Long before mohawks, middle fingers on TV, and three-chord anthems, punk was already alive — in basement jams, fuzzed-out riffs, and the refusal to behave.
In this debut episode of History is a Riot, we trace punk’s roots through 1950s rock’n’roll rebellion, 1960s garage grit, psychedelic chaos, proto-punk noise, glam defiance, and German experimentalism — right up to the sweaty floorboards of CBGB’s.

It’s not a list. It’s a fuse.

And we’re lighting it.

🔧 Featuring: Little Richard, The Sonics, The Monks, Velvet Underground, MC5, The Stooges, Can, Bowie, and more.

📲 Follow the show on Instagram for daily punk facts, band profiles, and scene snapshots: @history_is_a_riot

📚 Sources & References – Episode 1: Before the Riot – The Long Fuse of Punk

This episode is based on a mix of oral histories, music journalism, academic research, and original interviews. For further reading, check out:

• Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk – Legs McNeil & Gillian McCain

• From the Velvets to the Voidoids: The Birth of American Punk Rock – Clinton Heylin

• England’s Dreaming – Jon Savage

• Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century – Greil Marcus

• Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984 – Simon Reynolds

• Suicide: No Compromise – David Nobakht

• Revenge of the She-Punks – Vivien Goldman

• Punk: Attitude (dir. Don Letts, 2005)

• The Filth and the Fury (dir. Julien Temple, 2000)

• The Decline of Western Civilization (Penelope Spheeris, 1981)

• New York Doll (Greg Whiteley, 2005)

• The Velvet Underground (Todd Haynes, 2021)

• Punk Magazine (1976–1979)

• CREEM Magazine

• Rolling Stone (artist interviews, 1969–1977)

• Trouser Press

• Maximum RocknRoll

• Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, Richard Hell, Wayne Kramer – from interviews, memoirs, and archived press

• Andy Warhol's Factory scene – contemporary reports and documentary materials

• No Future: Punk, Politics and British Youth Culture – Matthew Worley

• Shakin’ All Over: Popular Music and Disability – George McKay

• The Sound of Krautrock – Alexander Harden