RE: Punk gets harder, and embraces more distortion, still not caring about prowess... Hardcore [Metal Tree: 12]
One of my best friends and his older brother were my roommates in early college. I also hung out with them in high school. His brother was way into punk and early industrial. They both would do the shave heads big full on 8 inch fins of mohawks and they often would be hanging with me when I was typically very long haired and often rocking a mullet. My hair at its longest was about midway down my back.
I actually had long hair like that for 13 years. I cut it the day before I went to interview for a job with IBM. I got the job. Two weeks later I was training a temp that had longer hair than what I had just cut. LOL. It's a strange world.
Anyway, I was exposed to punk a lot. It wasn't really my thing. I liked the attitude and the intensity. I however, was a guitar player and practicing a lot trying to get good, and MOST (there definitely are exceptions) punk is not at all impressive from the guitarist point of view. So IF the guitar were not a factor I likely would have been way more into them than I was. Instead Thrash Metal tended to be my thing at that time. Same intensity and mostly attitude, but it scratched my guitar itch quite well.