The Death of Punk and the Turn of a Decade: 1979

The Death of Punk and the Turn of a Decade: 1979 My essay will highlight the major socio-political events of my chosen year, 1979, before relating how the rock genre, in particular, punk-rock changed and mirrored, to an extent these events in England. Some say 1979 marked the end of an era. Certainly, as the end of a decade, what came after this tumultuous year was a decade that seemed fairly reluctant, in the case of some musical …

…the New romantics. Similarly, Bands such as the Boomtown Rats, U2, the Jam and the Police could now fashionably discard their borrowed punk status and get back to being successful stadium rock artists. In conclusion, punk’s exodus from Britain, along with the New-Right power politics of Thatcherism meant 1979 was a year in which the rough edges were smoothed and the freedom which punk represented became institutionalised and watered down by it’s musical successors.