POST PUNK MUSIC GENRES … Explained

8 min readMar 17, 2023

(Be sure to check out the end of the post for Playlist ideas and links)

Punk. Post punk. New wave. Alternative. Pop Punk. Modern Alternative. Understandably, there can be some confusion as to the difference between these genres. And with some good reason; there is some overlap in musical styles, band styles, and popularity timeframes, but they’re each original in their own right. These are the genres with beginnings in the late 70’s and early 80’s (modern alt. in the early 90’s) and made up much of the great, wild, and wonderful musical landscape of the underrated 80’s decade.

ORIGINAL PUNK IS HARDCORE LOUD AND PROUD

So what makes these genres different? To answer this we have to start with Punk itself. We heard the onslaught of punk in the late 70’s. Original punk was born in the age of civil rights, live and let live, don’t tell me what to do, war sucks, and a general attitude of non-conformity. Punk is about the message. The blue mohawks, ripped God-Save-the-Queen T-shirts, graffiti-painted black pants and heavy studded guitar straps were the “WE ARE WHO WE ARE” brilliance that went along with the music.

Early punk bands consisted of harsh, sometimes distorted guitar riffs, fast and heavy drum beats, and often shouting vocals. The production of punk music was basic and low budget which adds to the discordant feel of the music. Billy Idol’s Generation X, Your Generation ,White Riot by the Clash, The Stooges feat Iggy Pop, Search and Destroy, and 999, Nasty Nasty are some examples. Other early punk bands include Joy Division, The Damned, Gang of Four, and the Sex Pistols ripping up in Britain, and bands like X, Black Flag, and the Ramones (Teenage Lobotomy) in America.

POST PUNK — THE OFFSPRING OF PUNK

Post punk, alternative, pop punk, and new wave are all subgenres of punk. These music styles are branches off the “mother punk tree”. Hardcore punk was having a huge influence on new bands — the messages continued but the sound changed. From 1978 through much of the 80’s, post punk artists meshed the original aggressive sound with pop, garage, glam and techno (synth and electronic). The creativity of the artists by using more instruments, i.e. keyboards, and in-studio sound effects, leveled up the substance of the music in many directions. Hence the confusion.

Punk music was not playing on mainstream radio in the U.S. I’ll go out on a limb and say that 90% of punk was introduced to American youth on college radio. This is how we knew what to buy at the record store…import section. Before I discovered college radio, punk videos had air time on cable TV stations after midnight. Yes, that was before MTV- punk bands were making videos. Just when I thought I could learn to love the gritty punk of the 70’s, I bought The Clash Sandinista and there was no going back. It’s only natural to mention The Clash — they define post punk — they arrived with the punk attitude but added a melodic energy that separated them from the rest. They were a punk band that evolved into the post punk genre combining rough tracks with more restrained songs like London Calling’s Train in Vain that made it to mainstream even though this song was added last minute to the album.

U2 MARCHES IN THE POST PUNK YEARS

Not to be too dramatic, but my soul (and millions of others) was captured the second I dropped the needle on U2 Boy in 1980. For me, this album was a turning point for the punk genre; it felt different than punk, but retained “the edge” (yes, a pun was intended). U2 channeled the hard rock punk, still waved the flag of rebellion, but added euphonic vocals and introduced the Edge’s reverb-heavy captivating riffs as in Gloria from U2 October and, even earlier in I Will Follow from their debut album. Pay close attention here to the drum intro and soon-to-be-signature Edge’s echoing guitar riff of the U2 title track Stories for Boys. I had never heard anything like this, U2 took with them the essence of punk and left behind the unrestrained aggression.

NEW WAVE MUSICIAN WANTED — KEYBOARDIST (Exp with Synthesizer) FOR NEW BAND

As post punk focused on the mixing of the music and cleaner vocals, new wave bands began evolving in a completely unique direction. New wave toned down the assertiveness of the lyrics and added synth, make up, and mohawks — as defined by the poster new wave band A Flock of Seagulls (Space Age Love Song) with Mike Score’s unique poof mullet.

When I think of the new wave shift, it can be defined by three criteria; 1) synth and/or electronic sounds like The Human League — Fascination, 2) quirky low-budget futuristic video productions (sometimes humorous) like the infamous first video to air on MTV The Buggles, Video Killed the Radio Star, and 3) flashy and memorable fashion designs. That doesn’t mean every new wave band combined all three, but many did so. We can’t discuss the success of post punk bands without a salute to MTV which provided new wave bands a platform for the mini-drama videos we became addicted to such as Depeche Mode’s Personal Jesus. New wave brought listeners to a new musical experience never heard before and these bands achieved record-selling heights attributed to the bands’ creativity and, of course, thanks to MTV.

POST PUNK ALTERNATIVE: THE MODERN MOVEMENT

Gray area alert. Post punk alternative music was created as a classification of bands that were heavy in heady lyrics, less synth, and a full grouping of instruments colliding into both punk and pop. The 80’s alternative movement was the beginning of superstar bands with cool sounds like INXS — Devil Inside. These bands also ate up the MTV stage opportunities but dropped the flare and colors and highlighted the music and the message. The Style Council — You’re the Best Thing is a fine example of an 80’s alternative post punk band.

These alternative bands gave us a glimpse of their skills as musicians and visually depicted themselves in videos in a more “authentic” way as opposed to the splashy-flashy productions of the new-wavers. That said — how do you classify a band like the Talking Heads — Take Me to the River? With beginnings in the 70’s with Psycho Killer, then punk-pop with Stay up Late in the late 80’s — I made the call to call them alternative. The gray area.

DEAR GOD THANK YOU FOR POST PUNK POP — I FEEL GREAT EVERY DAY

Another hugely popular daughter of punk is pop punk; a predecessor to pop stars we know that emerged in the late 80’s and 90’s. Pop punk gave us all the feels we wanted in upbeat tempos and depth (not too deep) we expected in lyrics and “storyline”. We are in the age of MTV and pop punk was the star of the show.

New bands emerged during the post punk era with a carefree attitude, and happier music and wind-in-our-hair videos. As with most pop today, the theme in the 80’s post punk pop was mainly idealistic with songs like The Go Go’s — Our Lips are Sealed. Can we really discuss 80’s punk pop without highlighting a-ha- Take On Me? The classic intro drum beat and sweet vocals paired with a mini-drama girl-meets-boy video — all wrapped up in a fantasy animation. A creation still popular today. Post punk pop at its finest.

CAN YOU PAINT A “POST” IMPRESSIONIST PAINTING TODAY? NO

There have been great bands that emerged after the 80’s bringing the punk essence to future generations; Green Day, Nirvana, Rise Against, etc., but in my opinion these bands don’t get to call themselves post punk. Let me clarify, something that qualifies as “post” happens directly following the original — so find another genre category like “power pop” and leave the post punk label to the bands that created it.

Create an “Awesome 80’s Post Punk Playlist” on Youtube or whatever music streaming you use! SEE MY LISTS BELOW OF SOME MAINSTREAM MUSIC TO GET YOU STARTED! ENJOY!