25 October: Punk music

Today is Punk for a Day Day, a day to celebrate punk music and culture. 10 facts about punk music:

1. The word “punk” predates the musical genre by quite some time. The word existed in Shakespeare’s time as a slang term for a prostitute. He uses the word in this context in The Merry Wives of Windsor and Measure for Measure. Later on the meaning changed and from the 18^th century came to mean “a young male hustler, a gangster, a hoodlum, or a ruffian.”

2. Punk has its roots in 1960s garage music, when young bands would create music outside of the mainstream, often quite literally in their garage.

3. The first known use of the phrase "punk rock" appeared in the Chicago Tribune on March 22, 1970, when Ed Sanders, co-founder of New York's anarcho-prankster band the Fugs described his first solo album as "punk rock – redneck sentimentality".

4. John Holmstrom, founding editor of Punk magazine, once said, "punk rock had to come along because the rock scene had become so tame that acts like Billy Joel and Simon and Garfunkel were being called rock and roll, when to me and other fans, rock and roll meant this wild and rebellious music."

5. Early punk bands shunned the high tech and corporate music industry. They developed a network of small venues, like pubs and independent record labels, Stiff Records being one example. The aim was to keep costs low and their music accessible.

6. Punk songs are typically short with a fast tempo. Bands would usually comprise a couple of guitarists, a drummer and a lead singer. Many would shout or snarl the lyrics, which were often angry and/or political. The economic and political climate in the UK in the mid 1970s meant a lot of young people were angry at the system and so punk’s time had come.

7. Most punk bands were from English speaking countries in the beginning. The first punk band which didn’t perform in English is generally accepted to be Stinky Toys, who were an all-female act from Paris, France.

8. Punk fashion was designed to be shocking and grungy. Johnny Rotten is said to be the first British punk to rip his shirt, and Sid Vicious is said to be the first to use Safety pins. A London boutique which had changed its name from “Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die” to “SEX” and the designer Vivienne Westwood pioneered punk fashion, although, ironically, most of the working class unemployed followers of the genre couldn’t actually afford to buy their stuff. The characteristic “Mohawk” hairstyle (created by using lots of Vaseline and Talcum powder) was actually a favourite of Jazz musicians in the 1950s rather than being pioneered by the punks.

9. Punk’s reputation was partly established when in 1976, The Sex Pistols appeared on the Today Show with Ted Grundy. They’d been brought in because Queen had dropped out at the last minute. Prompted by Grundy to “say something outrageous”, Steve Jones responded with “What a f***ing rotter”, which was pretty scandalous for the time. The press lambasted the band for their lack of manners and many record shops refused to stock their music.

10. The Sex Pistols’ God Save the Queen is a landmark punk rock song. Originally titled No Future, it was anti-monarchy and therefore banned from some UK radio stations for being disrespectful. This didn’t stop it from reaching No. 1 on the UK charts.

Character birthday

Warlord, an alien soldier, who reached a high rank, but resigned his commission when asked to oversee an evil regime. A career in any form of military or combat was now closed to him, and he could not imagine doing anything else; so he left his planet entirely and came to Earth, a planet notorious for being constantly at war. On arrival, he found most of the humans' wars to be evil or pointless, so joined Combat Team Beta.

His power of copying the abilities of others does damage to those individuals if done repeatedly over time, which is why he will never copy the powers of anyone on his own team.