In
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
, the
punk rock scene emerged in 1978, when the country had transitioned from the
Francoist State
Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...
to
democracy
Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...
, After
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...
's death in 1975, the country went through a “volatile political period”, in which the country had to try to relearn
democratic values and install a
constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When ...
. When punk emerged, it “did not appropriate
socialism
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
as its goal”; instead, it embraced “
nihilism
Nihilism (; ) is a philosophy, or family of views within philosophy, that rejects generally accepted or fundamental aspects of human existence, such as objective truth, knowledge, morality, values, or meaning. The term was popularized by Ivan ...
”, and focused on keeping the memories of past abuses alive, and accusing all of Spanish society of collaborating with the "fascist
regime
In politics, a regime (also "régime") is the form of government or the set of rules, cultural or social norms, etc. that regulate the operation of a government or institution and its interactions with society. According to Yale professor Juan Jo ...
".
The early
punk scene included a range of marginalized and outcast people, including workers, unemployed,
leftists,
anarchists, queers,
dykes,
poseur
A poseur is someone who poses for effect, or behaves affectedly, who affects a particular attitude, character or manner to impress others, or who pretends to belong to a particular group. s, scroungers, and petty criminals. The scenes varied by city. In
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
, which had been the power center of the
Falangist party, the punk scene was like “a release valve” for the formerly repressed youth. In
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
, a city which had a particularly “marginalized status under Franco”, because he suppressed the area’s “
Catalan language and culture”, the youth felt an “exclusion from mainstream society” that enabled them to come together and form a punk
subculture
A subculture is a group of people within a culture that differentiates itself from the parent culture to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles. Subcultures develop their own norms and values regarding cultural, poli ...
.
The first independently released Spanish punk disc was a
45 RPM record by Almen TNT in 1979. The song, which sounded like the US band
The Stooges stated that no one believed in revolution anymore, and it criticized the emerging consumer culture in Spain, as people flocked to the new department stores. The early Spanish punk records, most of which emerged in the explosion of punk in 1978, often reached back to "old-fashioned 50s
rock-n-roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...
to
glam to early
metal to Detroit’s hard
protopunk
Proto-punk (or protopunk) is rock music played mostly by garage bands from the 1960s to mid-1970s that foreshadowed the punk rock movement. The phrase is a retrospective label; the musicians involved were generally not originally associated wi ...
", creating an aggressive mix of
fuzz guitar, jagged sounds, and crude Spanish
slang lyrics.
[Drogas, Sexo, Y Un Dictador Muerto: 1978 on Vinyl in Spain. SHIT FI dot. http://www.shit-fi.com/Articles/Spain1978/Spain1978.htm]
The first references to punk in Spain, is usually cited as Kaka de Luxe and La Banda Trapera del Rio. There was three big scenes in Spain of punk rock: in Madrid (some bands are considered inside of "la movida"), Basque country (also called
Basque Radical Rock
Basque Radical Rock, ( es, Rock radikal vasco, eu, Euskal Herriko rock erradikala) was a musical genre born in the Southern Basque Country at the beginning of the 1980s and, although there was no specific event, it is considered to have ended in ...
) and Barcelona (more oriented to hardcore punk) one of the most important punk bands in Spanish history was
La Polla Records.
Hardcore Punk
In Spain, among the best known hardcore groups are HHH, Subterranean Kids, TDeK, GRB, 24 Ideas and X-Milk among others, which are characterized by also having parts of fast punk, which demonstrate the link between punk and hardcore. . Other groups to highlight would be El Corazón del Sapo, Nevergood, Nuevenoventaicinco, groups from the Aragonese scene. However, other groups, less known to the general public, but no less important, such as MG-15 and Último Gobierno, which played d-beat, forerunners of this genre in the State, must be named; or the wave of Catalan hardcore groups from the 1980s, such as Anti / Dogmatikss, GRB, L'Odi Social, Subterranean Kids, HHH, Rouse and, already in the 1990s, Corn Flakes, Innocents, Tropel Nat, 24 Ideas, X-Milk, Sowplot. In the Basque Country there were also classic groups related to this genre such as BAP !! (Anti Polizialak Brigade), Eskoria-tza, Soziety Alkoholika or Noise of Rage, influenced by metal. Also noteworthy at the beginning of the most hardcore metal scene with groups like Prap's. Although it would be necessary to add bands that changed the scene a lot at different times, such as 24 Ideas, a Barcelona band that introduced New York Hardcore with a straight edge influence in the State; Alarma Social, a group from Burgos, one of the first to go out, Shorebreak with the signing in Good Life, seemed to open up the state scene to Europe, something that has hardly been seen since; and it would also be necessary to highlight all the number and enormous number of bands from within punk, hardcore, crust, etc. They are the ones that have achieved the most the state scene is present outside this country, bands like Answer, Ictus, Machetazo, Looking For an Answer, ZInc, Ekkaia, Disface, Disflesh, Defeat Proud'z, Insomnia, Über, Horrör, Antiplayax, Black Panda, Alert! and a very long etc.
References
{{Punk
Spain
Spanish styles of music
Spain
Spanish punk rock groups