DOC's Top 25 Punk Rock Albums

[Death on Credit]

Punk rock has always been important to me. My dad was a big part of the hardcore scene in the 80's, and I grew up with it the same way that other people grew up with the Beatles. It's not composed of virtuosic musicians, but there's a minimalism about it that is, to me, far more appealing. It has heart, soul, passion, and bare-boned honesty. These are the albums that represent the genre's best in my never humble opinion.

First, a few honorable mentions:
David Bowie - For some reason, he doesn't often get his due as a major precursor to the genre, but he is just as important to the genre as Lou Reed or Iggy Pop. However, I just couldn't make room for him.
Minor Threat - One of the mainstays of the hardcore movement, and the band that started the "straight edge" subculture. I don't have enough familiarity with them to put them on my list.
Joan Jett - An important female in the movement, undoubtedly. Once again, there just wasn't enough room.
The Misfits - Solid, but way too gimmicky for me.
The Sonics, and other garage bands - Influential? Yes. Punk? Not really.

Now, without further ado...

25. Young, Loud, and Snotty by the Dead Boys

The title itself, a rally call of sorts, is almost enough to justify their inclusion. If punk is first and foremost an attitude, than the Dead Boys easily come in at the top of the pack. From Stiv Bators' snarl to Cheetah Chrome's powerful guitar playing, these guys are a perfect embodiment of punk.

24. How Could Hell be Any Worse by Bad Religion

The slaughtered idealism of the 80's in an album. Coming in at the end of the hardcore movement, Bad Religion covers themes that are not uncommon in punk - politics, religion (clearly), and social criticism. The difference? For all their bitterness, they're actually fun.

23. Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division

For the first few years, British and American punk was fairly similar. This is the point where that ceased to be true. While punk in the US got louder and faster, it turned into full on desolation in the UK. Thus, Joy Division. Without quite meaning to, the band invented goth rock.

22. Germ-Free Adolescents by X-Ray Spex

X-Ray Spex lead-singer Poly Styrene proved that punk was not just a boy's club. She could go toe-to-toe with any of the big boys. Pure punk. On the band's classic 'Oh Bondage Up Yours!', Styrene sings like she's struggling furiously to get out of chains.

21. Singles Going Steady by the Buzzcocks

One of the best compilation albums out there, topping any of their studio albums on most essentials lists. The Buzzcocks, as one of the founders of pop-punk, are far more accessible than other punk bands. Contains the classic, much covered 'Ever Fall in Love'.

5 more tomorrow.

 

[jtrichey13]

I saw the Buzzcocks open for Pearl Jam a few years back. They were the loudest band I've ever heard. Whether that's a compliment or not depends on your mood I guess.

 

[Death on Credit]

For the Buzzcocks, that sounds like a compliment.

I've missed several opportunities to see them play, and I very much regret it.

 

[Cosmic Harmony]

Glad to see Bad Religion make your list in some way DOC.

 

[electric funeral]

This is very interesting, gonna follow this.

 

[Death on Credit]

Next 5...

20. The Adolescents

By the books LA hardcore...With the added bonus of having a guitar player who can actually play really well. The epitome of music for the angry, young, and poor. They play with a very distinct love and affection for the punk rock lifestyle.

19. New York Dolls

These guys reveled in the art of not giving a ****. Taking the philosophy of the Rolling Stones to its bitter end, they slapped on lipstick and played with a hedonistic passion that screamed "The world is ending tomorrow...so let's have a ball."

18. White Light/White Heat by the Velvet Underground

The Velvet Underground was not a punk band. They were not a rock band, or an art band, or a folk band. They went above and beyond any sort of reliable classification. Nonetheless, the blistering 17-minute long Sister Ray may have invented the genre, taken it to new heights, and transcended it all at once. Influencing just about every even mildly cutting edge band that came after them, they are absolutely essential to anyone who enjoys unenjoyable music.

17. Marquee Moon by Television

Snob rock at its absolute finest. Before punks started wearing safety-pins in their eyelids, they were part of a new bohemia. Television exemplifies the early portion of punk history, when punks read books and tried their hand at philosophical subversion.

16. Zen Arcade by Hüsker Dü

A sprawling double concept album about a young boy who runs away from an abusive home and tries to find himself in everything from religion to war to love. The inevitable conclusion is that there's no light at the end of the tunnel. Equal parts nihilistic and hopeful, this album showed that there was more to hardcore than a race to see who could fit the most words into the shortest song.

 

[LG]

Nice to see you writing again DOC...

A little punk goes a long way for me...of the first ten records you've posted I'd take Joy Division and the Buzzcocks as my favorites.

 

[Death on Credit]

15. Milo Goes to College by the Descendents

The first (and perhaps only) punk band to be fronted by a singer with a doctorate in biochemistry. Green Day stole every move in their repertoire from these guys. A hardcore record that mixes in pop hooks, love songs, and nerd subculture. One of the most fun record to come out of the Southern California scene (which is not incredibly fun).

14. Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth

Revolutionary. There aren't many other ways to describe this record. They went places that many other groups have tried and failed to go before them. There's really no point of comparison; nothing else sounds like this.

13. L.A.M.F. by Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers

Thunders was always the shining star of the New York Dolls, and he comes out swinging here in a barrage of pure balls-to-the-wall rock 'n roll. With Johnny's slack-jawed New Yawk vocals and sloppy guitar riffs, he, with the immensely talented Heartbreakers, showed all the young punks how it was done.

12. Machine Gun Etiquette by the Damned

Their singer dressed like Bella Lugosi, their guitar player wore pink fur coats, and they had the wildest drummer to hit the rock scene since Mitch Mitchell. Unrepentantly campy, this album peaked the career of the first UK punk band to hit the radios. Featuring songs about carnival clowns, serial killers, James Dean, depression, and (naturally) smashing things, this was an instant classic for the movement. Somehow, the band has largely been buried by the cavalcade of other bands coming out at the same time.

11. Los Angeles by X

A punk band with expert harmonizing and honky tonk riffs? That's X. Produced by Ray Manzarek of the Doors, this is more than a solid punk record, it is an all around great rock record. "There are no angels, there are devils in many ways - take it like a man," they sing on the album's closing track 'The World's A Mess; It's In My Kiss.' Kills me every time.

 

[Death on Credit]

10. Kick Out the Jams by MC5

Detroit mix of psychedelia, garage rock, funk, free jazz, and loud as loud can be rock 'n roll. A wall of sound assault of radical left wing politics (the band described themselves as part of the White Panther Party), these guys were the real deal. This album is a vicious, bitter, sonic verbal attack on the status quo.

9. Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols

Love them or hate them (and there's a very good chance that if you love them, you're kind of missing the point), there's no denying how important they were. Every single other UK punk band on this list formed after seeing these guys play. Some say they were a marketing gimmick, and their manager claimed that this was so. However, if there's one thing that should be abundantly clear about Johnny Rotten, it's that NO ONE could tell him what to do. He was absolutely real, not a sheep being lead around by a savvy businessman.

8. Blank Generation by Richard Hell & the Voidoids

One of the smartest men in punk, and also one of the many whose careers were sadly lost to heroin abuse, Richard Hell is the man behind the entire punk aesthetic. One night, an angry girlfriend cut up all of his clothing, which he put back together with safety pins. The title track stands as one of the greatest punk anthems ever pinned, perfectly expressing the apathy that plagued the times. No doubt, Hell would have been much happier living in Paris in the late 1800's than New York in 1977, but punk would have been lost without him.

7. (MIA) The Complete Anthology by the Germs

One day, Darby Crash sat down a group of his friends, none of whom had ever touched a musical instrument, that they were going to form a band. He had a five year plan. Indeed, over the course of five years, the band started playing before they knew how, learned, got banned from every venue in Los Angeles, wrote a bunch of songs, recorded an album, toured under a fake name, broke up, had an oversold reunion show, and then Darby Crash committed suicide at the age of 22, the day before John Lennon died. Darby was an arrogant diva, a loud and whiny *****, but the kid knew how to pen a great hardcore song.

6. In Utero by Nirvana

That's right. There is one reason, and one reason only, that Nirvana does not get their do as one of the greatest punk rock bands ever; they were successful. Both critically and commercially, no other punk band had as much success. Perhaps the one band to have their legacy destroyed by the fact that they were the biggest band in the world. Punks are a very fickle group, and are personally offended when anyone can do what they love AND pay their rent. But why this album over their punkier on the surface Bleach, or the groundbreaking Nevermind? Because this record has more punk spirit than any other. It was a giant middle finger to mainstream success, a noisy blend of sound that highlights Cobain's raspy scream over the smoother pop leanings of Nevermind. Thematically taboo, lyrically sophisticated, and musically experimental, this is Nirvana's true magnum opus.

 

[Syd]

Great list so far. I love 'Blank Generation', Velvet Underground and Marquee Moon. The bad thing is that I can already tell one of my favourite punk albums wont make it on the list jaja.