1970s–1980s · 1976–1989
Short songs and DIY labels reset the bar; post-punk rebuilds with bass, space, and art-school rigor.
Punk is not short metal. From ~1976 in New York and London it cuts song length, rejects virtuoso solos, and favors cheap gear and independent labels. Post-punk keeps the urgency but adds space, funk/reggae rhythm, synths, and art-school arrangement. On this chronicle the era sits apart from metal: same years, different scenes, different production goals.
Sound: Fast downstrokes, dry snare, cold basslines, early drum machines
Formed 1974
Joey / Johnny / Dee Dee / Tommy then Marky; Blitzkrieg Bop teaches the count-in.
Formed 1975
Rotten / Jones / Cook / Matlock–Vicious; Anarchy in the U.K. is the rupture single.
Formed 1975
Byrne / Harrison / Weymouth / Frantz new wave; Once in a Lifetime is the mass entry.
Formed 1976
Curtis / Sumner / Hook / Morris post-punk; Love Will Tear Us Apart is the mass single.
Formed 1976
Strummer / Jones punk-to-post-punk; London Calling is the mass document.
Formed 1977
Sting / Summers / Copeland; Every Breath You Take is the mass ballad.
Formed 1978
Robert Smith–led post-punk/goth-pop; Just Like Heaven is the bright single; Disintegration the long gloom.
Formed 1980
Sumner / Hook / Morris + Gillian Gilbert; post-punk into club electronics.
Formed 1980
Martin Gore / Dave Gahan–era electronic rock; Enjoy the Silence is the mass-entry single.
Formed 1981
Alternate-tuning noise/indie; Daydream Nation peak; shoegaze-adjacent textures.
Formed 1982
Morrissey / Marr indie; There Is a Light That Never Goes Out is the lasting single.
Formed 1986
Quiet-loud alternative; Surfer Rosa/Doolittle template Nirvana cited.