Best Post-Punk Albums

[Mary]

All right this board was inspired by the Kerrang Sucks board, where folks (by "folks" i mean skvor and me) were listing the top 50 bands of all time and were trying to decide whether or not to include post-punk bands in the "punk" category. Might as well just list the best post-punkers.

What is post-punk?

I leave it to you to determine, but I will kick your ass if you forget the au pairs!!!

Let the lists begin.

Cheers,
M

[frag]

Television or Talking Heads? I don't care.

[frag]

According to Wikipedia:
Post-punk revival

The post-punk revival is a movement in modern rock music consisting of Indie Rock, Punk Rock and Electronic bands that draw from the conventions of the original Post-Punk sound of the early 1980s, as well as the early 90's Britpop, 80's New Wave and 60's Garage rock movements. Yet is also an extension of and reaction to the Pop-punk, and Alternative Rock music of the 1990s. The movement began and is most prominent in English speaking countries such as the US, the UK, and various Mainland European countries, and has been especially tied to the New York City and London music scenes. Though more recently Post-Punk acts have been appearing in countries as diverse as Japan, Indonesia, Australia, Lebanon, and Russia.


[edit] History of the post-punk revival
Originally, the term "post-punk" was coined to describe those groups which in the late seventies and early eighties took punk and started to experiment with more challenging musical structures, lyrical themes, and a self-consciously art-based image, while retaining punk's initial iconoclastic stance. Classic examples of post-punk outfits include Gang of Four, Joy Division, The Raincoats, and Wire.

At the turn of the century, the term "post-punk" began to appear in the music press again, with a number of critics reviving the label to describe a new set of bands that shared some of the aesthetics of the original post-punk era. The Rapture, Liars, and Interpol were the first commercially successfull projects to revive media interest in the movement.[1] A reevaluation of the sonic conventions from that era, this second wave of post-punk incorporates elements of the dance and indie music of the late-1980s and 1990s in much the same way that the original post-punk movement was informed by the krautrock, dub, and disco music of the 1970s. Music critic Simon Reynolds notes that these bands generally draw influence from the more angular strain of post-punk bands such as Wire and Gang of Four.[2]

As this revival continued to pick up steam, even more influences could be heard in new bands, besides the aformentioned angular sounds. Many of the more recent post-punk revival bands have been informed by a diverse range of original post-punk music. Ranging from the ethereal guitar textures of bands like The Chameleons, Sad Lovers and Giants, and The Cocteau Twins. Quirkier, more eccentric artists like Magazine, Josef K, and The Monochrome Set. Noisy Art-punk bands like The Birthday Party, The Fall, and The Pop Group. Even more analog electronic groups such as Fad Gadget, early Human League, and Tuxedomoon can be heard in many of the most recent revival bands.


[edit] The dual meaning of post-punk
The use of the term "post-punk" to describe two distinct waves of rock music, despite their many differences, has stuck. It is legitimized not only by the broad consensus that has emerged to call the groups listed here post-punk but also by the historical positions of each movement, relative to the dominant punk rock music of their respective eras. The first form of post-punk was seen as a response to late-1970s punk rock; the twenty-first century variant as a response to 1990s punk rock.

Earlier attempts to revive the term "post-punk" were not successful. In the early-1990s some critics referred to groups like Fugazi and Girls Against Boys as "post-punk" without this label gaining widespread use. The phrase decscribing their sound was later changed to the more accurate term post-hardcore.

Unlike the original post-punk artists, who were often deliberately difficult and obtuse, many of the more successful bands in the post-punk revival have been more accessible and radio-friendly, leading some to claim that they are not stylisic torchbearers of the post-punk style but are instead simply a variant within the dominant commercial style of rock music. However there is still a large number of underground bands that take the Post-Punk ethic to heart, and create introspective, and often politically charged music.

[Kensterberg]

Off the top of my head ...

1. Gang of Four, Entertainment! (Whatever the fuck post-punk is/was, it's got to be somewhere in this brilliant mesh of guitar pyrotechnics, flat vocals, and funky beats).
2. The Cure, Pornography (This was definitely post-something, like maybe "optimism"? One of the most depressing records ever made, but essential to whatever post-punk is).
3. Echo and the Bunnymen, Crocodiles.
4. New Order, Power, Corruption, and Lies.
5. Joy Division, "Love Will Tear Us Apart." As is well known here, Joy Division are a band whose appeal has generally escaped me. But this single is an absolute classic, and genre-defining as well.
6. U2, Boy. (Yes, this fits in perfectly here. Takes the energy of punk but stays away from any of the conventions of the form. Listen to this and Crocodiles (or the Cure's Three Imaginary Boys) and it's all of a piece).

Got to look at my collection to flesh the rest of this out ... no way in hell I'm going to do a top fifty, though. Somewhere between ten and twenty, probably.

[skvorisdeadsorta]

Yes, Mary, you rock!

I am working on my list and I should have it done this weekend.

[Kensterberg]

Skvor -- looking forward to seeing your post-punk list. Also, you did a hell of a job on your punk top fifty. As an unabashed lover of Sandinista!, I commend your choice for top punk album ever. I may not agree completely with it, but I commend your choice. (Honestly, I'd have to call either London Calling or The Clash the best punk album, depending on exactly how I'm choosing to define "punk" that day).

[Mary]

All right here's a list.

Caveat #1: My cd collection is sitting in boxes, so I can't go through it, so this is mostly just from memory, so it's not really my ultimate list.

Caveat #2: I thought for a long time about whether or not to subsume industrial under post-punk, but decided that industrial deserved to be its own genre. Thus I am not considering bands like Skinny Puppy, Pigface, Ministry, Front Line Assembly, etc etc. However, for no good reason, I think proto-industrial bands like Cabaret Voltaire and Einsturzende Neubauten deserve consideration because... well, I don't know why. Just fucking because.

Caveat #3: I decided, completely arbitrarily really, that as far as Nick Cave was concerned, the Birthday Party was the epitome of post-punk so I wouldn't consider Bad Seeds albums - that would be too hard for me to weigh.

I'll begin with a Top 30. Maybe expand to 50 eventually, but I need my CD collection for that....

1) Gang of Four - Entertainment!
2) Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
3) The Mekons - Rock and Roll
4) Wire - Chairs Missing
5) The Birthday Party - Prayers on Fire
6) The Cure - Disintegration
7) New Order - Power Corruption and Lies
8) Joy Division - Closer
9) Swans - Children of God
10) Echo and the Bunnymen - Ocean Rain
11) The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
12) The Fall - This Nation's Saving Grace
13) The Au Pairs - Playing With a Different Sex
14) Swell Maps - A Trip to Marineville
15) Wire - 154
16) The Birthday Party - Junkyard
17) The Cure - Pornography
18) The Pop Group - Y
19) Suicide - Suicide (this album was post-punk before punk!!! amazing!)
20) Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance
21) The Smiths - Meat is Murder
22) The Mekons - Fear and Whiskey
23) Bauhaus - In the Flat Field
24) Cabaret Voltaire - Red Mecca
25) Mission of Burma - Vs.
26) Savage Republic - Ceremonial
27) The Gun Club - Fire of Love
28) James Chance and the Contortions - Buy
29) Einstürzende Neubauten - Halber Mensch
30) Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth

Ta-da.

Cheers,
M

[Mary]

aw fuck.

The instant I hit post I realized I forgot siouxsie & the banshees, and dead can dance.

stupid.

[frag]

awesome

[Fuzznuts]

Now that's a list I can get behind!

[maarts]

Is Goth post-punk?

[Mary]

maarts said:

Is Goth post-punk?

I have no idea, really.

One could make the case, at least - people who were either goths or proto-goths like siouxsie sioux and ian curtis were originally inspired by punk and became founding members of post-punk... and imparted to post-punk a certain aesthetic which was then picked up and amplified by the goths....

So, sure, goth is post-punk if you want it to be

Cheers,
M

[wayved]

Excellent list mary. You Have Actually Heard of THE YOUNG MARBLE GIANTS?

All I know of the Au Pairs is Come Again off the URGH A MUSIC WAR! soundtrack.

My 10--I dont have time for the symantics....

1- The CURES PORNOGRAPHY. Goth. Punk. Scary. "Siamese Twins."
2- WIRE- 154 --Crazy.
3- TALKING HEADS-FEAR OF MUSIC--when they invented cassettes they had no idea that this album was gonna come out. I had to buy a new one within a week.
4- GUN CLUB-LAS VEGAS STORY--more crazy shit than any album they ever put out--if its not in the lyrics its in the music.
5- GUIDED BY VOICES-Bee Thousand --this is post EVERYTHING--you know I just wanted to throw that in..
5-BAUHAUS-SWING THE HEARTACHE (BBC Sessions)
6-ANY MIXTAPE THAT YOU HAVE EVER MADE OR RECIEVED THAT HAD THE THE "Love Is Stronger than Death" AND Joy Divisions "LOVE WILL TEAR US APART" on it
7-MAGAZINE-Secondhand Daylight
8-MY BLOODY VALENTINE-ISNT ANYTHING
9-COCTEAU TWINS DISCOGRAPHY???
10-MY BLACK HAIRED WIG IS NOT GOTH ENOUGH FOR MY GIRL (even though I put a snake pin on it) ep-ROALD SERVO
do I have HALF of this right?

[skvorisdeadsorta]

I would consider goth to be post punk, yes.

[skvorisdeadsorta]

Alright kids, here's the list:

Greatest Post Punk Records

1. Public Image Limited-Metal Box
2. Joy Division-Closer
3. Gang of Four-Entertainment
4. Siouxsie and the Banshees-Kaleidoscope
5. Wire-Chairs Missing
6. New Order-Power, Corruption, and Lies
7. The Cure-Faith
8. The Smiths-The Queen Is Dead
9. Bauhaus-In a Flat Field
10. Echo and the Bunnymen-Songs To Learn And Sing
11. The Fall-Hex Enduction Hour
12. The Au Pairs-Playing With A Different Sex
13. James White and The Blacks-Off/White
14. The Pop Group-Y
15. Delta 5-Singles and Sessions 79-81 (they were a Rough Trade band with highly regarded singles at the time)
16. Metal Urbain-Anarchy in Paris!
17. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds-From Her to Eternity
18. Sisters of Mercy-Floodland
19. Mekons-Rock and Roll
20. Josef k-Only Fun In Town
21. Tuxedo Moon-Desire
22. A Certain Ratio-Sextet
23. Swell Maps-A Trip To Marineville
24. The Gun club-Fire of Love
25. Mission of Burma-Vs.
26. Section 25-Always Now
27. Cabaret Voltaire-The Voice of America
28. Orchestral Manuevers in the Dark-Orchestral Manuevers in the Dark
29. Throbbing Gristle-Second Annual Report
30. The Cramps-Bad Music For Bad People
31. Human League-Reproduction
32. Young Marble Giants-Colossal Youth
33. Orange Juice-Rip It Up
34. Crispy Ambulance-Frozen Blood
35. Residents-Meet the Residents
36. Negativeland-The Numeral U and the Letter 2
37. Dead Can Dance-Dead Can Dance
38. Big Black-Atomizer
39. Gary Numan-The Pleasure Principle
40. Magazine-The Correct Use of Soap
41. The Jesus and Mary Chain-Psycho Candy
42. Depeche Mode-Speak and Spell
43. Violent Femmes-Violent Femmes
44. XTC-Drums and Wires
45. The Church-Starfish
46. Sugarcubes-Here Today, Tomorrow Next Week!
47. Lene Lovitch-Stateless....Plus
48. Einstrezende Neubauten-Halber Mensh
49. The Duritti Column-The Duritti Column
50. Sonic Youth-Confusion is Sex