It's interesting that someone who is as intelligent as you can have such blinders on. Just because you are not aware of it doesn't mean that ... with few exceptions the punk movement produced no music that survived that particular era of pissed off teens.
There are bunches of first wave punk bands who continue to put out music to this day, the Buzzcocks and Stiff Little Fingers spring to mind. The first wave of punk continues to have an enormous influence on modern rock music. Not modern music, but modern ROCK music. Bands like the Ramones and the Clash are name checked every day by someone as a major influence. The Clash, in particular are a lot of the reason there is music that crosses genres. Their back catalog continues to sell a lot. Interesting for a band that ceased to exist 25 years ago. The Stooges toured and put out a new album just a couple years ago. Paul Weller of the Jam continues to put out albums of very fine music (I don't particularly like what he does, but it is very good). The Sex Pistols tour, and their one LP is still a stock item in record stores everywhere. Go into Best Buy and The Clash, The Sex Pistols, The Stooges and many others are still there.
But the most important thing is that the form lives on. It's called rock and roll. The punks took a part of it, the part that comes down from Chuck Berry, with his lovingly sarcastic views of teenage life and Link Wray, with his "I cranked it up to 11 before 11 was cool" attitude and combined them into some of the best rock and roll.
The records from that era continue to sell, maybe not in the millions, deep catalog artists don't sell millions, but they continue to sell, and they continue to influence.
Punk
There are bunches of first wave punk bands who continue to put out music to this day, the Buzzcocks and Stiff Little Fingers spring to mind. The first wave of punk continues to have an enormous influence on modern rock music. Not modern music, but modern ROCK music. Bands like the Ramones and the Clash are name checked every day by someone as a major influence. The Clash, in particular are a lot of the reason there is music that crosses genres. Their back catalog continues to sell a lot. Interesting for a band that ceased to exist 25 years ago. The Stooges toured and put out a new album just a couple years ago. Paul Weller of the Jam continues to put out albums of very fine music (I don't particularly like what he does, but it is very good). The Sex Pistols tour, and their one LP is still a stock item in record stores everywhere. Go into Best Buy and The Clash, The Sex Pistols, The Stooges and many others are still there.
But the most important thing is that the form lives on. It's called rock and roll. The punks took a part of it, the part that comes down from Chuck Berry, with his lovingly sarcastic views of teenage life and Link Wray, with his "I cranked it up to 11 before 11 was cool" attitude and combined them into some of the best rock and roll.
The records from that era continue to sell, maybe not in the millions, deep catalog artists don't sell millions, but they continue to sell, and they continue to influence.