Egg punk

Egg punk is a subgenre of punk rock that emerged during the 2010s. It is an internet-based microgenre based upon bands with a lo-fi recording style and satirical tone. The genre is influenced by new wave band Devo and historically referred to as Devo-core. The origins of egg punk are attributed both to a community of DIY midwestern American punk rock artists from the early 2010s, including The Coneheads and Lumpy and the Dumpers, and their subsequent characterization as "egg punk" by a series of internet memes circulated in the late 2010s.

The music of egg punk is influenced by the do-it-yourself ethos of punk subculture, characterized by the use of minimal or lo-fi recording and mixing methods and hand-drawn or collage album covers.^[1] Also described as Devo-core, the genre is heavily influenced by the music of new wave band Devo as both an aesthetic and stylistic influence.^[2][1][3] Pitchfork described the genre as "subversive", "experimental", and typified by "wry lyrics and cheapo keyboards".^[2] John Robb wrote that the subgenre consisted of "lo-fi perfectly ‘badly’ recorded fast punk rock songs", featuring "garage melody with jitterbug jittery guitars and even sometimes cheapo synths" and oriented towards "cocking a snoop at punk’s sometimes seriousity instead embracing introvert nerds, alien noise fiends and manic goofy behaviour".^[4]

The nomenclature of egg punk was Internet-based and originated from a series of internet memes circulated in 2017 that proposed a spectrum of punk rock music between "egg punk" and "chain punk".^[5][6] The meme was intended to distinguish between the traditionalism and aggression of "chain punk" with the more experimental and satirical approach of "egg punk".^[5][7][2] The microgenre describes a range of punk rock bands active in the earlier 2010s in the Midwestern United States, centrally the Indiana band The Coneheads, founded in 2013 and led by Mark Winter,^[4] and St. Louis band Lumpy and the Dumpers, whose frontman, Martin Meyer, would distribute similar cassette recordings under label Lumpy Records.^[3] Other Midwest bands adopting a similar approach included Uranium Club in Minneapolis, and Warm Bodies in Kansas City.^[6] The satirical tone and style of these bands have been considered as a response to the traditional "chain punk" bands in the local scene that were viewed as taking their music and message too seriously.^[8][1][5] The increased visibility of the egg punk scene was attributed to the distribution of rips of cassette tapes to YouTube by mononymous user Jimmy.^[5][3][9] The onset of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 has been also suggested to have facilitated the adoption of egg punk as musicians had more time and fewer resources to create music, leading to greater openness to a DIY approach.^[6] Egg punk has extended outside the Midwest to several regions, including the Australian punk scene.^[3]