When we started talking about doing an issue of CREEM that celebrated punk, my first reaction was: “Do we have to? I hate punk." As editorial director and resident CREEM OG, I went so far as to put my lug-soled Blundstone boots down—okay, my Balenciaga blue City Flats—and said, “No way!" Which is a ridiculous thing to say out loud in this office given that Dave Marsh first used the phrase “punk rock" in these pages back in 1971, long before it sported devilocks, mohawks, creepers, and spike bands—or worse, required a purity test. Before punk had a dress code, a doctrine, or a marketing plan, it was just a band that didn’t give a fuck. That’s the part worth celebrating.