Top Five: Debut Punk Albums

Rock moves in cycles. One style dominates almost the entire industry, going from edgy and new to overdone and boring. So, in response, a bunch of kids grab their guitars and go balls-to-the-wall anti-establishment, forever changing the face of music. We’ve seen it with grunge, we’ve seen it with lo-fi. But the single most important change for music was the genesis of punk. A biting response to the increasingly ridiculous nature of ‘60s rock, punk was short, fast and hard. The following are the five albums that launched the careers of five of the greatest punk bands of all time.

NOTE: I know I’m going to get complaints for not including The Clash’s self-titled debut album. First off, it’s my top five, so if you’re really mad, get your own. But really I feel that the Clash didn’t hit their stride until “London Calling” a few years later. Don’t forget, this is a list of debut albums.

1. “Ramones” by the Ramones (1976)
This is the album that almost single-handedly started the genre of punk rock. The Ramones were four guys from Queens, New York who were fed up with the loopy guitar solos and songs that dragged on for well over ten minutes. Clocking in at a mere 29 minutes, “Ramones” is a 14 song full-frontal assault on the ears. The Ramones could play about three chords, and even then they were shaky. Joey Ramones’ vocals were rough at best. But none of that mattered. Each song is an anthem in its own right, bigger and badder than anything that had existed before. In later years the Ramones changed line-ups and fooled around with the sound, but nothing ever quite brought them back to their debut. After all, the whole album began with the ultimate call to disillusioned youth: “Hey! Ho! Let’s go!”
Key Tracks: “Blitzkrieg Bop,” “Judy is a Punk,” “Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue”

2. “Never Mind the Bollocks Here’s the Sex Pistols” by the Sex Pistols (1977)
Not long after the Ramones kicked things into high gear, the Sex Pistols assembled in London, England to give the Brits a taste of what they were missing. What they achieved was some of the most brutal and insane music ever created by man. Heck, two guys in the band had last names of Rotten and Vicious, so what do you expect? Every single track on this album is either a swipe at the English government, or the recording industry, or simply just getting older. They weren’t any more musically inclined than the Ramones, but the production on the album is far superior, giving “Never Mind the Bollocks” a much cleaner sound than its American cousin. The Sex Pistols also managed to make themselves legendary by never getting it together to record another album before bassist Sid Vicious killed himself. So what are we left with? A cry of pure defiance, by four guys who were mad as hell and weren’t going to take it.
Key Tracks: “God Save the Queen,” “Seventeen,” “Anarchy in the U.K.”

3. “Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables” by the Dead Kennedys (1980)
Jello Biafra is quite possibly insane. But that didn’t stop him from getting three of his friends together, starting a band, and releasing the first leftist, socially-concious punk album ever. Where the Ramones and the Sex Pistols had faltered musically, the Dead Kennedys made up for in spades. Guitarist East Bay Ray tore his axe to shreds on every single track, with excellent support from Klaus Flouride on bass and Ted on drums. But what makes the album so definitive is the combination of Biafra’s voice and lyrics. In any other setting, he would be dismissed as just another nut, but instead his genius shines. The lyrics are brilliant attacks on the state of things in Cambodia, the draft, the neutron bomb and California governor Jerry Brown. No one is safe from Biafra’s razor sharp wit, not even his landlord. Plus, the band even had the gall to include a hammed up cover of “Viva Las Vegas.”
Key Tracks: “Kill The Poor,” “California Uber Alles,” “Holiday in Cambodia”

4. “Inflammable Material” by Stiff Little Fingers (1979)
Imagine an Irish version of the Sex Pistols without a self-destructive bent, and could actually play their instruments. That is the exact formula for Stiff Little Fingers. These punks out of Northern Ireland were just as fed up as the Sex Pistols, but with a much better sense of what worked musically. Their songs spoke to a brutally cruel English government, touching on the oppression the Irish endured under the English for decades. Lead singer Jake Burns has a fire in his voice on all the tracks that could make even grown men cower. Despite being overshadowed by their English contemporaries, “Inflammable Material” has remained a favorite amongst punk connoisseurs the world over. They’ve taken what the Sex Pistols attempted and brought it to the next level.
Key Tracks: “Suspect Device,” “Barbed Wire Love,” “Alternative Ulster”

5. “Los Angeles” by X (1980)
X has one of the most definitive band names of all time. And their debut album has a sound that is simultaneously rockabilly and punk, if ever a think could exist. Lead singer Exene Cervenka belts out lyrics that can only be described as poetry. In fact, the band’s lyrics have been compared to the poetry of Charles Bukowski and the prose of Raymond Chandler. The songs address a Los Angeles underground scene filled with sex and drugs that was largely unfamiliar to the American public. But listeners found X to have an almost welcoming sound, due largely to the guitar work of the virtuoso John Doe and production courtesy of ex-Door Ray Manzarek. X’s career may have been brief, but the entire L.A. music scene was forever changed upon their debut.
Key Tracks: “You’re Phone’s Off the Hook, But You’re Not,” “Johnny Hit and Run Pauline,” “Los Angeles”