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Post by skvorisdeadsorta on Nov 29, 2006 15:44:42 GMT -5
Here's my Top 50 and you guys will probably hate it but I think it's better than Kerrang
Here goes:
Top 50 Punk Records
1. The Clash-Sandinista
2. The Ramones-Ramones
3. The Clash-The Clash
4. Black Flag-Damaged
5. X-Los Angelos
6. Minor Threat-Minor Threat
7. Minutemen-Double Nickel on the Dime
8. The Stooges-Raw Power
9. Husker Du-Zen Arcade
10. Misfits-Walk Among Us
11. Television-Marquee Moon
12. The Sex Pistols-Nevermind......
13. Bad Brains-Bad Brains
14. Richard Hell and the Voidoids-Blank Generation
15. The Birthday Party-Junkyard
16. The Buzzcocks-Singles Going Steady
17. The Dead Boys-Young, Loud, and Snotty
18. The Germs-GI
19. Big Boys-Wreck Collection
20. The Dead Kennedys-Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables
21. The Slits-Cut
22. Crass-Christ The Album
23. Operation Ivy-Energy
24. The Damned-Machine Gun Ettiquette
25. Rudimentary Peni-Death Church
26. Fear-The Record
27. The Circle Jerks-Group Sex
28. Discharge-Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing
29. SSD-The Kids Will Have Their Way
30. GBH-Leather, Bristles, Studs, and Acne
31. Stiff Little Fingers-Inflammable Material
32. The Descendents-Milo Goes To College
33. Sick Of It All-Blood, Sweat, and No Tears
34. Bad Religion-No Control
35. Fugazi-Repeater
36. Beat Happening-Beat Happening
37. Bikini Kill-Pussy Whipped
38. Sleater Kinney-Dig Me Out
39. Flipper-Generic
40. Suicidal Tendencies-Suicidal Tendencies
41. Social Distorion-Mommies Little Helper
42. TSOL-Dance With Me
43. The Raincoats-The Raincoats
44. The Saints-I'm Stranded
45. X-Ray Spex-Germ Free Adolescents
46. Screeching Weasel-BoogadaBoogadaBoogada
47. Green Day-Kerplunk
48. Gorilla Biscuits-Start Today
49.Propagandhi-How To Clean Everything
50.Rancid-Let's Go
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Post by Galactus on Nov 29, 2006 15:57:26 GMT -5
Yeah it's certainly better then Kerrang's...but Sandinista? Seriously? The best punk album ever?
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Post by Proud on Nov 29, 2006 16:20:46 GMT -5
I had that Circle Jerks album... and proceded to delete it after one listen through.
When I think of Kerrang, I think of Slipknot. And giving the Foo Fighters Album of the Year as frequently as possible.
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Post by skvorisdeadsorta on Nov 29, 2006 16:24:25 GMT -5
Yeah it's certainly better then Kerrang's...but Sandinista? Seriously? The best punk album ever? Yes and I will tell you why: It's the most ambitious and challenging album of the era. I hated it the first time I heard it and looking back on it now, I can't think of a more punker attitude than what those guys had on that album. Triple Album in a type of music that usually had 28 minute albums. Unheard of. Reggae? Rockabilly? The Who? They really branched out the genre and the lyrics on that album are amazing. Yes, I really do think it might be the best thing in punk. Plus I just really like it. |
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Post by rockysigman on Nov 29, 2006 16:33:14 GMT -5
That's fair, although I think everything you've said about Sandinista! could also be said to some degree about Double Nickels on the Dime (okay, there isn't really any reggae on there, but there's all sorts of other stuff that the Clash didn't do).
I love Sandinista, but it's not as good as London Calling or The Clash, IMO, so it can't be the best punk album ever.
Your list is a whole lot better than that Kerrang list though. Of the albums that I know on your list, I might nitpick the placement of them, but not their inclusion.
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Post by skvorisdeadsorta on Nov 29, 2006 17:00:53 GMT -5
Trust me, I almost put the Minutemen at number 1, but I figured you'd guys would have my head. Quite honestly, it's really hard to pick a number one as all of those albums at one point or another were listened to way too much. I don't listen to Rancid anymore, I think they are shit, Propagandhi's music is just cheesy despite the great lyrics, and that Green Day record is about the only thing from them I can stand and I felt I had to include them because they are so popular.
I don't really dig on pop punk though. Hate it. At one time I was into it but now I'd rather listen to Tori Amos than that shit and I LOATHE Tori Amos.
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Post by Mary on Nov 29, 2006 18:23:59 GMT -5
In high school I liked NOFX. With the benefit of hindsight, I'm embarrassed to admit that.
Anyhow...
Kerrang's list definitely sucks and skvor's list definitely rocks, but I will nitpick one thing: I do think a case can be made for including Napalm Death on the list. As founders of grindcore, they were part of a movement which combined elements of hardcore and extreme metal. If you look at the audiences at their shows in the 80s, they are full of punks. Their early inspirations came from British anarchopunk. If Crass and the Exploited and Rudimentary Peni are punk, then I don't see why Napalm Death can't also be classified as such. Perhaps later in their career they became strictly death metal (I don't really know for sure, I haven't followed them terribly closely) but there's a good case to be made that the early Napalm Death had one foot firmly in the (admittedly most extreme) punk rock community.
Cheers,
M
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Post by Mary on Nov 30, 2006 0:42:07 GMT -5
Anyway I was inspired by skvor's list to come up with my own. However as a caveat I have to say I still don't have CD shelves, so my CD's are still in boxes (I've just dug out a few favorites, that's all), so I am doing this completely from memory. I am sure I am forgetting a ton of shit.
Obviously any time you do something like this the defintion of "punk" is a problem. Are Gang of Four punk, even though they're also quintessentially post-punk? I say they're punk, they released their first album in 1979, and were only retroactively deemed post-punk, but at the time they belonged in punk circles. And even though Under the Big Black Sun is my favorite X album, it's less "punk" than Wild Gift or Los Angeles. So it gets docked a bit judged on sheer punk-ness. Etc etc etc. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
1) The Clash - London Calling (it's been AGES since I put that on top of a list - but best punk albums? c'mon... gotta fall back on habit here...)
2) X - Wild Gift
3) Gang of Four - Entertainment!
4) The Clash - The Clash
5) Wire - Pink Flag
6) X - Los Angeles
7) The Birthday Party - Prayers on Fire
8) The Buzzcocks - Singles Going Steady
9) Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime
10) Bad Brains - I Against I
11) X-Ray Spex - Germ Free Adolescents
12) Misfits - Walk Among Us
13) Sleater-Kinney - Dig Me Out
14) The Stooges - Raw Power
15) The Ramones - Ramones
16) X - Under the Big Black Sun
17) Fugazi - Repeater
18) Wire - Chairs Missing
19) The Adverts - Crossing the Red Sea
20) Bad Brains - Bad Brains
21) The Clash - Sandinista!
22) Social Distortion - Social Distortion
23) The Pop Group - Y
24) Refused - The Shape of Punk to Come
25) The Undertones - The Undertones
26) Operation Ivy - Energy ***
27) The Slits - Cut
28) Sleater-Kinney - Call the Doctor
29) The Saints - (I'm) Stranded
30) Suicidal Tendencies - Suicidal Tendencies
31) Stiff Little Fingers - Nobody's Heroes
32) The Birthday Party - Junkyard
33) The Sex Pistols - Nevermind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols
34) The Replacements - Pleased to Meet Me
35) Minor Threat - Out of Step (i figure Complete Discography isn't really an album....)
36) Black Flag - Damaged
37) His Hero Is Gone - Monuments to Thieves (straight outta MEMPHIS baby!!!)
38) Nomeansno - Wrong
39) Swell Maps - A Trip to Marineville
40) Bikini Kill Pussy Whipped
41) Social Distortion - Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell
42) The Descendents - Milo Goes to College
43) Agnostic Front - Liberty and Justice For...
44) Rancid - Let's Go
45) Bad Religion - Suffer
46) Tragedy - Tragedy (MORE MEMPHIS HARDCORE)
47) The Vibrators - Pure Mania
48) The Clash - Give 'em Enough Rope
49) The Rezillos - Can't Stand the Rezillos
50) Rancid - ...And Out Come the Wolves
The last 15 or so on this were really pulling teeth; without access to my collection I'm sure I forgot a thousand things. The order isn't so good either since I would suddenly think of shit and feel to lazy to move other shit around. Also I just noticed I forgot Richard Hell completely. Fuck.
Bands I left off because they don't quite sound "punk": Television, the Mekons, Talking Heads, Blondie (lotsa the new york folks). Mekons could probably go on here now that I think about it, if Gang of Four and Swell Maps and the Fall and the Pop Group can I have no earthly idea why the Mekons can't. Too late now.
*** I truly don't think I will ever be able to listen to Operation Ivy again. I am 100% certain that album would make me cry if I put it on - it is soooooooooo inextricably connected to being an adolescent and to believing in so many things that I don't really believe in anymore. It would just remind me how old and jaded I've become, how everyone grows up and calms down.... and it would make me sad.
M
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Post by Mary on Nov 30, 2006 0:45:20 GMT -5
btw i tried to write htat list without looking back at skvor's. didn't want undue influence! but now looking back it his i'm kicking myself for forgetting:
richard hell, obviously
sick of it all
gorilla biscuits
actually i guess that's it. outside of X and black flag, i was never so into the l.a. punk scene. stuff like circle jerks and fear and the germs never really did it for me - entertaining in small doses, but i can't take 'em seriously. the anarcho-punks from england - crass and rudimentary peni and that stuff - i also couldn't really get into, though i can respect their absolute unwavering commitment to their ideals. also as ken holzman well knows, i have a huge fucking blind spot when it comes to husker du.
Cheers,
M
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Post by skvorisdeadsorta on Nov 30, 2006 10:22:12 GMT -5
Eh, I forgot about Wire........shit.
Mary, I concur with the feeling of OpIvy. That record was one of the definitive records of my adolescence. I also forgot to put one of my fav punk bands of all time in there as well, The Dead Milkmen.
I didn't include Gang of Four or The Pop Group because I just associate them too much with post-punk. Same reason why I didn't put down the first Siouxsie, even though I was sorely tempted. The same goes for the first Cure record as well.
I do like that we both rated the Sex Pistols so low and I really like your list, Mary. Good work.
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Post by Ryosuke on Nov 30, 2006 20:16:48 GMT -5
I don't have anything to add to this other than the obvious (that original list looks pretty horrible), but I just want to say that I think it's great that Mary is posting about music again.
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Post by luke on Dec 1, 2006 10:43:07 GMT -5
Fresh Fruit...shouldn't be so high on the list because it's got some slow spots, but the good songs there are as good as punk ever got. It's like the anarchy of the Sex Pistols with the political leanings of The Clash.
Can't decide between London Calling or God Save the Queen? Listen to California Uber Alles.
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Post by frag on Dec 1, 2006 10:44:35 GMT -5
amen
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Post by Mary on Dec 1, 2006 11:14:15 GMT -5
Fresh Fruit...shouldn't be so high on the list because it's got some slow spots, but the good songs there are as good as punk ever got. It's like the anarchy of the Sex Pistols with the political leanings of The Clash. Can't decide between London Calling or God Save the Queen? Listen to California Uber Alles. My problem with the DKs is that I absolutely cannot stand Jello Biafra's voice. Just can't take it. I think I would like the band a lot more but for that. In high school I overlooked how annoying his voice was because I probably thought listening to the DKs got me cool points or something (hey i was 15!) but it's hard now for me to subject myself to Jello. It's weird how certain voices will just grate on you for no obvious reason. It's not as though I require good singers or anything, I listen to plenty of people who are technically horrendous, and plenty of others who sound like dying pigs. And yet.... Jello Biafra makes my spine crawl! (i have to keep posting about music so ryo will keep saying nice things about me  ) Cheers, M |
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Post by Mary on Dec 1, 2006 11:20:23 GMT -5
I didn't include Gang of Four or The Pop Group because I just associate them too much with post-punk. Same reason why I didn't put down the first Siouxsie, even though I was sorely tempted. The same goes for the first Cure record as well. I hear ya on this...I feel like I kinda cheated by including all those post-punk folks, but my tastes lie so much more strongly in that camp nowadays that the list would have been really hard for me if I had to leave all those people off. Also I gotta say it's hard when it comes to punk for me to include much post-1990 stuff. I threw a few things on there - Refused, Sleater-Kinney, His Hero is Gone... but while I reject the automatic reflex to presume that older music was better, and I get annoyed by people who can't imagine that anything as good as classic rock could possibly have happened in the past 2 decades, I still have this notion, perhaps unfair, that there was something really special and unique and unrepeatable about the first wave of punk that gets diluted by revivalism. The giant "fuck you" of it all is lost when it's being revived for the Hot Topic kiddies... and yeah, in a sense the first wave itself has been diluted, by all the VH1 specials and major label signings and retrospective albums and all that shit, but somehow the shock of the new still rings out of those albums for me, and it really doesn't out of much punk revivalism. Cheers, M |
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