Monday, July 04, 2011

The Ten Greatest American Punk Bands of All-Time

Yeah, I love old English punk. But on this Fourth of July, it's all about American punk bands. Here are the ten greatest ever in my opinion.

10. Dickies
They join the Buzzcocks and Ramones in the holy trinity of pop-punk.
9. Misfits
Often lost in the imagery and idea of the Misfits is that the music itself was freaking incredible! One of the few bands that was still representing for classic melodic punk well into the ‘80s.
8. Bad Religion
Gotta love it that these guys were playing melodic and thoughtful punk at a time when angry high testosterone thrash ruled the day. They put out the classic Suffer in 1988 and have been killing it ever since.
7. Black Flag
I especially love their early stuff that was a cross between ’77 punk and ’82 hardcore, but even with Rollins this band was awesome.
6. Pagans
Perhaps the most underrated "classic" punk band. Check out my review over at Dirty Sheets.
5. Avengers
Three decades on, and all their old stuff still blows me away. Some of the most passionate and powerful music ever made in any genre of music.
4. Dead Boys
This one doesn’t need elaboration.
3. Descendents
Like Bad Religion, these guys were making great punk music at a time when almost nobody else was. Possibly the second greatest pop-punk band of all-time.
2. Dictators
You could argue that The Dictators weren’t really a “punk” band. You really could. But you’d be wrong.
1. Ramones
Duh!

So there you have it. Let the debating begin - especially if you're a fan of the Circle Jerks, X, Weirdos, Germs, Angry Samoans, Social Distortion, TSOL, or Dead Kennedys!

- L.R.
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14 comments:

  1. guntherJuly 5, 2011 at 11:46 AM

    Solid list. I'd like to see Shawn's Top 10. His would probably be completely different.

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  2. Lord RutledgeJuly 5, 2011 at 2:07 PM

    It pained me to leave out The Real Kids. Still kinda irks me that I couldn't find them a spot. Oh well. It's hard to pick just ten!

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  3. guntherJuly 6, 2011 at 10:57 AM

    Never thought of The Real Kids as a "punk" band per se. Maybe because they're on a Rhino power-pop comp. That first album is godhead, nonetheless.

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  4. Lord RutledgeJuly 6, 2011 at 2:35 PM

    Sweet! That gets me off the hook. I love you, man!

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  5. guntherJuly 6, 2011 at 3:38 PM

    Well, I'll be a monkey's step-uncle! Wikipedia referred to The Real Kids as a "Boston punk rock band." Micky Ward has just knocked me out.

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  6. Lord RutledgeJuly 6, 2011 at 3:52 PM

    Well I guess if I say the Dictators are punk, then the Real Kids probably have to be too. I'll officially declare them the 11th greatest American punk band of all-time!

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  7. SHAWΠ ABΠOXIOUSJuly 6, 2011 at 6:36 PM

    I spent all day trying to justify my own 10 Gunny, ans I just couldnt! Its hard for me to distinguish who SHOULD be on the list versus who I think should be on a list... I suppose that I really see how my choices arent the best ones... I will endorse Joshs list. Im a big X fan, GERMS fan and JERKS fan... but I must honor LA PESTE, THE LEWD, the fuckin DICKS... i just cant decide. I really dig seeing THE PAGANS (Ohio proper) on there and THE AVENGERS. And i will say it here MILO GOES TO COLLEGE is one of the best stand alone albums ever. It really captures a moment. I cant tate that record without singing along.

    Do you (whoever reading this) realise how ridiculous it is for an almost 40 year old gonowhere like myself singing about how im a boy and i will kill an i will destroy? Olive even looks at me funny!
    Oh, and TATING a record is my new fancy way of saying im playing a record... TATE as in ROTATE.

    I WILL REDEFINE EVERYTHING IN DUE TIME!!!

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  8. Lord RutledgeJuly 7, 2011 at 12:13 PM

    Well, well! Those are some compelling nominations, Shawn! Dicks, The Lewd, La Peste....Someday I may have to extend this list to a top 25! Plus there's the little issue of me not listing any "recent" bands. Seems like the Rip Offs oughta be in there somewhere.

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  9. guntherJuly 7, 2011 at 12:56 PM

    To further add to the confusion, Trouser Press called The Real Kids "new wave." No matter, they're the 11th greatest! I'd take 11 years off my life to be the 11th greatest SCRABBLE player in the world.

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  10. Lord RutledgeJuly 7, 2011 at 1:20 PM

    So we'll say they're the 11th best American punk band and at least the fifth best American power pop band. Sounds like I might need to do another list!

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  11. SHAWΠ ABΠOXIOUSJuly 7, 2011 at 5:10 PM

    The madness NEVER ends.

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  12. guntherJuly 9, 2011 at 12:30 PM

    The Wipers are pretty good. Ditto Naked Raygun.

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  13. SHAWΠ ABΠOXIOUSJuly 10, 2011 at 12:41 PM

    THE WIPERS are damn near amazine really. I got a three CD box set of their stuff at Shke It records one day. It ha just arrived... They didnt even need to put it out, I snatched it right from the distributors box...

    it was like this: SNATCH!

    I listened to it nearly unstopped for about a month and half. Strong tracks.

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  14. Lord RutledgeJuly 10, 2011 at 2:21 PM

    The Wipers are one of the greatest American bands of any genre. Never really considered them a punk band per se (same goes with Husker Du), hence their exclusion from this list. I think Gunny's gonna review something of theirs for Dirty Sheets. How cool would that be!

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