RS Readers Poll: Best Punk Bands Of All Time

[Strap on Guildo]

green day above DEAD KENNEDY'S?!? What a joke...

 

[Qvart]

Don't be feelin' lonesome, Scratch. I'm right there with you.

Same here … (4 band names / 0 songs)
Markus

Wizo? :lol:

We could put Die Toeten Hosen on the list for you. Or Die Aertzte. "Das kleine Kind, es spielt im Garten..." Lets see if I got any of that right from memory. :lol:

 

[fronobulax]

How do you know when you've become an Acoustic Geezer? When your name is Scratch; you only recognize three of the above names; and you can't name one song played by any of them... Sheesh!

FWIW, I recognize all 10 names, as well as some of the ones that folks say should be there, but as for songs, I think I only need one hand and a toe or two to count 'em.

A long time ago in a music market far away there was a radio station, WHFS and they played all sorts of things that I kind of remember but didn't do anything more than listen when they came on the radio.

 

[fronobulax]

Stiff Little Fingers

See Carol's posts in this thread for a tenuous Guild connection.

 

[Zelja]

Stiff Little Fingers

See Carol's posts in this thread for a tenuous Guild connection.

Frono you amaze me with your recall!

My foray into the Guild world has a direct connection with the punk band The Saints which I mentioned in an earlier post. I'm pretty sure I started investigating the brand deeply upon remembering shows (solo plus drummer) of their guitarist Ed Kuepper using 6 & 12 string acoustics which sounded great. My friends & I were very impressed at the time & we concluded (and I think correctly) that they were Guilds.

He was also the first guitarist that I was aware of that was using 2 capos at the same time (on a 12 string) & I finally worked out what he was doing many years later (yes, I am a bit slow).

PS SLF were pretty good too.

 

[Los Angeles]

There was a great scene in High Fidelity where Dick introduces Melissa Gilbert's character to Stiff Little Fingers and someone asks "Hey is this the new Green Day Album?"

I love that movie.

 

[SouthernSounds]

I like

PENNYWISE! 8)

Good taste, Tristan! A pretty good band! But is more Hardcore than Punk, I think (that's, at least, how "we" call it, here down south...)

All the best,

B.

* Sorry for my impolite answer in my previous post in this thread. Should I put at least IMHO? I think so...

 

[Qvart]

There was a great scene in High Fidelity where Dick introduces Melissa Gilbert's character to Stiff Little Fingers and someone asks "Hey is this the new Green Day Album?"

I love that movie.

There's a link in my post above to that movie clip. Classic.

If you look around LTG you'll also find a post of mine with pics of SLF featuring a B-series Guild bass.

 

[Qvart]

There was a great scene in High Fidelity where Dick introduces Melissa Gilbert's character to Stiff Little Fingers and someone asks "Hey is this the new Green Day Album?"

I love that movie.

There's a link in my post above to that movie clip. Classic.

If you look around LTG you'll also find a post of mine with pics of SLF featuring a B-series Guild bass.

Here's the thread with the pic:

 

[Beat_Dominator]

I'm not really into what I would call "full on punk" as I veer to the "pop" side of the musical equation, but one huge problem with a list like this and especially for Punk bands, is that if they are really truly a punk band, it is extremely common for them to a) break up in short order, or b) restrict themselves to indie lables and never generate much of a catalog.

There are some seriously genius works out there that could put a Punk band on a list like this but they never get the exposure. I mean, if this is a valid list, how are 80% of them from the same era? You could claim the 70's - 80's were punks "golden" era but I personally don't feel that's fair with that genre. Kids have been emotional and really pissed off for a long time!

 

[Qvart]

If you look around LTG you'll also find a post of mine with pics of SLF featuring a B-series Guild bass.

Here's the thread with the pic:

So, I moved into a new apartment in April and found myself sorely lacking in furniture items and whatnot. I spent many weekends going to yard sales and found a ton of great stuff and now I'm all set up. I also saw a bunch of non-functioning record players, but at one sale I came across a cheaper model Yamaha that worked and I paid $10 for it. Since then I've only been buying new music on vinyl and digging the experience a lot more. Now I commit to listening to at least a whole side and I'm collecting records I actually want to devote time listening to. That means I'm picking up stuff I already have on CD (and a lot of records come with digital copies/mp3 downloads. Bonus.) No surprise - given my list above - I'm amassing a collection of The Ramones, The Clash, and...

This is a 180-gram repressing of the first SLF album. I looked for a repressing of the second album, Nobody's Heroes, but unfortunately it doesn't exist. Shame - I like that one better than the first. Regardless, I went on Ebay and found an old pressing in really good condition:

The cover is different than my CD copy and I found out that this was the American release whereas the UK release had the barcode design like the CD. I decided to get the American release with the different cover. Oh, check out the back side of the sleeve:

Guild FTW!

 

[CajunBlues]

I grew up with the Washington DC punk scene... In fact I was a bass player in one of the local bands...

I also knew Dave Grohl when he played for Scream, my band and Scream played on the same bill about 5 times...

Alright, enough about me... :twisted: my head is starting to swell...

Surprised to see Bad Brains beat out Minor Threat.... Bad Brains being the only DC band on the list... I have seen all of the DC bands live and in fact we were on the same bill as Bad Brains (only once)...

Otherwise, it mentions most of the big names, and big influences...

On a side note, I never liked the Ramones, recorded or live... I loved seeing the DKs, saw them twice in DC...

 

[Qvart]

I grew up with the Washington DC punk scene... In fact I was a bass player in one of the local bands...

I also knew Dave Grohl when he played for Scream, my band and Scream played on the same bill about 5 times...

Alright, enough about me... :twisted: my head is starting to swell...

Surprised to see Bad Brains beat out Minor Threat.... Bad Brains being the only DC band on the list... I have seen all of the DC bands live and in fact we were on the same bill as Bad Brains (only once)...

Otherwise, it mentions most of the big names, and big influences...

On a side note, I never liked the Ramones, recorded or live... I loved seeing the DKs, saw them twice in DC...

There's a Scream record at a shop here in town. Been debating that one. Was the guitarist also in Swiz? And would I know the band you were in?

I'd include Minor Threat on a list if it went to 20. Again, they were punk, but a certain kind of offshoot. But so were Bad Brains for that matter. Oy vey. :lol:

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[CajunBlues]

Band was Phlegm... doubt if you heard of us unless you lived in DC... Don't know about swiz or its relation to Scream... As far as I am concerned harDCore will always be punk to me... I thought the Dead Kennedys and Black Flag were hardcore punk... so, why not Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Cicrle Jerks, Government Issue etc...

Funny because Phlegm's (our band) sound was very much like the early stuff like the Sex Pistols ...

 

[Qvart]

Band was Phlegm... doubt if you heard of us unless you lived in DC... Don't know about swiz or its relation to Scream... As far as I am concerned harDCore will always be punk to me... I thought the Dead Kennedys and Black Flag were hardcore punk... so, why not Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Cicrle Jerks, Government Issue etc...

Funny because Phlegm's (our band) sound was very much like the early stuff like the Sex Pistols ...

Nope, don't know your old band. But hell, growing up in SE Ohio I was lucky to hear any punk/underground/HC/obscure music at all.

I did some looking and did not find a Scream - Swiz connection. Looked like the guy from Swiz in one of the pics though.

Back around '91 I saw the guitarist from Swiz play with another Dischord band - Shudder to Think. Definitely not hardcore, but you'd probably know them from that time in DC. Shortly after that show I saw a band that still ranks in my mind as one of the best sets I've ever seen - Nation of Ulysses (an eccentric concept band - not really "punk" or "hardcore").

The bands I know from that era in DC are mainly ones that were on Dischord, and most of them don't bring "punk" to mind, e.g., Dag Nasty, Jawbox, NOU, etc. Black Flag and Dead Kennedys were "hardcore" but since they were from earlier and - in my mind - have more of a punk streak to them, I don't think of them entirely in the same group as "hardcore" bands like Minor Threat and, later, the massive growth of HC bands in New York and Boston.

Honestly, "punk" is too ambiguous and with all the variations, offshoots, and proto-punk/garage bands it's difficult to know where to begin/end/delineate. Sticking with bands that are classic punk, I think the list is decent, but mine is better. :lol:

 

[Carol]

Hello lads... Well, my husband Henry (of Stiff Little Fingers fame), ended up joining the dark side (he bought a Martin)... but that doesn't change the fact that my Guild D35 was played on his recent CD release! So take THAT martin!

I think the only reason he bought a Martin was because I don't like them... as a true "punk" has has to always take the "contrary" position on everything!

He's going to be touring the UK again this summer (from June through September) for any of our UK punk fans who want to catch up with him!

 

[Ian]

Hi Carol,

Nice to see you back, your ears burning ? :lol:

Best of luck for the tour.

Cheers, Ian

 

[Qvart]

my husband Henry (of Stiff Little Fingers fame), ended up joining the dark side (he bought a Martin)...

He's going to be touring the UK again this summer (from June through September) for any of our UK punk fans who want to catch up with him!

Good luck to him on his tour.

And if anyone in the UK is interested in SLF, they just added their March tour dates (sans Cluney of course).

 

[Ian]

@ Qvart. UK Vinyl release has a different back cover also, shows a rejection letter from Chrysaslis records......

Thanks for pointing that one out though, i'd always wondered what the name of that LP was...

Back to the OP, and I'd always coinsidered that Punk really only referred to the original Uk scene , and hence my list would include bands such as: The Undertones, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Members, The Stranglers, The Clash, SLF, Sex Pistols , The Damned et al. IMo the mark of a great punk band was maybe a couple of dynamite singles and a great first LP,
their career afterwards often going in a completely different direction (eg XTC). Outside of the UK I'd include the Ramones and the Saints, most ogf the other bands mentioned I'd rate as more Hardcore or Protopunk in the case of the Stooges or The New York Dolls. Of course thats not to mention either Crass or the Fall, both original UK bands of the time that have continued to exist until the present time.....

Just my thoughts (from one that was around at the time :lol: )

Cheers, Ian

 

[Qvart]

@ Qvart. UK Vinyl release has a different back cover also, shows a rejection letter from Chrysaslis records......

Thanks for pointing that one out though, i'd always wondered what the name of that LP was...

Back to the OP, and I'd always coinsidered that Punk really only referred to the original Uk scene , and hence my list would include bands such as: The Undertones, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Members, The Stranglers, The Clash, SLF, Sex Pistols , The Damned et al. IMo the mark of a great punk band was maybe a couple of dynamite singles and a great first LP,
their career afterwards often going in a completely different direction (eg XTC). Outside of the UK I'd include the Ramones and the Saints, most ogf the other bands mentioned I'd rate as more Hardcore or Protopunk in the case of the Stooges or The New York Dolls. Of course thats not to mention either Crass or the Fall, both original UK bands of the time that have continued to exist until the present time.....

Just my thoughts (from one that was around at the time :lol: )

Cheers, Ian

I'd say you're fairly spot on with that perspective. And one could make the argument that "punk" really only applies to a small group of American and UK bands in the '70's. Even my list expands the term beyond the '70's to bands that, if included, could justify expanding the term backwards to cover proto-punk/garage bands. I guess it's a matter of time/place/experience too - I grew up mostly in the '80's and didn't really have an awareness of any of these bands until about '85/'86 (just when some of the American bands were winding down, e.g., Dead Kennedys and Black Flag). The first for me were the Sex Pistols and the Clash, and then Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Bad Religion, and Bad Brains. Being obsessed with skateboarding at the time too (and for many years after) meant that my experience of music was shaped in large part by west coast-based skateboard magazines (heavy on the SST bands, Epitaph, Sub Pop, and Venice Beach-area surf/skate/metal bands like Los Olvidados, Suicidal Tendencies). Shortly after this time came the DC-area Dischord bands and beyond that the New York/Boston dominance of hardcore. A lot of bands entered and disappeared from my awareness over the years, but the ones listed above have become all-time favorites. It's tough for me not to include bands like Bad Brains or Bad Religion on my list.

I don't remember when I first heard SLF. I'm sure it was back when I first came across the other UK bands from that era, but I do remember the first song that grabbed me - I Don't Like You. SLF and The Clash are two bands that grew on me more as I got older.

The CD reissue of Nobody's Heroes has the same cover as the original UK vinyl release. Don't know if it includes the rest of the album artwork or the Chrysalis rejection letter. I'll have to check when I get home. As for the US release: This is the first time I've done some looking around and didn't know there was a difference in covers. Not surprised though - many releases were changed from the UK to the US (The Clash comes to mind).