Punk Rock

[Axewielder]

Suicidal's first album is the tits!!!

Another kickass punk band, largely because they're not really a punk band. The singer is a punk I guess, but the guitarist/bassist are freaking prog metal virtuosos.

[Mudlark]

I can't say enough good things about the first Suicidal Tendencies album.

[Codex]

RE: ST's S/T - I would classify it as crossover, but whatever - it's an awesome album! I love crossover and ST was definitely one of the first!

I also wanted to mention Rancid. I can;t believe I forgot them - great band! ...And Out Come The Wolves is such a great album.

[Jayster]

Another kickass punk band, largely because they're not really a punk band. The singer is a punk I guess, but the guitarist/bassist are freaking prog metal virtuosos.

And this is exactly why people argue about 'what's punk music'?

IMHO in the late 70's when the whole punk term was being thrown around the most, it seemed as though the crux of it was either the DIY ethic OR not being accessible to the mainstream of the time. For example: Sex Pistols, Clash and Stiff Little Fingers. The Sex Pistols were arguably just a straight ahead rock band with a lousy singer, sure the lyrics flew against the grain but just a rock band(same with the Ramones). The Clash were certainly not the same style of music, but not falling into an easily identifiable category and being somewhat eclectic in nature they were labeled punk. I could go on and on....

So the question is how do you define punk? Does it have to be fast, then the Clash and the Dead Milkmen weren't punk at all. Does it have to be aggressive? Then Blondie and The Specials weren't punk at all. Does it have to have great musicians, absolutely not(but there were definitely some musicians in the genre who could play). The point was that it flew in the face of convention and created some very original music, which many of today's bands are missing. Much of the west coast sound is very homogenous and tired.

Lots of bands that have nothing in common became lumped into the punk category, which is why all of the sub genres came about. Tell me what the Damned, MC5, New York Dolls, and Black Flag had in common?

Anyway, I guess I'm done rambling on....

[zeegler]

I grew up hearing my parents play Sabbath, Nugent, Zeppelin. The Who, Blondie, Floyd, Queen, etc. When I was a kid I got into Kiss, probably mostly because of the costumes and makeup. When I actually began developing my own tastes, around 1984 and on, I started listening to what I would consider mostly punk. Sex Pistols, The Clash, Discharge, The Dead Kennedys, MDC, COC, Agnostic Front, Exploited, GBH, Dayglo Abortions, Raw Power, The Damned, Bad Religion, Black Flag, Minor Threat, Bl'ast, Suicidal, etc. However "punk" is probably best described as an attitude, than a style of music. I hear a lot of these newer pop-punk bands, and I think it's pretty clear they seem to be aiming at a particular style of punk. I don't mind some of them, but they aren't really punk in the traditional sense of the word. Having largely moved on from that stuff, I do sometimes listen to some of that old stuff. The real standout is Bad Religion. I still listen to them frequently. They have tons of really cool tunes, lots of energy and melody, thoughtful lyrics.

Here's one of my favorites:

[Devotee]

What zeegler said. I grew up listening to Sex Pistols, Ramones, The Clash, Misfits, etc. as well as Metallica, Slayer, Deicide, Death, etc.

Here's some classic and essential Hardcore Punk for you:

And one of my favourite albums of all time and arguably THE definitive Crust album:

[Devotee]

Here's some more classics:

[zeegler]

Some good stuff there Devotee!!

[shreddermon]

Surprised to see no mention of Green Day. I know I'm going more current there, but no love for them? Not a huge fan by any means, but I think American Idiot is a modern day classic.

[Rsmacker]

Vice Squad (I'm STILL in love with Beki Bondage, probably more so now she's an old boiler and more within my league)

UK Subs - still going strong, Charlie Harper must be about 103 by now

Discharge

GBH

The Adicts (yep, correct spelling)

ANWL

[Rsmacker]

Awwwww, I always prefer the original version of "Animal" to this one, it always makes people look up when you are having a singalong with the headphones on.

[Jayster]

Reading that OP's idea of ska is no doubt, I thought I'd share a couple of links that fall under the third wave of ska.


My favorite ska album, sadly the band never did another straight up ska album but instead branched out to many other genres including big band, ragtime, blue grass, etc...

Of course there's many more bands that played ska well, here's an example of the 2cd wave

Now some classic punk that hasn't been represented here:

[Nightbat]

Wasn't punk something that didn't actually had to do with the music?

"Punk" music was only as such for a very short time, after the recordcompanies got wind, everything alternative was thrown under the label of "Punk"

[atomic charvel guy]

iiiiiii've gone, mennnnntoooooool...................... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmbk17xIcRw (staring at my goldfish bowl, popping phenobarbitol) this is punk!