- Iggy & the Stooges - Raw Power
No one before or since has rocked so violently insane over the abyss. David Bowie infamously fucked up the mix, but that’s been corrected with the reissue - which is now probably the loudest CD in my collection. This is the granddaddy of’em all, a street walking cheetah with a heart full of napalm.
- The New York Dolls (s/t)
Well, it’s pretty obvious where ‘80s hairmetal has its roots in - but if only those poodleheads paid half as much attention to the Doll’s music as they obviously did their makeup. The missing link between the Stones and Guns’n’Roses, this is sleazily decadent glam’n’roll at its most raw and exciting. Even the Sex Pistols paid tribute in “New York”. Lonely planet boys just lookin’ for a kiss from their Vietnamese baby.
- The Ramones (s/t)
Keep It Simple, Stupid. The songs are all short and about Nazis, beating up brats, psychotic male prostitutes, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Cuban spies, and glue sniffing. “It all sounds the same,” yeah, yeah, but it’s a GOOD sound the same.
- The Clash (s/t)
Life in late '70s Britain sucked and Strummer/Jones & Co. vent about it in lovingly righteously enraged detail. Not that a teenager living in the States in the late '80s could understand half of what they were talking about (and not just because of Strummer’s Andy Capp slurring and mumbling half the words incomprehensible.) But the clang-clang of the jail guitar doors don’t need no enunciating - the message comes through LOUD and clear. The U.S. edition has 16 tracks and every one’s a stone hard rock classic. Forget punk, this might be the greatest rock’n’roll album, period.
- The Buzzcocks - Singles Going Steady
Ignore the fact that they’re directly responsible for Good Charlotte and Blink 182 and their ilk. These homosexuals were the punk rock Beatles, as well as the authors of the most hilarious tunes about you know what, ya wankers (“Orgasm Addict”). 8 A-sides, 8 B-sides, these hummable ditties about boy-meets-boy are positively…well, ‘orgasmic’ is the only proper word.
- Black Flag - The First Four Years
Lots of people would pick Damaged first, but I’ve always preferred the pre-Henry Rollins lineups. Gregg Ginn was punk rock’s finest ever guitar virtuoso, throwing in weird avant-garde free-jazz noise and changes into aggressive hardcore punk. The songs are mostly around one minute long and possess no hummable melodies - just pure, raw rage and aggression. Wear your voice out screaming along.
- X - Los Angeles
They’d probably gag at the comparison, but John & Exene were the Lindsey Buckingham/Stevie Nicks (of Fleetwood Mac) of L.A. punk. They were into country & western as much as they were into Lou Reed, and a lot of their songs sound as if this married couple were mutually cheating on each other. Light years more emotionally interesting than the typical “Margaret Thatcher/Ronald Reagan SUCKS!” fare of most classic punk.
- The Angry Samoans - The Unboxed Set
75 minutes, 43 songs. What more do you need? At the time the most politically incorrect band on the planet, but not without a sense of knowing irony - the punchline in “You Stupid Asshole” is the admission that, “Baby I’m one, too”. With songs like “My Old Man’s a Fatso,” and “They Saved Hitler’s Cock,” you know you can’t lose, unless you’re, like, a mature adult or something.
- The Replacements - Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash
Early ‘Mats are underrated. Sure, they made better records later as the greatest rock’n’roll bar band ever, but before future Winona Ryder stalking victim Paul Westerberg got all sensitive-songwriter on us, they delivered a couple of albums’ worth of pure punk rock scorchers. “Hotter than a urinary tract infection,” as the liner notes boast. Though they try to deliver the obligatory angry rebellious punk rock anthemism at times, it’s obvious that these ragged drunks were more interested in getting piss-drunk than venting about being pissed-off. The punk musical philosophy, “I hate music / It’s got too many notes,” is given an airing here, but even better was “Goddamn Job” from the next album - entire lyrics:
“I need a goddamn job
I need a goddamn girl
GODDAMNIT!”
- which used to be my philosophy of life during my younger years, and if you’ve never felt that kind of blues, FUCK YOU! :raspberry:
Some of the other albums on this list I don’t play so much these days (I’m a gettin’ older and this music don’t suit my weary old bones so much) but I’m always going to play this, because this is above merely punk rock, this is just plain good old fashion rock’n’roll.
- Husker Du - Warehouse: Songs & Stories
That other little punk band from Minneapolis, the Du wedded the noisiest hardcore punk maelstrom to Beatlesque melody, and this double-album 20-song farewell platter captures them at the height of their craft. Some would pick one of their earlier, more intense albums like Zen Arcade, but this one’s easily their most consistent - I don’t have to constantly fiddle with the fast-forward button like I have to with their other albums. Both Bob Mould and Grant Hart are at the top of their game, and the somewhat “slick” production (read: doesn’t sound like it was recorded in a basement) only highlights their classic songwriting abilities. Another great band that would have hit the big time if they hadn’t broken up ten years too early.
Honorable mentions to the Dead Kennedys, Minor Threat, the Damned, the Saints, Wire, Bad Brains, etc., etc. - you can’t expect me to include everything on a list exclusive to only 10.
