10 Most Important Acts That Shaped Punk Rock Music

Early Patti Smith records are not what you immediately jump to when you think punk rock. Her sound steered away from the fast paced sound of pre-punk acts like the MC5, (who's guitar player she collaborated with and eventually married) but her nonconforming public image was emulated by many within the movement.

Although Smith was labeled the 'Godmother of Punk' she has stressed she was not intrinsically part of the scene. But, due to the coincidence of her debut album with the emergence of many New York punk groups, it became a significant landmark in the development of the genre.

Informed by the avant-garde sound of The Velvet Underground, Horses (1975) was an album that helped facilitate the transition of the previous New York rock sound into a new phase. Her songs utilised a simple three chord structure, played with an attitude that perfectly complimented her erratic spoken word vocals. It was a sound that shared an aesthetic and mannerisms that became synonyms with the punk ethos.