Back in the 1980s Mike Peters, lead singer of the band Alarm, sang about the spirit of ’76. He was then referring to the spirit that took the world music scene by storm in 1976 with the punk explosion. It was then a breath of fresh air to a stale music scene that was dictated by boy bands and rich pompous rock groups signed with the major record labels who were well past their expiry date.

Only the most talented of bands like Queen and Pink Floyd managed to survive by changing their style. A new wave of bands started to emerge playing the three chords composing their own music while exposing their rebellious look especially in a UK devastated by unemployment. Most of the original punk performers came from working-class families and/or had a difficult childhood.

Through punk a new generation attempted to shock Britain to get it out of its cosy complacency. The most notorious of such new bands were obviously the Sex Pistols and the Clash. Clothes were part of it all and the fashion was all about sex. Studs, straight-legged trousers and spiky and brightly coloured hairdos were the norm.

The ideals of punk lived in different forms and influenced various musical styles in the following decades. The most evident and immediate of punk influences reflected towards the end of the 1970s in what was known as the new wave movement or post punk with the inception of legendary bands like the Jam, Boomtown Rats and Blondie among others.

The look and the music became more sophisticated. Most bands still transmitted social and rebellious messages through their music, which were also musically influenced by early 1970s Roxy Music and David Bowie, among others. In the early 1980s, music became artier with the advent of the New Romantics movement with artists like Adam and the Ants (that started as a punk group); Ultravox and later bands like Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet and the Smiths. In the late 1980s and the 1990s the scene once again started to be dominated mostly by boy bands as Take That or New Kids on the Block and artists like Madonna; on the other hand bands like Green Day and Nirvana somehow managed to kept the spirit alive.

Those who like myself experienced that era and still have the interest in such music pumping thru’ their veins they must now be thrilled with the string of new bands presently bubbling in the alternative scene. The success that new bands like Franz Ferdinand; Kaiser Chiefs, Bloc Party and Arctic Monkeys are obtaining is a proof, with influences varying from the Jam to Human League. Pete Doherty leading the Baby Shambles and boyfriend to top model Kate Moss seems to be the personification of the late Sid Vicious. These bands are mostly using the internet as their launching pad to success. Today one can surf thru’ the net especially in Myspace.com and encounter hundreds of such bands. Another new band that seems destined to stardom is my current favourite White Rose Movement who are revitalising the electropop of the early eighties. The songs are catchy even for my eight-year-old Kim (named after Kim Wilde) and four-year-old Adam (named after Adam Ant) both of them sing along a particular track called Girls at the Back. Yes the alternative music scene is exciting and there is plenty of it for today’s generation who may like to endeavour with some good stuff taking a break from the usual techno beat or whatever that means. The spirit of ’76 is alive in Malta as well, thanks to some fine alternative local bands and to events that are being organised regularly in various clubs.