“Blast Radius: Punk, Post-Punk and New Wave, 1975-1983”
BLAST RADIUS is a Spotify playlist I created surveying the early history of punk, post-punk and new wave. In the making for over two years ahead of punk’s 50th anniversary, it includes a selection of more than 2300 songs by nearly 400 bands and solo artists. The essay linked below explains the rationale for making such a comprehensive playlist, and describes how the songs were chosen. Both the essay and the playlist argue for a more inclusive reading of the period—one that traces the connections between the seemingly different kinds of music that exploded on the scene in New York, and then London, before the shock waves reverberated internationally. While punk’s adherents often insist on a purist and exclusionary understanding of the music, the truth is that its arrival in 1975 ignited a creative and cultural revolution that crossed genres and borders, and united communities around the world. Link to the playlist.