Further recommendations for your exploration: any band Ian MacKaye has played in. Even if you don’t care for his work, he has had an outsized impact on the development of American punk / hardcore (even if he’s resisted that attribution). Specific recommendations include:
Minor Threat - self titled (straight up hc punk)
Embrace - Building (early emo, when that just meant it was a hardcore song that touched on emotions other than anger)
Fugazi - Waiting Room, or the 13 Songs album as a whole (post-hardcore, or “hardcore, but we’re not afraid to show off that we’ve learned some music theory”)
Okay, with MacKaye given his due, other “classic punk” recommendations include:
Agent Orange - Bloodstains
Bad Brains - I Against I
Black Flag - Fix Me, TV Party, My War
Circle Jerks - Wild in the Streets, Live Fast Die Young, World up My Ass
Dead Kennedys - Nazi Punks Fuck Off, California Über Alles, Holiday in Cambodia
Germs - Lexicon Devil
The Clash - Straight to Hell, White Riot, Lost in the Supermarket, and many more.
Operation Ivy - Sound System
The Descendents - Suburban Home
Social Distortion - Story of My Life, Mommy’s Little Monster
Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)?
Hüsker Dü - Don’t Wanna Know If You Are Lonely, Pink Turns to Blue
The Replacements - Androgynous, Bastards of Young, Here Comes a Regular, Can’t Hardly Wait, Answering Machine, Alex Chilton
Minutemen - History Lesson Part 2, Corona
Some slightly deeper cuts, more in the proto-emo space than political punk, but they share a lot of musical DNA and I think some of these tracks are underrated.
Rites of Spring - For Want Of
The Hated - Words Come Back
Dag Nasty - Circles
Gray Matter - Burn No Bridges
Soulside - Pearl to Stone
IGNITION - Previous
Fire Party - Cake
Samiam - Tired of Waiting
Fuel - Cue to You
Drive Like Jehu - Here Come the Rome Plows
That’s probably enough for now. I hope you find some stuff you like here.
Ah, I’m a bit younger (in fact I don’t believe there’s a song on that list that was released after I was born), but I’m a big history geek, and the evolution of genre is a particular fascination of mine, so I have intentionally sought out the music which influenced bands I liked in high school.
I’m sure I’ve missed out on some killer acts from the era, so hopefully someone who was both alive at the time AND paying attention to the scene will appear and give us both an education.
A tangentially related suggestion for you, if you share my fascination with the context around the art we make (though you are probably well aware if you’re an old-head haha), there’s an EXCELLENT documentary about the LA hc punk scene that was released during its zenith (arguably) in 1981. Several of the bands I mention in that list appear. It is called The Decline of Western Civilization, and the most convincing argument I can make to get people to watch it is that the LAPD chief wrote an op-ed demanding theaters not screen it.
A tangentially related suggestion for you, if you share my fascination with the context around the art we make (though you are probably well aware if you’re an old-head haha), there’s an EXCELLENT documentary about the LA hc punk scene that was released during its zenith (arguably) in 1981.
Absolutely was NOT aware, but I will check it out!
he most convincing argument I can make to get people to watch it is that the LAPD chief wrote an op-ed demanding theaters not screen it.
Further recommendations for your exploration: any band Ian MacKaye has played in. Even if you don’t care for his work, he has had an outsized impact on the development of American punk / hardcore (even if he’s resisted that attribution). Specific recommendations include:
Okay, with MacKaye given his due, other “classic punk” recommendations include:
Some slightly deeper cuts, more in the proto-emo space than political punk, but they share a lot of musical DNA and I think some of these tracks are underrated.
That’s probably enough for now. I hope you find some stuff you like here.
Thank you very much!
I’m really just about the ideal age to have been an OG Punk fan, but at the time my attention was elsewhere, so I’m excited to crib from this list. 🙂
Ah, I’m a bit younger (in fact I don’t believe there’s a song on that list that was released after I was born), but I’m a big history geek, and the evolution of genre is a particular fascination of mine, so I have intentionally sought out the music which influenced bands I liked in high school.
I’m sure I’ve missed out on some killer acts from the era, so hopefully someone who was both alive at the time AND paying attention to the scene will appear and give us both an education.
A tangentially related suggestion for you, if you share my fascination with the context around the art we make (though you are probably well aware if you’re an old-head haha), there’s an EXCELLENT documentary about the LA hc punk scene that was released during its zenith (arguably) in 1981. Several of the bands I mention in that list appear. It is called The Decline of Western Civilization, and the most convincing argument I can make to get people to watch it is that the LAPD chief wrote an op-ed demanding theaters not screen it.
Absolutely was NOT aware, but I will check it out!
Well shiiiiit bro, that was all you had to say!