Tom Troccoli tells us how it is

Prindle:
"So how did a bearded, long-haired hippie guy like you get into punk in the first place?"

Troccoli:
"Well, I thank you for asking as this is one of my fave topics. I have ALWAYS been in love with things Punk, even before Punk had a label. I tend to think of Punk as an attitude rather than a musical style. With that understanding, I think of guys like Lightnin' Hopkins who needed to play so badly that his first guitar was a broom handle jammed into a cigar box with a single string as being Punk. Picasso, who started as the most talented draftsman of his day, chucked it all to follow his own oddball muse and changed the art world for all time, I consider to be Punk. Hunter Thompson running for Sheriff of Aspen, that's Punk. Beefheart, Zappa, Sun Ra, all PUNK! Early Alice Cooper, even the earliest Grateful Dead is incredibly PUNK! Punk I think has always been here, and will always be here as long as there are artists and their followers available to blaze new trails of artistic expression. The first guy or gal to dip a twig in animal blood and smear an image on a cave wall was punk. All these folks truly were DIY! That being said, my first exposure to Punk Rock MUSIC was unforgettable. A band I was hanging with in 1977-78 was playing a place on a Sunday night called Blackie's. We drove down a night earlier to scope the place out some, and on stage were FEAR and an Black Flag. I had already HEARD some of this Punk Rock on the local airwaves, and of course had been seeing the safety-pinned cheek crew wandering the boulevards, but this was a whole different kettle of fish. The bands were loud, obnoxious, and extraordinarily talented - especially FEAR who to me sounded like they were playing stuff as complicated as Zappa's. If I had stumbled into a lousy bands' gig I probably would never have gone to another, but these bands were so awesome I NEEDED to investigate more. That led me to The Bags, the Urinals, The Germs, X, and so many others. I don't actually consider myself to be a fan of Punk Rock music, but I did see that there was at long last an opportunity for weirdos like me to finally make some headway in getting our stuff at least heard. That was the real gift. Little kids who never picked up anything more musical than a transistor radio were all of a sudden becoming 'The Omlits' and writing about things like "I Don't Watch TV Since They Cancelled James At 16." Yes, that was a real band, and that was a real song. Most of it was utter crap, but it was REAL, and it was THERE!"