My Essential Punk Rock Discography

Even though this is my personal list, every record listed here is invaluable for its historic and artistic significance and are listed in no particular order. Every band here, though all comfortably fitting in the Fast/Loud category, has a strong identity and sound, and no two of these bands are alike, whether in concept, sound or image. 

I consider every band on this list to be trailblazers and pioneers, and all of these records to be essential documents of a time and place. So if you want to know what my personal experience of Punk was like, buy these records, research these bands and ponder what the difference is between them and the modern acts that call themselves Punk Rock. 

RAMONES - ROCKET TO RUSSIA: Though some would argue for the first album on grounds of purity, Showdown readers know I have no time for purity. Rocket is faster and funnier and boasts as many stupid classics as any Ramones album does. Note to neophytes: avoid any Ramones album made after 1979. 

SEX PISTOLS - NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS: There is no excuse for not owning this album. Go out and buy it now before your friends find out you don’t have it. Simply the grandest expression of righteous rage ever recorded by four total poseurs. 

MISSION OF BURMA - VS.: American Punks could be as arty as their British cousins. Not sure if the full Rykodisc comp (entitled Mission of Burma) is available, but if it isn’t, Vs. is a wonderful consolation prize. One of the greatest bands of any era, MOB deconstruct Punk and Hardcore and make almost everyone else sound ordinary. 

THE CLASH - GIVE 'EM ENOUGH ROPE: The only studio album that captures the experience of The Clash onstage is, by some weird rip in the probability matrix, the only studio album in which The Clash worked with a real producer. Trashed by sniffy fops in the papers for being the band's attempt at getting on US radio. As if anything on US radio in 1978 sounded even remotely like this record.  

DEAD KENNEDYS - FRESH FRUIT FOR ROTTING VEGETABLES: Before they went political, the DK’s were a sick joke band. And Fresh Fruit contains their sickest and catchiest jokes. Interesting to hear real musicians playing Punk this early. I don’t have much time for their later, more strident material. 

WIRE - PINK FLAG: Art school Punk. They play a great riff over and over until they get bored and go onto the next one. Every song is a Punk classic, and Pink Flag‘s short and fast formula set the stage for Hardcore. Wire would soon get much artier and earn the nickname Punk Floyd. 

KILLING JOKE (1980 S/T): The Jokers set the stage for other elements to find their way into Punk, like Disco, Dub and Heavy Metal. Essentially a template for Industrial Metal, this album avoids that genre’s wretched excesses by embracing the Punk ethic whole-heartedly. Every song here is a classic. 

X-RAY SPEX - GERM-FREE ADOLESCENTS: The first wave of Punk was much more egalitarian than later eras. Hence you had lots of great bands with female lead singers like X-Ray Spex. And X-Ray Spex boasted a sound as tough and gnarly as any boy band. The CD includes the classic single ‘Oh Bondage, Up Yours!’ 

DISCHARGE - WHY: This Second Wave UK act essentially created Hardcore. Every song they performed was short, brutal and explicit. Fanatical in their anti-war politics, Discharge sought to shake listeners out of their apathy by illustrating the horrors of war with their blistering sonic assault. Sample lyric ‘Horrific disturbing visions of war fill my eyes/ Among the maimed and slaughtered my body lies’

 

CRASS - STATIONS OF THE CRASS: The Punkest band ever. Hardcore anarchists who walked every single syllable they talked. Every album came with a book’s worth of propaganda and art on the fold-out sleeves. Their music was as strange and ugly as anything ever heard. 

CIRCLE JERKS - GROUP SEX: This album epitomized the Cali Hardcore mentality circa ‘80. Fast, short blasts of humor and nihilism. Performed a civic duty by fully illustrating the vapid moral emptiness of Me Generation Southern California. The Jerks never made another worthwhile record. Joe Strummer’s former guitar slinger Zander Schloss played bass in a later Jerks lineup. 

BAD BRAINS - ROIR cassette: Like ever other band on this list, the Bad Brains peaked early. This cassette (also issued on CD) showcases the BB’s at their furious peak, and every single note on this record is classic. The Brains flawlessly shift between revved-up Punk and spaced-out Dub. Indispensable. 

BLACK FLAG - THE FIRST FOUR YEARS: I always laugh when I see Rock crits listing Damaged as a great Punk record. Because as any old-school Punk will tell you, Black Flag was over by the time Rollins joined the band. This comp has most of the great Keith Morris/Ron Reyes/ Dez Cadena material, though ‘Police Story,’ the best BF song ever, is strangely AWOL. 

BLITZ - WARRIORS: For some strange reason, I bought a lot of Oi records back in the early 80’s. With the exception of a few singles here and there, Oi was as wretched as anything ever made. Except for Blitz. Although hampered by horrid production for most of their short career, Blitz was hands down the most vital and exciting Oi! band of their time. 

BUZZCOCKS - SINGLES GOING STEADY: These old codgers are still around, though without the rhythm section and producer that made them so special. This is the classic lineup with the incomparable John Maher on drums and the indispensable Martin Rushent behind the glass. Rushent gave these silly pop tunes a futuristic sheen that is inseparable from their essence. Green Day should pay them intellectual property royalties. 

STIFF LITTLE FINGERS - INFLAMMABLE MATERIAL: Incendiary politi-Punk from occupied Ireland. SLF loses a few points for having their manager write the lyrics, but he wrote good ones. One of the few bands on this list who made good music past their first record. Adored and emulated The Clash. Imitated by many American fifth-wave acts. 

SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES - ONCE UPON A TIME: This comp captures the Banshees in their early thrash days as well as the later, more refined material. The Banshees were Pistols groupies who started their own thing and distilled the Weimar decadence that was so important to early Punk. ‘Love in A Void’ is as essential as any Punk Rock single ever made, and sounds more like ‘77 than anything else currently available. 

UNDERTONES S/T: Early Punk pop from Derry, Ireland. The Undertones were angry young men who formed a band to avoid joining the IRA like all their mates. Dealt with the Troubles by ignoring them in their music. Made two great records. Toured with the Clash in ‘79, and played their tune ‘Casbah Rock’ to a very interested Joe Strummer. Fast, fun, now and wow. 

WIPERS - YOUTH OF AMERICA: Punks who could play. Greg Sage is revered by people like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, but don’t hold that against him. Took American Punk to new places it was loathe to go. Title track is an eight minute fever dream that recalls the music of another favorite son of the PNW, Jimi Hendrix. 

DEVO - ARE WE NOT MEN?: Punk’s real cradle is the Midwest. Anyone with a brain in Rust Belt nowheres like Akron and Detroit couldn’t help but be a little crazy and rebellious. Devo were doing it since the early 70’s and Are We not Men? Captures the essence of the concept. Devo were so inventive with guitars that’s it a shame they discovered synths. Became a bad joke soon after.

I’m sure there are a few stragglers I’m missing, but this pretty much captures the major Punk records of my mis-spent youth. You probably have heard of most of these bands, which is a testament to their enduring power. 

And just by the fact that you are on this site shows you have advanced skills of discernment and taste. For all you old-schoolers, I am sure you have your own picks, but I would bet that any number of these records are on your personal best of Punk lists as well.  

 

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