Bikini brunettes with machine guns : ten albums you have to listen to before you can claim to like "punk" music
Submitted by cramoukji on Wed, 02/16/2005 - 09:51
Tags:
- London Calling The Clash (hard-edged rock album that keeps influencing many bands today, their third release)
- Stay Sick The Cramps (the most mainstream-friendly album from the creators of psychobilly rock, released in 1990)
- Suicide Suicide (this pioneering duo mixed raw energy with machines and were the first to use the word "punk" to qualify their music, this is their first album)
- New York Dolls New York Dolls (this missing link bridged glam aestethics with punk music and remains therefore an important name in rock, this is their first album)
- Minor Threat (collected discography) Minor Threat (Noone ever went as far as they did in hardcore punk -all the 29 songs they ever recorded fit on a 50-minute CD)
- Raw Power Iggy and the Stooges (rightfully considered as the godfathers of punk, the Stooges were at their peak on this, their third album)
- Punk's not dead The Exploited (they really believe in punk rock and are still going strong twenty-five years after their debut album, listed here)
- Pink Flag Wire (shouldn't be classified as any particuliar kind of music but the energy and the artistic freedom makes it punk in many ways)
- Damned Damned Damned The Damned (forerunners of the english scene, they have since unjustly been overshadowed by more commercially-successful bands)
- Horses Patti Smith (a definitive founding figure of what punk turned out to be, Patti also was one of the first assertive women in a male-dominated music genre, this is her first album)
Author Comments:
This list is mostly aiming at today's kids who would tell you they like "punk" but never bothered listening to anything prior to Green Day's Dookie or Offspring's Smash... I have no doubt that anyone over twenty with a real interest in rock music has at least listened once to the albums on this list
No Ramones? No "Never Mind the Bollocks"? And, considering the popularity of Green Day and the subsequent pop-punkers they inspired, shouldn't the Buzzcocks be here as well?
I had decided to make this list short and could not include everyone... It was obvious that I wouldn't include the Sex Pistols for the same reasons I would not include a Beatles album if I made a similar list for 60's british pop... The Ramones were left out because, though I personally enjoy them a lot, I don't feel they would be as relevant to the wide scope I tried to bring to this list as, say, Minor Threat, Suicide or The Cramps... as for the Buzzcocks, well I could have listed them instead of the Damned but I felt the fact that the Damned are so underrated and much more forgotten than the Buzzcocks nowadays worked to their advantage regarding what kind of effect I wanted my list to have... All three of these bands belong without a doubt in a "Punk rock hall of fame" and I do not believe that is what this list is about... I hope these explanations could help and give satisfying answers to your welcome queries.
Fair enough -- I'm all for diversity. I do think the inclusion of Suicide was a nice touch.
I've just booked tickets for the Buzzcocks, Stranglers, Stiff Little Fingers, and others (Beat, GBH, King Kurt, Menace, Gold Blade, Fight, Freaks Union, Supatones, Havana A Go Go) on Sunday, May 1, 2005 in Birmingham (UK). I saw the Buzzcocks last week and they were awesome, and Stiff Little Fingers are also a favourtite of mine so this was a must, but I could get by without headline act, the Stranglers.
well, yes I've read your list of all the concerts you attended... it's impressive and also reassuring that eve though they are not under the spotlight anymore so many great bands are still going strong and touring... my work doesn't allow me much time to go to the concerts but thankfully Belgium, Brussels mostly, is a usual stop in rock tours... Latest rock concerts I went to in the past two years are Queens of The Stone Age, The Rolling Stones, Bob Log the third, The Cramps, Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Are you not counting The Clash's self-titled album as an album? If so, then I believe London Calling was the band's third album, following Give 'em Enough Rope.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Releases have been different in Europe and the US, but I stand corrected... thanks for pointing out that mistake, I really don't like making mistakes especially on such serious matters :)
Actually, I probably should not be so anal, but I think London Calling was the third US album also, the debut finally being release about half a year before the double album.
IIRC, in the US, the order was Rope, Clash, London. In the UK, it was Clash, Rope, London.
Forgive my pickiness. :)
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I forgive
Great Choices.
well, thank you, you are free to endorse me :p
Haven't heard Stay Sick or Punk's Not Dead, but I can't (and wouldn't want to) argue with any of the others. I have a special place in my heart for The Dolls, although I find myself listening to Too Much Too Soon a little more than the debut. Suicide is also an inspired choice. (the band, not the act;)
Johnny Waco
Well then I can only invite you to take the time to listen to any Cramps album, as pointed here Stay Sick is their friendliest and easiest to get excited about, a bit like the doorstep that leads into Lux Interior's and Poison Ivy's house of freak psychobilly 50-s b-movies post-punk-garage rock, call it whatever you want, just like a very well known canadian mutant would tell you, they're the best at what they do. Songs the Lord taught us, Psychedelic Jungle, Gravest Hits, "Look Mom, No Head !", A Date With Elvis and their latest album, Fiends of Dope Island, are all worth checking out as well if you enjoy Stay Sick.
As for The Exploited, well, I personally am not much of a fan of their music but it always amazes me (and yes makes me smile as well but in a respectful way) to think that they've been using the same schtick for more than two decades now and have kept a strong fan base and managed to attract new listeners and concert-goers along the way... ten years from now we'll have to consider them The Grateful Dead of Punk LOL.
Too Much Too Soon could be the most aptly-titled album in the history of rock'n'roll. And thank you for your acknowledgment of Suicide, I really believe their debut album is one of the most important releases of rock music in the 20th Century as I attested in this list
You may wish to consider adding the Velvet Underground, and Television's Marquee Moon. Another one to consider for punk completists / enthusists is Peter Hammill's (only) punk (pre-punk) album, 1975 release "Nadir's Big Chance", which Johnny Rotten said was a major influence.
It is open to debate... for me The Velvet Underground, even if it is in many aspects a precursor of punk, cannot really be considered as such because the band was actually much much more than just that and therefore didn't belong in my list because people who can't stand punk can perfectly well be fans of VU.
Marquee Moon was strongly considered for inclusion but eventually was passed in favor of Wire also because I don't own Marquee Moon and haven't heard it thoroughly.
As for Peter Hammill's album, I have never even heard it and not sure I have heard of it before and with all due respect, what Johnny Rotten said never accounted for much in my choices :)
David Bowie and Thom Yorke (Radiohead) also claim Peter Hammill as an influence.
Hmmm, would it surprise you if I told you I never liked Radiohead all that much ? And sir David was about influenced by anybody he ever came in touch with... ah ah... and you know that's true.
I disagree that Wire's Pink Flag shouldn't be classified as punk. I mean, that's what punk was all about. Whatever Wire did later doesn't change what they were doing in 1977.
As for London Calling by the Clash,... that seems to be put on some sort of punk pedestal by a lot of listologists, but when it came out, some in punk were saying that the Clash sold out. I'm not criticizing the record, I'm just stating a fact.
I don't know why you say that the Velvet Underground was "much much more that just that (punk)". That kind of implies there wasn't much to punk,... but punk was more than just one sound, just like psychedelic music was more than just one sound. All punk groups were not carbon copies of each other.
Of course they weren't, that's the point of this list in a way... to offer a short list but hopefully a wide scope of various incarnation of punk music. Basically, I am against all classifications, unless the bands themselves use those as a marketing tool and then there's not much we can do about it... so that's why I personally don't classify many of the albums on this list as punk-rock but I understand classifications can have usefulness once in a while... so are Wire really punk or not really punk ? I don't care, they're bloody good and that's all that matters. As for VU, I guess I failed to make my point clear, what I tried to express is simply that when I listen to VU, especially the two first albums, it doesn't strike me as punk so much as do the Stooges' albums, that's all.
Thanks for the interest and your frank comments.
I thought this was supposed to be crappy albums that only punkers would listen to :P
not funny... funny... not funny... did... did not... did... did not... no, no, no... that never was five minutes... ah, if it was five minutes then why do you keep on arguing... well, I could be arguing on my free time... oh that's ridiculous... no, it's not... yes, it is... no, it's not...
Seminal proto-punks of the U.S west coast during the 70's and 80’s.
Welcome to Siamese Dogs Records! Home of The Godfathers of Punk and out of control Rock & Roll!
GODFATHERS OF L A PUNK
A collection of rare tracks from the early days of the L A punk rock movement originally released on PHILIPPE MOGANE & JAMES WILLIAMSON (STOOGES)’s Siamese Records. Includes the original version of “I Got A Right/Gimme Some Skin” by The STOOGES and "We Got The Neutron Bomb" by THE CONTROLLERS, "Beat Her With A Rake" by THE WEASELS, a cover of "Hound Dog" by the ATTITUDE (with LITTLE RICHARD guesting on piano), as well as more tracks from IGGY & THE STOOGES, NU AMERICANS, MAX LAZER, and more.
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