The Misfits are an American punk rock band often recognized as the pioneers of the horror punk subgenre, blending punk and other musical influences with horror film themes and imagery. The group was founded in 1977 in Lodi, New Jersey, by vocalist, songwriter and keyboardist Glenn Danzig. Over the next six years, Danzig and bassist Jerry Only were the group's main members through numerous personnel changes. During this period, they released several EPs and singles, and with Only's brother Doyle as guitarist, the albums Walk Among Us (1982) and Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood (1983), both considered touchstones of the early-1980s hardcore punk movement. The band has gone through many lineup changes over the years, with bassist Jerry Only being the only constant member in the group.
Bad Brains are an American band formed in Washington, D.C., in 1976. They are widely regarded as pioneers of hardcore punk, though the band's members have objected to the use of this term to describe their music. They are also an adept reggae band, while later recordings featured elements of other genres like funk, heavy metal, hip hop, and soul. Rolling Stone magazine called them "the mother of all black hard-rock bands", and they have been cited as a seminal influence to numerous other subgenres in addition to hardcore punk, including various subgenres of heavy metal, such as thrash/speed metal, alternative metal, and funk metal. Bad Brains are followers of the Rastafari movement.
John Simon Ritchie, better known by his stage name Sid Vicious, was an English musician, best known as the bassist for the punk rock band Sex Pistols. Despite dying in 1979 at age 21, he remains an icon of the punk subculture; one of his friends noted that he embodied "everything in punk that was dark, decadent and nihilistic."
Catharina "Nina" Hagen is a German singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her theatrical vocals and rise to prominence during the punk and Neue Deutsche Welle movements in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She is known as "The Godmother of German Punk".
Lydia Lunch is an American singer, poet, writer, actress and self-empowerment speaker. Her career began during the 1970s New York City no wave scene as the singer and guitarist of Teenage Jesus and the Jerks.
G.I.S.M. was a Japanese punk metal band formed in Tokyo in 1981. Although the guitar style resembled heavy metal in many aspects, GISM was one of the first Japanese hardcore bands, while at the same time drawing influence from the early industrial/avant-garde music scene—something uncommon in punk bands at that time. The acronym GISM has many different variations; they include: "Guerrilla Incendiary Sabotage Mutineer" (original), "God In the Schizoid Mind", "Grand Imperialism Social Murder", "Genocide Infanticide Suicide Menticide", "Gay Individual Social Mean", "Gothic Incest Sex Machine", "Grubby Incest Stripper Mastitis", "Gravity Impel Slaying Machine", "Get Incinerated Sorrow Mass", "Gore Impromptu Suicide Mine", "Grim Iconic Sadistic Mantra" and "Gnostic Idiosyncrasy Sonic Militant".
Subhumans were a Canadian punk rock band formed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1978.
Die Skeptiker is a German punk band founded in 1986 in East Berlin. The band is one of the most significant punk bands in East Germany, and belongs to the group of punk bands known as die anderen Bands, along with Sandow, Die Art, Feeling B, Tausend Tonnen Obst, and Die Firma. Although they performed songs critical of the Wall, they were able to gain an official license to perform live shows (Spielerlaubnis) by the East German state by writing intelligent lyrics with criticism between the lines. They were also able to establish themselves in the broader German music scene after German reunification.
The Genitorturers are an American industrial metal band with influences extending into the 1990s hardcore punk and electronic music. They proclaim themselves to be "The World's Sexiest Rock Band".
Vorkriegsjugend, abbreviated VKJ, was an influential Deutschpunk/hardcore punk band from the squatter scene in Berlin-Kreuzberg, West Berlin, Germany. Vorkriegsjugend existed as a band for only three years (1982–85), but is considered to be one of the most notable and influential German punk bands of the period.
Meret Becker is a German actress and singer.
Since the mid-1970s, California has had thriving regional punk rock movements. It primarily consists of bands from the Los Angeles, Orange County, Ventura County, San Diego, San Fernando Valley, San Francisco, Fresno, Bakersfield, Alameda County, Sacramento, Lake Tahoe, Oakland and Berkeley areas.
Duke Decter is an American entertainment producer, former 1980s American hardcore punk guitarist and current producer of the No Uncertain Terms podcast for the non-profit organization U.S. Term Limits.
Jingo de Lunch is a German punk band from Kreuzberg, Berlin. They formed in 1987, releasing five albums before temporary disbanding in 1996.
Nina Hagen Band is the debut studio album by Nina Hagen Band. It was released in late 1978 by CBS Records. It first entered the Official Albums Chart in Germany on 20 November 1978. It was the first release by German singer Nina Hagen after her 1976 expatriation from East Germany. When she arrived in Hamburg, her stepfather and singer-songwriter Wolf Biermann got her in touch with CBS. Hagen traveled to London where she was introduced to music genres such as punk and reggae, and befriended other artists including Ari Up of the band The Slits. After she returned to Germany, she met with musicians Herwig Mitteregger, Bernhard Potschka and Manfred Praeker. Joined by Reinhold Heil, they formed the Nina Hagen Band and in November 1977 signed a record deal with CBS. Nina Hagen Band was produced by the band with additional production by Tom Müller and Ralf Nowy. Most of the songs had been already written by Hagen in East Germany.
Spliff was a Neue Deutsche Welle rock band, active in the 1980s. Three of the members were already playing together in the political rock cabaret Lokomotive Kreuzberg before they were 'adopted' by Nina Hagen when she came to West Germany in 1977. They recorded two albums with her as the Nina Hagen Band before continuing under the name Spliff when Hagen went solo. Their characteristic sound was a mix of electronic music, reggae and punk rock. They recorded "The Spliff Radio Show" in 1980, their only album in English. After parting ways with vocalist Alf Klimek, the remaining members carried on in German sharing vocals between all four of them. Their album 85555 however was released in a limited English edition too. They had major hits on the German singles chart with "Carbonara", "Das Blech" and "Déjà vu". Despite their influential status, the band was short-lived.
Torcuato Zamora, better known as Tico Zamora, is a rock musician, songwriter and record producer.
The Stains is an American hardcore punk band from the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. One of the first East Los Angeles punk groups, the band started playing punk in 1976. Their debut album, produced by SST Records house producer Spot, was recorded in 1981, and released by SST in 1983. The debut album is often considered influential in bridging hardcore punk and heavy metal before the creation of thrash metal. The band has been on tours with Black Flag, Hüsker Dü and countless others. They were one of the bands that played at a 2001 "anniversary show" memorializing the landmark East Los Angeles punk venue, Vex Populi. The music writer Josh Kun wrote in Los Angeles magazine that their set was "punk rock enough for the Stains to leave a pool of blood on the stage's wood beams".
Lionheart is an American beatdown hardcore band from Oakland, California.
