Punk rock in Australia

Australian musicians played and recorded some of the earliest punk rock. The Saints released their first single in 1976. Bands playing subgenres or offshoots of punk music, such as local hardcore acts, still have a strong cult following throughout Australia. Fans started to form bands, both punk and dissimilar in sound, beginning a distinct Brisbane punk scene, one of the first in the world. By 1977, other bands were starting to form in Sydney, under the influence of local and overseas punk acts. These bands and other Australian and overseas punk acts were strongly supported by public radio stations. The Young Charlatans had formed in Melbourne out of the ashes of earlier bands. During the late 1970s, former members of Radio Birdman contributed to several new Sydney bands. The Quick and the Dead, who played in Perth during 1979–81, pioneered a sound closely related to Oi!.

The Saints were one of Australia's first punk bands. The earliest incarnation of The Saints was formed by Ed Kuepper (guitar) and Chris Bailey (vocals) in Brisbane, Queensland in 1973. They shared a background in immigrant families (Kuepper's German and Bailey's Irish), and an admiration for high energy 1950s and '60s music, such as the Detroit rock of The Stooges and MC5. Queensland at the time was controlled by the conservative, authoritarian Country Party democratic government of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen – an environment with plenty of inspiration for creative and alienated young people. The result was a frenetic, pulsating sound, topped with Bailey's sardonic lyrics. Unable to get regular gigs, they played at a house in inner city Petrie Terrace, where they soon attracted unwanted attention. Police arrested fans for trivial offences, often in a brutal fashion, but their approach only created more interest in the punk scene. The Saints gigs' got bigger and their fans started to form bands, both punk and dissimilar in sound, beginning a distinct Brisbane punk scene, one of the first in the world.

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