Punk in UK and Austrilia

The UK and Australia
Music samples:
Anarchy in the UK (file info) — play in browser (beta)
"Anarchy in the U.K." by Sex Pistols, from Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols (1977)
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"Fast Cars" (file info) — play in browser (beta)
"Fast Cars" by Bubenzzcocks, from Another Music in a Different Kitchen (1978)
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After a brief period managing the New York Dolls, Englishman Malcolm McLaren returned to London in May 1975, inspired by the new scene he had witnessed at CBGB. He opened SEX, a clothing store which specialised in "anti-fashion", and sold the slashed T-shirts, drapes, brothel creepers and fetish gear later popularised by the punk movement.[49] He also began managing The Swankers, who would soon evolve into the Sex Pistols. The Sex Pistols developed an early cult following in London, centered on a clique known as the Bromley Contingent, named after the suburb where many of the fans had grown up.[50]

On July 4, 1976, the Ramones and the Stranglers opened for the Flamin' Groovies before a crowd of two thousand at London's Roundhouse.[51] The following night, members of the Sex Pistols and a new British punk band, The Clash, attended a Ramones club gig.[52] These concerts are seen as crucial in bringing together the nascent UK punk scene.[53] Over the next several months, many new punk bands formed, often directly inspired by the Sex Pistols.[54] In London, there were The Damned, The Vibrators, The Slits, X-Ray Spex, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Eater, The Subversives, The Adverts, the aptly named London, and Chelsea, which soon spun off Generation X. Farther afield, Sham 69 began practicing in the southeastern town of Hersham. In the Manchester area, the Buzzcocks and the group that would become Warsaw and later Joy Division came together. In Durham, there was Penetration. Some new bands, such as London's Alternative TV and Edinburgh's Rezillos, identified with the scene even as they pursued more experimental sounds. A few already active bands such as Surrey neo-mods The Jam and, particularly, pub rockers Cock Sparrer also became associated with the punk movement. Alongside the musical roots shared with their American counterparts and the calculated confrontationalism of the early Who, rock journalist Clinton Heylin describes how the scene also reflected the influence of the "glam bands who gave noise back to teenagers in the early Seventies—T.Rex, Slade and Roxy Music."[55]

At virtually the same time punk was starting to break in the UK, it was doing the same thing, albeit deeper underground, in Australia. Operating within a relatively limited sphere, some of the bands down under were amazed, or dismayed, to discover like-minded musicians exploring a similar path. Ed Kuepper of The Saints reports,

One thing I remember having had a really depressing effect on me was the first Ramones album. When I heard it [in 1976], I mean it was a great record...but I hated it because I knew we’d been doing this sort of stuff for years. There was even a chord progression on that album that we used...and I thought, "Fuck. We’re going to be labeled as influenced by the Ramones," when nothing could have been further from the truth.[56]


"Anarchy in the U.K.", the Sex Pistols' epochal debut singleIn September 1976, The Saints became the first punk band outside of the U.S. to release a recording, the single "(I'm) Stranded". It had limited impact at home, but the British music press recognized it as a groundbreaking record.[57] Radio Birdman soon came out with an EP, Burn My Eye, described by critic Ian McCaleb as the "archetype for the musical explosion that was about to occur".[58] On the other side of Australia, in Perth, germinal punk act the Cheap Nasties had also formed.

In October, The Damned became the first UK punk band to release a single, the classic "New Rose".[59] The Sex Pistols followed the next month with "Anarchy in the U.K." In December, the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned, and The Heartbreakers united for the Anarchy Tour, a series of gigs throughout the UK. Many of the shows were cancelled by venue owners after tabloid newspapers and other media seized on sensational reports about the antics of the bands and their fans.[60] One incident that month sealed punk's notorious reputation: On Thames Today, an early evening London TV show, Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones was goaded into a verbal altercation by the host, Bill Grundy, and swore at him on live television, outraging a nation