In 1977, punk rock was on the verge of an explosion in popularity in the United States. The music industry took note, already in a position to capitalize on the passion behind punk despite not fully understanding it. But even if industry executives thought the punk movement could be a huge moneymaker, they prepared for punk to fail. As music critic Robert Christgau for The Village Voice wrote of music industry executives, “they know … that the rock audience is as put off by the rough, the extreme, and the unfamiliar as they are.
Source: 1980s pop culture has poisoned today’s art — it’s time to let it die