Viewed by some as the raucous caterwauling

of an army of talentless ne'er-do-wells,

and by others as an artistic movement

that punctured the pomposity of the establishment

with a safety pin and then gobbed in it's face.

Either way, it happened.

It had a huge impact,

and here's how it was born in the UK.

It's the mid 70s

and the UK is a place of industrial action,

the three day week

and the feeling that the energy of the 60s

hasn't quite translated into the floral,

free love utopia it promised.

In music, stadium rock and ABBA rule,

and disco is starting to send it's sequined soaked glamour

across the Atlantic.

For some young people, the dichotomy

of what they see in their streets

and what they see on Top of the Pops

is too much to handle.

It's time for a change.

The 60s tried love, they will try anger.

(electric guitar vibrating)

On the Old Kent road, Steve Jones, Glen Matlock

and Paul Cook all meet at the fashion store SEX

owned by designer Vivian Westwood

and her boyfriend Malcolm McLaren.

Searching for a lead singer,

a young John Lydon is spotted wearing an

"I hate Pink Floyd" t-shirt

and recruited to front what would become the Sex Pistols.

The combination of the band's

driving garage rock and roll sound

and Lydon's acerbic and political lyrics

would set the tone for what was to follow.

Throughout 1976,

the touring Sex Pistols would start to influence

many artists around the country.

Producing pockets of Punk

that would grow in their own directions.

Singer with the pub-rock band

the 101ers, Joe Strummer,

saw the Sex Pistols and instantly started The Clash.

("London Calling")

Howard Devoto and Pete Shelley,

who would later form The Buzzcocks,

saw the Pistols and invited the band to perform

in Manchester at the Lesser Free Trade Hall.

- [Man] Some weird noises coming out of these things.

(punk music)

- [Narrator] That show was attended

by Peter Hook and Bernard Sumner

Morrissey

and Mark E. Smith

who respectively went on to form Joy Division,

The Smiths and The Fall.

The Punk sound and aesthetic was also being influenced

by a concurrent scene coming out of New York

led by The Ramones.

The Ramones landed in the UK,

played a seminal gig at Camden's Roundhouse

attended by many of those who had become stalwarts

of the UK Punk scene.

All that was needed now

was for Punk to break into the mainstream,

and first out of the blocks was The Damned,

releasing the first Punk single New Rose,

the three minute masterpiece written by Brian James.

(Punk music)

And then, the moment that really shoved Punk

into the national consciousness,

the infamous appearance of the Sex Pistols

on Bill Grundy's Today Show.

After being drafted in as late replacements for Queen,

the Pistols turned the air blue

after being goaded by the host.

- Go on, you've got another five seconds

say something outrageous.

- You dirty bastard. - Good Lord!

- [Narrator] This led to headlines across the national press

and the cancellation of their upcoming

Anarchy Tour of the UK.

♪ One, two, three, four! ♪

Heading into 1977, an army of bands had formed

with the new sound and attitude,

ready to turn music, art, politics,

and culture on its head.

So, that's the story of the Birth of Punk in the UK,

but how exactly did Punk change the cultural landscape?

- So, one of the ways that Punk really effected culture

is you have for the fist time in the UK,

low-culture transcending into higher culture.

And what I mean by that,

you had examples with the mods and the rockers,

different moral panics where the mainstream press,

and really the framework of society,

was terrified that a youth movement would

change the values, the ethos,

and the way the people lived in Britain.

But what happened with Punk

is you go from kids using that music,

that energy as a way to express their circumstances,

whether it's being working class,

not being able to get a job.

And, it going from a small specific group of people

into the wider pantheon, if you would,

of the kind of fashion being on the runway.

And now it's to the point where at Tiffany's,

the most expensive jeweller probably in the world,

or the most notorious jeweller,

you can get a platinum lock

like the one that Sid Vicious wore.

So, it's the ultimate going from

something that is impactful and meaningful

for a specific group

to something that's just a fashion statement.