Television is an American rock music band, formed in New York City in 1973. Although Television have never had more than a cult audience in their American homeland, they have achieved significant commercial success in Europe, and today are widely regarded as one of the key founders of punk rock. Television was a part of the early New York punk rock scene, contemporary with bands like the Patti Smith Group and the Ramones. In contrast to the Ramones' focus on rock 'n' roll minimalism, Television's music was much more technically proficient, defined by the dueling guitars of Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd.

The Heartbreakers, also known as Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, were an American rock & roll band formed in New York in May 1975. The band was part of the first wave of punk rock.

The Ramones' were an American rock band often regarded as the first punk rock group. Formed in Forest Hills, Queens, New York, in 1974, all of the band members adopted pseudonyms ending with "Ramone", though none of them were actually related. They performed 2,263 concerts, touring virtually nonstop for 22 years. In 1996, after a tour with the Lollapalooza music festival, the band played a farewell show and disbanded. A little more than eight years after the breakup, the band's three founding members - lead singer Joey Ramone, guitarist Johnny Ramone, and bassist Dee Dee Ramone - were dead. The Ramones were a major influence on the punk rock movement both in the United States and the United Kingdom, though they achieved only minor commercial success. Their only record with enough U.S. sales to be certified gold was the compilation album Ramones Mania. Recognition of the band's importance built over the years, and they are now cited in many assessments of all-time great rock music, such as the Rolling Stone lists of the 50 Greatest Artists of All Time and 25 Greatest Live Albums of All Time, VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock, and Mojos 100 Greatest Albums. In 2002, the Ramones were ranked the second greatest band of all time by Spin magazine, trailing only The Beatles. On March 18, 2002, the Ramones - including the three founders and drummers Marky and Tommy Ramone - were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The Neon Boys was a New York band during the early 1970s, composed of Tom Verlaine, Richard Hell, and Billy Ficca. The trio later went on to form the American rock band Television in 1973. Richard Hell also went on to be in the important early NY punk band Richard Hell and the Voidoids. Some of the Neon Boys' recordings were released on a posthumous 1980 EP, backed with two songs by Richard Hell and the Voidoids.

Richard Hell (born Richard Meyers; October 2, 1949) is a Jewish American singer, songwriter, bass guitarist, and writer. Hell is probably best known as frontman for the early punk rock band Richard Hell & The Voidoids. Their 1977 album, Blank Generation, influenced many other punk bands. Its title song was named "One of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock" by music writers in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listing, and, for instance, is ranked as one of the all-time top-ten punk songs by a 2006 poll of original British punk figures, as reported in the Rough Guide to Punk. Hell was an originator of the punk fashion look, the first to spike his hair and wear torn, cut and drawn-on shirts, often held together with safety pins. Malcolm McLaren, manager of the Sex Pistols, has said Hell was an important inspiration for the Sex Pistols' look and attitude, as well as the safety-pin accessorized clothing McLaren sold in his London shop, Sex. Since the late 1980s Hell has devoted himself primarily to writing, publishing two novels, as well as several other books. He was the film critic for BlackBook magazine from 2004 - 2006.

Robert W. Quine (December 30, 1942 - May 31, 2004) was an American guitarist, known for his innovative guitar solos.A native of Akron, Ohio, Quine worked with a wide range of musicians, though he himself remained relatively unknown in comparison. Critic Mark Demming writes "Quine's eclectic style embraced influences from jazz, rock, and blues players of all stripes, and his thoughtful technique and uncompromising approach led to rewarding collaborations with a number of visionary musicians." His collaborators include Richard Hell & the Voidoids, Lou Reed, Brian Eno, John Zorn, Ikue Mori, Marc Ribot, Marianne Faithfull, Lloyd Cole, Tom Waits, Matthew Sweet, Odds, Jody Harris {Escape}, and many more, including a rare 7" by Lester Bangs. Rock critic and friend Lester Bangs once said of him: Someday Quine will be recognized for the pivotal figure that he is on his instrument - he is the first guitarist to take the breakthroughs of early Lou Reed and James Williamson and work through them to a new, individual vocabulary, driven into odd places by obsessive attention to On the Corner-era Miles Davis. Quine is number 80 on Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" list. Quine was a nephew of the philosopher W. V. Quine and first cousin once removed of The Black Keys' guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach.

The Misfits are an American rock band often recognized as the progenitors of the horror punk subgenre, blending punk rock and other musical influences with horror film themes and imagery. Founded in 1977 in Lodi, New Jersey by singer and songwriter Glenn Danzig, the group had a fluctuating lineup during its first six years with Danzig and bassist Jerry Only as the only consistent members. During this time they released several EPs and singles and, with Only's brother Doyle as guitarist, the albums Walk Among Us and Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood, both considered touchstones of the early-1980s hardcore punk movement. The Misfits disbanded in 1983 and Danzig went on to form Samhain and then Danzig. Several albums of reissued and previously unreleased material were issued after the group's dissolution, and their music became influential to punk rock, heavy metal, and alternative rock music of the late 1990s and early 2000s. After a series of legal battles with Danzig, Only and Doyle regained the rights to record and perform as the Misfits. They formed a new version of the band in 1995 with singer Michale Graves and drummer Dr. Chud. This incarnation of the Misfits had a sound much more rooted in heavy metal and released the albums American Psycho and Famous Monsters before dissolving in 2000. Only then took over lead vocals and recruited former Black Flag guitarist Dez Cadena and former Ramones drummer Marky Ramone for a Misfits 25th Anniversary tour. This lineup released an album of cover songs entitled Project 1950 and toured for several years. In 2005 Ramone was replaced by Robo, who had played with Black Flag in the early 1980s and had also previously been the Misfits' drummer from 1982 to 1983. The current lineup of Only, Cadena, and Robo continues to tour and has announced plans to record an album of new material.

The New York Dolls are an American rock band, formed in New York City in 1971. In 2004 the band reformed with three of their original members, two of whom, David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain, continue on today and released a new album in 2006. The original bassist, Arthur Kane died shortly after their first reunion concert. The band's protopunk sound prefigured much of what was to come in the punk rock era; their visual style influenced the look of many new wave and 1980s-era glam metal groups, and they began the local New York scene that later spawned the Ramones, Blondie, Television, and Talking Heads.

The Raybeats were an instrumental neo-surf rock combo from New York City that arose from the No Wave musical scene. The original line-up consisted of Don Christensen (drums), Jody Harris, Pat Irwin, and George Scott III (bass).

Osaka Popstar is a pop punk supergroup formed in 2006 by New Yorker John Cafiero. Cafiero wanted an outlet to express his music but also incorporate his love for Japanese anime. In 2006, Cafiero teamed up with several well known punk rock artists to create the anime based punk group, Osaka Popstar. They released their debut album/DVD on May 23, 2006. Their lyrics consist of topics such as characters in Japanese anime like Astroboy and Sailor Moon. The first single off the album was a cover of singer/song writer Daniel Johnston, entitled "Wicked World."They toured as special guests with The Misfits in Fiend Fest '06 across the United States and other dates in Europe with stops in Tijuana, Mexico and Montreal, Quebec in October and November 2006. Their album was released in Japan in June 2007.

Material is a musical group formed in 1979 and led by bass guitarist Bill Laswell.

Jody Harris is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and composer who was born in Kansas and became a central figure in the seminal No Wave scene in New York City in the 1970s.

Ivan Julian (born June 26, 1955) is a guitarist and bassist, founding member of the seminal Punk/ New Wave group Richard Hell and the Voidoids, The Outsets and Lovelies He has performed with the Isley Brothers, The Clash, Matthew Sweet, and Shriekback.

Blondie is an American rock band that first gained fame in the late 1970s and has so far sold over 30 million albums. The band was a pioneer in the early American new wave and punk rock scenes. Their first two albums contained strong elements of these genres, and although successful in the United Kingdom and Australia, Blondie was regarded as an underground band in the United States until the release of Parallel Lines in 1978. Over the next three years, the band achieved several hit singles and was noted for its eclectic mix of musical styles incorporating elements of disco, pop and reggae, while retaining a basic style as a new wave band.In spite of their hits, several factors weakened the group. Deborah Harry achieved a level of celebrity that eclipsed that of other band members. Their album "The Hunter", released in 1982, was poorly received. Core member Chris Stein was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. These factors led to the dissolution of the group in 1982.As members pursued other projects, Blondie's reputation grew over the following decade and the group reformed in 1997, achieving renewed success and a number one single in the United Kingdom with "Maria" in 1999. The group toured and performed throughout the world over the following years, and was inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the RockWalk of Fame in 2006.

Black Flag was an American punk rock band formed in 1977 in Hermosa Beach, California. The band was established largely as the brainchild of Greg Ginn: the guitarist, primary songwriter and sole continuous member through multiple personnel changes. They are widely considered to be one of the first hardcore punk bands. Black Flag forged a unique sound early on that mixed the raw simplicity of the Ramones with atonal and microtonal guitar solos and frequent tempo shifts. The band was also known for the intense and evocative lyrics found in their songs, most of which were penned by Ginn. Like other punk bands of this era, Black Flag gave voice to an anti-authoritarian, non-conformist message, featuring songs punctuated with descriptions of isolation, neurosis, poverty, and paranoia, themes that would be explored further when Henry Rollins joined the group as lead singer in 1981. Most of the band's material was released on Ginn's independent label, SST Records. Black Flag was - and remains - well respected among their underground culture, with their influence primarily in their tireless promotion of a self-controlled DIY ethic and aesthetic. They are often regarded as pioneers in the movement of underground do-it-yourself record labels that flourished among the 1980s punk rock bands. Through seemingly constant touring throughout the United States and Canada, and occasionally Europe, Black Flag established an extremely dedicated fan base. Many other musicians would follow Black Flag's lead and book their own tours, utilizing a word-of-mouth network. Over the course of the 1980s, Black Flag's sound, as well as their notoriety, evolved in ways that alienated much of their early punk audience. As well as being central to the creation of hardcore, they were part of the first wave of American West Coast punk rock and are considered a key influence on the punk subculture. Along with being among the earliest punk rock groups to incorporate elements and the influence of heavy metal melodies and rhythm (particularly in their later records), there were often overt freestyles, free jazz, breakbeat and contemporary classical elements in their sound, especially in Ginn's guitar playing, and the band interspersed records and performances with instrumentals throughout their career. They also played longer, slower, and more complex songs at a time when many bands in their milieu stuck to a raw, fast, three-chord format. As a result, Black Flag's extensive discography is more varied than many of their punk rock contemporaries.