Just when rock'n'roll looked as if it had evolved into a respectable, grown-up art form, along came punk. Punk put the rebellion back into rock, adding an injection of raw, enraged energy, laced, at least sometimes, with a smirking humour. Rejecting the overblown sounds of their contemporaries, the punk bands went back to basics, unleashing a barrage of short, sharp songs that struck a chord with a generation of angry, angst-ridden teenagers.
The roots of punk lie in the...