've never heard of proto-punk before. No idea what it is.

It's called post-punk because it's the music that came right after punk and was heavily influenced by it.

It's the music that came right before punk and was a direct influence on it.

On the last.fm definition, in spite of the word "post", it came from around the same time Punk did. Not after. And I really struggle to hear the influence of punk on bands like Interpol.

It came out just after like in 1977 and was in full flow by 1978, 1979 and 1980and was used to describe bands that were much more diverse than straight-up punk bands, most post-punk bands have a noticeable punk influence, but some much more so than others.

I'm totally in the proto-punk camp. My love of garage rock is probably the reason, since the two can so easily spill into each other, and some of my favorites including The Sonics, 13th Floor Elevators, MC5 and even Link Wray can straddle that line. I find a lot of punk like Sex Pistols and the Clash too clean and crisp. The noisy, buzzy sludge of garage rock is so much like proto-punk and that's why I love it.

To be fair, I haven't given post-punk much of a listen.

You find early Clash crisp sounding?

Post-punk is actually very subjective and you`ll always get a whole load of diverse opinions on the subject. The first band that always comes to mind when I think of post-punk is always the Stooges.

If we're limiting it to their early stuff, not especially. If we're talking London Calling and Combat Rock, then yes. But it's not like the fact that those albums have a crisp sound (in my mind) ruins it for me, because I enjoy those albums. I just prefer the noisier, more chaotic sound of proto-punk.

Interpol is a post-punk revival band. Actual post-punk would be bands like Joy Division, PiL, etc.

I do enjoy Trout Mask Replica and I was gonna check out the rest of his discography that gets buried under Trout. Instead I checked out the Residents and yeah...

If Captain Beefheart has some post-punk stuff you recommend, that would be great. I may be in the same boat as Above, where I don't exactly understand what is and isn't post-punk and maybe I actually do have an opinion of it.

...That works too :laughing:

I'll add it to an already too long list of stuff I need to check out. Many thanks.

it's not exactly that jarring or dissonant

only Strummer's singing can be a bit raucous

post punk. More interesting subject matter, less "typical" rock conventions, easier for my adolescent self to feel an emotional connection to even if i didn't always understand what they were saying(mark e smith)

However, velvet underground and nico,and select songs from the stooges I appreciate more then most post punk I've listened to.

love early post-punk like three imaginary boys, joy division and cabaret voltaire

but i must say proto punk is where its AT

The Fall, The Pop Group, and This Heat are post punk.
'Nuff said.

Damn, that reminds me, I should get to downloading 'The Pop Group'.

As for the debate, bands labeled as post punk are better than bands labeled as proto-punk. However, it's hard to consider Post-Punk a genre as it's just a gimmick term for a grouping of bands that don't sound even remotely similar to each other. For me, "Post" is just another annoying buzzword like "Indie", "Alternative", and "Core". I can say the exact same thing as "Proto".

But, really, are "This Heat", "Public Image LTD", "Godspeed You! Black Emporer", and "Joy Division" really similar enough bands to justify a genre label?

Just sounds like a way to lump every piece of technical and/or ambient punk influenced music into one big box. I'd almost say that the connection is the similarities between kosmiche like traits of these bands, but a few like the seminal Joy Division really have none. Joy Division sound like a mixture of Velvet Underground, and punk rock. However, sometimes post-punk doesn't sound like 'punk' at all. A large portion sounds exactly like 80s art rock, or straight up avant-rock.

It's positively the most randomly schlepped together genre I've ever seen. Like trying to find the links between "The Residents", "Deer Hunter", "U-Men", "5uus", and "Weather Report". Then calling it a genre. Because, musically, I could imagine every one of those bands fitting into post-punk with the right visual aesthetic and/or took themselves more seriously.

^That's true, but as for your Godspeed You! Black Emperor, I thought that they were post rock, not post post punk.

Proto. Post bores the **** out of me.

(Most) post punk bands really appeal to me because there resides within their music a form of experimentality not always found within proto punk, and when this experimentalism of their youth is expanded upon, you have great post punk artists such as Arto Lindsay, Charles Hayward, and Mayo Thompson.

Post-punk.

Because I like Rollins Band!

Proto Punks always

Funhouse is a pretty heavy argument for Proto Punk, i would say. I need to get more familiar with post punk though.