and phil lynott responded to gary moore when asked what this punk thing was - same music, different clothes. in fact paranoid is probably one of the earliest punk songs. and leonard cohen, bob dylan, woodie guthrie were all punk as ****
You can even add Groucho Marx to that list as guys who were punk as ****. In one of the Marx Brothers movies from the early 1930s, Groucho sings a song called "Whatever It Is, I'm Against It." That's as punk as punk could get.
Impossible to specifically define punk. Safety pins, bondage gear, and three chord songs is the common definition, but any fan of the punk scene knew it sure wasn't definable. First time I heard "Never Mind The Bollocks" I heard Chuck Berry boogie riffs, '50s rock and roll, just played LOUD! And The Ramones themselves said they really set out to be a pop band like The Archies, it's just that they couldn't play their instruments with any skill. I always loved Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders. Her songwriting showed an excellent skill with melodies and the pop form itself, but I always considered her a punk. Punk covers a lot of ground. Heck, Jay Z and Kanye can be classified as punks. One thing we can all agree on is that Jon Bon Jovi certainly is not.
NMA punks, hippies, Neil Young wannabees....who cares really. Very hard band to specifically define. I'm sure that's why the members here love them.