CY8ERPUNKS

Timeline

Era 1 · 1975–1982

Proto-cyberpunk

the term exists before the label

  1. 1975

    John Brunner, The Shockwave Rider

    Coins predicts computer viruses, networks, data havens, the Delphi pool. Also Brunner's Stand on Zanzibar (1968) for the pop-collage prose technique.

  2. 1976

    Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene

    Coins Necessary for any later discussion of viral culture and information propagation.

  3. 1977

    Foucault, Discipline and Punish

    (English). The as the model of modern power. All surveillance discourse descends from it.

  4. 1977

    H.R. Giger, Necronomicon

    (US ed.). Biomechanical aesthetic. Alien (1979) brings it to mass audience.

  5. 1977

    V. Vale, Search & Destroy

    (punk zine, SF, 1977–79). Precursor to (1980 onward).

  6. 1977

    Kraftwerk, Trans-Europe Express

    Suicide s/t; Throbbing Gristle.

  7. 1977

    The 1977 trinity

    Apple II, Commodore PET, TRS-80. Computing enters the home.

  8. 1978

    Omni magazine launches

    (Oct 1978; Kathy Keeton and Bob Guccione, Penthouse). Glossy, futurist, science + SF + pseudoscience side by side. Published Gibson's "Johnny Mnemonic" (1981) and "Burning Chrome" (1982). Also an early H.R. Giger showcase. Omni is what "a forward-facing tech magazine" looked like in 1978 — study it closely.

  9. 1978

    The Normal, "Warm Leatherette"

    A J.G. Ballard Crash adaptation as synth single. The Ballard→music pipeline in one record.

  10. 1978

    Yellow Magic Orchestra

    Debut. Japan's techno-pop; Solid State Survivor (1979).

  11. 1979

    Ridley Scott, Alien

    (film). Also Stalker (1979, Tarkovsky).

  12. 1979

    Church of the SubGenius founded

    (Ivan Stang, Philo Drummond, Dr. X; first pamphlet Dallas 1979). Parody religion as collage-art pranksterism, "Bob" Dobbs, Direct ancestor of the 80s zine aesthetic and of Wired's weirder register. Also: Book of the SubGenius (1983).

  13. 1979

    Gary Numan, Replicas / The Pleasure Principle

    ("Are 'Friends' Electric?", "Cars"). The man-machine alienation single.

  14. 1980

    Bruce Bethke writes the short story "Cyberpunk"

    (published Amazing Stories, 1983). Coined as a title, later adopted as a genre label.

  15. 1980

    RE/Search

    Begins publication (V. Vale, Andrea Juno).

  16. 1980

    Usenet

    Established (Truscott & Ellis, 1980).

  17. 1981

    Vernor Vinge, True Names

    First fully fleshed-out in fiction. Predates Gibson's coinage by a year.

  18. 1981

    MTV launches

    (Aug 1, 1981). Music video as a visual grammar for the decade; the movement's aesthetic spreads through it.

  19. 1981

    Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation

    Simulacra, hyperreality. Later famously on-screen in The Matrix.

  20. 1981

    Processed World

    Situationist anti-work zine about office technology and the "temp" economy. The labor critique of the cyber future.

  21. 1981

    Kraftwerk, Computer World

    (May 1981). The pivot record.

  22. 1981

    Laurie Anderson, "O Superman."

    Performance/tech art crossover.

  23. 1982

    Interzone

    (UK SF magazine, 1982–) — where the British wing of the genre published.

  24. 1982

    William Gibson, "Burning Chrome," Omni

    Also "the sprawl" is seeded here.

  25. 1982

    Blade Runner

    (June 1982). — and the one most responsible for the retro re-hash problem. Note that its actual concerns (replicant personhood, memory, what counts as a person) are AI concerns, not chrome concerns.

  26. 1982

    Tron

    (July 1982). First mass visual of "inside the computer."

  27. 1982

    Factsheet Five

    Launched (1982, Mike Gunderloy) — the zine-review network. The discovery layer of the pre-web underground.

  28. 1982

    Katsuhiro Otomo, Akira

    (manga begins 1982).

  29. 1982

    Afrika Bambaataa, "Planet Rock."

    Kraftwerk + TR-808 → hip-hop and electro. The machine-music lineage forks.

  30. 1982

    Cybotron, "Clear" / Enter

    (Juan Atkins, Rik Davis). Detroit techno's origin point — and it's literally named cyber.