1.
Austin, Texas
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Austin is the capital of the U. S. state of Texas and the seat of Travis County. It is the 11th-most populous city in the U. S. and it is the fastest growing large city in the United States and the second most populous capital city after Phoenix, Arizona. As of the U. S. Census Bureaus July 1,2015 estimate and it is the cultural and economic center of the Austin–Round Rock metropolitan area, which had an estimated population of 2,056,405 as of July 1,2016. In the 1830s, pioneers began to settle the area in central Austin along the Colorado River, in 1839, the site was officially chosen to replace Houston as the new capital of the Republic of Texas and was incorporated under the name Waterloo. Shortly thereafter, the name was changed to Austin in honor of Stephen F. Austin, the Father of Texas and the republics first secretary of state. The city subsequently grew throughout the 19th century and became a center for government and education with the construction of the Texas State Capitol and the University of Texas at Austin. After a lull in growth from the Great Depression, Austin resumed its development into a city and, by the 1980s, it emerged as a center for technology. A number of Fortune 500 companies have headquarters or regional offices in Austin, including Amazon. com, cisco, eBay, Google, IBM, Intel, Oracle Corporation, Texas Instruments, 3M, and Whole Foods Market. Dells worldwide headquarters is located in nearby Round Rock, a suburb of Austin, residents of Austin are known as Austinites. They include a mix of government employees, college students, musicians, high-tech workers, blue-collar workers. The city also adopted Silicon Hills as a nickname in the 1990s due to an influx of technology. In the late 1800s, Austin was known as the City of the Violet Crown because of the glow of light across the hills just after sunset. Even today, many Austin businesses use the term Violet Crown in their name, Austin is known as a clean-air city for its stringent no-smoking ordinances that apply to all public places and buildings, including restaurants and bars. The FBI ranked Austin as the second-safest major city in the U. S. for the year 2012, U. S. News & World Report named Austin the best place to live in the U. S. in 2017. Austin, Travis County and Williamson County have been the site of habitation since at least 9200 BC. When settlers arrived from Europe, the Tonkawa tribe inhabited the area, the Comanches and Lipan Apaches were also known to travel through the area. Spanish colonists, including the Espinosa-Olivares-Aguirre expedition, traveled through the area for centuries, in 1730, three missions from East Texas were combined and reestablished as one mission on the south side of the Colorado River, in what is now Zilker Park, in Austin. The mission was in area for only about seven months
2.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
3.
Punk rock
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Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed in the early to mid-1970s in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in 1960s garage rock and other forms of what is now known as proto-punk music, Punk bands typically produced short or fast-paced songs, with hard-edged melodies and singing styles, stripped-down instrumentation, and often political, anti-establishment lyrics. Punk embraces a DIY ethic, many bands self-produce recordings and distribute them through informal channels, the term punk was first used in relation to rock music by some American critics in the early 1970s, to describe garage bands and their devotees. The following year saw punk rock spreading around the world, for the most part, punk took root in local scenes that tended to reject association with the mainstream. An associated punk subculture emerged, expressing youthful rebellion and characterized by distinctive styles of clothing and adornment, by the beginning of the 1980s, faster, more aggressive styles such as hardcore and street punk had become the predominant mode of punk rock. Musicians identifying with or inspired by punk also pursued a range of other variations, giving rise to post-punk. At the end of the 20th century, punk rock had been adopted by the mainstream, as pop punk and punk bands such as Green Day. The first wave of rock was aggressively modern, distancing itself from the bombast. According to Ramones drummer Tommy Ramone, In its initial form, unfortunately, what happens is that people who could not hold a candle to the likes of Hendrix started noodling away. Soon you had endless solos that went nowhere, by 1973, I knew that what was needed was some pure, stripped down, no bullshit rock n roll. In critic Robert Christgaus description, It was also a subculture that rejected the political idealism. Technical accessibility and a DIY spirit are prized in punk rock, in the early days of punk rock, this ethic stood in marked contrast to what those in the scene regarded as the ostentatious musical effects and technological demands of many mainstream rock bands. Musical virtuosity was often looked on with suspicion, according to Holmstrom, punk rock was rock and roll by people who didnt have very many skills as musicians but still felt the need to express themselves through music. In December 1976, the English fanzine Sideburns published an illustration of three chords, captioned This is a chord, this is another, this is a third. The title of a 1980 single by the New York punk band Stimulators, inscribed a catchphrase for punks basic musical approach. The previous year, when the rock revolution began in Great Britain, was to be both a musical and a cultural Year Zero. As a Clash associate describes singer Joe Strummers outlook, Punk rock is meant to be our freedom, were meant to be able to do what we want to do. Scholar Daniel S. Traber argues that attaining authenticity in the identity can be difficult, as the punk scene matured, he observes
4.
Hardcore punk
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Hardcore punk is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock, New York punk had a harder-edged sound than its San Francisco counterpart, featuring anti-art expressions of masculine anger, energy and subversive humor. Hardcore punk generally disavows commercialism, the music industry and anything similar to the characteristics of mainstream rock. Hardcore sprouted underground scenes across the United States in the early 1980s, particularly in Washington, New York, New Jersey, and Boston—as well as in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. Hardcore has spawned the straight movement and its associated submovements, hardline. Hardcore was heavily involved with the rise of the independent record labels in the 1980s and it has also influenced various music genres that have experienced widespread commercial success, including alternative rock, thrash metal, emo and metalcore. While traditional hardcore has never experienced mainstream success, some of its early pioneers have garnered appreciation over time. In 2011, Rolling Stone writer David Fricke placed Greg Ginn of Black Flag 99th place in his 100 Greatest Guitarists list, although the music genre started in English-speaking western countries, notable hardcore scenes have existed in Italy, Brazil, Japan, Europe and the Middle East. The origin of the hardcore punk is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D. O. A. may have helped to popularize the term with the title of their 1981 album, Hardcore 81. C. Hardcore historian Steven Blush said that the term hardcore is also a reference to the sense of being fed up with the existing punk, Blush also states that the term refers to an extreme, the absolute most Punk. One definition of the genre is a form of exceptionally harsh punk rock, like the Oi. subgenre of the UK, hardcore punk can be considered an internal music reaction. According to one writer, distressed by the artificiality of much post-punk, lacking the art-school grace of post-punk, hardcore punk favor low key visual aesthetic over extravagance and breaking with original punk rock song patterns. One of the important philosophies in the scene is authenticity. The pejorative term poseur is applied to those who associate with punk and adopt its stylistic attributes but are deemed not to share or understand the underlying values and philosophy. Joe Keithley, the vocalist of D. O. A. said in an interview, in the vein of earlier punk rock, most hardcore punk bands have followed the traditional singer/guitar/bass/drum format. The songwriting has more emphasis on rather than melody. Critic Steven Blush writes The Sex Pistols were still rocknroll. like the craziest version of Chuck Berry, Hardcore was a radical departure from that
5.
Punk blues
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Punk blues is a fusion genre of punk rock and blues. Punk blues musicians and bands usually incorporate elements of related styles, such as protopunk and its origins lie strongly within the garage rock sound of the 1960s and 1970s. Punk blues can be said to favor the common rawness, simplicity, chet Weise, singer/guitarist of The Immortal Lee County Killers stated, Punk and blues are both honest reactions to life. Its just a bit turned up and a bit faster, 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. Beginning with their 1988 album Prison Bound, the punk band Social Distortion began incorporating rockabilly, country, in the same time period, Rollins Band performed punk-inflected blues jams. In the early 1990s, British musician PJ Harvey also explored an avant-garde variant of the style, the Boston band Mr. Airplane Man also plays in this style. The indie rock bands The Kills, and Deadboy & the Elephantmen, have been associated by the media with a punk/blues sound, list of punk blues musicians and bands Cowpunk Noise rock Psychobilly
6.
SST Records
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SST Records is an American independent record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by musician Greg Ginn. The company was formed in 1966 by Ginn at age 12, as Solid State Tuners. Ginn repurposed the company as a label to release material by his band Black Flag. Music writer Michael Azerrad wrote, Ginn took his label from a cash-strapped, cop-hassled store-front operation to easily the most influential and these labels presided over the shift from the hardcore punk that then dominated the American underground scene to the more diverse styles of alternative rock that were emerging. SST initially focused on releasing material by hardcore punk groups from Southern California, after a peak release schedule in the late 1980s, SST began venturing into jazz releases. SST is now based in Taylor, Texas, Sonic Youth, Soundgarden, Dinosaur Jr. and the Meat Puppets have reclaimed the rights to the SST material after leaving the label. Greg Ginn created Solid State Tuners at the age of 12, SST was a mail-order business that sold modified World War II surplus radio equipment. The business was small but thrived well into Ginns early adulthood, in 1976 Ginn formed the punk rock band Panic. Panic recorded eight songs in January 1978, but no labels were interested in releasing the music aside from Los Angeles, California record label Bomp. By late 1978 Bomp had still not formally agreed to release the music on record, SST Records released the music recorded by Ginns band as the Nervous Breakdown EP in January 1979. Many early Black Flag shows ended in violence, often involving the Los Angeles Police Department, as a result, the police tapped the labels phones and kept the SST office under surveillance. Ginn claims undercover police posing as homeless people sat close to SSTs front door, the band were unable to hire a lawyer because of a lack of money, Ginn later explained, I mean, we were thinking about skimping on our meals. … There was no place to go, by 1980, L. A. clubs had begun to ban hardcore punk shows, adding to SSTs troubles. SST issued the Minutemens debut EP Paranoid Time as its release in 1980. The songs were recorded and mixed in a night for $300. Minutemen bassist Mike Watt recalled, It was at that point we realized all you had to do was pay for the pressings, maybe it was from Gregs experience with ham radios, but he believed if you try, you can get things beyond your little group. Facing hostility towards hardcore punk, SST groups like Black Flag, Black Flag began traveling up the California coast to play Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco, making seven trips in total. SST house record producer Spot went along as sound-man and tour manager, Ginn decided to release the first Black Flag album Damaged via a mainstream distributor
7.
Alternative Tentacles
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Alternative Tentacles is an independent record label established in 1979 in San Francisco, California. Dead Kennedys guitarist East Bay Ray and vocalist Jello Biafra formed the original Alternative Tentacles partnership, but the label is now run by Biafra, Alternative Tentacles no longer owns the rights to Dead Kennedys recordings after a 2000 lawsuit. Alternative Tentacles went on to some of the most original bands of the alternative/punk scene including releasing records by bands including The Dicks,7 Seconds. The early compilation titled Let Them Eat Jellybeans, served to introduce American punk to the rest of the world. Some of the best known bands that have come through Alternative Tentacles are Dead Kennedys, NoMeansNo, D. O. A. in addition to musical acts, Alternative Tentacles also publishes spoken word albums, many by Jello Biafra himself. Another common theme of Alternative Tentacles records over the years has been the long-standing artwork of Winston Smith, which has graced many of their records, catalogs, posters, Smith also designed the Alternative Tentacles logo. The arrangement was short-lived, and as such these British editions of American hardcore records are rare, in 1985, Los Angeles prosecutors charged Biafra with distributing harmful matter to minors for artwork contained in the Dead Kennedys album Frankenchrist. The artwork was a reproduction of the painting Work 219, Landscape XX. The case ended in a jury, charges were not re-filed. A detailed account of the trial is presented by Biafra on his spoken word album. In early 2000, the label and Biafra were named in a lawsuit brought by his former Dead Kennedys bandmates, the suit claimed that Biafra had failed to pay the bands members a decades worth of royalties on the bands albums, totaling some $76,000. A2003 appeal upheld the verdict and judgment against Biafra and the label of $200,000 in compensation. The end result of the saw the rights to the Dead Kennedys albums turned over to the other band members. Dead Kennedys albums accounted for half of all sales by Alternative Tentacles. In October 2002, the moved to Emeryville, California
