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Your favourite Punk albums?

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Lewian View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Lewian Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 01 2022 at 14:29
It actually reminds me a bit of the less polished Shudder To Think work.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Lewian Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 01 2022 at 14:31
As the majority seems to agree that punk is more than just punk, what about Nirvana by the way? If they count, they're surely among the best. (But then a whole lot of other stuff may want to get in, too.)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote nick_h_nz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 01 2022 at 14:44
Originally posted by Lewian Lewian wrote:

As the majority seems to agree that punk is more than just punk, what about Nirvana by the way? If they count, they're surely among the best. (But then a whole lot of other stuff may want to get in, too.)

That is like saying the majority seems to agree that prog is more than just prog. I think it is more a recognition that as the years have gone on punk has evolved and broadened, and encompasses a wider variety of sounds that share a similar aesthetic or ethos as the original punk artists. So, just as some people will argue until the cows have stepped over dead horses on their way home, flogging them until they are blue in the face, that prog begins and ends with music that sounds like the symphonic prog of the ‘70s, some will as narrowly define punk.

Nirvana are readily acknowledged and recognised as punk. I’ve probably heard them described as punk more than any other label. I haven’t checked, but I bet Wiki describes their music as punk. Not that I’m using wiki as an accurate reference, but rather a popular reference. When Wiki gets facts wrong, it tends to be because it goes by popular knowledge and understanding.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Lewian Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 01 2022 at 14:50
Originally posted by nick_h_nz nick_h_nz wrote:

Originally posted by Lewian Lewian wrote:

As the majority seems to agree that punk is more than just punk, what about Nirvana by the way? If they count, they're surely among the best. (But then a whole lot of other stuff may want to get in, too.)

That is like saying the majority seems to agree that prog is more than just prog. I think it is more a recognition that as the years have gone on punk has evolved and broadened, and encompasses a wider variety of sounds that share a similar aesthetic or ethos as the original punk artists. So, just as some people will argue until the cows have stepped over dead horses on their way home, flogging them until they are blue in the face, that prog begins and ends with music that sounds like the symphonic prog of the ‘70s, some will as narrowly define punk.

Nirvana are readily acknowledged and recognised as punk. I’ve probably heard them described as punk more than any other label. I haven’t checked, but I bet Wiki describes their music as punk. Not that I’m using wiki as an accurate reference, but rather a popular reference. When Wiki gets facts wrong, it tends to be because it goes by popular knowledge and understanding.


Of course if I write things up like this, it's 50% about winding people up who take genre definitions too seriously in my view. Wink Still for me there are good reasons to define punk more narrowly than prog, as the term punk used to refer to a pretty specific movement (OK this might be challenged looking at who used it before it took that shape), whereas prog as a genre label was put post hoc on a set of things that was at that point already quite heterogeneous.


Edited by Lewian - May 01 2022 at 14:51
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Lewian Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 01 2022 at 14:56
I do realise by the way that we're repeating ourselves.

But anyway, if I see it correctly, Nirvana hadn't been mentioned before in this thread, which would surprise me if people agreed on them being punk, because I find it hard to imagine that nobody here appreciates them. Of course it may be just my weird taste that makes me like them, but we're talking about a band that is seen as top influential class act all over the place.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote nick_h_nz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 01 2022 at 15:18
Originally posted by Lewian Lewian wrote:

I do realise by the way that we're repeating ourselves.

But anyway, if I see it correctly, Nirvana hadn't been mentioned before in this thread, which would surprise me if people agreed on them being punk, because I find it hard to imagine that nobody here appreciates them. Of course it may be just my weird taste that makes me like them, but we're talking about a band that is seen as top influential class act all over the place.

It could well be that no one else here likes them (as much) as you do, I love a whole lot of the bands that tend to be grouped together as “grunge” (even though they sound nothing like each other, and tend to all come from different genres, backgrounds and influences. I love Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and Screaming Trees, to name some of the other big names of that period and geographic area, as well as a lot of lesser known bands. But I have to admit, I’ve never got on with Nirvana, and like very little of their material.

And, yes, we are definitely repeating ourselves! 😄🤪
(And so, yes, I knew you were saying it mostly tongue-in-cheek. 😜)

However, as you yourself admit, the punk movement came after punk was already used to describe the music. Music had been described as punk before their was an image/fashion/movement that was associated with that music. And even once that aspect of punk took off, and had punk become more than just the music, there were still punk bands that were not associated with that image/fashion/movement. To me, to conflate the punk movement with punk music (which existed before, and long after said movement) is denying a fair portion of pubk history.

To keep to the prog analogy, it’s like saying that prog music was not just from a certain place and time, but also only really applies to those who had at least one member of the band that wore a cape on stage. Yes, I’m extracting the urine a little. But if you can, so can I! 🤪

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote David_D Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 01 2022 at 15:25
Originally posted by Lewian Lewian wrote:

As the majority seems to agree that punk is more than just punk, what about Nirvana by the way? If they count, they're surely among the best. (But then a whole lot of other stuff may want to get in, too.)

Nirvana is mainly considered to be Grunge, but In Utero sounds quite punky to me, and is an album I like a lot.


Edited by David_D - May 01 2022 at 15:36
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote nick_h_nz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 01 2022 at 15:42
Grunge is a media made label, that pretty much none of the bands labelled as such, and very few of the fans of those bands, use. So I don’t really believe that Nirvana are mainly considered to be grunge. But even if they do, grunge (as definitely by the media that coined the term) is a fusion of metal and punk, which pretty much means even if people use the term grunge, they are still associating the band with punk music.

Now, obviously, all musical labels and genres are somewhat arbitrary creations imposed retrospectively. The signified has always existed before the signifier is assigned to it. But some labels and genres are more arbitrary than others, and they tend to be the ones given by the media. Krautrock is one, and Grunge is another. There is a huge difference in sound and style between various Krautrock artists, and the same with grunge. In both cases, the labels were bestowed upon music from a particular geographic area in a somewhat derogatory and pejorative manner, initially as nothing more than a joke. But that joke somehow stuck, and became a genre label.

But anyone who thinks all Krautrock bands play the same style of music, or sound similar, clearly hasn’t listened to much Krautrock. It’s more of a cross-genre grouping, than a genre in itself. (And yes, I know I am going to invite a lot of argument, but hey, no change there….)

The same can be said for grunge. It started out as a joke by the media because the bands all looked grungy. It wasn’t even about their sound, so much as their appearance, initially. But when pushed to try and make a genre out of the joke, the metal meets punk explanation somehow evolved. It’s about as accurate as stating all the “grunge” bands have something in common apart from their geography.

But within that mass of Seattle bands called grunge, Nirvana certainly stood out as being more of a punk band than a metal band, if you really had to take that punk/metal fusion thing seriously.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote BaldFriede Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 01 2022 at 19:18
Inner City Unit. Here a few example tracks from four different albums:

















Edited by BaldFriede - May 01 2022 at 19:54


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (2) Thanks(2)   Quote Necrotica Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 01 2022 at 19:28
Not sure if I've commented on this thread before (and I'm too lazy to check, lol). Anyway, here are some of my favorites:

At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command (post-hardcore)
Bad Religion - Suffer (melodic hardcore)
L7 - Bricks Are Heavy (technically grunge, but a very punk-based form of it)
Rise Against - The Sufferer and the Witness (melodic hardcore)
Off Minor - The Heat Death of the Universe (screamo, jazz punk)
Refused - The Shape of Punk to Come (post-hardcore)
Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues (punk, folk-punk)
Helmet - Strap It On (alt-metal, but with a heavy post-hardcore influence)
Big Black - Songs About f**king (post-hardcore, noise rock)
Minor Threat - Out of Step (hardcore punk)

And if we count metallic hardcore/mathcore:

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Calculating Infinity (mathcore)
Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind (metalcore, hardcore punk)
Botch - We Are the Romans (metallic hardcore, metalcore)
Earth Crisis - Destroy the Machines (hardcore punk, metalcore)
Cave In - Until Your Heart Stops (metalcore, metallic hardcore)
Every Time I Die - Hot Damn! (metalcore, hardcore punk)


Edited by Necrotica - May 01 2022 at 19:32
Take me down, to the underground
Won't you take me down, to the underground
Why oh why, there is no light
And if I can't sleep, can you hold my life

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote HolyMoly Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 01 2022 at 21:44
The Sebadoh song “Gimme Indie Rock!” Is a humorous take on how punk/hardcore evolved into early 90s stuff like Nirvana, Mudhoney, Pearl Jam, etc. Basically, the punks started smoking pot and playing slower songs.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Gameoverluke Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 04 2022 at 21:00
Pennywise - Full Circle
Nofx - Punk in Drublic
Bad Religion - Suffer

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote David_D Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 05 2022 at 02:47
Originally posted by Gameoverluke Gameoverluke wrote:

Pennywise - Full Circle
Nofx - Punk in Drublic
Bad Religion - Suffer

fine, and my welcome to you on PA forums, Luke

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Syzygy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 05 2022 at 03:14

I view UK Punk as a reaction to a social gvt (the UK were dominated by labour in the 70's - with the communists getting a sensible share of the votes), albeit understandable, because the country was politcally & economically blocked.  The punks wanted opportunity (find their place in the sun), and I'm relatively certain that a lot of them voted Tory (Paul Weller of The Jam certainly admitted to it), maybe
even fascist. You got to remember that a lot of punk-followers were
middle class playing bad dudes with money to spend (on clothes, notably -
Westwood/McLaren shops) - not unemployement kids sharing the slums with
the immigrants.
What they probably didn't bargain for, is the Maggie Bitcher shock, though.
[/QUOTE]

I think that is a bit wide of the mark, Hugues. While it is true that UK punk was anti establishment, and by extension anti the government of the day, it wasn't explicitly anti Labour Party (which was more centre left than socialist). In the early days some punks wore bits of nazi regalia to shock the older generation, but when far right parties like the National Front started trying to recruit at punk gigs organisations like the Anti Nazi League and Rock Against Racism sprang up almost immediately and had massive support from punk bands and fans.
It's true that the punk bands had more diverse backgrounds than some of them liked to admit, with a good number of middle class students adopting unconvincing working class accents, but most of the key members of The Clash and The Sex Pistols really did grow up in working class London households.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Cosmiclawnmower Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 05 2022 at 14:50
My experience of 'Punk' was through bands like Crass, Poison Girls, Discharge, Disorder, The Mob.. and a lot of squat benefit gigs etc. It wasnt for the faint hearted and not an easy listen but i made some good friends who didnt judge me because i liked other types of music. It was the political message and the sheer anger at the injustice of the times that moved me but inevitably it became very negative and destructive and i lost a couple of friends to drugs and suicide.

Ive always loved the Damned who are the only one of the '77' UK punk bands ive got any time for. Once all the bullsh*t and hype of the Sex Pistols and Clash died down lots of excellent music came out and revitalized a moribund music scene of all forms..

Nobody's mentioned Motorhead??Thumbs Up

And the pre-punk 75/76 London 'Pub rock' scene with bands like Ducks deluxe, Nick Lowe, Ian Drury, the Motors, Eddie and the Hotrods etc.. some super straight ahead rock n roll


Edited by Cosmiclawnmower - May 06 2022 at 00:03

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BarryGlibb Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 05 2022 at 23:01
My favourite album of all time by a punk band is the 1980 album The Absolute Game by Skids....an Absolute Masterpiece IMHO.

It actually defies a genre description...even though Skids were originally a punk band The Absolute Game is unique; I cannot think of an album that comes close to being similar by any other artist.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote David_D Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 hours 60 minutes ago at 17:00

Thought Industry  (USA)  -  Songs for Insects  (1992)

Not quite Punk but new in my collection and something as rare as quite punkish Prog Metal.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 hours 17 minutes ago at 17:43
The Skids - Into the Valley (The Scottish punk  band with attitude - "See you Jimmy!" - and the forerunners of Big Country)





Edited by Psychedelic Paul - 21 hours 10 minutes ago at 17:50
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Valdez Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 hours 38 minutes ago at 19:22
Buzzcocks - love bites
Stranglers - Black and white
the Damned - Damn damn damn
Simpletones / the crowd / Rik L Rik Beach Blvd compilation
The Jam - all mod cons
X - Los Angeles
Wire- Pink Flag and 154

All old stuff, but those are my favorites
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Logan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 hours 25 minutes ago at 19:35
Originally posted by Logan Logan wrote:

...Bauhaus - In the Flat Field (Gothic Rock Post-Punk)
Daughters - You Won't Get What You Want (Noise Industrial Rock, Art Punk)
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Let Love In (Alternative Rock. Post-Punk)
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures (Post-Punk, Gothic Rock)
Melt-Banana - Cell-Scape (Noise Rock, Hardcore Punk)
Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance (Post-Punk, Experimental Rock)
Phew - Phew (Post-Punk, Experimental Rock)
PiL - Metal Box (Post-Punk, Experimental Rock)
Iggy Pop - The Idiot (Art Rock, Post-Punk)
The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead (Indie Pop, Post-Punk)
Television - Marquee Moon (Art Punk, Art Rock...)
This Heat - Deceit (Experimental Rock, Post-Punk)
Xiu Xiu - Knife Play (Experimental Rock, Synth Punk)...


For a much longer list of punky albums than I wrote for this topic in April 2022, while duplicating many of the same (I know quite a bit more now than in 2022), and since I like doing 2 albums per act (even if I know and love many more by an act):

Bauhaus: In the Flat Field (1980) / The Sky's Gone Out (1982)
Black Country, New Road: For the First Time (2021) / Ants From Up There (2022)
black midi: Schlagenheim (2019) / Hellfire (2022)
Camberwell Now: The Ghost Trade (1986) / Dejaunost v študentskem (Live, 1987)
Cardiacs: A Little Man and a House and the Whole World Window (1988) / On Land and in the Sea (1989)
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds: Your Funeral ... My Trial (1986) / Let Love In (1994)
The Chameleons: Script of the Bridge (1983) / Strange Times (1986)
Cocteau Twins: Garlands (1982) / Head Over Heels (1983)
The Comsat Angels: Waiting for a Miracle (1980) / Sleep No More (1981)
The Cure: Pornography (1982) / Disintegration (1989)
Daughters: Daughters (2010) / You Won't Get What You Want (2018)
Deep Turtle: Snakefish (EP, 1992) / There's a Vomitsprinkler in My Liverriver (1994)
Devo: Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! (1978) / Duty Now for the Future (1979)
Dog Faced Hermans: Hum of Life (1993) / Those Deep Buds (1994)
Echo & The Bunnymen: Porcupine (1983) / Ocean Rain (1984)
The Fall: Hex Enduction Hour (1982) / Perverted Language (1983)
Faraquet: Faraquet / Akarso (EP, 1999) / The View From This Tower (2000)
Geese: Projector (2021) / 3D Country (2023)
IDLES: Brutalism (2017) / Joy as an Act of Resistance. (2018)
Interpol: Turn on the Bright Lights (1982) / Antics (2004)
Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures (1979) / Closer (1980)
Killing Joke: Killing Joke (1980) / Night Time (1985)
Magazine: Real Life (1978) / Secondhand Daylight (1979)
Melt-Banana: Cell-Scape (2003) / Fetch (2013)
Minutemen: What Makes a Man Start Fires? (1983) / Double Nickels on the Dime (1984)
Mission of Burma: Vs. (1982) / The Obliterati (2006)
The National: Alligator (2005) / Boxer (2007)
Colin Newman: A-Z (1980) / Not To (1982)
Parquet Courts: Light Up Gold (2012) / Wide Awake (2018)
Pere Ubu: The Modern Dance (1978) / Dub Housing (1978)
Iggy Pop: The Idiot (1977) / Lust for Life (1977)
Protomartyr: The Agent Intellect (2015) / Relatives in Descent (2017)
Public Image Ltd.: Metal Box (1979) / The Flowers of Romance (1981)
Siouxsie and The Banshees: Juju (1981) / Tinderbox (1986)
The Sisters of Mercy: First and Last and Always (1985) / Floodland (1987)
Skids: Days in Europa (1979) / The Absolute Game (1980)
Patti Smith: Horses (1975) / Radio Ethiopia (1976)
The Sound: Jeopardy (1980) / From the Lions Mouth (1981)
Sumo: Divididos por la felicidad (1985) / Llegando los monos (1986)
Squid: Bright Green Field (2021) / O Monolith (2023)
Swans: Children of God (1987) / The Great Annihilator (1995)
Talking Heads: Fear of Music (1979) / Remain in Light (1980)
Television: Marquee Moon (1977) / Adventure (1978)
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282: Mother of All Saints (1992) / Strangers From the Universe (1994)
This Heat: This Heat (1979) / Deceit (1981)
Tuxedomoon: Desire (1981) / Holy Wars (1985)
Violent Femmes: Violent Femmes (1983) / Hallowed Ground (1984)
Wipers: Is This Real? (1980) / Youth of America (1981)
Wire: Chairs Missing (1978) / 154 (1979)
XTC: Drums and Wires (1979) / Black Sea (1980)

Some of those are questionably, but it's a quality and relation that I see in all of these.

EDIT: I had written 2002 twice when I meant 2022.... Mind is too much in the past, or it was just a double-typo. I am very prone to typos.


Edited by Logan - 6 hours 58 minutes ago at 08:02
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