Punk Turns 50: How a Music Revolution Also Impacted Fashion, Movies and More

Some bands that started in punk shifted to new wave, its less-aggressive cousin, to much success into the ’80s, including Blondie, Talking Heads and the Go-Go’s. Punk and alternative rock, often on independent labels, still drew fans and critical acclaim throughout the decade, and then punk-influenced alternative rock broke big, starting with Nirvana in 1991.

Doe points to Green Day as a model of popular punk: “They took it to the teenagers, which is what the Ramones, Blondie and everybody else wanted to do. We were playing for our peers, which were people that were outsiders, bohemians and artists. We didn’t really get to teenagers, except those who were runaways from a really bad home. Green Day made it OK for people to be themselves.”

Today, punk’s influence — short, punchy songs with energy and attitude — can be heard throughout pop music, from Foo Fighters to Olivia Rodrigo. And the music has helped so many listeners feel accepted. “Punk rock leveled the playing field for women, people of color, LBGTQ [artists],” says Kathy Valentine, bassist for the Go-Go’s, “pretty much anyone in between or that may fall through the cracks.”

(Left to right) Madonna and Billy Idol

Photo Illustration: Neil Jamieson (Fryderyk Gabowicz/Getty Images; Shutterstock; Roberta Bayley/Redferns/Getty Images)

Fashion

From dayglow-dyed hair and extreme haircuts, to Chuck Taylors and Doc Martens, to skinny jeans, distressed clothing and leather jackets, punk fashions have been mainstream for years. Designer Vivienne Westwood and her London clothing shop Sex played an instrumental role in punk fashion, as well as the launch of the Sex Pistols; the band was managed by her partner Malcolm McLaren.

The punk fashion aesthetic has been adopted by stars from other genres, including pop sensation Madonna, whose early look featured cutoff T-shirts, ripped fishnet stockings, and spiked and rubber bracelets. “Madonna was influenced by punk street culture,” confirms Susan Seidelman, who directed her in the 1985 film Desperately Seeking Susan. More recent stars such as Nicki Minaj, Rhianna and Doja Cat have adopted the brightly colored hair originally favored by punks. Sometimes those seeking the look have no idea about the origins. “They just pick the [hair dye] numbers and colors,” says Arthur Viecco, a hairstylist in Beverly Hills, California. “They don’t even know that it’s a punk rock haircut. They see it as just a barber cut with color.”

Dance

You might equate crashing bodies with a wrestling ring or football field, but punk launched a new form of aggressive movement called slam dancing. To the relentless, driving beat, concertgoers in an area in front of the stage — the pit — would do precisely what the name suggests: slam into each other. Spending a few minutes in the pit became a rite of passage for many a young punk fan. Over the years, the practice softened and morphed into moshing. Starting in the ’90s, the mosh pit became a pulsating environment with constant movement. Packed with people, the added density allowed for crowd-surfing and stage diving.

(Left to right) Kate McKinnon in "Barbie," Ewan McGregor in "Trainspotting" and Gary Oldman in "Sid & Nancy"

Photo Illustration: Neil Jamieson (Alamy (2); Samuel Goldwyn/Everett Collection)

Movies

Punk rock has been featured in major films, including Sid & Nancy (starring Gary Oldman), The Basketball Diaries (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Trainspotting (Ewan McGregor). But a bigger impact is the punk spirit on filmmaking. “Indie film has got the punk rock ethos,” says Doe, who also has worked as a film and TV actor. “Everyone says, ‘You shouldn’t do that,’ or ‘Don’t do that,’ or ‘You can’t do that.’ And the person who does it says, ‘Watch me.’ ” Think of how independent directors like Quentin Tarantino, Richard Rodriguez and Sam Raimi changed how movies look and feel — becoming more raw and edgy. The punk DIY spirit is easily seen in low-budget cult films like The Blair Witch Project and Clerks. And even one of the biggest hits of last year has an unexpected bit of punk breaking through the Day-Glo. In Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, check Kate McKinnon’s depiction of a beat-up doll dubbed “Weird Barbie.” Her quirky spirit, jagged and colored hair and bizarre makeup look every bit a punk rock girl.

Theater

Punk-inspired rock came to Broadway in 2010, with the musical American Idiot, based on the Green Day album of the same name. “I was listening to the CD a lot, and I started to see a story form in my mind. I thought, Wow, that would be an amazing thing to do on stage,” says Tony-winning playwright-director Michael Mayer. “I wasn’t sure if Broadway was ready for it, but I knew a lot of people were. Green Day was excited by it when I brought it to them and their manager.” The musical logged more than 400 shows, with Green Day singer Billie Joe Armstrong occasionally performing in it himself.

Mayer went on to direct a few other punk-inspired productions on Broadway, including Stephen Trask and John Cameron Mitchell’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch in 2014 and the Go-Go’s-inspired Head Over Heels in 2018.

Sports

Skateboarding and punk go together. Watch any video clip of Tony Hawk or other masters of the bowl and ramp and you’ll almost certainly hear some SoCal punk such as Descendents, Social Distortion or Agent Orange.

But mainstream sports have also embraced punk rock anthems as jock jams. The Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop” is a stadium staple, played over the loudspeakers to rev up the crowd. Just try to go to a game without hearing the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” — and the obligatory crowd chants. And there are many others. Robert Popkik, a stadium DJ for the Baltimore Orioles and Ravens and Navy football, says he regularly plays high-energy songs by the Go-Go’s, the Clash, Billy Idol, the Pretenders, Talking Heads, Violent Femmes and Blondie during breaks in the action. Even some more obscure songs work in that setting, Popik says: “I played the Dead Milkmen’s ‘Punk Rock Girl’ at a Navy football game and immediately received five responses of praise.”

(Left to right) Corey Glover of Living Colour, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day

Photo Illustration: Neil Jamieson (Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images; Ebet Roberts/Redferns/Getty Images; Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images)

Festivals

One of the most successful and influential music festivals was a celebration of punk-influenced rock. The Lollapalooza tour launched in 1991, with Jane’s Addiction as the headliner and a host of punk and alternative acts in support, including Nine Inch Nails, Living Colour, and Siouxsie and the Banshees. It made its way across the U.S., with 26 shows drawing large, receptive crowds. Lineups in later years included Fishbone, Green Day, L7 and the Ramones.

Lollapalooza was so successful that it spawned imitators, such as the skate-punk-heavy Vans Warped Tour, and led to a boom in U.S. music festivals that today includes Coachella, Bonnaroo and the second iteration of Lollapalooza, now an annual event in Chicago, plus myriad others across the country. Punk acts regularly occupy these stages. There’s even a punk cruise in the Caribbean — sold out for its voyage in February 2025.

Museums

It might seem like the antithesis of the ethos, but punk rock even has its own museum. Opened in April 2023 in Las Vegas, the Punk Rock Museum is the brainchild of Fat Mike, bassist and singer for NOFX. “It’s not like other museums,” he says. “We have a guitar room where you can play everyone’s guitar through their amps. We have guitars from Joan Jett and Pat Smear from the Foo Fighters and Nirvana. You can play them, so the museum was not made with everything behind glass.” It regularly has guest celebrity tour guides, including original Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock.

Fat Mike invested his own money in the Punk Rock Museum “because the world needed it,” he says. “There’s no punk rock chart in Billboard. There’s no punk rock awards show. We needed something to memorialize all of the ugliness and all of the beauty in the scene and community.”