{
  "slug": "post-punk",
  "name": "Post-Punk",
  "aliases": [
    "postpunk",
    "new wave",
    "no wave"
  ],
  "description": "What British and American bands did with punk's permission once its three chords ran out. Bass leads, guitars scrape rather than strum, and the rhythm section quietly imports funk, dub and German rock.",
  "origin": {
    "place": "United Kingdom",
    "year": 1978
  },
  "lineage": [
    {
      "genre": "krautrock",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/krautrock/",
      "inherited": "The engine. Joy Division, Wire and PiL all took the unaccented forward pulse off Neu! and Can records rather than off American rock, which is why post-punk drives instead of swinging."
    },
    {
      "genre": "funk",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/",
      "inherited": "The other half of the rhythm section. Gang of Four and A Certain Ratio played James Brown's interlocking parts with the warmth deliberately removed, using funk as an argument about tension rather than pleasure."
    },
    {
      "genre": "afrobeat",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/afrobeat/",
      "inherited": "The polyrhythm. Talking Heads, A Certain Ratio and Rip Rig + Panic were all openly studying Fela's interlocking parts, which is how a scene that started with three chords ended up with two percussionists."
    },
    {
      "genre": "punk",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/punk/",
      "inherited": "The clue is in the name. Post-punk is made by people who were in punk bands or at punk gigs, keeping the amateurism and the independence and discarding the three chords within about eighteen months."
    }
  ],
  "bpm": {
    "min": 110,
    "max": 160
  },
  "updated": "2026-08-29",
  "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/post-punk/",
  "trackCount": 10,
  "curatedBy": [],
  "playlists": {},
  "tracks": [
    {
      "rank": 1,
      "trackKey": "joy-division--love-will-tear-us-apart",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/joy-division--love-will-tear-us-apart/",
      "title": "Love Will Tear Us Apart",
      "artist": "Joy Division",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/joy-division/",
      "year": 1980,
      "label": "Factory",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Peter Hook plays the melody on bass, Bernard Sumner plays the atmosphere on a cheap synth, and Ian Curtis writes the plainest lyric of his life. The genre's one unarguable pop record.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-eighties",
          "name": "The Eighties",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-eighties/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Joy%20Division%20Love%20Will%20Tear%20Us%20Apart",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=zuuObGsB0No",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 2,
      "trackKey": "public-image-ltd--public-image",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/public-image-ltd--public-image/",
      "title": "Public Image",
      "artist": "Public Image Ltd",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/public-image-ltd/",
      "year": 1978,
      "label": "Virgin",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Lydon's first act after the Sex Pistols is to hire a dub bass player and make the guitar ring rather than chug. A resignation letter from punk, delivered as a single.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-roots",
          "name": "Roots",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-roots/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Public%20Image%20Ltd%20Public%20Image",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=rIAZ8unRm2c",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 3,
      "trackKey": "gang-of-four--damaged-goods",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/gang-of-four--damaged-goods/",
      "title": "Damaged Goods",
      "artist": "Gang of Four",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/gang-of-four/",
      "year": 1978,
      "label": "Fast Product",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Andy Gill treats the guitar as a percussion instrument that mostly stays silent. The politics are in the arrangement as much as the lyric, which is what separates this band from everyone who copied them.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Gang%20of%20Four%20Damaged%20Goods",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=F_7BVaDIAbA",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 4,
      "trackKey": "the-cure--a-forest",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-cure--a-forest/",
      "title": "A Forest",
      "artist": "The Cure",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-cure/",
      "year": 1980,
      "label": "Fiction",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Flanged guitar, a bassline that walks in a straight line, and a chorus that never quite resolves. The moment the Cure worked out that atmosphere could carry a hit single.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Cure%20A%20Forest",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=xik-y0xlpZ0",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 5,
      "trackKey": "talking-heads--once-in-a-lifetime",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/talking-heads--once-in-a-lifetime/",
      "title": "Once in a Lifetime",
      "artist": "Talking Heads",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/talking-heads/",
      "year": 1980,
      "label": "Sire",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Eno and the band build a looped Afro-funk bed and David Byrne has a public breakdown on top of it. Post-punk's most joyful record is also its most panicked.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Talking%20Heads%20Once%20in%20a%20Lifetime",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=5IsSpAOD6K8",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 6,
      "trackKey": "the-slits--typical-girls",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-slits--typical-girls/",
      "title": "Typical Girls",
      "artist": "The Slits",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-slits/",
      "year": 1979,
      "label": "Island",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Dennis Bovell producing, so the reggae is real rather than borrowed. The Slits play deliberately loose against a lyric that dismantles every expectation the title sets up.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Slits%20Typical%20Girls",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=0_HH5VTPTOo",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 7,
      "trackKey": "cabaret-voltaire--nag-nag-nag",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/cabaret-voltaire--nag-nag-nag/",
      "title": "Nag Nag Nag",
      "artist": "Cabaret Voltaire",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/cabaret-voltaire/",
      "year": 1979,
      "label": "Rough Trade",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Sheffield industrialists run everything through distortion until the individual parts stop being identifiable. The link between post-punk and the electronic body music that followed it is right here.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Cabaret%20Voltaire%20Nag%20Nag%20Nag",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=jCvTCw4dLFA",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 8,
      "trackKey": "magazine--shot-by-both-sides",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/magazine--shot-by-both-sides/",
      "title": "Shot by Both Sides",
      "artist": "Magazine",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/magazine/",
      "year": 1978,
      "label": "Virgin",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Howard Devoto leaves the Buzzcocks and immediately makes something more literate and more anxious. The riff is punk; the structure underneath it is not remotely.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Magazine%20Shot%20by%20Both%20Sides",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu3R-H5on1s",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 9,
      "trackKey": "bauhaus--bela-lugosis-dead",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/bauhaus--bela-lugosis-dead/",
      "title": "Bela Lugosi's Dead",
      "artist": "Bauhaus",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/bauhaus/",
      "year": 1979,
      "label": "Small Wonder",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Nine minutes of dub delay, brushed drums and vamping, recorded live in one take. Absurd and completely committed, and gothic rock begins the moment it finishes.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-both-rooms",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — Both Rooms",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-both-rooms/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Bauhaus%20Bela%20Lugosi's%20Dead",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy9h2q_dr9k",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 10,
      "trackKey": "new-order--ceremony",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/new-order--ceremony/",
      "title": "Ceremony",
      "artist": "New Order",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/new-order/",
      "year": 1981,
      "label": "Factory",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "The last Joy Division song, released by the band that had to become something else to play it. The hinge on which British guitar music turned towards the dancefloor.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/New%20Order%20Ceremony",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=kkASIx9Xk6s",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}