Punk blues can be said to favor the common rawness, simplicity and emotion shared between the punk and blues genres.[3] Chet Weise, singer/guitarist of the Immortal Lee County Killers stated, "Punk and blues are both honest reactions to life. It's blues, it's our blues. It's just a bit turned up and a bit faster."[4]
AllMusic states that punk blues draws on the influence of the "garage rock sound of the mid-'60s, the primal howl of early Captain Beefheart, and especially in the raw and desperate sound of the Gun Club's landmark Fire of Love LP from 1981."[1] Also according to Allmusic.com, "...punk blues really came to life in the early '90s with bands like the seminal Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, the Oblivians, the Gories and the Gibson Brothers", and "continued into the 2000s with even more visibility thanks to the popularity of the White Stripes".[1]John Doe of L.A. punk band X claims that frontman Jeffrey Lee Pierce and the Gun Club invented a completely new style of music by mixing punk and blues.[5]
Beginning with their 1988 album Prison Bound, the punk band Social Distortion began incorporating rockabilly, country, and blues influences into their music. In the same time period, Rollins Band performed punk-inflected blues jams.[6] In the early 1990s, British musician PJ Harvey also explored an avant-garde variant of the style.[7]
^Hermes, Will (June 2004). "Queen of Hearts". Spin. Vol. 20. p. 101. Retrieved November 23, 2012. By her usual avant-punk-blues standards, it was polished and tuneful.
