Ongoing History Daily: What was the first REAL punk song? (Part 2)

Last time, we looked at the first applications of the word “punk” to describe a band’s image and sound. But what about the first real punk song? That’s much harder because “punk” wasn’t used to describe hard, fast, aggressive, minimalist, non-conformist rock until at least the mid-70s. In other words, we have to assign that honour in retrospect.

Okay, so knowing what we know now, what was the first true punk song? Here are some candidates.

• First, Australia’s The Saints released a track called “I’m Stranded” in 1975, which sounded pretty punk in the modern sense.
• Second, there’s Detroit’s MC5 and their song, “Kick Out the Jams” from 1968.
• Or we could look at The Velvet Underground and the song “Waiting for the Man” on their 1967 debut album.
• You can even make an argument for “You Really Got Me” by The Kinks from 1964.

Take your pick and let the arguments continue.