Why Punk? The birth, rise and demise of Australian Punk and New Wave 1977-1982 

Why Punk? is a three-part short documentary series that charts the birth, rise and fall of Australia’s punk and new wave music scene and celebrates its lasting influence on Australian society. 

Why Punk? centres on the congregation of musicians from all parts of the country in Melbourne during the years 1977 to 1982. 

While The Ramones and Sex Pistols made waves internationally, in Australia a generation of young artists challenged the status quo with aggressive sounds, progressive attitudes and an experimental, anything-goes music scene the likes that had never been seen before.  

While corporate record labels waved record deals in front of punk outliers, JAB, Boys Next Door, The Negatives and Teenage Radio Stars and more, The Little Band scene emerged. Refusing to be pigeonholed by the music establishment, Little Bands nights consisted of makeshift bands with rotating band members that would stage spontaneous one-off gigs (roughly) once a month. 

With no perceived commercial value to record labels, The Little Band scene became an incubator for creativity and experimentation that spurned the likes of Dead Can Dance, Dirty Three and more.  

Today much of Australia’s rich punk history has largely vanished from sight. Why Punk? celebrates the musical pioneers and unsung heroes of this era through innovative recreations and recently unearthed archives of mostly never-seen-before photographs, 16mm and 8mm films, video, audio recordings, handbills and more. 

Featuring interviews with musical pioneers such as Ash Wednesday, Denise Rosenberg and unsung heroes such as Alan Bamford, alongside never-seen-before archive, Why Punk will bring to life the story of how a generation of misfits challenged established power structures and upended conservative society like never before. 

In Why Punk? we explore how the simple act of forming bands, organising gigs and harnessing he collective creativity of a generation, had a lasting influence on Australian society.