India, April 10 -- On a sweltering New York evening in August 1974, four young men from Queens walked on stage at a grimy bar in Lower Manhattan and launched into a set so short and ferocious that the audience barely had time to register what was happening before it was over.

The Ramones - Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy; not related, just sharing an assumed surname - played about 20 songs in under 20 minutes. There were no solos, ballads or fog machines. Just a count-in of "One, two, three, four" and a wall of buzz-saw noise.

Something had begun. It didn't even have a name yet.

Pinpointing when punk was born is the kind of exercise critics enjoy and musicians find tedious. But if one must draw a line in the sand, 1976 is a good place ...