It’s pretty hilarious when you watch old news reports of people freaking out about stuff that’s relatively normal now. Back in 1982, punk and hardcore was still emerging and see as the kind of music from the wrong side of the tracks and people were actively scared of people that dressed like that and played in bands like those.

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Obviously this is absolutely jokes now because even if you don’t like that kind of music, bands like Marilyn Manson, My Chemical Romance and whoever the hell else are so huge that it’s pretty much an accepted subsection of society, even if there’s loads of beef between them and some of the other music genres. Back then though it was a completely different story, as this news segment in New York City called ‘2 On The Town’ sought to expose, with hilarious consequences 34 years on:

Whoa, some of those shows looked pretty wild then. This is surprisingly unbiased though for news reporters back then although you can bet everyone back home was watching this and thinking ‘what the hell are these guys talking about?’ Especially the guy who didn’t like drinking at the local bar or getting with the local girl – like there was anything else you could do back then instead right?

Great cameo from Quincy though, and an early realisation of the dangers of television. Fascinating stuff.

For more of the same, check out what happened when Rage Against The Machine got accidentally booked to play a small town in the middle of nowhere.