15 Greatest Punk Albums of All Time
What does the term ‘punk’ mean to you? Is it London in the late 70s, with spiky hair, bondage trousers and safety pins? Or is it The Ramones with their two minute anthems and no-nonsense stagecraft?
Maybe it's the spirit of punk that resonates with you? That idea that you can do anything you want, on your own terms, without having to impress or kowtow to any authority figures? That sounds like words to live by, if ever I heard them!
So, whichever iteration of punk first grabbed you, I hope today’s blog represents at least a little bit of what resonates with you. I’m covering a few angles and generations here, so dive in and see what made the cut!
The Best Punk Albums Ever, at a Glance
Never Mind the Bollocks - The Sex Pistols
Rattus Norvegicus - Stranglers
Milo Goes to College - The Descendants
Enema of the State - Blink-182
The Shape of Punk to Come - The Refused
Never Mind the Bollocks - The Sex Pistols
For some, the Sex Pistols were an overblown, manufactured bunch of posers put together by a posh impresario in a clothes shop. To others, they were the definitive year zero for British punk, and an angry fist in the face against a culture and establishment that seemed rooted firmly against the common person.
It was before my time, so I can’t comment on how it must’ve felt to see the Pistols tearing up the nation back in the day, preaching self-reliance and independent thought. I understand it though, and that energy has stayed, not least in the band’s only studio recording. Bigger sounding and more swaggering than much of the surrounding punk music of the time, Never Mind the Bollocks stands as a benchmark document of a movement that was needed then, and needed now.
The Ramones - The Ramones
Music fans will forever debate the true genesis of punk: was it London in 1977, or New York City in 1976? The Ramones obviously got there first, and even if they had long hair (punk anathema) and seemed less obviously angry and sneering, there is definitely a case to be made for their debut album being the first true punk album.
The leather jackets, tight jeans and sneakers were proto-punk for sure. The short, energetic tunes were too, though you could say they were too melodic for many punks of the time. Songs like Blitzkrieg Bop are as iconic as anything put out by the Pistols or The Clash.
The band’s credo - “Eliminate the unnecessary and focus on the substance” - could pretty easily stand as a defining principle for punk in general.
The Clash - The Clash
Speaking of The Clash, their debut album deserves its place in the annals of punk history. Now, they were as manufactured as the Sex Pistols - by manager Bernie Rhodes, who followed Malcolm McLaren’s example - but their somewhat constructed ‘street gang’ image could also have been a young band finding themselves after trying out different styles.
The Clash later went far beyond the direct simplicity of punk music, but their debut - with songs like White Riot and I’m So Bored of the USA - is a potent statement from an agitated band at a fractious point in British culture.
Raw Power - The Stooges
Was Iggy and The Stooges actually the first punk band? Their definitive Raw Power album - released in 1973 - was already the band’s third, so they were certainly ahead of the game.
The whole record seems teetering on the brink of implosion, with a savage ‘in the red’ sound that buzzes and slashes across all sounds and songs.
It’s a hell of an album, from opener Search & Destroy (an anti-Vietnam anthem) to classics like Gimme Danger and Death Trip. Each cut is a sizzling slice of potent punk rock, the likes of which many have tried and failed to copy since.
Is Iggy Pop a punk? I’m not sure, and I guarantee you he doesn’t care what you think! So yeah, he is!
Damaged - Black Flag
How many Black Flag logos do you still see tattooed on people these days? That should tell you all you need to know about how influential these hardcore Los Angelinos were and are.
Damaged is their debut record from 1981, and was actually their third attempt at putting out an album. Vocalist Henry Rollins had only joined the band a few weeks prior to the album recording sessions, and took over vocal duty from Dez Cadenza, who wanted to focus on rhythm guitar.
The album is pretty much the definitive sound of LA hardcore. Songs like Rise Above and Damaged display their intense, inspiring sound, and the album artwork - which depicts Rollins’ hand smashing a mirror - matches the sound perfectly.
Pink Flag - Wire
Speaking of Henry Rollins, he has described Wire’s Pink Flag as ‘a perfect album’. High praise indeed! In true punk fashion, Wire batter through the songs, smashing 21 of them into the album’s 35 minute run time.
Many would say that Wire’s sound is more post-punk than punk. I’d be inclined to agree, but the record’s release date of December 1977 puts it closer to the British punk explosion than the movement that followed on after. It depends on your point of view, I suppose! Wherever it lands on your punk radar, there’s no mistaking the potency of the music on board, which mixes deliberate minimalism with poetry in an original and subversive way.
Horses - Patti Smith
Patti Smith’s Horses is one of those paradox albums. It’s something of a niche record that not too many people have heard, but it’s super influential and namechecked by folk like Michael Stipe, Siouxsie Soux, PJ Harvey and The Smiths.
Is this 1975 album ‘punk’? Yes, In many ways, I’d say. Lots of the album's songs are fairly minimal sounding and straight to the point, musically. The live feel, the sounds and the tempos all fall into what I’d consider to be a punk sound. On top of that, there’s a sort of wild, improvised element too, that I feel is often missing in more formalised ‘punk’ music, as if it somehow isn’t allowed.
I feel like Horses changed guitar-based music before the punk explosion made things more obvious. I love how Smith herself described the album: "three-chord rock merged with the power of the word". Perfect.
Walk Among Us - Misfits
It’s quite easy to argue that the Misfits aren’t even punk, but this is my list and I’m not having that! Whether we talk about the classic Danzig era or the Michale Graves years, the Misfits have a vast catalogue of punked up bangers.
The skull makeup and monster-referencing lyrics may not be as close to the urban punk ethos as bands like Black Flag, but in terms of inspiring a DIY attitude in their fans to go and start bands - on their own terms - Misfits are as punk as it gets.
Walk Among Us is their gloriously spooky debut album, and tunes like Vampira and Night of the Living Dead can be ‘taken straight’ or you can see the monsters as metaphors for relationships and angst. Your call: the tunes rule either way.
Rattus Norvegicus - Stranglers
Yes, the Stranglers had a keyboard player. This, and the fact that they were actually quite handy on their instruments, meant that many punk gatekeepers viewed The Stranglers as fraud punks. As if punk was about having rules! Their debut album is a visceral slice of British punk, there’s no denying it. From Hugh Cornwell’s sardonically snarled vocals and slashing Telecaster tones to JJ Burnell’s iconic bass sound, The Stranglers delivered.
Years before they hit the charts at No.2 with Golden Brown, The Stranglers were knocking out bangers like Hanging Around, (Get a) Grip On Yourself and, of course, Peaches. You just can’t argue with great songs, performed well!
Out of Step - Minor Threat
If Black Flag’s Damaged was the definitive sound of LA hardcore, then Minor Threat’s Out of Step was the next move towards a more formal socially-minded perspective. The notion of ‘Straight Edge’ had already come to the fore, through Ian Mackaye’s song of the same name on Minor Threat’s 1981 debut. That song put the band on the map and continues to resonate today.
However, I chose Out of Step for inclusion today because of one simple reason: I think the songs are better! I know that some would refer to Out of Step as an EP, but with 9 songs onboard, there’s enough here to justify calling it an album, all 22 minutes of it!
Feeding of the 5000 - Crass
In an era of art school punks talking the talk and little more, Crass represented the notion of ‘walking the walk’ more clearly than perhaps any other band. As much an art collective and political movement as a punk band, Crass were deliberately provocative in the areas of environmentalism, animal rights, authoritarianism and much more.
I’ve chosen the Crass album Feeding of the 5000 for inclusion today, but I suppose it could have been any of their releases from the early 80s. They had a good knack for being able to put real meaning into their raw intensity, and pack their songs with political content that felt neither phoney nor shoehorned in.
Milo Goes to College - The Descendants
In a triumph of real-world literality, this album is called Milo Goes to College because the band’s lead singer was called Milo and he wrote the songs about going to college. The story goes that he left the band to attend college, but since this record exists, at least part of that story isn’t true.
This record - filled with melody and fast tempos - is for many, the perfect middle point between poppy love songs and aggressive hardcore. It has proven itself to be a record with a long life, influencing subsequent generations of pop punk artists. Fat Mike from NOFX cites Milo Goes to College as his favourite album of all time.
For those who are wondering, Milo got a Phd in biochemistry and returned to the band. Good lad.
Dookie - Green Day
Today, they are one of the hugest bands in the world, but back in 1994, Green Day was just another trio of punks, on their third album and trying to make a name for themselves. Basket Case was a hit and propelled the album into more teenage homes than Nintendo. I was one of them, and Dookie is certainly a nostalgic experience for me, but the songs hold up.
It’s pretty much 14 songs about life in the suburbs: boredom, apathy, partying and prejudice all played into the mini soap opera that unfolded in the lyrics.
American Idiot may be the band’s masterpiece, but Dookie is the record that laid the foundation for Green Day’s entire career, not to mention the soundtrack to a generation.
Enema of the State - Blink-182
Just before the Millennium, nu metal and pop punk ruled the airwaves. Bratty punks Blink-182 enlisted the skills of Dookie producer Jerry Finn and replaced their drummer with Travis Barker, two moves that were to prove very sound!
At the time of Enema of the State, Blink-182 were written off as a joke band who would have their moment and then vanish. As it turned out, the record has sold more than 15 million copies, and the band still headline arenas, some 26 years after the release of this ‘throwaway’ album.
Based around real-life stories of their friends, Enema of the State focuses on ‘summer’ as a theme and addresses relationship difficulties and suburban living in its lyrics. In this sense, it's pretty similar to Dookie, but the songs themselves are significantly different. These days, it’s seen as a benchmark op punk record.
The Shape of Punk to Come - The Refused
This 1998 record by Swedes The Refused is quite the oddity. Its full title is The Shape of Punk to Come: A Chimerical Bombination in 12 Bursts, and Kerrang magazine had it in their top 50 most influential records list. It is by no means a straightforward record of guitar, bass and drums, and though a bit of a failure at the time of release, it went on to become one of the most referenced albums of the last few decades.
As you may be able to tell by now, there’s a fair whack of pretension on this release. The band describe their sound as ‘New Noise’, and the record has ‘political interludes’ in between the songs. In spite of all of this earnestness (posturing?), the music contained in the album is undeniable. Is it hardcore? Post-hardcore? Metal? Yes, to all of that and there’s also jazz, electronic and ambient moments too.
Is it punk though? I suppose that depends on your own connotations of the word ‘punk’, but any band who described their quest as finding ‘New Noise’ because normal rock and punk sounds became too mainstream for their message sounds pretty punk to me.
They broke up 8 gigs into their tour supporting this, citing ‘emotional devastation’ and terrible sales & reviews as the main reasons. They get more punk by the minute!
More Punk Than You
How did you get on with this list? Was it more or less what you expected? Do you feel like there were some howlers in there? It’s all part of the great tapestry of opinion, and I prized a wide selection over any other hierarchy.
I hope you found some bands in there that you love. Maybe you’ve seen one of two that you’d like to check out further? That would be ‘mission accomplished’ for me, really! Either way, thanks for spending some time with me, and do click on these other blogs below for more just like this one.
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