Beautiful Loser
Pig On The Wing
Is Sublime punk rock? I love them but they seem to be looked down on by high brow rock fans.
DOC's Top 25 Punk Rock Albums
- Thread starter Death on Credit
- Start date
Death on Credit
Senior Member
I'd call Sublime a ska band...It's kind of like a mix of rock and reggae.
Death on Credit
Senior Member
And now, the top 5...
5. Horses by Patti Smith
"Jesus died for somebody's sins...But not mine." Perhaps the best introduction to any album, to a career, and to the movement at large. Patti Smith is the reigning, undeniable queen of punk rock. She began her career as a poet working in a factory in New York. Horses shows the songstress flexing her muscles on all front. A wailing banshee with a golden pen dancing before a blistering group of back up musicians, making love to the stage and flipping the bird to the world. Smith's hard as nails, with more tough than almost any man in the music business.
4. Damaged by Black Flag
THE quintessential hardcore record. Pure, unabashed fury. Like an atom bomb colliding with a runaway locomotive. Henry Rollins proves himself to be one of the best frontmen in all of rock 'n roll. He throws a punch with every line. He's also one of the coolest dudes I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Minimalistic without ever being stupid, misery without self-pity, rage without abuse. Black Flag was a well oiled machine, always aiming their vitriol in the right direction, hitting the right targets dead and center.
3. Rocket to Russia by the Ramones
Known for good reason as the first punk band. They didn't do it first, necessarily, but they were a major catalyst. These were four men on a mission. Seeing the music of their day steeped with overblown pretension, and wanting to take rock 'n roll back to its roots, they donned leather jackets and cut out anything resembling guitar solos or overwrought production. Bare bones rock 'n roll that you could either dance or smash windows to. On this, their third album, they perfected their sound. A mix of influences from 60's garage rock and girl groups with their own patented sound, this album defied all conventions. It even went so far as to spit in the face of what exactly punk "should" sound like.
2. Fun House by the Stooges
The legend of Iggy Pop is sealed and does not need my stamp of approval. He was the match that lit the fire. Jim Morrison made headlines for exposing himself on stage...Iggy got arrested every other week for doing the same. Whether crowd surfing or stage diving (now cliches that he started), smearing himself in peanut butter, slicing himself open, or just rolling around and screaming like a mad epileptic, Iggy was the archetypal punk singer. If he has since become a caricature, he's found here as the most dangerous man in rock. While Raw Power stands towering as their most famous record, it doesn't have the urgency found on Fun House. Blood is spilled on this record. It is full on sonic war. Ron Asheton didn't know how to play guitar...that didn't really seem relevant. He played with more honesty than most players who actually know what they're doing. The rhythm section knows what they're doing, and lay down the landmines for everything else to explode.
1. London Calling by the Clash
Once hailed as the "Only Band That Matters," the Clash broke boundaries wherever they went. People who hate punk love this record, while punks who only want destruction saw it as a betrayal. It is at once the point where the band turned away from punk and the most essential punk record. It's not loud, it doesn't try to indoctrinate you, it's a lot of fun in some places, and heart-breaking in others. But it is angry. The Clash accepted neither the Sex Pistols creed of change through destruction, nor Bob Dylan's creed that change was impossible. They looked for a more mature path to fighting what they perceived as the evils of the world. It's not necessarily the political record that people make it out to be. With songs about apocalyptic paranoia, the individual's search for authenticity (existential punk?), the struggle between responsibility and yearnings, empty consumerism, oppression, revolution, and the human spirit rising above the odds, London Calling is a timeless record of unyielding power. They just don't make 'em like Joe Strummer anymore.
5. Horses by Patti Smith
"Jesus died for somebody's sins...But not mine." Perhaps the best introduction to any album, to a career, and to the movement at large. Patti Smith is the reigning, undeniable queen of punk rock. She began her career as a poet working in a factory in New York. Horses shows the songstress flexing her muscles on all front. A wailing banshee with a golden pen dancing before a blistering group of back up musicians, making love to the stage and flipping the bird to the world. Smith's hard as nails, with more tough than almost any man in the music business.
4. Damaged by Black Flag
THE quintessential hardcore record. Pure, unabashed fury. Like an atom bomb colliding with a runaway locomotive. Henry Rollins proves himself to be one of the best frontmen in all of rock 'n roll. He throws a punch with every line. He's also one of the coolest dudes I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Minimalistic without ever being stupid, misery without self-pity, rage without abuse. Black Flag was a well oiled machine, always aiming their vitriol in the right direction, hitting the right targets dead and center.
3. Rocket to Russia by the Ramones
Known for good reason as the first punk band. They didn't do it first, necessarily, but they were a major catalyst. These were four men on a mission. Seeing the music of their day steeped with overblown pretension, and wanting to take rock 'n roll back to its roots, they donned leather jackets and cut out anything resembling guitar solos or overwrought production. Bare bones rock 'n roll that you could either dance or smash windows to. On this, their third album, they perfected their sound. A mix of influences from 60's garage rock and girl groups with their own patented sound, this album defied all conventions. It even went so far as to spit in the face of what exactly punk "should" sound like.
2. Fun House by the Stooges
The legend of Iggy Pop is sealed and does not need my stamp of approval. He was the match that lit the fire. Jim Morrison made headlines for exposing himself on stage...Iggy got arrested every other week for doing the same. Whether crowd surfing or stage diving (now cliches that he started), smearing himself in peanut butter, slicing himself open, or just rolling around and screaming like a mad epileptic, Iggy was the archetypal punk singer. If he has since become a caricature, he's found here as the most dangerous man in rock. While Raw Power stands towering as their most famous record, it doesn't have the urgency found on Fun House. Blood is spilled on this record. It is full on sonic war. Ron Asheton didn't know how to play guitar...that didn't really seem relevant. He played with more honesty than most players who actually know what they're doing. The rhythm section knows what they're doing, and lay down the landmines for everything else to explode.
1. London Calling by the Clash
Once hailed as the "Only Band That Matters," the Clash broke boundaries wherever they went. People who hate punk love this record, while punks who only want destruction saw it as a betrayal. It is at once the point where the band turned away from punk and the most essential punk record. It's not loud, it doesn't try to indoctrinate you, it's a lot of fun in some places, and heart-breaking in others. But it is angry. The Clash accepted neither the Sex Pistols creed of change through destruction, nor Bob Dylan's creed that change was impossible. They looked for a more mature path to fighting what they perceived as the evils of the world. It's not necessarily the political record that people make it out to be. With songs about apocalyptic paranoia, the individual's search for authenticity (existential punk?), the struggle between responsibility and yearnings, empty consumerism, oppression, revolution, and the human spirit rising above the odds, London Calling is a timeless record of unyielding power. They just don't make 'em like Joe Strummer anymore.
jtrichey13
Hall of Fame Guru
Fantastic list. I didn't necessarily think of some of these as punk, until I read your reviews and saw them in a slightly different light. Hallmark of good writing.
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