In 1977, Iggy Pop said 'punk rock' was a term used by 'heartless manipulators'

The first known use of 'punk rock' was in 1971

When Creem Magazine's Dave Marsh wrote about seeing '60s garage rockers ? and the Mysterians perform, he remarked it would be unthinkable "to miss such a landmark exposition of punk-rock." The band isn't considered a punk band, but Marsh's description would go on to define other scrappy, back-to-basics acts.

The Stooges were a stark contrast to the hippie movement

The Detroit band is often considered “proto-punk” because their loud, dark, and distorted music helped establish a template for the punk explosion that came later. In 1970, rock writer Lester Bangs even used the word “punk” to describe the band’s frontman, Iggy Pop.

The Velvet Underground is often considered a starting point for punk rock

The band blended Warhol’s Pop Art with Beat poetry, early rock ‘n’ roll and the European avant-garde, creating a sound that was often chaotic, noisy and abrasive. The band’s debut album, “The Velvet Underground and Nico,” sold poorly, but (supposedly) everyone who purchased a copy started a band.

Why one country legend embraced punk rock

Dwight Yoakam was among the most popular country music acts of the 1980s, praised for his upbeat rockabilly and neo-Bakersfield sound. In this interview, Yoakam explains why he left the Midwest for California and began playing in punk clubs, including with an iteration of the legendary LA punk outfit X.

Gary Panter's punk art defined the '70s and '80s counterculture

The artist got his start providing fliers and logos for early Los Angeles punk bands, but later took his psychedelic, Pop Art-vision to designing on "Pee-Wee's Playhouse," for which he won three Emmy Awards.

The Buzzcocks' 1975 self-released EP inspired a DIY ethos for punk

Punk sought to dismantle the self-importance of mainstream rock, favoring simple arrangements, short songs, and raw passion over sophistication or expertise. When the Buzzcocks struggled to find a label to release their debut record, “Spiral Scratch,” they took that do-it-yourself approach and applied it to business by releasing it themselves.

The Beastie Boys started as a punk band

Before they became a legendary rap group, the New Yorkers played fast, scrappy hardcore in the style of Bad Brains. Still, they were fans of the explosion of hip-hop culture in their city and recorded a jokey track in 1983, which led to a record deal and conversion to hip-hop.

Ozzy Osbourne was never comfortable with being called 'metal'

Despite being called a forefather of the genre, the Prince of Darkness said he never understood why his music was called "heavy metal." "Back in the day, it was always just rock music," he told SPIN in 2013. "It’s still just rock music."

Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys were an influence on early punk rock

The Beach Boys' sunny sound profoundly influenced early punk acts, such as the Ramones, who took Brian Wilson's sugary hooks and ramped up the tempo. In the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, California pop-punk acts such as the Descendents, Green Day and Blink-182 continued the tradition.

CBGB, the breeding ground for punk, was intended to be a country bar

Ramones, Talking Heads, Television, Blondie, and many other bands got their start at CBGB. But its owner, Hillel “Hilly” Kristal, didn’t intend for it to be a punk rock venue. CBGB stood for “Country Bluegrass Blues,” though he included “OMFUG” (for “Other Music For Uplifting Gourmandizers”) on the venue’s marquee.

'Rock 'n' roll' eventually became 'classic rock'

As the 1980s arrived, rock radio began pivoting to the term “classic rock,” allowing them to focus on the Baby Boomer demographic and ignore the still-evolving genre. Since then, “classic rock” remains, though it’s constantly being redefined, due in no small part to its slippery name.

'New wave' was coined for listeners put off by punk's ethos

The term was a reference to New Wave cinema, an iconoclastic, largely French form. Sire Records' Seymour Stein is believed to have pushed to use it to describe the label's bands, many of which came from the CBGB's scene, to avoid the negative associations with "punk rock." Sire ran a promotional campaign named "Don't Call It Punk" that made that message clear.

Richard Hell is one of punk's most accomplished writers

Richard Hell is punk royalty, known for his work with Television, the Heartbreakers, and the Voidoids. He's also a well-traveled poet, novelist, critic, and memoirist, as this detailed profile from Poetry Foundation's Andrew Marzoni shows.

Why grunge artists loathed the term 'grunge'

As the music took off, the word quickly became a convenient marketing term that lumped together bands that were rather distinct. "'Grunge,' as a term, nobody liked that," Soundgarden's Kim Thayil once said. "Everyone thought, 'Oh this is a marketing thing. This is a way to file Seattle on a retail display in a record store.'"

The Sex Pistols were created by the owner of a fashion store

Malcolm McLaren and his wife Vivienne Westwood owned and operated a provocative fashion store in London simply called Sex. McLaren created the Sex Pistols from kids who hung around the shop, none of whom were musicians, as a way to infiltrate the music industry.

The Parents Music Resource Center criticized rock 'n' roll's lyrics in the 1980s

The group, spearheaded by Tipper Gore, the wife of then-Senator and eventual Vice President Al Gore, argued that rock music, especially heavy metal, was having an adverse effect on the country, particularly young children. One of the group's fiercest critics was musician Frank Zappa. In the video below, he appears on a 1986 episode of "Crossfire," arguing about the proposed ban of so-called obscene music.

The word ‘hip-hop’ is often credited to DJ Lovebug Starski

The name was coined by Bronx DJ Lovebug Starski, who ad-libbed the term to match the rhythm of a beat while he was rapping. While it began as nonsense, the term went on to describe the music and multifaceted culture that surrounded it.

The '90s riotgrrrl movement brought female-fronted bands to the front

The movement—which pushed back on punk’s misogyny and argued for a countercultural form of third-wave feminism—began in self-published magazines before taking root in bands like Bikini Kill and Bratmobile. The scene’s music and ethos can still be found in contemporary acts like Olivia Rodrigo.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe is considered the godmother of rock 'n' roll

Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Fats Domino are cited as the godfathers of rock ‘n’ roll, but the undisputed godmother is Sister Rosetta Tharpe, a gospel singer who crossed over to the secular world and changed the course of American music. Tharpe’s electric guitar playing influenced early rock ‘n’ roll.

Goldenvoice, Coachella's promoter, began with punk and gangster rap

This documentary produced by Coachella tells the story of Goldenvoice—a scrappy upstart booking punk, hardcore, and gangster rap shows in Southern California—and how it created one of the biggest festivals in the world. Beyond the narrative, though, this is worth watching for incredible performances from the White Stripes, Kendrick Lamar, Amy Winehouse, and more.

New York mayor Ed Koch railed against graffiti in the '70s and '80s

Koch was outspoken in his hatred of the form and, during his three terms, launched an anti-graffiti campaign with the help of several New York celebrities. This 1984 BBC report documents some of the scorn graffiti artists had attracted, including from Grace Glueck, the New York Times' art critic, who said, "I don't consider it an art form on canvas at all."

Andy Warhol, explained

Andy Warhol wasn't just an artist—he was a cultural force. From his early days working as a New York illustrator to managing The Velvet Underground and creating experimental films, Warhol blurred the line between art and commerce, leaving a legacy that changed pop culture forever.

Dylan was called 'the voice of his generation,' but rejected the title

By the mid-60s, Dylan made it clear he had no desire to be a spokesman for anyone but himself. He found the title stifling and believed it would prevent him from creating authentic art.

The criticism of 'selling out' has waned in the 21st century

Although patronage was a regular part of artists’ income throughout the 19th century, the insult “sell out” gained prominence in the 1950s. The jazz and folk communities, in particular, levied the term at artists they believed had sacrificed their integrity for financial gain.

70 years ago today, city officials in Santa Cruz, California, banned rock 'n' roll to protect its youth from corruption after witnessing a 'provocative' concert the night before.

The history of the 808, the drum machine that changed pop music

Roland's TR-808 is one of the most consequential pieces of gear in the history of popular music, providing the framework for innovative hip-hop, dance, and pop records in the early 1980s.

Prince's sexually explicit 1984 track 'Darling Nikki' attracted the ire of the Parents Music Resource Center, an advocacy group that inspired the Parental Advisory sticker, even though the song ends with a Christian message.

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

The Ramones' 'Pet Sematary,' the theme song for the Stephen King novel of the same name, was written while the band was admiring the writer's collection of horror memorabilia.

The word 'jazz' evolved from 'jasm,' 19th-century American slang for 'energy'

The Beatles' US label rejected the band's first two singles, 'Please Please Me' and 'From Me to You,' with one executive calling the band 'dead in the water.'

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

'Saturday Night Fever,' the 1977 film that introduced disco to the mainstream, was based on a fabricated magazine story.

Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre coined the famous phrase 'Hell is—other people' in his play 'No Exit'

After her fellow cult members tried to kill her with an LSD-infused hamburger, one member of the Manson Family, the murderous cult led by Charles Manson, decided to testify against the group's leader.

The first robot in literature may have been a 'mechanical man' in 1907's 'Ozma of Oz,' a book in L Frank Baum's 'Wizard of Oz' series.

Famed poet TS Eliot rejected the manuscript for George Orwell's political fable 'Animal Farm,' writing that its criticism of authoritarianism was not 'the right point of view.'

Graffiti dates back to at least ancient Pompeii, where citizens scrawled messages to one another on public walls

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

A pickleball's loud 'pop' sound can reach 120 decibels, which is equivalent to a hammer hitting a nail

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

The hormonal disorder PCOS was renamed PMOS in 2026, a move designed to improve care and research by shifting the focus to the hormonal causes of this condition that affects 1 in 8 women.

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

The identity of the Tank Man in the iconic photo from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests remains unknown and was possibly killed.

Radioactive elements can introduce software errors because the ionizing radiation they produce can detach electrons from atoms, and computer code relies on the distribution of electrons.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is independent of Iran's regular army and is one of the most powerful and influential military-political organizations in the Middle East.

US housing costs have risen by roughly 175% between 1991 and 2026—but a growing number of Gen Zers are becoming homeowners anyway. In 2025, 4% of homebuyers were Gen Z, up from 3% the year before.

Urushiol, the oily toxin in poison ivy, can remain allergenic on clothing for years.

The American cockroach is actually from Africa, an apparent hitchhiker aboard ships carrying enslaved people, with evidence suggesting the bug may have arrived in the New World as early as the 1600s.