the word "retro" (an intermittent series - 2 of ??)

 

Surprised / intrigued to see the term "retro" pop up as early as 1977 in this singles column by Jon Savage for Sounds, November 5 of that year.  

The reference to "retro-Punk" and "history-Punk" seems to be preparing the ground for the New Musick initiative in the month ahead, with Savage and fellow Sounds writers Vivien Goldman, Sandy Robertson, Jane Suck, et al, identifying and forecasting directions out of punk and into what we now think of as post-punk. 

"Post punk" is actually a word Savage uses in his intro for the New Musick feature-package (which stretched across two issues of Sounds, November 26 and December 3rd) but as an adjective rather than a noun: "post punk projections". 

Several weeks earlier, the deployment of "retro-Punk" already hints that there's been an conservative outcome to punk (a narrowed vision: bring back basic teenage rock'n'roll) and that the direction to get behind and push is the more expansive vanguard. 

I'm curious if there are earlier examples of "retro" being used in the context of Anglosphere music and youth culture...