Dumpster Bust Up in Your Ear: Best Punk Albums of All Time?

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• 1 - nobody important

  Dec 18, 2004 at 10:09 pm

  i cannot believe that bowling for soup isn't on there and what about yellowcard...are they qualified as punk...i'z and my friends are about as punk as you can get and we love that shit...
  -longineuilove-

• 2 - Melisand

  Dec 18, 2004 at 10:19 pm

  Green Day @ #2? Blink 182???
  
  WTF, has punkbands.com been hiring down-and-out ex-Rolling Stones Mag writers or what? Too much p-p-pop junk, not enough pure punk, those unknowledgable pseudopunk wankers!
  
  A top 50 list sans MDC, Bad Brains, and/or Dayglo Abortions? This list is an example of corporate criminal negligence if ya ask me. And what about Suicidal Tendencies? This list is puke, not punk.
  
  That said, I dug the punk blogup. You oughta send em a link at fauxpunk.com so they'll know that we know they suck.
  
  Check out Propaghandi, if you haven't. They've got a nice skaunk groove on.

• 3 - Eric Berlin

  Dec 19, 2004 at 2:33 am

  This list does not reflect the thoughts and feelings of the editors at PunkBands.com or Kerrang! It's a reader's poll of the best punk albums of all time. If there was some confusion about that, I apologize.
  
  That being said, I agree (as I state above) that many of the choices are odd, if not baffling.
  
  I also agree that Bad Brains should have found a place somewhere on this list. However, if I were looking for additional choices from the ones I've already listed, I would lean back to the past for such bands/acts as New York Dolls, Television, Patti Smith, and The Velvet Underground. That was punk before there was punk, you know?

• 4 - Douglas Mays

  Dec 19, 2004 at 5:30 am

  I put in a vote for DOA's first EP. Nice to see a mention to Fastbacks, Mudhoney and L7.
  
  peaceloveguidance

• 5 - Eric Berlin

  Dec 19, 2004 at 3:11 pm

  Douglas -
  
  You're right - that D.O.A. EP is pretty amazing, especially the cover of Tom Jones' "It's Not Unusual."
  
  Fastbacks are one of my all-time favorite bands. I recently bought "Zucker" from iTunes, an album that I had originally lent to a "friend" about 6 years ago and never saw again. What a rush of power-pop bliss...

• 6 - MT

  Dec 20, 2004 at 6:54 am

  How about SUICIDE'S self titled
  debut LP on Red Star in '77? If
  you don't know anything about this recording, go to Amazon.com and read the reviews.
  

• 7 - BRICKLAYER

  Dec 20, 2004 at 7:58 am

  I must dismiss this list out of hand for the following reason: Suicidal Tendencies first album is not included, let alone in the top 5. This is egregious, outrageous, capricious, downright scandalous! That first album is without a doubt one of the greatest records of all time, period. Following this release, they failed miserably at doing the metal crossover cash grab type thing, but this record my friends, is the template, the boilerplate if you will, the sound of bottled alienation, boredom, and misdirected teen age rage. Pick up a copy today, and let your agreeance with me begin!
  
  

• 8 - Eric Olsen

  Dec 20, 2004 at 11:30 am

  I agree with Bricky about the first ST.
  
  In addition, Dead Boys, Dickies, Husker Du, Germs, Ramones "Rocket to Russia" and "End of the Century," Pogues would be a few that come to mind

• 9 - Melisande

  Dec 20, 2004 at 11:42 am

  So much good punk, too many classic rock stations to flip through. There isn't even a punk station on xfm. The world is going to Hell.
  
  And I said ST first, Eric. :P

• 10 - Mark Saleski

  Dec 20, 2004 at 11:48 am

  is Punk the only rock-oriented genre to have a 'second life'?
  
  there was early Punk (Ramones, Sex Pistols, etc) and now we've got 'new' punk (which i don't consider punk at all...but i'm an old fart)

• 11 - JR

  Dec 20, 2004 at 11:57 am

  As opposed to metal, which has had three or four lives?

• 12 - Mark Saleski

  Dec 20, 2004 at 12:00 pm

  you've got a point about Metal.
  
  the difference i see in the situations is that Metal never really 'went away', whereas Punk did.

• 13 - JR

  Dec 20, 2004 at 12:22 pm

  It seems like some punk bands have been going concerns all along. I don't know, does Fugazi count?
  
  Anyway, perhaps the difference is that Punk was more of a media phenomenon than a sales phenomenon, and it gets more closely associated with the time at which it got all the attention. Whereas heavy metal was less of a "revolution" and more of a large and persitent market which occasionally resurfaces in the mainstream consciousness. Likewise Country.
  
  So, punk gets "reborn" because it doesn't much exist outside of the media attention given to it.
  

• 14 - Eric Olsen

  Dec 20, 2004 at 12:45 pm

  Melisande, yes you did, sorry about that!

• 15 - matt

  Dec 20, 2004 at 2:12 pm

  Aside from the fact that its only a couple of years old now, I think that the Blood Brothers'-Burn Piano Island Burn should've popped up on the list at somepoint. Lets face it, that album totally burnt modern day punk/hardcore to the ground.

• 16 - Eric Berlin

  Dec 20, 2004 at 2:26 pm

  This thread is turning out to be very interesting " I know that I’m picking up on bands that I’ve been meaning to check out or haven’t thought about in a very long time.
  
  For example, I didn’t realize that Suicidal Tendencies transitioned early on from a thrashy punk band with metal leanings to more of a speed metal act. I also didn’t realize that their debut effort contained none other than “I Saw Your Mommy…” which my friends would sing during idle moments during grade school.

• 17 - Eric Berlin

  Dec 20, 2004 at 2:26 pm

  Eric -
  
  Excellent call on The Dickies and The Pogues. I never thought of those Irish boys as punkers, but when it comes down to it, songs like “Bottle of Smoke” and “Sunnyside of the Street” whip the pants off most of what passes for punk today.
  
  It seems like Husker Du is always mentioned in the same (hushed) breath as The Replacements, which I’ve never quite been able to figure out.

• 18 - Eric Berlin

  Dec 20, 2004 at 2:26 pm

  I think of punk as I do hip hop or any other relatively new musical form. That is, once it was born, it didn’t go anywhere. And I especially don’t think that punk was ever a media phenomenon (except, perhaps, in the early 90s with the “punk revival” hubbub) or sales phenomenon. It’s always been a bit of an underground force with the occasional break through or crossover act (which was true of hip hop as well until its recent domination of the sales charts).
  
  Also like hip hop, punk influences many other forms and blends very naturally and occasionally spectacularly with such styles as ska, pop, and rock. And even hip hop.

• 19 - Eric Olsen

  Dec 20, 2004 at 4:07 pm

  another question is how far back do you go? They include the Stooges, but what about the Velvets, MC5, NY Dolls, Patti Smith, Television - are they punk?
  
  Oh, and leaving off the first Voidoids album in insane.
  
  Also, are collections eligible for this? If so there are some great ones

• 20 - Douglas Mays

  Dec 20, 2004 at 4:39 pm

  This thread is very interesting, and probably necessary to define and analyze this musical genre.
  
  For instance, let us go back to the earlier 60s. Around here in the Northwest USA we had these bands called 'the Fabulous Wailers', the Kingsmen', and THE SONICS!!!!!!!
  
  I'll focus on the Sonics. With hits like 'the Witch', 'Psycho', 'Strychnine' (my fave) if this is not punk rock, there is no punk rock. During the initial punk rock media craze in the late 70s and beyond, I remember punk kids in Germany being into the Sonics. I don't know how it got over there, but it did.
  
  And, you know, punk is a specific, developed style. Like blues with its 1-4-5 chord patterns, punk has a specific style (blues based) that has a chord pattern that leads into the chorus, bridges, etc. that you don't find anywhere else.
  
  Anyway, I guess I am trying to say that punk has been around a long time. Shoot, Bach and other composers were probably considered 'punk' in their day. Politics is probably part of the picture...
  
  Ugh, tangents in thought....
  
  best,
  peaceloveguidance

• 21 - Eric Berlin

  Dec 20, 2004 at 4:42 pm

  Eric -- I hit on a lot of those bands in Comment #3, and you're right, it should go back to about The Velvet Underground days, I should think.
  
  One more that my Top 50 would include:
  
  The B-52's self-titled debut.

• 22 - Eric Olsen

  Dec 20, 2004 at 4:45 pm

  oh yeah, that's where a I saw them

• 23 - Eric Berlin

  Dec 20, 2004 at 4:51 pm

  peaceloveguidance - You bring up several great points. Punk is its own style, but it also influences many others. I think that's what's given it staying power through several generations now. And you're right in saying that punk is political, both in some of its content and in its very anti-authoritarian nature.
  
  I picked up a collection of punk rock in the UK a number of years ago called "The Politics of Punk." It's a bit raw but has some great tracks by Stiff Little Fingers and UK Subs, among others.
  
  I absolutely love The Kingsmen, by the way. Had them on in the car for an entire summer a few years back. Are they punk? I think they pre-date The Movement by a little bit.

• 24 - Douglas Mays

  Dec 20, 2004 at 5:00 pm

  Eric, true actually. The Kingsmen and the Wailers were actually "heavy pop" or something. The Sonics were hardcore, sure, with a pop flavoring for sake of whatever. But then same with the Ramones. So, mute point there.
  
  One question. You know that gnarly heavy tune used on all these Land Rover TV ads lately? That sounds like the Sonics version taken right off the original record. Or else a very accurate version by studio musicians...
  
  best,
  plg

• 25 - Douglas Mays

  Dec 20, 2004 at 5:15 pm

  Gosh, now that we are on the subject, I remember a tune from the late 70s-early 80s. A live version (I think) of a song called 'Borstal Breakout'. The band is on the tip of my tongue, but oooppppssss, I forgot...
  
  Man, crank it up, never had so much fun just screaming!
  
  plg