The Fifty Greatest Punk Records

I was about to board a plane taking off for Vegas, and I needed a little light reading for the ride. As I scanned over the magazine rack in an airport news stand, I spotted the ugly mug of Sid Vicious on the cover of the latest Spin magazine. Now, I should spell it out crystal clear, that I never read this awful excuse for a music magazine. The writers always seem more interested in utilizing every five dollar word they picked up along the way than actually criticizing the music they are reviewing. But, I bought the darn thing anyway.

Neddless to say, the “25 Years of Punk” poll they spotlighted on the cover was an utter waste of time. They seemed more interested in pushing their own little agenda than taking a serious look at the impact punk rock has had on the music industry.

In response, I’ve constructed my list of the fifty most important albums in punk’s history. I took into account not only the greatness of each record, but also, their respective influence on the bands that followed, the ground breaking nature of each record, and of course, a tiny bit of my own personal tastes. I included only one record by each band, in an attempt to include as much of the punk legacy as possible. As always, feel free to leave a comment.

50. Reagan Youth “Youth Anthems For the New Order” 49. V/A “This is Boston, Not LA” 48. Born Against “Rebel Sound of Shit and Failure” 47. Bad Religion “Suffer” 46. Dag Nasty “Can I Say” 45. Husker Du “Zen Arcade” 44. Discharge “Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing” 43. Faith/ Void split LP 42. Circle Jerks “Wild in the Streets” 41. V/A “Not So Quiet on the Western Front” 40. Neurosis “Pain of Mind” 39. Minutemen “Double Nickels on the Dime” 38. Rudimentary Peni “Eps of RP” 37. Generation X “Generation X” 36. V/A “Cleanse the Bacteria” 35. Dickies “Incredible Shrinking Dickies” 34. Avengers “Avengers” 33. Flipper “Generic Flipper” 32. Richard Hell & The Voidoids “Blank Generation” 31. Rites of Spring “Rites of Spring” 30. DRI “Dirty Rotten LP” 29. Dils “Class War” 28. Angry Somoans “Back From Somoa” 27. Agent Orange “Living in Darkness” 26. Crass “Stations of the Crass” 25. Fear “The Record” 24. Cro Mags “Age Of Quarrel” 23. Gism “Detestation”

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