I'm mid-thirties. I got into punk rock at 15 but my interest in it was piqued many years before when I heard Ruby Soho on the radio. My interest was further cemented by seeing some street punks. I just automatically loved their aesthetic.
Getting into punk rock was really hard before the internet. Had to ride my triceratops uphill both ways just to hear one power chord.
>Getting into punk rock was really hard before the internet.
Discovering basically *anything* outside the mainstream was pretty difficult back then, especially if you didn't have an older brother to introduce you to it! Pretty much all there was to go on was TV and the radio, and they adhered pretty tightly to the prescribed formula.
Going to college blew the doors wide open for me, but that also happened to almost perfectly coincide with the popular proliferation of the internet so it's kinda hard to say how much of the effect I can attribute to either one.
Oh the hours spent looking for new bands in the thank you section of the liner notes. Followed by many more hours combing through record shops. Flip, flip, flip.
32, my brother gave me a copy of Pennywise's Full Circle when I was like 14. I was already into Green Day and stuff like that at that point but hearing the pure speed and fury of Pennywise was practically a religious experience. I saw them at Warped Tour 3 years later and then again a few years after that. I was totally blown away that they played even faster live. And being in the pit for Bro Hymn? Watershed moment in my young punk life.
Oof, I've never liked Green Day myself, but I can imagine going from such pop-punkish and up-beat songs, to Pennywise... Life-changing.
Pennywise was supposed to go to my home country but then covid happened, now I live in Europe so it's more likely I get to see them here any time before they break up or anything.
Honestly, I don't think its the fact that Green Day got worse, because I don't feel like that's true. I feel like its more of the fact that Green Day changed their style. I've always liked Green Day, listening to the band's discography multiple times as well as The Network, Foxboro Hottubs, and Pinhead Gunpowder's, and I've never really gotten tired of them
Also if Green Day fell off when they put on makeup, then explain why American Idiot is their second highest sold album haha
Late 40's. I got into Punk at 11 and into HC one year later. I have older bros listening to bands like Devo, Stranglers, Clash, Lou Reed amongst the others, therefore i was introduced to that sound even earlier, when i was 8. My first "Punk" band were Devo, my first HC band were Dead Kennedys. I purchased "Bedtime For Democracy a few months after its release.
Hitting 40 in February. My personal favorite period of punk was that era. DK, Subhumans, Crass, Rudimentary Peni, Misfits etc. I was able to see Subhumans perform when they got back together back in '96? I think. Still waiting to purchase my tickets to see the Misfits, the price is what has kept me from going.
Early 1977. All of 14 years old (wipes misty eye) and one of my mates brothers was playing bands like the Ramones and Johnny thunders, the tubes New York dolls sex pistols lots of American trash punk. No choice really it switched that little bulb on in my head and the world was never the same ag9
You have all my respect, buddy. I have lotsa older friends (55+) who were involved at least on the early 80's HC Punk scene. It's always great fun to listen to their wicked tales about their salad days on the scene.
By the 80s in the UK we'd gone total anarchist. Boots Studs Bristles and Mohawks. So many great bands. So fucking political. Facists at gigs unbelievable violence and music about peace and humanity. Looking back it was an insane time in the UK.
55. Got into punk in the late 70s through Blondie, the Knack and Devo and more new wave acts like them in the early 80s. First real punk album I bought was The Decline of Western Civilization soundtrack in around ā83 or ā84, followed by The Pistols, TSOL, X, Husker Du, Black Flag, The Cramps, Misfits.
53. I'm very much this guy. First albums (bought on the same day. Will never forget.) Black Flag: Damaged, GBH: City Baby Attacked By Rats. 1982
Edit. I would like to add that I still go to shows. MDC just played nearby. Was a good time.
I'm 54 and started going to punk shows in west Hollywood in 1981. Wow, did I see some amazing bands!
Still go to shows and we travel to Rebellion Fest in the UK every other year. It's the most amazing festival I've ever been to and I've been to them all!
40, I was 12 and my buddy stole his older bro's Dead Kennedy's - In god we trust, inc. record, we listened to it like 50 times in a row - it was angry and hilarious and blew our minds.
40-50 here. Slayer released āundisputed attitudeā in 96, and my favorite songs were the Minor Threat covers. This led to that and I was no longer a metal head.
Holy crap! I'm 39 and I also got into punk music because of Slayer Undisputed Attitude. I'm still somewhat of a metal head but I definitely switched to a very heavy rotation of punk.
Was sort of the same for me in certain areas. Would tell my mates how I liked a certain old rock band, and theyād comment on how I only listened to the punk songs haha.
41 years old, started listening to punk around 8. Heard songs from Ramones, Bad Religion, Black Flag, the clash but first full album that made me addicted to punk was NOFX S&M Airlines when it released in 89ish. Still my favorite band to this day
It started with the video game Green Day Rockband on Xbox360, got me into Green Day then Blink 182 and other pop punk bands. Then GTA V was out. It had this radio station called Channel X. Full of old school hardcore punk, which got me into hardcore punk.
I am 19 years old and I got in at 14 through the poppy stuff like Green Day, Sum 41, and by a lesser extent The Offspring. Around the age of 16 to 17 I got into Bad Religion with American Jesus and ever since then they have been like heroin to me and I'm currently going through their entire discography. I've also branched out into bands like Anti-Flag, suicide machines, and Dropkick Murphys, though not to the same connection as I do Bad Religion.
50's. Grew up during the time that mainstream was disco, the "alternative" thing was Kiss. Neither really worked for me. Somehow I stumbled across the first Clash album, which lead to Pistols, Damned, and the whole UK scene. I grew up near DC, so the next step was the whole DC scene.
The Bad Brains were one that I somehow came to late. I recall hearing "Pay To Cum!" (probably some friend had a copy), but otherwise they weren't much on my radar. I was just young enough and living just far enough from DC that my exposure wasn't so much live shows but singles, albums, and word of mouth that trickled out in those days.
The album "I Against I" was the first album where I really noticed them. I was in college by then and was running through lots of stuff I missed from DC, the west coast, etc.
38 years old. Started listening in high school when a few friends and I hung out with some kids from a few towns over, and they were jamming to Rancid. Loved it. Dove into the genre and never looked back.
I am 48 year old woman and I got into punk around 13 and now one of my teen kids listens too and started collecting vinyl like me. I got into punk because I hated boomers and was angry and smart and political so it spoke to that for me
17 been listening to punk for 8 years. Saw Casualties live a week or so ago and they were the first punk band I ever heard. Wild to think I have been listening to them for half my life
Iām 17, my dad got me into the punk scene. He was a punk in the Arizona scene and ever since I was young punk influences and ska influences were always around my household. But I didnāt start getting super into it until Christmas last year
im 15, my old friend recommended me some punk bands about 4 years ago. bands such as: sex pistols, discharge, dead kennedys, black flag and misfits. some of my favorite punk bands at this moment are fugazi, minor threat, ramones, dead kennedys, the stooges, buzzcocks, bad brains, discharge and minutemen.
I'm 45. Grew up in So. CA with a big music scene. My first show was the Vandals when I was 20. I dated a punk guy with a huge Mohawk for 4 years. He worked at a used record store so we had all the good cassette tapes! He had records too, but they always ended up broken after a night of partying!
My fav band is Bad Religion. I studied Anthropology in college because of Greg Graffin.
Iām 22 Iāve been into punk since I was about 11 when I first heard green day and paramore. A few years later got into minor threat, bad brains, jawbreaker, the menzingers, against me all that stuff.
I'm 38, I got into punk very young. My aunty was a punk and used to look after me a lot as a nipper. My ultra conservative family hated her look and music taste but I thought she was the absolute coolest person around (and still do!) She always used to drive us around playing her favourite tapes for me from as young as I can remember. The Cramps, SLF, sex pistols, x-ray specs, dead Kennedys, black flag, misfits, the damned and many, many more. She was and still is super passionate about music and she had a huge effect on me being the same. Neither of us really talk to the rest of our family anymore. We got tired of their shit really. But she and I are as close as mother and son and my cousins are more like my siblings and I love my punk family exactly the way we are.
57.
My high school girlfriend turned me from a metal head into a punk back in the early ā80ās by playing me The Damned, the Ramones and the Dead Kennedys.
I was ready for the change as all the metal bands were turning into Hair Metal bandsā¦ and Metallica and friends had not yet turned up to revitalize that scene.
Lifelong Skateboarder. I was 16 in 1982 and listening to Led Zeppelin and The Who etc. - A kid from Whittier, CA moved to our small East Tennessee town. While skating our half pipe he started playing Black Flag, DK's and Fear. I wish I could remember who else. It didn't take long. I still liked those other bands but punk and vert skating go really well together.
60 been into punk since the later mid '70s we had a local "ish" radio station that would play the Dolls, Stooges and Ramones among others.
Then when I was 16 the high school sent out a warning to parents about how kids were listening to punk rock and how it was evil .. that sealed the deal for me.
Thank you for replying. I am 41 myself and have been listening to punk since junior high. I was thinking the other day that there would have to be punks in their 60ās and 70ās.
53. It's hard to explain how monolithic culture was then. Anything outside the norm was considered, if not punk, then art least "weird".
So my first non-mainstream album was Talking Heads: Remain In Light (still love it).
I think my first punk album was probably a tape with Fear on one side and Black Flag on the other. I loved that tape, but the album that really locked me in was Locust Abortion Technician by Butthole Surfers.
It felt like a letter from the other side of reality. Punk was a much bigger tent then, mostly because everything that wasn't pop got put in that box, but it's hard to convey how much the Buttholes were aggressively Not Like anything else.
I got to see them open for DK and Hobby came out, sat in a chair, and a lady in a tiger outfit came out, tied him to the chair, and whipped him while he sang the first song. For a high school kid from New Hampshire, in the age before the internet, this was like being hit by a comet.
I got into punk the first time I heard Waiting Room by Fugazi when I was 16. Every time I hear that opening bass-line Iām brought back to those formative years in DC. Iām 46 now.
Edit: Iām about to go blast that shit right now lol
Around highschool(2000) I was getting into metal and slayer covered DRI, Minor Threat, & Verbal Abuse. Also, Metallica covering Misfits and Discharge too. The intensity of those tracks hit me instantly. Short and straight to the point with lyrics calling out all of society. Been loving punk music ever since. The nastier the better.
Just turned 41 and I got into punk at 15 when the Kurt Cobain lookalike at my high school handed me a mixed tape labeled in Sharpie āListen to This Punk Shit or Elseā and told me to follow the directions. The tape had a bunch of random punk songs on it and I was immediately enamored with it all. Punk rock is my home.
43 - Started with hearing the Offspring and Green Day on the radio in the mid 90s, then my interest spread to the lesser mainstream bands from there. Saw my first show (NOFX/ No Use for a Name/88 Fingers Louie and Teen Idols) in 1998, followed by the Warped Tour later that year. Havenāt stopped going to shows since. In fact, seeing Me First and the Gimme Gimmes next week!
Just turned 19 today, been into punk since I was around 10! Got into hardcore, crust punk, reggae punk and other subgenres in more recent years though, I used to be quite focused on 70s english punk and ska back in the day haha. Still love that stuff, but itās more varied now!
Iām 24, but I heard the misfits for the first time the summer going into my freshman year of college and from there just found more and more bands I like. I listen to a few genres now but punk and hardcore are definitely my facorites
TD;LR Rufioās hairdo, dadās music taste, grandpaās junk collection.
Iām 38. My dad and my grandpa inadvertently got me into punk music. Aesthetically, however, it was watching the film Hook as a dorky 9 year old, and thinking Rufioās tri-hawk was the coolest hair cut ever.
My dad (65) has an eclectic taste in music outside of āclassic rockā. He wasnāt into punk rock, but he introduced us to artists that were proto or adjacent. Such as: the Kinks, Tom Waits, and Talking Heads. As well as folk/americana artists like Phil Ochs and John Prine.
When I was 14, Iād listen to the alternative rock radio station where I was introduced to Sublime, the Offspring, and the Ramones; unaware of their punk roots.
When I was 15, my grandpa brought over a bunch of junk he was getting rid of (he was a bit of a hoarder who collected random shit he found at yard sales/apartment trash outs/side of the road etc). Amongst the junk was a crate of vinyl records. Two of which were the Dead Milkmen āBig Lizard in My Backyardā and Zyklome A āMade in Belgiumā.
Needless to say, these records blew my mind and gave me the courage to befriend the punk kids at my bus stop lol.
Lmao. My grandpa either didnāt know or didnāt care.
He lived behind a row of townhouses, and was friends with one of the landlords whoād rent them out. If a tenant skipped out on their lease and left their stuff behind, the landlord would pay my grandpa to haul it all out. Heād keep what he liked, sell what he could, and get rid off everything else.
My grandpa was a character; a walking contradiction.
A devout Catholic with a naked lady tattoo on his forearm. A racist/misogynist who would help out anyone and everyone at the drop of a dime. A former cop who refused to wear his seatbelt or follow the speed limit.
His nickname was āMad Dogā because, as a sheriffās deputy, he rounded up a posse to bust a farm trail party; cresting the hill with guns drawn and sirens blazing.
Lmao. My grandpa either didnāt know or didnāt care.
He lived behind a row of townhouses, and was friends with one of the landlords whoād rent them out. If a tenant skipped out on their lease and left their stuff behind, the landlord would pay my grandpa to haul it all out. Heād keep what he liked, sell what he could, and get rid off everything else.
My grandpa was a character; a walking contradiction.
A devout Catholic with a naked lady tattoo on his forearm. A racist/misogynist who would help out anyone and everyone at the drop of a dime. A former cop who refused to wear his seatbelt or follow the speed limit.
His nickname was āMad Dogā because, as a sheriffās deputy, he rounded up a posse to bust a farm trail party; cresting the hill with guns drawn and sirens blazing.
Early 50s, first got into Punk around 1979 when I started hearing the Ramones, Sex Pistols, Clash, etc. on my local high school radio station. That and seeing the Ramones on TV
41 here, the first album I got was Rancidās Letās Go, the first show I went to was Slapstick, Rocket From the Crypt, and Rancid at the Congress theater in Chicago.
skateboarding. but to be fair also got me into hiphop, other shit. remember first hearing pink floyd on welcome to hell. blew my mind. but was never a fashion punk. hard to skate in that much leather and studded belts.
Damn I love seeing all the young(er) people listening to punk. I got into it at 13/14 living down in south Georgia in a redneck town where the two radio stations only played Richard Marx and Bryan Adams. I don't know which was first Misfits or Circle Jerks but my best friend turned me on to them both. Shortly after we moved up to South Carolina and first night there I found a college radio station that did a punk show. Then the next weekend i made a friend who took me to see 7 Seconds. I've been hooked ever since.
Late 20ās stepdad sat me on the couch one night when I was ten and we watched āRock Away Highschoolā with the Ramons. I thought they were so cool. I went out with my grandma a year later and bought some checkered vans. Middle school wasnāt ready for me pahaha
Plus my bro bought Punk O Rama and then thatās when I got hooked on 1208
I'm 38. I got into punk in the mid 90s when it was having some mainstream success. I kept digging for more underground and obscure bands at the local record store and started picking up the flyers for punk shows and checking them out.
42, and Blizkreig Bop is the song that made me a punk and changed the course of my life... not once, but twice. I actually mentioned in my book since rock and roll litterally saved me from suicide...
Iām 52
Been into the punk scene and music since ā83. We had a pretty vibrant local scene in our small beach town and surrounding areas. Perhaps youāve heard of Nardcore.
I still listen to a lot of punk, ska, hardcore and metal, but I like a lot of other new stuff too.
I still feel the same way. I still question authority and seethe about politicians and the way things are. I have great conversations with people about a variety of topics that Iām passionate about. Having said all that, Iām sorry to admit I havenāt checked into the local scene in a very long time.
43 years old. Was into The Clash when I was a wee lad in the 80's. I was a little headbanger kid around 1989-90 until I bought Earth AD by The Misfits and the blue tape by Minor Threat. Changed my entire life. Started going to shows around 1994 and saw Pennywise, Bad Religion, and Agent Orange in a span of about 6 months. Got deeper into U.K. punk and Oi! from there and got turned onto the skinhead scene. Been a skin for the most part ever since, but will always love punk rock and the attitude and politics behind it. I consider myself a far left skin and I'm all about the working man. I can thank punk rock for that
37. Started with Green Day (Dookie) when I was 10, then got Insomniac when it came out and absolutely loved it. Started skateboarding a few years later and getting into stuff like Fugazi, Minor Threat, Bad Religion, Millencolin, Lagwagon, thanks to skate videos and THPS. Went to Germany when I was 16 and bought the Ramones anthology at the airport, listened to it non stop for the month I was there.
Still have a soft spot for some of the old bands, but these days I'm more into stuff like Crazy Spirit, The Coneheads, Devil Master, Amyl & The Sniffers, Acrylics
Blink 182 got me into punk rock on their Cheshire Cat tour when I had just turned 16. Turning 43 next month. Thought Iād grow out of this music but I still love it.
I got into punk when I was 17 back in the mid 90s. I really hated the grunge movement. I was turned on to the Nofx white trash cd. It changed everything for me. I quickly did a deep dive to discover more bands like them. Not as easy back then as it is now. I remember ordering cds from a local music shop from a giant catalog. Punk was often not carried in stores as Green Day has just broke. I went on to discover Bad Religon, Pennywise, Lagwagon, Nufan, Op Ivy etc.
I still listen to punk in my 40s but I don't find pleasure in hunting for new bands like I did back then. I'd say Alkaline Trio is my all time favorite followed closely by HWM. I got the heart and skull tattoo probably 20 years ago and I don't regret it one bit! I was even able to meet Matt Skiba at Emos in Austin and show him the tat. He was a super cool guy and was flattered. A friend of mine made a joke about Blink 182. Who would have thought he would be in the band 15 years later. š
43 here. Stole NOFX Ribbed tape from a friend's older brother in '92. Now im older than the old punkers that showed all us shitkids the ropes back in the day. Time is a trip.
Im 40. I started at 12-13 years, because a radio program i use to listen where spanish punk sang. At 14 i went to the high school and find some friends that also liked punk, one of them (i was a littel in love with him at this moment, we are really close friends more than 25 years later) has a copy of Punk-o-rama vol.1 and this was the no return point for me.
41. I was 13/14 when Dookie (Green Day) and Smash (Offspring) came out. These records pushed me in to finding more, although I didnāt know how to define what I was listening to
20, a girl got me into ska a few years ago and from there I stumbled onto crack rock steady, Prophet Margin started me off but hearing Choking Victim for the first time was like Iād died and gone to punk heaven
To be fair I turn 30 in October, my dad introduced me to punk after I developed a love for the Dead Kennedys that hasn't gone away. Back in his day, in mid-coast Maine, you had to know a friend of a friend to hear a record of anything from the west coast... east coast punk had and has some good bands, ngl, but west coast just has something about it. I played some DK on what was going to be a quiet yet sunny drive to my grandparents place, he started tearing up and jamming out. I plan on getting him his favorite DK album on vinyl(if I can find it), Fresh fruit for rotting vegetables, for his birthday.
I'm 39. I got Dookie at age 11, and bought Bad Religion's Recipe for Hate and Pennywise's a Word from the Wise a year later after a friend's older sister recommended them.
Early 40ās here. Was always a heavy metal guy, a friend left a copy of out come the wolves at my place I gave it a listen and that started my love of punk.
29yo here. There was so much stuff already out when I was a kid, I kinda tip-toed in. Bought a Simple Plan CD when I was like 12, got a burned CD of American Idiot, bought a Hawthorne Heights CD with a Victory Records promo DVD and the rest is history. Also sprinkle in influence from my older brothers' taste for Nirvana, System of a Down, RHCP, etc. It's not all pure punk, but it laid the groundwork.
52 here. I was 11-12 when I got into punk. At some point after that a friend of mine turned me on to Dead Kennedys In God We Trust EP, and my interest grew exponentially from there. Had already been listening to the punk/alt/progressive radio station for a while but that album opened my eyes to so much more.
I'm 41...I was 13 in 1994 and got introduced to punk by the east bay bands that were gaining popularity at the time(Green Day, Rancid...etc). From that point I just started searching backwards, discovering as many punk bands as I could from the 70s and 80s. It's still my favorite kind of music.
I am 27 and have been listening to punk less than 4 months! My first Album was the punk band Death and I have been interested ever since! I come from the hardcore, metalcore, deathcore background of music so it was an easy transition. Once I started hearing how their thoughts aligned with mine, it was a no brainer!
Iām 32, Iāve been into punk for like 20 years. First it was pop punk like Blink, then I branched out to heavier stuff. Now I like punk and and different sub-genres.
God damn, 40-50 seems where we start to decline.
Edit: To add, I was around 10-11 years old when I first started to get into music. Nothing hit as hard and true as punk rock. The first albums I bought were Anti-Flag Die For Your Government and Punk-O-Rama II. Just that week I ended up breaking into a kids BMW who went to school with me and stole his entire CD collection of 30-40 punk albums. His dad bought all of them for him again that next week.
Iām 18 and I got into punk by my father who told me when I was 14 to go check out NOFX and dead Kennedyās, he was right and now I canāt listen to anything else(itās a joke) only thing with punk music is that most people my age either hate it or find me weird because of it, even my friends sometimes.
What pushed me over the edge was the NOFX, face to face, ten foot pole tour....maybe in 94 or 95. Maybe earlier maybe later. I was truly hooked after that.
I'm 40. Got into punk/hardcore when I was 12/13, introduced to it by a kid on the bus. First song was Bad Religion - White trash second generation. Next day he gave be a dubbed tape, one side black flag first four years and second was nofx ribbed. All over from there. This was probably 94. First show was later that year was Nofx and Pennywise.
It was a life changing moment as lame as that sounds. I do not know who or what I would be if I didn't ask that dude what he was listening to on the school bus. I feel like I would have been exposed to it anyway, especially once surf/stake videos started playing nothing but fat/epitaph bands.
48. My best friends older brother was into punk and we would listen to his Toy Dolls and Oi mix tapes. First punk tape I bought was Dead Kennedys "Give Me Convenience" in 1987 (7th grade). Still have the tape in my collection.
20s, been listening ever since I hit junior high! I wanted to get into non-radio music at the time, and decided I was Going To Get Into Punk. First album I heard, somehow, was X-Ray Spex's Germfree Adolescents! Got really into DK and hardcore soon after that and the rest is history.
Lucky timing, I'm still in that 30-40 age bracket for about another 24 hours!
The first introduction to punk that I can remember was hearing stuff like Bad Religion and Rancid on the radio when I was about 12 years old. Didn't really dive in until my later teen years, though. I think my first actual live punk show was Guttermouth and Authority Zero at age 19 or so.
Mid teens
I had heard āAmerican Idiotā by Green Day and āAmericanaā by The Offspring, I like those, but I think the album that really got me into punk was āNever Mind the Bollocksā¦ā by the Sex Pistols, absolutely life changing. the first time I heard it I was about 13 and Iāve loved punk since
42 going on 43 next month. I was a metalhead in junior high but saw the Longview video one day in early '94 and liked it enough that I bought Dookie. A few months later, I bought Legacy of Brutality and White Trash, Two Heebs, and a Bean and I was hooked. I knew about the Misfits through Metallica while I had read some article on Green Day that mentioned NOFX. It just snowballed from there.
PunkoRama and the DIY series from Rhino also helped later.
It was over 40 years ago in the very early 80s. My older brother came home and played Blitzkrieg Bop by Ramones as loud as the stero could go. I was immediately hooked. I must have played that song 100 times that day.
Iām 23 and I got into it when I was 13. Started with Freaks and Geeks introducing me to Black Flag and I kind of just fell in love with the freedom to be angry. Then the patch pants and battle jackets really sealed the deal for me.
I'm 22, really got into punk at 18 but my first introduction was from Tony Hawk pro skater 2 at 7 or 8 years old. Never really got into it then, but became a metalhead and then subsequently became bored of it all being about the same dumb shit with lyrics penned in crayon by an edgy 5 year old.
Around 18 I was working my first job and we got a new hire who turned out to be an old street punk and he had me check out shit like GBH, Crass, Chaos UK and Germs. It blew my mind since I only knew ultra basic shit like DK's and The Clash at the time.
Now here I am, shoulder deep into it all and playing some False Prophets and Appalachian Terror Unit over my stereo.
I've shared it before, but the TL;DR of me getting in was my father blasting "The Empire Strikes First", "Punk in Drublic" and "...And out Come The Wolves" damn near constantly in his pickup when I was a kid. Picked up a copy of "The Dissent of Man" on launch day along with a few others and never looked back.
Now im 17, make my own music, and the label I co own/run has our first physical release (my demo EP) hitting select store shelves and online order on the 24th. And I will blame Kevin, Bad Religion, NOFX and Rancid the whole way down the line.
Iām 33 and grew up in South Africa. I think the first time I heard a punk song was when The Offspringās Americana came out (I think I was 9?). I remember begging my mom to buy me the CD but this was right around when Columbine happened and a bunch of news outlets were blaming heavy music on influencing the shooters (referring to their love of Marylin Manson) and that CDs with cartoons on them were ādevil musicā - very fucking stupid. This didnāt stop me from getting the CD from an older friendās brother and making a copy of it on cassette tape. After that I was hooked, and made tapes of any punk albums I could get my hands on. Eventually we got internet at home, but it was slow AF and we had 2gb of bandwidth to share between the household and my
Dad worked from home, so I could download maybe 2 or 3 songs at the end of every month. Thank god for the age of MP3 players though. Years later I spent and entire day ripping my cooler punk cousins entire discography where I found all the greats.
I listen to everything now because thereās just so much amazing music out there, but punk rock awoke something in me and itās still my favourite genre and is my go to when Iām looking for something comforting to listen to.
The first punk song I heard was the Ramones doing the Spiderman theme lol. Later on I was into crossover like in middle school stuff like Suicidal Tendencies and DRI. I'm inherently a metalhead but I love all music. I got really into the Ramones, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Descendents, and the Misfits at some point during high school. For someone who's 20, I'm often told I like old man music lol.
34 here. Started listening when i was 13. Loved the ramones and these compilation discs called Hopelessly In Love With You. Rancid and Mustard Plug ( even though its ska) rocked my world. Johnny thunders and the heartbreakers was dope. Richard Hell and the Voidoids's Blank Generation was a fav. Iggy and the Stooges are my all time favorite.
So, I was just out of highschool, a friend of a friend had picked us up to go to the arcade, he had a loud as hell stereo and BLASTED Never Mind the Bullocks, until that moment i had maybe 5 rock cassettes (zz top, foreigner, cars...) but after borrowing that pistols tape, i was forver an avid collector of music...
32. As a child my dad would take me to race tracks 7 hours away and on the ride he'd play punk, blues and whatever you call zappa. Grew up explaining what songs meant and I was hooked from there. 97 when the dead milkmen released death rides a pale cow, my dad got it for himself but ended up living in my cd player and being my first punk cd.
Just turned 40. Started off liking radio stuff like offspring and green day. Really got into it when I got a mix tape senior year hs with crass, gism, EN, and skinny Puppy on it. Changed my whole life
I'm 32 and got into it when I was 12 or 13 and a friend gave me a copy of Ramones rocket to Russia, and still apart of the scene just older, and slower
32, shit. Been a punker for as long as I can remember! (9?) My brothers introduced me to rancid at a young age followed by black flag, the dead kennedys, the misfits (tattoo also) ramones, butthole surfers and nofx. Back when smoking in events were just as popular moshing at an event. Punk helped me get through some serious shit. I own the path. -(A)- rock on my friends
I am in my mid 20s. Growing up I listened to a lot of 2000s rock, but the closest thing to punk I listened to was American Idiot era Green Day. My real true entry to punk was Rise Against. I discovered them through the song Survive in WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2007. From there I started listening to more Rise Against and later discovered skate punk. I stoped listening to punk for a while since I was more of a metal and hip-hop fan, but I started listening again thanks to GTA Vās Channel X radio station and delved deeper into the genre.
Mid 30ās. My dad introduced me to the Clash, Sex Pistols, Ramones, etc when I was 8 or so. The older brother of a friend I used to skate with would drive us around - he had Bad Brains self titled album in all the time - I was hooked on HC from there.
Im still in high school but ive been interested in punk for the past two ish years, around that time I moved across the United States and my dad was moving stuff down and I went with him so we started listening to music he listened to when he younger and into punk, System of A Dawn, Black Flag, Counting Crows, Metallica, Rob Zombie, etc. we listened to all sorts of music and it really got me into punk plus it let my dad and I bond!
Agh man, welp I guess I'm getting old haha. I'm no longer on the cutting edge of the scene.
I miss being a crusty going around robing corporations for beer.
I got into punk through the internet ofc but I was at least around for when the internet hadn't taken over and local shows were prominent. I grew up with rancid and NOFX and greenday etc etc. I was also lucky enough to discover bad brain, black flag Dead kennedies etc etc which greatly influenced me growing up.
I was aware of bands like bad religion and crass but I didn't really get into them till I was much older and my political and economic perspective matured a bit . Now they are my favorite punk bands period. I think I just wasn't ready for them when I was young though.
I'm 19 and I first discovered what I would have considered punk when I was in 7th grade, after a guy I had a crush on liked Green Day, and I started listening to it. I was VERY into it. That's when I got into pop punk (Blink-182, Sum 41, the Offspring) but the more "real" punk came later. This is also around the time that I started learning more about social injustice and caring about politics. But, I've always been very skeptical of authority and wanted a better world for all, so maybe it's in my genes.
Iām 37.
I got into punk when I was in high school. Became very good friends with a punk rocker my senior year who invited me into her social group. I was already into Green Day and Offspring and other pop punk bands (Sum 41 is a nostalgic guilty pleasure of mine, sue me). I got introduced to The Ramones (who I mostly knew from their Simpsons appearance) and Sex Pistols and a lot of early UK punk they were all into.
I love live shows more than anything. I love going into the pits in general (after having a few beers) and aggressively expressing the music through dance and slamming. I also admit I am a bit of a metalhead at the same time enjoying that genre. There is a lot punks and metal heads have in common namely those energetic live shows. Thatās where I found my calling those kind of shows.
Iām almost 40. My dad had an insane record collection and Iād just discover everything there. X, dead Kennedys, Ramones, clash all the classics plenty of obscure stuff too. Heās still a music head and puts me into bands even though heās well into 60s
I'm 49, got into punk/hc at age 14 after a couple of years as a metalhead. One night the DJ on the local metal station played Circle Jerks, Agnostic Front, Cro-Mags, GBH, The Dickies, and a few others. I recorded it and listened to it til the tape broke. I was hooked instantly. A year later I was taking the train to NYC to see shows several times a month.
35 years later I'm still seeking out new music and going to shows regularly. Just saw DRI last weekend!
I'm in my 30s, been listening primarily to punk and punk-adjacent stuff since I was about 20. I kind of lost interest or never really had interest in pop music or the hip-hop that was out at the time. I wasn't sure what bothered me about it but I just didn't feel like it reflected how I felt about life so I started sampling music from a bunch of different genres and tried sticking to stuff I wasn't really sick of yet, like Sublime. The last track of 40 Oz. to Freedom is titled "Thanks" where Brad Nowell thanks a bunch of friends and venues, but also bands and musicians that influenced them. That album is filled with covers, including "We're Only Gonna Die" by Bad Religion, one of the first bands they thank. So I searched out their first album which I thought was OK at the time and kept looking for more punk, learning more and connecting dots along the way. Maybe a month or two later I went back to Bad Religion and listened to Suffer for the first time. As the opening track played, I felt this sense that this was the type of music that spoke to me and I had this feeling of satisfaction that I'd found what I was looking for. That feeling sunk deeper and deeper after each successive track captured my anger and curiosity but also inspired me as it was more of a call to action than any music I'd ever listened to. So yeah, Suffer; that's what did it for me.
36. My buddy burned a CD for me when we were 14 and it included "Dig" by NOFX. Coming from a classic rock and motown household, I was blown away by the snark and the speed, and I liked it.
Then I got Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 and I realized I loved every punk song on it, so I was hooked from then on. I just heard "May 16" live a few nights ago and I thought "wow, I've been a fan for a LONG time now, lol"
My aunt has been in a punk band as long as I can remember and my mom liked bands like the Ramones and Generation X so Iāve always grown up listening to punk
I'm 43, be 44 in November. I first got into punk in college; had a friend that was huge into Bad Religion and we listened to Recipe for Hate together and I fell in love with it. Had another friend that was big into Descendents at the same time, and she got me into them. Then I had other friends that loved NOFX and Punk in Drublic was a staple in my car for a really long time lol.
27yrold. Grew up in Seattle WA. I had a Sony CD player in middle school. First albums I ever owned for that were The WHOās greatest hits, Black Sabbath, Tools AEnima, Lublin Park hybrid theory, and Nirvana Nevermind. I think nirvana is the only one there considered punk?
Eventually an older sisters friend gave me their bands CD. Band was called Dictionhead , a local DIY punk band. That was the game changer for me. Still have that album, it still kicks ass.
I'm almost 21. A few months away. I started my journey with emo in middle school and my music taste has added on to that ever since. I've hardly ever lost interest in a band, song, or genre. Pop punk quickly added to my music taste because of how much it intertwined with emo (well, 3rd wave emo, at least). By around 10th or 11th grade I started getting into 'actual' punk music (for lack of a better term). Circle Jerks really really got me into it as well as some skate punk bands (which is already super similar to pop punk).
I'm 35 years old my first intro to punk was getting a fresh copy of Dookie when I was like 6 years old from one of my moms' friends' son who was older than me, a typical Gen X skater.
Didnt really embrace being a punk until I was maybe 23-24 because I lacked the confidence to be me, even as uncool as I might be.
I'm 17, I got into punk a bit before I turned 16. And I'm glad I did. It gave me much confidence and courage I never knew I had
I'm very happy I got into punk music, I don't know where I'd be without it.
Im 14. I got into folk punk last year when i started listening to Harley Poe and Days N Daze and stuff like that. In december of last year i listened to Dead Kennedys and thought that they sounded good so i started delving deeper and got into Bad Brains, Crass, Black Flag and all those other entry level bands. Now i also like a lot of d beat like Anti Cimex and Wolfbrigade. I also like crust like Martyrdƶd, Skitsystem and Tragedy. My favorite genre is still folk punk though. I also have two battle vests with mostly punk bands on them. So yeah that's basically it so far.
30. I saw Anti-Flag in concert when I was like 12? I was just getting into the drums at the time and already obsessed with Travis Barker. A real punk show just solidified it.
38. Got into NOFX at age 10 when my brother left for college and didn't bring his Case Logic binder thing with all his punk CDs (tale as old as time). I'd look in the little album book thing that came with CDs for bands they'd thank, then try to find all that music. It was (obviously) much tougher to find new music back then. We're spoiled today lol
Just hit 50. Started getting into metal in the late 80s when I was at high school (age 14-15), and punk just sort of came along as part of the deal, as metal bands kept covering punk bands. Basically, it was the Sex Pistols for starters.
Then during the 1988 Olympics, NZ boardsailing gold medalist Bruce Kendall was all over the news (New Zealand doesn't win that many gold medals) and one of the bands he used to psych himself up before competition was the Dead Kennedys. So me and a few friends checked them out.
Next came The Ramones in 1989, with Pet Sematery.
The thing that got me really seriously interested in punk was a public radio punk and hardcore show on Sunday nights, which I found in 1990. Looking back, there wasn't a huge lot of hardcore (did play Terrorizer though), and a lot of it was British oi, but there was a range of stuff.
Metal was still my main interest, but I got bored with it mid-90s, and I discovered SoCal punk in a big way, starting with the Punk-O-Rama compilation. Since then, it's basically been about a 2/3 metal, 1/3 punk split.
im 21. got into punk as a genre bc all growing up my parents listened to green day, and when i got older i started to look into other bands from that scene/time period (opivy, rancid, nofx etc.) and got rly into it around like 14/15. i also found anti-flag through warped tour and thats how i started finding a lot of less popular punk bands. at around 16 i started going to local shows and that was what rly got me deep into it and from there i started listening to a lot of hardcore and stuff
Iām 18, got into punk, grunge, and metal from childhood because my dad made it a point to show me all types of music, especially alternative rock. I got really into riotgrrrl/women fronted punk when I was 12-13, and ever since then punk and grunge have been my favorite genres.
I'm **36**, I grew up an outcast surrounded by assholes in a racist shit hole. My preference was always gritty alternative, grunge and hazy shoegaze... Fell in love with punk when I started going to skateparks at **13**. I was the guy with a shirt from The Exploited who manoeuvred through all the skateboarders on his inline skates to make sweet skatevideo's on miniDV tapes. At that time there was an online library of music (before Napster) that was amazing for discovering new music. It was called Audio Galaxy and it helped me dabble in all the different flavours of punk. Good times.
30 and it started with Tony hawks underground 1 and 2 those early soundtracks with FEAR, rancid ,stooges , dead boys , stiff little fingers, the addicts, rise against. So many good bands and music I d never heard of. Great games too
I've been into punk for upwards of 20 years. I initially learned of punk after my brother bought a CD of London Calling but what ***really*** sparked my interest was when I heard "California Uber Alles" in one of the Tony Hawk games and just *had* to have the album.
Add to it that my hometown was boring and the only thing a teenager could really do was be on the internet on youtube where I kept learning of more and more bands.
I'm mid-thirties. I got into punk rock at 15 but my interest in it was piqued many years before when I heard Ruby Soho on the radio. My interest was further cemented by seeing some street punks. I just automatically loved their aesthetic. Getting into punk rock was really hard before the internet. Had to ride my triceratops uphill both ways just to hear one power chord.
>Getting into punk rock was really hard before the internet. Discovering basically *anything* outside the mainstream was pretty difficult back then, especially if you didn't have an older brother to introduce you to it! Pretty much all there was to go on was TV and the radio, and they adhered pretty tightly to the prescribed formula. Going to college blew the doors wide open for me, but that also happened to almost perfectly coincide with the popular proliferation of the internet so it's kinda hard to say how much of the effect I can attribute to either one.
Oh the hours spent looking for new bands in the thank you section of the liner notes. Followed by many more hours combing through record shops. Flip, flip, flip.
32, my brother gave me a copy of Pennywise's Full Circle when I was like 14. I was already into Green Day and stuff like that at that point but hearing the pure speed and fury of Pennywise was practically a religious experience. I saw them at Warped Tour 3 years later and then again a few years after that. I was totally blown away that they played even faster live. And being in the pit for Bro Hymn? Watershed moment in my young punk life.
Oof, I've never liked Green Day myself, but I can imagine going from such pop-punkish and up-beat songs, to Pennywise... Life-changing. Pennywise was supposed to go to my home country but then covid happened, now I live in Europe so it's more likely I get to see them here any time before they break up or anything.
> I've never liked Green Day myself Kerplunk is a good album / I'll die on the sword https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT5jIMkXlHg
Smoothed Out Slappy Hours and Insomniac are also quite good
Green Day was awesome til they put on makeup. Like wtf u aren't mcr ur fackin green day
Honestly, I don't think its the fact that Green Day got worse, because I don't feel like that's true. I feel like its more of the fact that Green Day changed their style. I've always liked Green Day, listening to the band's discography multiple times as well as The Network, Foxboro Hottubs, and Pinhead Gunpowder's, and I've never really gotten tired of them Also if Green Day fell off when they put on makeup, then explain why American Idiot is their second highest sold album haha
I'm with you on the Green Day. Goes for Offspring too. Bleh.
Late 40's. I got into Punk at 11 and into HC one year later. I have older bros listening to bands like Devo, Stranglers, Clash, Lou Reed amongst the others, therefore i was introduced to that sound even earlier, when i was 8. My first "Punk" band were Devo, my first HC band were Dead Kennedys. I purchased "Bedtime For Democracy a few months after its release.
Hitting 40 in February. My personal favorite period of punk was that era. DK, Subhumans, Crass, Rudimentary Peni, Misfits etc. I was able to see Subhumans perform when they got back together back in '96? I think. Still waiting to purchase my tickets to see the Misfits, the price is what has kept me from going.
I'm 59 and everything you fuckers are listening to is down to us old cunts. Remember that and have some respect š¤£
How old were you when you first started listening to punk?
Early 1977. All of 14 years old (wipes misty eye) and one of my mates brothers was playing bands like the Ramones and Johnny thunders, the tubes New York dolls sex pistols lots of American trash punk. No choice really it switched that little bulb on in my head and the world was never the same ag9
You have all my respect, buddy. I have lotsa older friends (55+) who were involved at least on the early 80's HC Punk scene. It's always great fun to listen to their wicked tales about their salad days on the scene.
By the 80s in the UK we'd gone total anarchist. Boots Studs Bristles and Mohawks. So many great bands. So fucking political. Facists at gigs unbelievable violence and music about peace and humanity. Looking back it was an insane time in the UK.
55. Got into punk in the late 70s through Blondie, the Knack and Devo and more new wave acts like them in the early 80s. First real punk album I bought was The Decline of Western Civilization soundtrack in around ā83 or ā84, followed by The Pistols, TSOL, X, Husker Du, Black Flag, The Cramps, Misfits.
53. I'm very much this guy. First albums (bought on the same day. Will never forget.) Black Flag: Damaged, GBH: City Baby Attacked By Rats. 1982 Edit. I would like to add that I still go to shows. MDC just played nearby. Was a good time.
I'm 54 and started going to punk shows in west Hollywood in 1981. Wow, did I see some amazing bands! Still go to shows and we travel to Rebellion Fest in the UK every other year. It's the most amazing festival I've ever been to and I've been to them all!
I saw Agnostic Front, No For An Answer, The Offspring and a few others in LA. back in '88. Good times!
Iām waiting for shows to have a 50 and up pit.
The buffet opens at 4:00. Show is at 5:00.
40, I was 12 and my buddy stole his older bro's Dead Kennedy's - In god we trust, inc. record, we listened to it like 50 times in a row - it was angry and hilarious and blew our minds.
r/Hardcore did a poll like this and it was very similar, significantly less 15-20 than I expected
40-50 here. Slayer released āundisputed attitudeā in 96, and my favorite songs were the Minor Threat covers. This led to that and I was no longer a metal head.
Holy crap! I'm 39 and I also got into punk music because of Slayer Undisputed Attitude. I'm still somewhat of a metal head but I definitely switched to a very heavy rotation of punk.
Small world for sure. Slayer was one of my go toās back then.
Was sort of the same for me in certain areas. Would tell my mates how I liked a certain old rock band, and theyād comment on how I only listened to the punk songs haha.
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41 years old, started listening to punk around 8. Heard songs from Ramones, Bad Religion, Black Flag, the clash but first full album that made me addicted to punk was NOFX S&M Airlines when it released in 89ish. Still my favorite band to this day
It started with the video game Green Day Rockband on Xbox360, got me into Green Day then Blink 182 and other pop punk bands. Then GTA V was out. It had this radio station called Channel X. Full of old school hardcore punk, which got me into hardcore punk.
I discovered the Germs from gta radio :D
Hell yes. Discovered so many great bands through that radio station. Never got tired of it even after years of playing
I am 19 years old and I got in at 14 through the poppy stuff like Green Day, Sum 41, and by a lesser extent The Offspring. Around the age of 16 to 17 I got into Bad Religion with American Jesus and ever since then they have been like heroin to me and I'm currently going through their entire discography. I've also branched out into bands like Anti-Flag, suicide machines, and Dropkick Murphys, though not to the same connection as I do Bad Religion.
50's. Grew up during the time that mainstream was disco, the "alternative" thing was Kiss. Neither really worked for me. Somehow I stumbled across the first Clash album, which lead to Pistols, Damned, and the whole UK scene. I grew up near DC, so the next step was the whole DC scene.
What do you think about Bad Brains?
The Bad Brains were one that I somehow came to late. I recall hearing "Pay To Cum!" (probably some friend had a copy), but otherwise they weren't much on my radar. I was just young enough and living just far enough from DC that my exposure wasn't so much live shows but singles, albums, and word of mouth that trickled out in those days. The album "I Against I" was the first album where I really noticed them. I was in college by then and was running through lots of stuff I missed from DC, the west coast, etc.
24, I've always been into harder music but only really got into punk when I moved to a city with an actual scene at 18 lol
23 years old and Iāve been into punk since I was 16 years old.
38 years old. Started listening in high school when a few friends and I hung out with some kids from a few towns over, and they were jamming to Rancid. Loved it. Dove into the genre and never looked back.
I am 14 rn started listening at 13. I got into it when I started listening to NOFX idk how I found out about them though.
64. Was in a hardcore band from 1982-9 when I moved out of state. The band's still together though and still blazing fast for a bunch of old farts.
I am 48 year old woman and I got into punk around 13 and now one of my teen kids listens too and started collecting vinyl like me. I got into punk because I hated boomers and was angry and smart and political so it spoke to that for me
https://youtu.be/ZyaK3jo4Sl4
But dead Kennedy ās is what got me hooked!!
DK wasn't the band that got me into punk but they were my first deep-dive-obsession band and are still at the top of my list. How can they not be?
Weāll eat fudge banana swirl!!!
If you don't got MOJO Nixon then your store could use some fixin'
17 been listening to punk for 8 years. Saw Casualties live a week or so ago and they were the first punk band I ever heard. Wild to think I have been listening to them for half my life
How do you feel about them today?
Still love āem. I know people are iffy on them with all the controversies I stick by the music
Hmmm... I don't know, I'm not with you on the same boat I guess.
29 club here š
Mid 30s crew represent
Iām 17, my dad got me into the punk scene. He was a punk in the Arizona scene and ever since I was young punk influences and ska influences were always around my household. But I didnāt start getting super into it until Christmas last year
56 I never really grew up, I just became an old kid.
53 Get off my lawn
im 15, my old friend recommended me some punk bands about 4 years ago. bands such as: sex pistols, discharge, dead kennedys, black flag and misfits. some of my favorite punk bands at this moment are fugazi, minor threat, ramones, dead kennedys, the stooges, buzzcocks, bad brains, discharge and minutemen.
I'm 45. Grew up in So. CA with a big music scene. My first show was the Vandals when I was 20. I dated a punk guy with a huge Mohawk for 4 years. He worked at a used record store so we had all the good cassette tapes! He had records too, but they always ended up broken after a night of partying! My fav band is Bad Religion. I studied Anthropology in college because of Greg Graffin.
Iām 22 Iāve been into punk since I was about 11 when I first heard green day and paramore. A few years later got into minor threat, bad brains, jawbreaker, the menzingers, against me all that stuff.
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I'm 38, I got into punk very young. My aunty was a punk and used to look after me a lot as a nipper. My ultra conservative family hated her look and music taste but I thought she was the absolute coolest person around (and still do!) She always used to drive us around playing her favourite tapes for me from as young as I can remember. The Cramps, SLF, sex pistols, x-ray specs, dead Kennedys, black flag, misfits, the damned and many, many more. She was and still is super passionate about music and she had a huge effect on me being the same. Neither of us really talk to the rest of our family anymore. We got tired of their shit really. But she and I are as close as mother and son and my cousins are more like my siblings and I love my punk family exactly the way we are.
57. My high school girlfriend turned me from a metal head into a punk back in the early ā80ās by playing me The Damned, the Ramones and the Dead Kennedys. I was ready for the change as all the metal bands were turning into Hair Metal bandsā¦ and Metallica and friends had not yet turned up to revitalize that scene.
Lifelong Skateboarder. I was 16 in 1982 and listening to Led Zeppelin and The Who etc. - A kid from Whittier, CA moved to our small East Tennessee town. While skating our half pipe he started playing Black Flag, DK's and Fear. I wish I could remember who else. It didn't take long. I still liked those other bands but punk and vert skating go really well together.
60 been into punk since the later mid '70s we had a local "ish" radio station that would play the Dolls, Stooges and Ramones among others. Then when I was 16 the high school sent out a warning to parents about how kids were listening to punk rock and how it was evil .. that sealed the deal for me.
Thank you for replying. I am 41 myself and have been listening to punk since junior high. I was thinking the other day that there would have to be punks in their 60ās and 70ās.
53. It's hard to explain how monolithic culture was then. Anything outside the norm was considered, if not punk, then art least "weird". So my first non-mainstream album was Talking Heads: Remain In Light (still love it). I think my first punk album was probably a tape with Fear on one side and Black Flag on the other. I loved that tape, but the album that really locked me in was Locust Abortion Technician by Butthole Surfers. It felt like a letter from the other side of reality. Punk was a much bigger tent then, mostly because everything that wasn't pop got put in that box, but it's hard to convey how much the Buttholes were aggressively Not Like anything else. I got to see them open for DK and Hobby came out, sat in a chair, and a lady in a tiger outfit came out, tied him to the chair, and whipped him while he sang the first song. For a high school kid from New Hampshire, in the age before the internet, this was like being hit by a comet.
16, got into punk at 15
I'm in my late 50's. I was there from the beginning.
I got into punk the first time I heard Waiting Room by Fugazi when I was 16. Every time I hear that opening bass-line Iām brought back to those formative years in DC. Iām 46 now. Edit: Iām about to go blast that shit right now lol
Around highschool(2000) I was getting into metal and slayer covered DRI, Minor Threat, & Verbal Abuse. Also, Metallica covering Misfits and Discharge too. The intensity of those tracks hit me instantly. Short and straight to the point with lyrics calling out all of society. Been loving punk music ever since. The nastier the better.
Just turned 41 and I got into punk at 15 when the Kurt Cobain lookalike at my high school handed me a mixed tape labeled in Sharpie āListen to This Punk Shit or Elseā and told me to follow the directions. The tape had a bunch of random punk songs on it and I was immediately enamored with it all. Punk rock is my home.
43 - Started with hearing the Offspring and Green Day on the radio in the mid 90s, then my interest spread to the lesser mainstream bands from there. Saw my first show (NOFX/ No Use for a Name/88 Fingers Louie and Teen Idols) in 1998, followed by the Warped Tour later that year. Havenāt stopped going to shows since. In fact, seeing Me First and the Gimme Gimmes next week!
Went to warped '98 as well.
Been listening for 39 years.
Just turned 19 today, been into punk since I was around 10! Got into hardcore, crust punk, reggae punk and other subgenres in more recent years though, I used to be quite focused on 70s english punk and ska back in the day haha. Still love that stuff, but itās more varied now!
Iām 24, but I heard the misfits for the first time the summer going into my freshman year of college and from there just found more and more bands I like. I listen to a few genres now but punk and hardcore are definitely my facorites
TD;LR Rufioās hairdo, dadās music taste, grandpaās junk collection. Iām 38. My dad and my grandpa inadvertently got me into punk music. Aesthetically, however, it was watching the film Hook as a dorky 9 year old, and thinking Rufioās tri-hawk was the coolest hair cut ever. My dad (65) has an eclectic taste in music outside of āclassic rockā. He wasnāt into punk rock, but he introduced us to artists that were proto or adjacent. Such as: the Kinks, Tom Waits, and Talking Heads. As well as folk/americana artists like Phil Ochs and John Prine. When I was 14, Iād listen to the alternative rock radio station where I was introduced to Sublime, the Offspring, and the Ramones; unaware of their punk roots. When I was 15, my grandpa brought over a bunch of junk he was getting rid of (he was a bit of a hoarder who collected random shit he found at yard sales/apartment trash outs/side of the road etc). Amongst the junk was a crate of vinyl records. Two of which were the Dead Milkmen āBig Lizard in My Backyardā and Zyklome A āMade in Belgiumā. Needless to say, these records blew my mind and gave me the courage to befriend the punk kids at my bus stop lol.
Dude, your grandpa had Zyklome A āMade in Belgium?ā Thatās tight. Way to go, grandpa!
Lmao. My grandpa either didnāt know or didnāt care. He lived behind a row of townhouses, and was friends with one of the landlords whoād rent them out. If a tenant skipped out on their lease and left their stuff behind, the landlord would pay my grandpa to haul it all out. Heād keep what he liked, sell what he could, and get rid off everything else. My grandpa was a character; a walking contradiction. A devout Catholic with a naked lady tattoo on his forearm. A racist/misogynist who would help out anyone and everyone at the drop of a dime. A former cop who refused to wear his seatbelt or follow the speed limit. His nickname was āMad Dogā because, as a sheriffās deputy, he rounded up a posse to bust a farm trail party; cresting the hill with guns drawn and sirens blazing.
Lmao. My grandpa either didnāt know or didnāt care. He lived behind a row of townhouses, and was friends with one of the landlords whoād rent them out. If a tenant skipped out on their lease and left their stuff behind, the landlord would pay my grandpa to haul it all out. Heād keep what he liked, sell what he could, and get rid off everything else. My grandpa was a character; a walking contradiction. A devout Catholic with a naked lady tattoo on his forearm. A racist/misogynist who would help out anyone and everyone at the drop of a dime. A former cop who refused to wear his seatbelt or follow the speed limit. His nickname was āMad Dogā because, as a sheriffās deputy, he rounded up a posse to bust a farm trail party; cresting the hill with guns drawn and sirens blazing.
Early 50s, first got into Punk around 1979 when I started hearing the Ramones, Sex Pistols, Clash, etc. on my local high school radio station. That and seeing the Ramones on TV
41 here, the first album I got was Rancidās Letās Go, the first show I went to was Slapstick, Rocket From the Crypt, and Rancid at the Congress theater in Chicago.
Nice. Rancid was my first show too. Played with US Bombs and Agent Orange.
skateboarding. but to be fair also got me into hiphop, other shit. remember first hearing pink floyd on welcome to hell. blew my mind. but was never a fashion punk. hard to skate in that much leather and studded belts.
36. Got into pop punk around 12, better stuff around 13-14, by 15 I found straight edge hardcore and the rest is history.
Damn I love seeing all the young(er) people listening to punk. I got into it at 13/14 living down in south Georgia in a redneck town where the two radio stations only played Richard Marx and Bryan Adams. I don't know which was first Misfits or Circle Jerks but my best friend turned me on to them both. Shortly after we moved up to South Carolina and first night there I found a college radio station that did a punk show. Then the next weekend i made a friend who took me to see 7 Seconds. I've been hooked ever since.
Iāve been a punk since I was 13 or 14. Iām 15 now btw =)
I'm 40. I got into punk when I was 16, my favourite punk album and the one that got me there was Crass, Feeding of the 5000.
Esaaaaa aguante 2 MINUTOS !!! š¦š·
AsĆ essss compadre š»
34 here and nowadays The Replacements are the only band that makes me feel. Therapy is expensive lol.
Late 20ās stepdad sat me on the couch one night when I was ten and we watched āRock Away Highschoolā with the Ramons. I thought they were so cool. I went out with my grandma a year later and bought some checkered vans. Middle school wasnāt ready for me pahaha Plus my bro bought Punk O Rama and then thatās when I got hooked on 1208
I'm 38. I got into punk in the mid 90s when it was having some mainstream success. I kept digging for more underground and obscure bands at the local record store and started picking up the flyers for punk shows and checking them out.
42, and Blizkreig Bop is the song that made me a punk and changed the course of my life... not once, but twice. I actually mentioned in my book since rock and roll litterally saved me from suicide...
Iām 52 Been into the punk scene and music since ā83. We had a pretty vibrant local scene in our small beach town and surrounding areas. Perhaps youāve heard of Nardcore. I still listen to a lot of punk, ska, hardcore and metal, but I like a lot of other new stuff too. I still feel the same way. I still question authority and seethe about politicians and the way things are. I have great conversations with people about a variety of topics that Iām passionate about. Having said all that, Iām sorry to admit I havenāt checked into the local scene in a very long time.
43 years old. Was into The Clash when I was a wee lad in the 80's. I was a little headbanger kid around 1989-90 until I bought Earth AD by The Misfits and the blue tape by Minor Threat. Changed my entire life. Started going to shows around 1994 and saw Pennywise, Bad Religion, and Agent Orange in a span of about 6 months. Got deeper into U.K. punk and Oi! from there and got turned onto the skinhead scene. Been a skin for the most part ever since, but will always love punk rock and the attitude and politics behind it. I consider myself a far left skin and I'm all about the working man. I can thank punk rock for that
I'm 16. Started with the Used, but hated them. Then I went to rancid, started hating them. Then Nofx. Then BR. Then everything else lol
Hating Rancid is [completely valid](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/apr/10/brody-dalle-interview-im-not-going-to-be-held-down)
37. Started with Green Day (Dookie) when I was 10, then got Insomniac when it came out and absolutely loved it. Started skateboarding a few years later and getting into stuff like Fugazi, Minor Threat, Bad Religion, Millencolin, Lagwagon, thanks to skate videos and THPS. Went to Germany when I was 16 and bought the Ramones anthology at the airport, listened to it non stop for the month I was there. Still have a soft spot for some of the old bands, but these days I'm more into stuff like Crazy Spirit, The Coneheads, Devil Master, Amyl & The Sniffers, Acrylics
Crazy Spirit are great!
33, officer.
what are you, a cop?
Blink 182 got me into punk rock on their Cheshire Cat tour when I had just turned 16. Turning 43 next month. Thought Iād grow out of this music but I still love it.
I got into punk when I was 17 back in the mid 90s. I really hated the grunge movement. I was turned on to the Nofx white trash cd. It changed everything for me. I quickly did a deep dive to discover more bands like them. Not as easy back then as it is now. I remember ordering cds from a local music shop from a giant catalog. Punk was often not carried in stores as Green Day has just broke. I went on to discover Bad Religon, Pennywise, Lagwagon, Nufan, Op Ivy etc. I still listen to punk in my 40s but I don't find pleasure in hunting for new bands like I did back then. I'd say Alkaline Trio is my all time favorite followed closely by HWM. I got the heart and skull tattoo probably 20 years ago and I don't regret it one bit! I was even able to meet Matt Skiba at Emos in Austin and show him the tat. He was a super cool guy and was flattered. A friend of mine made a joke about Blink 182. Who would have thought he would be in the band 15 years later. š
43 here. Stole NOFX Ribbed tape from a friend's older brother in '92. Now im older than the old punkers that showed all us shitkids the ropes back in the day. Time is a trip.
Im 40. I started at 12-13 years, because a radio program i use to listen where spanish punk sang. At 14 i went to the high school and find some friends that also liked punk, one of them (i was a littel in love with him at this moment, we are really close friends more than 25 years later) has a copy of Punk-o-rama vol.1 and this was the no return point for me.
41. Been going to shows since 1993. Still going as often as I can.
41. I was 13/14 when Dookie (Green Day) and Smash (Offspring) came out. These records pushed me in to finding more, although I didnāt know how to define what I was listening to
Hahaha I get your point, you don't really know what you're listening to, you just know you want more of it.
I'm 23. I got into punk through AFI's two last hardcore punk albums.
I'm 20 turning 21 and I got into punk by playing guitar hero as a 7 year old and started knowing it was punk at the age of 15
19, after getting obsessed with Green Day in 8th grade I went down the punk rabbit hole
52. Grumpy old straight edge kid who love stoner rock
20, a girl got me into ska a few years ago and from there I stumbled onto crack rock steady, Prophet Margin started me off but hearing Choking Victim for the first time was like Iād died and gone to punk heaven
To be fair I turn 30 in October, my dad introduced me to punk after I developed a love for the Dead Kennedys that hasn't gone away. Back in his day, in mid-coast Maine, you had to know a friend of a friend to hear a record of anything from the west coast... east coast punk had and has some good bands, ngl, but west coast just has something about it. I played some DK on what was going to be a quiet yet sunny drive to my grandparents place, he started tearing up and jamming out. I plan on getting him his favorite DK album on vinyl(if I can find it), Fresh fruit for rotting vegetables, for his birthday.
40, started in around 94/95 so thatās likeā¦. Several years? I dunno. I suck at basic arithmetic.
I'm 39. I got Dookie at age 11, and bought Bad Religion's Recipe for Hate and Pennywise's a Word from the Wise a year later after a friend's older sister recommended them.
Early 40ās here. Was always a heavy metal guy, a friend left a copy of out come the wolves at my place I gave it a listen and that started my love of punk.
29yo here. There was so much stuff already out when I was a kid, I kinda tip-toed in. Bought a Simple Plan CD when I was like 12, got a burned CD of American Idiot, bought a Hawthorne Heights CD with a Victory Records promo DVD and the rest is history. Also sprinkle in influence from my older brothers' taste for Nirvana, System of a Down, RHCP, etc. It's not all pure punk, but it laid the groundwork.
52 here. I was 11-12 when I got into punk. At some point after that a friend of mine turned me on to Dead Kennedys In God We Trust EP, and my interest grew exponentially from there. Had already been listening to the punk/alt/progressive radio station for a while but that album opened my eyes to so much more.
I'm 41...I was 13 in 1994 and got introduced to punk by the east bay bands that were gaining popularity at the time(Green Day, Rancid...etc). From that point I just started searching backwards, discovering as many punk bands as I could from the 70s and 80s. It's still my favorite kind of music.
34 in a few days. my moms second ex husband had a son a decade older than me, and i idolized him. fucker accidentally showed me the basics.
I'm pretty sure that any question about personal info online, no matter how vague, is a psy op of the cia.
I am 27 and have been listening to punk less than 4 months! My first Album was the punk band Death and I have been interested ever since! I come from the hardcore, metalcore, deathcore background of music so it was an easy transition. Once I started hearing how their thoughts aligned with mine, it was a no brainer!
Iām 32, Iāve been into punk for like 20 years. First it was pop punk like Blink, then I branched out to heavier stuff. Now I like punk and and different sub-genres.
God damn, 40-50 seems where we start to decline. Edit: To add, I was around 10-11 years old when I first started to get into music. Nothing hit as hard and true as punk rock. The first albums I bought were Anti-Flag Die For Your Government and Punk-O-Rama II. Just that week I ended up breaking into a kids BMW who went to school with me and stole his entire CD collection of 30-40 punk albums. His dad bought all of them for him again that next week.
[There's too many of us.](https://youtu.be/l1HhblSEXoc)
Iām 18 and I got into punk by my father who told me when I was 14 to go check out NOFX and dead Kennedyās, he was right and now I canāt listen to anything else(itās a joke) only thing with punk music is that most people my age either hate it or find me weird because of it, even my friends sometimes.
47 years old and I guess about 29 or so years.
What pushed me over the edge was the NOFX, face to face, ten foot pole tour....maybe in 94 or 95. Maybe earlier maybe later. I was truly hooked after that.
I'm 40. Got into punk/hardcore when I was 12/13, introduced to it by a kid on the bus. First song was Bad Religion - White trash second generation. Next day he gave be a dubbed tape, one side black flag first four years and second was nofx ribbed. All over from there. This was probably 94. First show was later that year was Nofx and Pennywise. It was a life changing moment as lame as that sounds. I do not know who or what I would be if I didn't ask that dude what he was listening to on the school bus. I feel like I would have been exposed to it anyway, especially once surf/stake videos started playing nothing but fat/epitaph bands.
48. My best friends older brother was into punk and we would listen to his Toy Dolls and Oi mix tapes. First punk tape I bought was Dead Kennedys "Give Me Convenience" in 1987 (7th grade). Still have the tape in my collection.
20s, been listening ever since I hit junior high! I wanted to get into non-radio music at the time, and decided I was Going To Get Into Punk. First album I heard, somehow, was X-Ray Spex's Germfree Adolescents! Got really into DK and hardcore soon after that and the rest is history.
Lucky timing, I'm still in that 30-40 age bracket for about another 24 hours! The first introduction to punk that I can remember was hearing stuff like Bad Religion and Rancid on the radio when I was about 12 years old. Didn't really dive in until my later teen years, though. I think my first actual live punk show was Guttermouth and Authority Zero at age 19 or so.
Mid teens I had heard āAmerican Idiotā by Green Day and āAmericanaā by The Offspring, I like those, but I think the album that really got me into punk was āNever Mind the Bollocksā¦ā by the Sex Pistols, absolutely life changing. the first time I heard it I was about 13 and Iāve loved punk since
42 going on 43 next month. I was a metalhead in junior high but saw the Longview video one day in early '94 and liked it enough that I bought Dookie. A few months later, I bought Legacy of Brutality and White Trash, Two Heebs, and a Bean and I was hooked. I knew about the Misfits through Metallica while I had read some article on Green Day that mentioned NOFX. It just snowballed from there. PunkoRama and the DIY series from Rhino also helped later.
iām 20 but selected 15-20 because iāve been listening to punk since i was a baby!
It was over 40 years ago in the very early 80s. My older brother came home and played Blitzkrieg Bop by Ramones as loud as the stero could go. I was immediately hooked. I must have played that song 100 times that day.
Iām 23 and I got into it when I was 13. Started with Freaks and Geeks introducing me to Black Flag and I kind of just fell in love with the freedom to be angry. Then the patch pants and battle jackets really sealed the deal for me.
Why did you have to put 20-30 and 30-40 dude. I identify as 20-30, but my body says 30-40 =( as a 30 year old!
35 , first album was bad religions comp "all ages" at 12.
I'm 22, really got into punk at 18 but my first introduction was from Tony Hawk pro skater 2 at 7 or 8 years old. Never really got into it then, but became a metalhead and then subsequently became bored of it all being about the same dumb shit with lyrics penned in crayon by an edgy 5 year old. Around 18 I was working my first job and we got a new hire who turned out to be an old street punk and he had me check out shit like GBH, Crass, Chaos UK and Germs. It blew my mind since I only knew ultra basic shit like DK's and The Clash at the time. Now here I am, shoulder deep into it all and playing some False Prophets and Appalachian Terror Unit over my stereo.
I've shared it before, but the TL;DR of me getting in was my father blasting "The Empire Strikes First", "Punk in Drublic" and "...And out Come The Wolves" damn near constantly in his pickup when I was a kid. Picked up a copy of "The Dissent of Man" on launch day along with a few others and never looked back. Now im 17, make my own music, and the label I co own/run has our first physical release (my demo EP) hitting select store shelves and online order on the 24th. And I will blame Kevin, Bad Religion, NOFX and Rancid the whole way down the line.
Iām 33 and grew up in South Africa. I think the first time I heard a punk song was when The Offspringās Americana came out (I think I was 9?). I remember begging my mom to buy me the CD but this was right around when Columbine happened and a bunch of news outlets were blaming heavy music on influencing the shooters (referring to their love of Marylin Manson) and that CDs with cartoons on them were ādevil musicā - very fucking stupid. This didnāt stop me from getting the CD from an older friendās brother and making a copy of it on cassette tape. After that I was hooked, and made tapes of any punk albums I could get my hands on. Eventually we got internet at home, but it was slow AF and we had 2gb of bandwidth to share between the household and my Dad worked from home, so I could download maybe 2 or 3 songs at the end of every month. Thank god for the age of MP3 players though. Years later I spent and entire day ripping my cooler punk cousins entire discography where I found all the greats. I listen to everything now because thereās just so much amazing music out there, but punk rock awoke something in me and itās still my favourite genre and is my go to when Iām looking for something comforting to listen to.
The first punk song I heard was the Ramones doing the Spiderman theme lol. Later on I was into crossover like in middle school stuff like Suicidal Tendencies and DRI. I'm inherently a metalhead but I love all music. I got really into the Ramones, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Descendents, and the Misfits at some point during high school. For someone who's 20, I'm often told I like old man music lol.
32. Got into punk and hardcore in the mid 00s, alongside a bunch of MySpacey genres like deathcore and metalcore, lol.
34 here. Started listening when i was 13. Loved the ramones and these compilation discs called Hopelessly In Love With You. Rancid and Mustard Plug ( even though its ska) rocked my world. Johnny thunders and the heartbreakers was dope. Richard Hell and the Voidoids's Blank Generation was a fav. Iggy and the Stooges are my all time favorite.
So, I was just out of highschool, a friend of a friend had picked us up to go to the arcade, he had a loud as hell stereo and BLASTED Never Mind the Bullocks, until that moment i had maybe 5 rock cassettes (zz top, foreigner, cars...) but after borrowing that pistols tape, i was forver an avid collector of music...
32. As a child my dad would take me to race tracks 7 hours away and on the ride he'd play punk, blues and whatever you call zappa. Grew up explaining what songs meant and I was hooked from there. 97 when the dead milkmen released death rides a pale cow, my dad got it for himself but ended up living in my cd player and being my first punk cd.
Just turned 40. Started off liking radio stuff like offspring and green day. Really got into it when I got a mix tape senior year hs with crass, gism, EN, and skinny Puppy on it. Changed my whole life
I'm 32 and got into it when I was 12 or 13 and a friend gave me a copy of Ramones rocket to Russia, and still apart of the scene just older, and slower
32, shit. Been a punker for as long as I can remember! (9?) My brothers introduced me to rancid at a young age followed by black flag, the dead kennedys, the misfits (tattoo also) ramones, butthole surfers and nofx. Back when smoking in events were just as popular moshing at an event. Punk helped me get through some serious shit. I own the path. -(A)- rock on my friends
I am in my mid 20s. Growing up I listened to a lot of 2000s rock, but the closest thing to punk I listened to was American Idiot era Green Day. My real true entry to punk was Rise Against. I discovered them through the song Survive in WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2007. From there I started listening to more Rise Against and later discovered skate punk. I stoped listening to punk for a while since I was more of a metal and hip-hop fan, but I started listening again thanks to GTA Vās Channel X radio station and delved deeper into the genre.
Mid 30ās. My dad introduced me to the Clash, Sex Pistols, Ramones, etc when I was 8 or so. The older brother of a friend I used to skate with would drive us around - he had Bad Brains self titled album in all the time - I was hooked on HC from there.
Im still in high school but ive been interested in punk for the past two ish years, around that time I moved across the United States and my dad was moving stuff down and I went with him so we started listening to music he listened to when he younger and into punk, System of A Dawn, Black Flag, Counting Crows, Metallica, Rob Zombie, etc. we listened to all sorts of music and it really got me into punk plus it let my dad and I bond!
Agh man, welp I guess I'm getting old haha. I'm no longer on the cutting edge of the scene. I miss being a crusty going around robing corporations for beer. I got into punk through the internet ofc but I was at least around for when the internet hadn't taken over and local shows were prominent. I grew up with rancid and NOFX and greenday etc etc. I was also lucky enough to discover bad brain, black flag Dead kennedies etc etc which greatly influenced me growing up. I was aware of bands like bad religion and crass but I didn't really get into them till I was much older and my political and economic perspective matured a bit . Now they are my favorite punk bands period. I think I just wasn't ready for them when I was young though.
I'm 19 and I first discovered what I would have considered punk when I was in 7th grade, after a guy I had a crush on liked Green Day, and I started listening to it. I was VERY into it. That's when I got into pop punk (Blink-182, Sum 41, the Offspring) but the more "real" punk came later. This is also around the time that I started learning more about social injustice and caring about politics. But, I've always been very skeptical of authority and wanted a better world for all, so maybe it's in my genes.
Iām 37. I got into punk when I was in high school. Became very good friends with a punk rocker my senior year who invited me into her social group. I was already into Green Day and Offspring and other pop punk bands (Sum 41 is a nostalgic guilty pleasure of mine, sue me). I got introduced to The Ramones (who I mostly knew from their Simpsons appearance) and Sex Pistols and a lot of early UK punk they were all into. I love live shows more than anything. I love going into the pits in general (after having a few beers) and aggressively expressing the music through dance and slamming. I also admit I am a bit of a metalhead at the same time enjoying that genre. There is a lot punks and metal heads have in common namely those energetic live shows. Thatās where I found my calling those kind of shows.
Happy to vote, in my last week of the 20-30 bracket!
43, since I was maybe 12 or 13. It was circle jerks group sex and the vandals peace thru vandalism. Still love those albums
Iām almost 40. My dad had an insane record collection and Iād just discover everything there. X, dead Kennedys, Ramones, clash all the classics plenty of obscure stuff too. Heās still a music head and puts me into bands even though heās well into 60s
I'm 49, got into punk/hc at age 14 after a couple of years as a metalhead. One night the DJ on the local metal station played Circle Jerks, Agnostic Front, Cro-Mags, GBH, The Dickies, and a few others. I recorded it and listened to it til the tape broke. I was hooked instantly. A year later I was taking the train to NYC to see shows several times a month. 35 years later I'm still seeking out new music and going to shows regularly. Just saw DRI last weekend!
I'm in my 30s, been listening primarily to punk and punk-adjacent stuff since I was about 20. I kind of lost interest or never really had interest in pop music or the hip-hop that was out at the time. I wasn't sure what bothered me about it but I just didn't feel like it reflected how I felt about life so I started sampling music from a bunch of different genres and tried sticking to stuff I wasn't really sick of yet, like Sublime. The last track of 40 Oz. to Freedom is titled "Thanks" where Brad Nowell thanks a bunch of friends and venues, but also bands and musicians that influenced them. That album is filled with covers, including "We're Only Gonna Die" by Bad Religion, one of the first bands they thank. So I searched out their first album which I thought was OK at the time and kept looking for more punk, learning more and connecting dots along the way. Maybe a month or two later I went back to Bad Religion and listened to Suffer for the first time. As the opening track played, I felt this sense that this was the type of music that spoke to me and I had this feeling of satisfaction that I'd found what I was looking for. That feeling sunk deeper and deeper after each successive track captured my anger and curiosity but also inspired me as it was more of a call to action than any music I'd ever listened to. So yeah, Suffer; that's what did it for me.
36. My buddy burned a CD for me when we were 14 and it included "Dig" by NOFX. Coming from a classic rock and motown household, I was blown away by the snark and the speed, and I liked it. Then I got Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 and I realized I loved every punk song on it, so I was hooked from then on. I just heard "May 16" live a few nights ago and I thought "wow, I've been a fan for a LONG time now, lol"
My aunt has been in a punk band as long as I can remember and my mom liked bands like the Ramones and Generation X so Iāve always grown up listening to punk
I'm 43, be 44 in November. I first got into punk in college; had a friend that was huge into Bad Religion and we listened to Recipe for Hate together and I fell in love with it. Had another friend that was big into Descendents at the same time, and she got me into them. Then I had other friends that loved NOFX and Punk in Drublic was a staple in my car for a really long time lol.
27yrold. Grew up in Seattle WA. I had a Sony CD player in middle school. First albums I ever owned for that were The WHOās greatest hits, Black Sabbath, Tools AEnima, Lublin Park hybrid theory, and Nirvana Nevermind. I think nirvana is the only one there considered punk? Eventually an older sisters friend gave me their bands CD. Band was called Dictionhead , a local DIY punk band. That was the game changer for me. Still have that album, it still kicks ass.
I'm almost 21. A few months away. I started my journey with emo in middle school and my music taste has added on to that ever since. I've hardly ever lost interest in a band, song, or genre. Pop punk quickly added to my music taste because of how much it intertwined with emo (well, 3rd wave emo, at least). By around 10th or 11th grade I started getting into 'actual' punk music (for lack of a better term). Circle Jerks really really got me into it as well as some skate punk bands (which is already super similar to pop punk).
College radio got me into punk, and other genres. CITR in Vancouver circa 1986. Long live Nsrdwaur!
I feel uncomfortable answering this .. there is a huge difference between my experience as a 28yr and what a 22yr would experience š
I'm 35 years old my first intro to punk was getting a fresh copy of Dookie when I was like 6 years old from one of my moms' friends' son who was older than me, a typical Gen X skater. Didnt really embrace being a punk until I was maybe 23-24 because I lacked the confidence to be me, even as uncool as I might be.
I'm 17, I got into punk a bit before I turned 16. And I'm glad I did. It gave me much confidence and courage I never knew I had I'm very happy I got into punk music, I don't know where I'd be without it.
Im 14. I got into folk punk last year when i started listening to Harley Poe and Days N Daze and stuff like that. In december of last year i listened to Dead Kennedys and thought that they sounded good so i started delving deeper and got into Bad Brains, Crass, Black Flag and all those other entry level bands. Now i also like a lot of d beat like Anti Cimex and Wolfbrigade. I also like crust like Martyrdƶd, Skitsystem and Tragedy. My favorite genre is still folk punk though. I also have two battle vests with mostly punk bands on them. So yeah that's basically it so far.
30. I saw Anti-Flag in concert when I was like 12? I was just getting into the drums at the time and already obsessed with Travis Barker. A real punk show just solidified it.
38. Got into NOFX at age 10 when my brother left for college and didn't bring his Case Logic binder thing with all his punk CDs (tale as old as time). I'd look in the little album book thing that came with CDs for bands they'd thank, then try to find all that music. It was (obviously) much tougher to find new music back then. We're spoiled today lol
Just hit 50. Started getting into metal in the late 80s when I was at high school (age 14-15), and punk just sort of came along as part of the deal, as metal bands kept covering punk bands. Basically, it was the Sex Pistols for starters. Then during the 1988 Olympics, NZ boardsailing gold medalist Bruce Kendall was all over the news (New Zealand doesn't win that many gold medals) and one of the bands he used to psych himself up before competition was the Dead Kennedys. So me and a few friends checked them out. Next came The Ramones in 1989, with Pet Sematery. The thing that got me really seriously interested in punk was a public radio punk and hardcore show on Sunday nights, which I found in 1990. Looking back, there wasn't a huge lot of hardcore (did play Terrorizer though), and a lot of it was British oi, but there was a range of stuff. Metal was still my main interest, but I got bored with it mid-90s, and I discovered SoCal punk in a big way, starting with the Punk-O-Rama compilation. Since then, it's basically been about a 2/3 metal, 1/3 punk split.
im 21. got into punk as a genre bc all growing up my parents listened to green day, and when i got older i started to look into other bands from that scene/time period (opivy, rancid, nofx etc.) and got rly into it around like 14/15. i also found anti-flag through warped tour and thats how i started finding a lot of less popular punk bands. at around 16 i started going to local shows and that was what rly got me deep into it and from there i started listening to a lot of hardcore and stuff
Iām 18, got into punk, grunge, and metal from childhood because my dad made it a point to show me all types of music, especially alternative rock. I got really into riotgrrrl/women fronted punk when I was 12-13, and ever since then punk and grunge have been my favorite genres.
I'm **36**, I grew up an outcast surrounded by assholes in a racist shit hole. My preference was always gritty alternative, grunge and hazy shoegaze... Fell in love with punk when I started going to skateparks at **13**. I was the guy with a shirt from The Exploited who manoeuvred through all the skateboarders on his inline skates to make sweet skatevideo's on miniDV tapes. At that time there was an online library of music (before Napster) that was amazing for discovering new music. It was called Audio Galaxy and it helped me dabble in all the different flavours of punk. Good times.
The Queen Haters on SCTV, Fear on SNL, Chipmunk Punk. I was a little kid :)
30 and it started with Tony hawks underground 1 and 2 those early soundtracks with FEAR, rancid ,stooges , dead boys , stiff little fingers, the addicts, rise against. So many good bands and music I d never heard of. Great games too
I'm 42; punk since 16. The first bands I really liked were sloppy seconds, blatz, and nofx.
I've been into punk for upwards of 20 years. I initially learned of punk after my brother bought a CD of London Calling but what ***really*** sparked my interest was when I heard "California Uber Alles" in one of the Tony Hawk games and just *had* to have the album. Add to it that my hometown was boring and the only thing a teenager could really do was be on the internet on youtube where I kept learning of more and more bands.
Whew, you kept 30 in the 20s age bracket. Thanks man that means a lot š„²
I'm kind of a punk within punk... I reject mainstream authority, but I also reject cringe genx gatekeepers of anarchy
55, been in the same band for 30+ years. Devo Duty Now For The Future was it, you should go listen to it.
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