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The Best of the BestJan 18 '03 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Remember don't take punk too seriously. Punk just means loud music, and if a band plays 'punk' as a style, they defeat the purpose.
Ok, while some people center almost completely on one branch of punk, such as skatepunk, hardcore, garage rock, or whatever, I was cleverly decided to put it all into one list of the 10 most aggressive, brilliant and controversial albums ever. #1 The Clash - London Calling Finally a band that can be tough be not dumb, provocative but but tasteful, eloquent but raw. And beyond the artistic integrity of the album, the songs are all top rate, inflected with rockabilly, rocksteady and classic rock. And although it slows down around the end, in comparison to what else was going in music, this had to have been the only album, and band, that mattered at the time. I would gladly give up the other nine for this one. #2 The Damned - Damned Damned Damned While other records might be peppered with fine tunes, this is one of the few where I can really say there is no wasted time. Every cut is essential, and no filler. 'Neat Neat Neat', 'New Rose', 'Stab Your Back', are such awesome shows of how dark but playful punk sounded, that I will bluntly say I prefer this over Never Mind the Bollocks, and since only accepting one album in every category, this is the definitive British Punk, not the studio-manufactured punk of the Sex Pistols. The Pistols are great, just not this great. #3 Black Flag - Damaged Without these LA wastoids, where would hardcore be today? Probably alot better off actually. But nonetheless, this album not only sounds more aggressive and funny than any Minor Threat album, it also has actual songs, with hooks and riffs which are catchy, something that hardcore bands had yet to figure out. #4 Nuggets, Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era Although this cannot be considered the work of one artist, it is however the culmination of half a decade of punk before the spiked leather, safety pins and rhetoric. These kids didn't know how to play instruments, hot to sing or get record deals, but they were still in an era where good melodies counted but so did a subdued explosiveness. The whole punk era probably owes more to this album than it will admit. #5 Joy Division - Closer For the goth, or 'mope rock', album I had a really hard time. With such artists like The Cure, Siouxie and the Banshees and Bauhaus, I was torn between many great albums. But this album is the one that really got me down, depressed me. I heard this album and it was so listlessly beautiful and evocative, yet so melancholy, I was lucky I didn't have a gun or a sharp object around or I might not be writing this. No more explanation is needed. #6 Johnny Cash - Live At Folsom Prison Admittedly, this guy wasn't technically a punk. He didn't even play rock and roll. But he IS punk, and he was a punk before it was cool to be one. He is so badass, he recorded an album live at a prison. Just hearing the inmates cheer at the verse "I killed a man in Reno/Just to watch him die" makes him a punk. True, there isn't too much country music to contest him, but then are there really that many punk bands to contest the Stooges or The Clash? Just give it a chance, even if it isn't 'cool' to be into punk. But then, isn't that indifference to what is 'cool' the essence of punk? #7 The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat The Velvets made lots of great records, but this one is really the only one that correctly influenced and predicted what punk would sound like. With no bass, lots of speed and blown out speakers, this record ROCKS. I don't pretend this record is what it isn't; it isn't the magnificent orchestra of distortion some would build it up to be. But it is the best protopunk record. #8 Operation Ivy - Energy Owing alot to hardcore and punkska pioneers, this east coast band would take the bouncy fun of ska, mixed with the honesty and ferocity of thrash. What resulted was a masterpiece that would set the standard for all punk afterwards. "Unity" is one of those songs where emo kids, hardcore punks and skatepunks all bow down. And while its not an even ride, at 23 songs nothing is left out. 9# The Ramones - Rocket From Russia Pop-punk is not only mastered by these guys, they also invent it. But then, mastering the 3-chord song isn't saying much. The importance of this record exists from two reasons: 1.) ANYONE can listen to it, this record is like the transition drug for punks, it gets people into music 2.) Without these guys, more so than the Pistols, Punk might have remained even more underground than it already was. Their hits actually charted, and although they were musical idiots, they did manage to take punk, quicken its pace and strip it down. 10# The Pixies - Doolittle Besides being some of the most talented rock musicians to emerge from the late 80's, they were the ones who handed the torch of underground to Nirvana before they fell apart. Without their contribution to music, there would be no grunge, no indie, no Smells Like Teens Spirit. But these guys and girls are punks, I mean, what else would you call "debaser"? In the experimental, disdain-for-what-the-label-thinks ethic of punk, they had the guts to make incredibly catchy songs that they knew would never be played on a radio.  |
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