Ten essential punk rock jams to slam your eardrums with.

From its humble beginnings with MC5 to the hallowed, horror-themed choruses of the Misfits, punk rock didn’t start overnight. This rare gem was formed through the pressures and times of urban decay, a modern form of jazz. Chaotic beats clash with dominating bass lines against a flurry of distorted guitar chords, whirlwind solos, and lyrics sung by singers more concerned with their message than their intonation.

Punk rock became a phenomenon, and its evolution was a wild ride. Hundreds of bands may live and breathe punk rock, but only a handful are responsible for breathing life into a genre that rose out of the age of hard rock and disco to become one of the most recognizable sounds on Earth.

Punk rock is hard to define, and like modern man’s ascendancy from the Stone Age, this list captures its progression from crude inception to widespread domination.

MC5

MC5, Image credit: Leni Sinclair/Getty Images

“Let me be who I am, and let me kick out the jams.”

Album: Kick Out the Jams (1969)

Song: “Intro 2/Kick Out the Jams”

A great estimation with regards to, “where and when” punk began, this album is completely reminiscent of the 1960’s, but this song breaks away from that tell-tale, flower power sound. You can hear flecks and nuances of what is to come in the decades following this seminal work. The pioneered sound crafted by MC5 would go on to directly influence some of the most influential rockers of the punk and heavy metal scenes, from the Ramones to Rage Against the Machine.

The solo in “Intro 2”... always pay attention to the guitar solo. A good solo can finish saying what the singer no longer can. The lyrics of “Free Bird” are liberating on their own, but nothing sends the song into the stratosphere more than its lengthy guitar solo and outro. In “Kick Out the Jams”, the guitar solo pushes 1960’s tonal textures with the grit and grime of a frenetic, nearly imprecise, sound that would dominate punk rock guitar riffs and phrases for decades to come.

Ramones

“Hey, ho. Let’s go. Shoot ‘em in the back now.”

Album: Ramones (1976)

Song: “Blitzkrieg Bop”

“Iconic” and “legendary'' are just a couple of words that are synonymous with the Ramones. Oddly enough, their debut album did little with the charts, and their singles, “Blitzkrieg Bop” and “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” were not immediate successes. The Ramones would go on to become legendary influencers of the burgeoning punk rock sound that was starting to develop on the East and West Coasts of the time.

The self-titled debut album is forty-two minutes of scene-changing sound, a sonic assault that fills the entire space in whatever room it’s played. Ramones shredded the label of rock and roll with one that was entirely unique; a style that attracted misanthropes, sleuths, and misfits – the crass and coarse of society, the punks.

Dead Boys

“You go and find yourself a factory man. Girl, you were born with dishpan hands.”

Album: Young, Loud, and Snotty (1977)

Song: “I Need Lunch”

Punk rock is a festering, chest-bursting alien, and it breaks through the breast bone of rock and roll on this album. The iconic punk attitude begins to take shape in the lyrics and singing style that compliments grit and grime over melodic verses. Halfway through we can still hear the hard rock influence of the last fifteen years bleed through the guitar-heavy breakdown. The fiber and fabric of punk rock is being sewn together with dental floss and rusty forceps, but it's holding against the rising tide of “New Wave” and synth-saturated progressive rock.

Dead Boys may not have garnered the commercial success as some of their peers of the era, but they are nonetheless influential in shaping punk rock music. Young, Loud, and Snotty is a work of punk rock art, setting a bar for attitude and authenticity that every punk rock sound would be required to have from that moment on. This album solidifies punk rock as a genre and way of life in thirty minutes of primordial rage that needs to grace every audiophile’s collection.

Misfits

“Sweet lovely death. I am waiting for your breath.”

Album: Static Age (1978)

Song: “Last Caress”

Long before they became “Famous Monsters”, the Misfits were niche as all holy hell, but their sound is undeniably influential. Misfits captured the mood of celebrating the tragic while embracing the macabre and morose. The band is responsible for creating the “horror punk” genre.

Static Age stands apart from the late 1970’s in every glorious way. No lengthy arena rock guitar solos, introductions, or interludes. There’s no time for that fluff in a Misfits song; only attitude. The cursed embryos of psychobilly and Goth rock are on every track, from its haunting choruses and lyrics saturated in horror film odes and imagery.

“Last Caress” embodies a tone that would spread throughout the punk rock scene and beyond. The Gothic influence alone sets them apart from other punk acts of the age. If Wednesday Addams had a theme song, it would be “Last Caress” and she would be right for embracing it.

Dead Kennedys

“Economy is looking bad. Let’s start another war.”

Album: Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables (1980)

Song: “When Ya Get Drafted”

The hallmark of early punk was more than crazy haircuts and bad tattoos; lyrics almost always had political overtones. Once you get past Jello Biafra’s unique vibrato laden singing style, you will discover a political viewpoint that was ahead of its time. While more than a few hard-core punk rock bands would concentrate on anarchy or horror film themes, Dead Kennedys were blasting a controversial set list that hit a myriad of societal issues. An emphasis on politics was alive and well during the rise of punk rock, and the Reagan administration never failed to deliver material for the hungry punk rock song writers of the era.

The chorus of “When Ya Get Drafted” is ominously applicable to our current international tensions with Russia and China, and the rising talk and acceptance of war with our old Cold War foes. Punk rock music can be about facing off with any challenge, even if it dwarfs you. In that regard, the backbone of punk rock is born out of what made the Greatest Generation so grand; a refusal to accept a manufactured reality.

The Dead Kennedys were fueling the pyre of rebellion with lyrics that represented a culture that wasn’t going to sit back and take it.

Black Flag

“I was born with a bottle in my mouth. Now I’ve got six, so I’ll never run out.”

Album: Damaged (1981)

Song: “Six Pack”

Black Flag came out of its shell once Henry Rollins came aboard as the singer. Their tone is quintessential punk, and it cannot be overlooked. The genesis of punk rock is the result of a collective evolution from a swathe of forerunners of the genre, but Black Flag solidified the movement to reach new heights.

Black Flag had many hits, and their later years are exceptional. Rollins was the poster child for intensity and helped develop the punk rock ethos of free-spirited individuality that would act as a lightning rod for the underserved outcasts of society. The EP is only three tracks long but it represents a new era of passionate punk rockers that weren’t just making a living writing edgy lyrics, they were living by them too.

Never be afraid of a slow burn intro, especially when it starts with a wicked bass line. “Six Pack” evolves into a high energy expression of the mundane told through distorted chords, explosive drums, and vocals that would make a drill sergeant smile.

Fear

“Spent my whole life in the city where the junk is king and the air smells shitty.”

Album: The Record (1982)

Song: “I Love Livin’ in the City”

Oh, that sound. Can you hear that sound?

The shape of punk rock is starting to form into one hell of a badass child. Where arena rock bands would praise their hometown or sing about a greater one, Fear comes along and declares that façade just isn’t so. Honesty and attitude are what punk rock would embody, and you can feel that tangibly in the air whenever you blast Fear on your headphones or speakers.

Rebellious thoughts creep and crawl their way into your subconscious within a few seconds of the song playing, and it is that inclination that makes punk rock what it is, a motivator for instigators and misanthropes everywhere, a bright shining beacon for the chaotic and tragic. This raw, punk rock sound is ready to walk and stomp its way into the heart of the 1980’s.

Suicidal Tendencies

“All I wanted was a Pepsi, and she wouldn’t give it to me.”

Album: Suicidal Tendencies (1983)

Song: “Institutionalized”

Politics and societal woes aren’t required for a band to become punk rock royalty. Suicidal Tendencies is good, clean, American lunacy and is absolutely a pre-requisite for understanding what and how punk rock came to be. The great part about the early punk rock forerunners is that style was not to be dictated. The band members look like Los Angeles gang bangers, but their sonic sound of heavy metal riffs and scream-o vocals blend perfectly well against rapid fire drum beats and blistering bass lines.

Listening to Suicidal Tendencies will evoke flashes of skateboards grinding along curbs and swirling mosh pits. Cast against the backdrop of punk rock, Suicidal Tendencies are entirely unique as they wield a sound that is both heavy metal and punk, with a gangster flair – true punk rock has no limitations and Suicidal Tendencies delivers a one-of-a-kind sound that has been imitated but never recreated.

Descendents

“On my own, I know where to go. Livin the lie in your eyes.”

Album: I Don’t Want to Grow Up (1985)

Song: “Good, Good Things”

Descendents represent a softer, but no less ferocious, side to the realm of punk. Free of the tell-tale static sound of blown out speakers, they were the early iteration of the love-struck punk, with a tear rolling down a bruised and bloodied cheek. The edge was not blunted, only rusted with a solemnity that would go on to inspire acts, like the Teen Idols, at the turn of the millennium.

Descendents are a rare breed from the punk rock scene, who, like the genre itself, cannot be easily defined without obsessive listening.

Bad Religion

“The business man whose master plan controls the world each day, blind to indications of his species' slow decay.”

Album: Suffer (1988)

Song: “Suffer”

When you want to get introspective, political, and hear a man use the word “fecundity” in a punk rock song, look no further than Southern California’s own Bad Religion. Singer Greg Graffin commands a songwriting and singing ability that has the speed of a machine, a gun and the lexicon of a Webster’s scribe. The buzz of the band's three guitarists’ cuts like a chainsaw while a tight knit rhythm section lays the foundation for some of the most politically charged punk rock lyrics that ever existed.

Bad Religion has created a recognizable sound, with their baritone lead vocals supported by band members chanting choruses. It’s a kind of punk rock Gregorian chant that is supported by rich guitar solos and thick, distorted riffs. Few bands deliver a message that hits as hard as their music, but the Los Angeles natives have done just that for more than forty years. With a choir of guitarists and lyrics that inspire critical thoughts of rebellious introspection, Bad Religion is a pillar of punk rock that cannot be replaced and should round out any decent punk rock collection.

Standard Issue: Punk, Vol. 1