Cowpunk is a subgenre of punk rock that began in the United Kingdom and Southern California in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It combines punk rock or new wave with country, folk, and blues in its sound, lyrical subject matter, attitude, and style. Examples include Social Distortion, The Gun Club, The Long Ryders, Dash Rip Rock, Violent Femmes, The Blasters, Mojo Nixon, Meat Puppets, The Beat Farmers, Rubber Rodeo, Rank and File, and Jason and the Scorchers. Many of the musicians in this scene subsequently became associated with alternative country, roots rock or Americana.
Social Distortion performing in Germany, 2005
Cowpunk artists Those Darlins
X in 1980
Nashville Pussy incorporates cowpunk into their sound.
Social Distortion is an American punk rock band formed in 1978 in Fullerton, California. The band currently consists of Mike Ness, Jonny Wickersham, Brent Harding, David Hidalgo Jr. (drums), and David Kalish (keyboards).
Left to right: Harding, Hidalgo, Ness, and Wickersham in 2011
The band's 2004–2009 lineup, left to right: Wickersham, Harding, Quintana, and Ness
Social Distortion performing songs from Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes with backing vocalists Dessy Di Lauro (second from left) and Ijeoma Njaka (third from left)
The band's skeleton logo on a banner during a live show
