"When punk rock came along, the one thing you were not supposed to be was musical"

Nick Lowe's quote speaks with the principles of hard rock, which was a genre of music that emerged in the mid-1970s. Hard rock was a response to the popular music of the time, which was often seen as overly sleek and commercialized. Punk rockers looked for to develop a more raw and genuine noise, and the quote suggests that they did not want to be seen as extremely musical. Instead, punk rockers wished to stress the energy and mindset of their music, rather than the technical ability of the artists. This attitude was reflected in the DIY visual of punk rock, which encouraged fans to produce their own music and art. Hard rock was a disobedience versus the status quo, and Nick Lowe's quote captures the spirit of the category completely.