Alternative TV

Mark Perry's initial contribution to punk rock came as one of the movement's first D.I.Y. journalists. Perry started the legendary fanzine SNIFFIN' GLUE and provided an essential chronicle of the early scene. Frustrated with the immediate commercial co-option of the movement, Perry started the band Alternative TV in 1976. Refusing to be strapped by punk's burgeoning musical and aesthetic orthodoxy, ATV looked to sounds as diverse as reggae, krautrock, Frank Zappa, and straight pop for inspiration. The band existed sporadically, in various incarnations, throughout the 1980s and '90s, and always represented the ethics and spirit of punk (if not always the classic sound) in its pure form.