Having actually been known as a "punk artist" for the past 30 years, and having done many shows at CBGB's, everywhere in Boston and a ton of rat holes in between, I will first correct one poster here. Punk was NOT about anti-establishment. It WAS about DIY, the alternative to the then dominant, over-produced, arena album rock at the time. Think ELO, then strip all the Jeff Lynne out of it. Boston, without the million thick guitars and perfectly done vox. Think three minute songs, not three hour songs.
Second, best advice I ever got was from a punk legend. When it came to bass, your bass itself should be turned all the way up, including the tone. Every pickup should be in (although lets face it, most of us had some variation of a P-Bass or a Ric then because cheap P's and Rics could be found) Since in the beginning we didn't have amps with graphic eq, and sometimes we used guitar amps, the bass, treble and mid (if you had it) would all be relatively equal, although you would normally put the bass and treble one notch higher then the mid.
String choice doesn't really matter either. Great tones from Graham Maby (tapewounds), Paul Simonen (rounds) and Bruce Foxton (I seem to remember he had both flats and rounds on his rics, just depended on the color he was using that day.)
Punk was never meant to be a musical style. It was a movement. And not a social movement, but a musical movement. Much of what was labeled punk then was also pop. "Should I Stay or Should I Go." Is it a pop record or a punk record? See...
