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What are the TEN best punk rock albums ever made?


PaulEdwardWagemann

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I wasn't around during the punk movement so my understanding of the punk movement is sort of limited to rock magazine nostalgia, but here's my 100% subjective top 10

Buzzcocks - New Music in a Different Kitchen

Minutemen - Double Nickels On the Dime

Stiff Little Fingers - Inflammable Material

Flogging Molly - Drunken Lullabies

Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables

MC5 - Kick Out the Jams

Husker Du - Zen Arcade

The Stooges - Raw Power

The Damned - Damned Damned Damned

Black Flag - Damaged

this was a tough list. For the most part I prefer bands with punk influences over actual punk bands.

And I realize a better list would include the Ramones, The Clash, and the Sex Pistols but oh well.

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For me it depends muchly on how you define the genre, what is "in" and what is not...

I could do several Top 10s, based on different interpretations of what might constitute "punk-rock".

My favourite 10 punk rock albums from the "classic punk era" (1976 -1980, for the purposes here)

1) "Germ Free Adolescents" - X Ray Spex

2) "Crossing The Red Sea With..." - The Adverts

3) "Pink Flag" - Wire"

4) "Never Mind The Bollocks" - Sex Pistols

5) "The Crack" - The Ruts

6) "Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables" - Dead Kennedys

7) "Coming Up For Air" - Penetration

8) "Inflammable Material" - Stiff Little Fingers

9) "The Clash" (UK version) - The Clash

10) "Rocket To Russia" - The Ramones

The "ordering" of this list is based (rather unscientifically) on a rough estimate of how many times I've listened to each album over the course of the last 25 years.

Not really sure why The Undertones debut LP and "Can't Stand The Rezillos" aren't in there, as I've listened to them plenty. Maybe I just didn't think they're quite "punk" enough. :P

Buzzcocks "Another Music In A Different Kitchen" only just misses out too.

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Alternatively: here is another Ten of albums which I would personally consider "Punk As F**k", but which arguably don't belong in the "punk-rock" genre.

"Killing Joke" - Killing Joke

"Atomiser" - Big Black

"Zen Arcade" - Husker Du

"Mule" - Alice Donut

"Sister" - Sonic Youth

"Death Church" - Rudimentary Peni

"Rock For Light" - Bad Brains

"Locust Abortion Technician" - The Butthole Surfers

"CellScape" - Meltbanana

"Head" - The Jesus Lizard

I had to limit myself to one album per band, otherwise these things just get out of hand.

Also I did this list right off the top of my head, so I won't be surprised by any glaring omissions...

I mean, come to think of it; Nirvana, Rage Against The Machine, Screaming Trees, Pixies, they're all sorta punk-rock bands in their own way...

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Come on, give us the link to your blog already.

All right, here's my latest entry, its titled "Why Everything You Think You Know About Punk Is COmpletely Wrong"...I think you'll like it:

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=66316956&blogID=306694278&Mytoken=25A27CFE-BBE0-4196-ABA1C61BC489D04C11865396

BTW, the blog answers the question of what the ten best punk rock albums of all-time are...

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I think you're right. Considering that I was a punk for quite a number of years and have a load of punk in my music collection, I still found it pretty hard to choose a "Top 10 albums", and not really because there were too many to choose from. Apart from my 10, I only really found another 5 worth considering. :P

Alot of the punk bands that I loved were pretty good, produced maybe some legendary singles or the odd killer album track, but their albums weren't exactly "alltime great" material, especially when viewed with the benefit of hindsight. Also the "built-in obsolescence" aspect of punk meant there were alot of bands who flared brilliantly and briefly, without developing an album's worth of material.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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