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What is protopunk?
Retrospective term to describe music that influenced what would be coined as punk rock. It tended to be somewhat more aggressive than its contemporaries and often had anti-authoritarian themes.Such music included, The Velvet Underground, The Stooges, bands on the Nuggets compilation, The Sonics, The Seeds, The Monks, Patti Smith, The Dictators, New York Dolls, MC5, Richard Hell & the Voidoids, Neu!, etc. Not all influences of punk rock bands can be called protopunk. For example, Crass was influenced by experimentalist compser, John Cage, but nobody would call him a protopunk artist.
Iggy Pop got his start in a protopunk band called The Stooges.