uk vs. us punk?
 

ok, vote

u.s. all the way

It depends on the era.

60s & 70s - US
early 80s - UK
late 80s - US
90s - fuck, man, it was well dead by then.

You've been around awhile, king_buzzo. Thus, this is a recycled topic. An original idea would be something to strive for in the future. I still like the topic though.
I will weigh in in the same manner as I have in the past.
The U.S. is the undisputable birthplace of punk rock music. The U.S. has historically produced a greater variety of punk rock acts.

It is with England and Sex Pistols, however, that punk rock first really reached the fringe of the mainstream. Sex Pistols, despite their limited output, are also the single greatest punk rock band of all time, and most likely always will be.
So much so, that I vote "uk."

I liike a handfull of British punk bands. I don't think I like a single American one, unless you count the Monks, which you shouldn't. I do quite like refused though.

I voted UK because of Crass and the Subhumans

That's a dificult one, mainly because the two things are so different.

70's: The UK had: The Clash, Wire, Magazine, etc.
For the US: Television, Pere Ubu, Richard Hell
80's: UK - Crass, Angelic Upstarts, and not much else
US - Black Flag, MDC, Minor Threat, Dead Kennedys

Then again in the 80's the UK also had the incredibly BAD: PATTTB, Anti-Nowhere League, The Exploited, Discharge and many many more.

So I think the US pips it for me.

Having earlier said that US punk outstrips UK for 60s/70s and late 80s, I've now gone and voted UK because of the sheer brilliance of a lot of what I consider to be early 80s punk, e.g. anarcho-punk (culturally, not necessarily musically), Banshees, Killing Joke.

Thinking about it, the reason that the US outstripped the UK as far as punk in the late 80s goes is that the UK's punk spirit redirected itself to rave culture. If you looked at punk in the late 80s as US grunge vs UK rave, then the UK wins in that period.

"it wasn´t the uk or the us, girls invented punk rock"

I prefer us punk bands

I voted for UK as that's where the whole punk scene started, i know it wouldnt have been around if it wasnt for New York Dolls, Richard Hell etc but you simply cant beat bands like Wire, The Fall, Buzzcocks and the like. Groups like Minor Threat and Bad Brains wouldnt have started if it wasnt for the UK Scene.

u.s., no contest.

Iggy Pop, Velvet Underground, Ramones=punk scene starting.

Brit Punk for the most part is snotty annoying and derivative of it's self. I can't listen to more than 2 crass songs in a row. Buzzcocks get boring, as do the Pistols. The Clash are good, and I got a feeling I'm going to get some shit for saying that.
Nevermind the Sex Pistols
Here's The Clash!

Pookie and jimbrim have some nice posts here.
Glice doesn't like any American punk bands.
What a bozo.

For the record, I like a lot more American punk bands than I do English ones. That was implied in my post before, but the recent dunderhead phenomenon I've experienced on this board urges me to spell it out, you know. It's just that Sex Pistols are huge and that there's plenty of other good ones as well.

I'm still trying to catch up on all the great 80's bands I missed out on because I was busy listening to Chron Gen, GBH and Vice Squad (thanks Hip Priest & sonicl for the help). Brit punk was indeed, for the most part, garbage.

I think with the Pistols it's largely a case of 'you had to be there'. They were as much about fashion as music, and love them as I did at the time, I don't have much interest in their music now.

I still love The Clash.

And the majority of music I listen to now that falls even loosely under the punk umbrella, is American.

i have to admit i didnt vote because i just think this thread is very 'my dad is bigger than your dad' and i dont really care whos apparently better,

music isnt a competition especially punk music,

whats the question here?

whos got taste?

how many users are american and how many are british?

It took too long for the Ramones to be mentioned in this thread. Sure, you could go all the way back to the Trashmen or the Kingsmen or Eddie Cochran or "The Killer" Jerry Lee Lewis to find the early traces of punk rock. But it truly is an American art form. The British did a fine job in taking to a different level.

But, Long Live Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy and Markey and Richie and C. Jay...

It's true, I've thought about it, and I can't honestly say I like any American punk bands, apart from 'tenuous links' VU and the Monks. I'm not entirely sure that's a bad thing, I like very, very few punk bands period. I'm not sure what a bozo is, but I'm sure I'm probably one of them.

i'm sick of the ramones, i never thought that was possible but i am.

It's a tie for me. I love some UK punk, hate some UK punk. Love some US, punk hate some US punk.

The Ramones got old fast for me, they're kind of boring.

i only have two ramones albums: it's alive and live loco, i don't think i need more.

US. television, voidoids, heartbreakers etc.

i much prefer us punk....
i haven't listened to the ramones in such a long time it's possible i may have gone full circle and may actually like them again... must investigate that possibility tommorrow...

ps how come no-one's mentioned the main reason us would win: the stooges

the only punk i really listen to is late 70s-80s stuff ala black flag, minor threat, germs etc.

so US most defiantly.

U.S.A! U.S.A.!

A continuum...

The Wailers
The Sonics
The Fugs
Debris'
The Electric Eels
Crime
Chrome
The Pagans
Nervous Eaters
Vom
Screamers
The Wipers
Black Flag
Minutemen
Really Red
The Freeze
Flipper
Poison Idea
Septic Death
Dead Moon
The Mummies
Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments
The Motards
The A Frames
The Hospitals
The Intelligence
Functional Blackouts
Home Blitz

The U.K. had some great bands, but the canonization of certain bands and the patriotism of their myopic music journalists make for a glut of overrateds and cashers-in on the seemingly never-ending gravy train. I mean, seriously, how undeserving are The Exploited to be careerists in the punk biz??? (Meanwhile, the best U.K. punk goes largely ignored; e.g. Fuck Off Records, descendents of Desperate Bicycles, etc.)

I actually like Aussie punk better overall than U.K. punk.

i say US. even if only for DC hardcore.. but not.

SST alone destroys the uk punk scene.

No poll is ever going to make me chose between The Stooges and The Slits.

If you can't choose between the Stooges and the Slits, that shows your regional bias.

I think the Slits are good fun, and if I were a teenage girl, I might be inspired to start a band after hearing the Slits, but they never made a record that wasn't chock fulla filler, let alone anything of the caliber and gravity of "Funhouse."

Why not say Switzerland beats the US and UK solely on the basis of Liliput?

Music shouldn't be a contest like this anyway. Though I really believe that the best punk came from here (it does figure since we invented this shit), if we had a competition for which country has the worst bands, most of the very worst bands also come from the USA. The Exploited can be outdone by everything from the post-Sum/Blink era.

No, it doesn't. It shows my FUCK YOU. :fuckyou:

My post wasn't meant to sound so mean...sorry.

I say "FUCK YOU" with love.

im a bit bored with the pistols nowdays.

Yeah! Kleenex! Yeah! More love for Kleenex now please, world.

You could probably do without Loco Live, couldn't you?

It's Alive documents the Ramones live at the precise moment before they started going downhill. I've always thought that Loco Live documents the moment that they hit the bottom.

Calling the Monks & VU punk is kind of putting the cart before the horse says me.

US overall, even though the Buzzcocks are one of my favourite bands. It gets tricky if I take into account what went on in the UK after the Sex Pistols, though. And what to call bands like This Heat and Camberwell Now? Personally I think they shit on everything else.

I really dislike this idea that the Stooges and the Velvet Underground (or just about any bands before the Ramones) are "punk". Punk is a label, given to punks by punks. There is no a priori "punk" or "punkness". If you're the Velvet Underground, you probably thought of yourself as art rock. If you're the Stooges then you're a coked out kick-out-the-jams-motherfucker rock and roll band. That being said, you have to leave these bands out if you're talking about U.S. vs U.K. punk.

For me, I'd have to say U.S. punk, particularly early 80s bands, both east and west coast (Void, Black Flag, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Rites of Spring, etc.). That isn't to say that the U.K. does have their moments: Rudimentary Peni and early Napalm Death. And I'm not the biggest Discharge fan, but saying that Discharge is shit is basically saying that punk is shit. Their influence is unmatched by just about any punk band you can name. Without Discharge, what can be called "punk" today would not exist, even emo.