The Funhouse - The Punks are all right

I own 14 on vinyl.


I have to agree with @LeeVing that not putting FEAR The Record on this list is just criminal. When I saw them, I was a young lady and one of the guys that pushed me to the front told me “you’re in for a treat. FEAR is the granddaddy of punk”. Personally, I am sad for no Bad Religion and no NoFX. And also wonder if they considered any ska acts?

I’ve seen the Queers at a community center in Mississippi. They were stellar. I have also seen Anti-Flag at the 2001 Warped Tour. Mighty Bosstones, Bad Religion we’re there too. I finally got to see Rancid a few years ago at the House of Blues. Bratmobile and The Donnas was an amazing show. I got to see Pansy Division which was another really fun show. Queercore is some of my favorite punk. I got to see Mike Ness a few years ago at the HoB, but I would have loved to see Social D in their heyday.
Not including NOFX but giving us Blink 182 certainly smacks of dumb. Also multiple New Wave and Post Punk acts, but no Ska is an interesting exclusion as well. Hell in my day, Operation Ivy was pretty responsible for getting some folks into Punk.
 
Not including NOFX but giving us Blink 182 certainly smacks of dumb. Also multiple New Wave and Post Punk acts, but no Ska is an interesting exclusion as well. Hell in my day, Operation Ivy was pretty responsible for getting some folks into Punk.
Op Ivy is necessary listening. When I went to see Rancid in 2016, they did the encore with guitars and played 3 Op Ivy songs, including my favorite Knowledge.
 
Op Ivy is necessary listening. When I went to see Rancid in 2016, they did the encore with guitars and played 3 Op Ivy songs, including my favorite Knowledge.
Its funny, in my punk rock world Ska is definitely not part of it. But by the time Lookout/Gillman St were getting bigger I was already moving away from punk. The scene was dying out man!
 
I came across this list a few weeks ago. The author definitely is eschewing newer skater/pop-punk for more of the OG/traditional groups. I'm not here to parse what is punk, post-punk, hardcore, ska, or grunge, but there are some good ones on here.


In 2022, it's hard to really remember (or explain to my kids) how we used to discover music. For me, it was going from headphone to headphone at tower records, reading interviews with my idols, or watching skate/snowboard videos.

Through skate/snowboard videos, I landed on the epitaph/fat wreck chords band:s(I'll never forget hearing that baseline intro to Stickin' in My Eye while the badass (were they badass?) snowboarders were hiking the pipe or whatever, and then when the guitar comes in they just started spinning (I think it was a guy named Brian Iguchi, not sure why I remember that). I needed to hear more! Then kind of in a parallel path I got into Dead Kennedys, Flipper, Minor Threat, the Clash and some others... I think Kurt Cobain named dropped all of those. As an early teen, I loved the angst and the feeling of being party of something that no one else (in my town) even knew existed. Anyway, now we can just look at a bunch of top 20 lists and hit play on apple music and skip like 6 of those steps. It's better and maybe worse. Get off my lawn!
 
In 2022, it's hard to really remember (or explain to my kids) how we used to discover music. For me, it was going from headphone to headphone at tower records, reading interviews with my idols, or watching skate/snowboard videos.
It took a hell of a lot of work to discover new music back in pre-internet days. If you were lucky you knew a music shaman to lead you to the weird stuff.
 
I came across this list a few weeks ago. The author definitely is eschewing newer skater/pop-punk for more of the OG/traditional groups. I'm not here to parse what is punk, post-punk, hardcore, ska, or grunge, but there are some good ones on here.


In 2022, it's hard to really remember (or explain to my kids) how we used to discover music. For me, it was going from headphone to headphone at tower records, reading interviews with my idols, or watching skate/snowboard videos.

Through skate/snowboard videos, I landed on the epitaph/fat wreck chords band:s(I'll never forget hearing that baseline intro to Stickin' in My Eye while the badass (were they badass?) snowboarders were hiking the pipe or whatever, and then when the guitar comes in they just started spinning (I think it was a guy named Brian Iguchi, not sure why I remember that). I needed to hear more! Then kind of in a parallel path I got into Dead Kennedys, Flipper, Minor Threat, the Clash and some others... I think Kurt Cobain named dropped all of those. As an early teen, I loved the angst and the feeling of being party of something that no one else (in my town) even knew existed. Anyway, now we can just look at a bunch of top 20 lists and hit play on apple music and skip like 6 of those steps. It's better and maybe worse. Get off my lawn!
I grew up in a very small Mississippi town, so I got very little exposure to any music that wasn't country. By the time I was 12, I had found the campus radio station for MSU, but that was still pretty tame. The closest music store was over 30 miles away in another town. My family moved after my first year of HS down closer to NOLA, but this was in the early 90's so most of the music I heard was over the radio. It wasn't until I got to school and kids started making me mixed tapes that I was able to hear any punk. I finally lived in a place where there was a mall with a music store, and if I was feeling really rebellious, I would sneak down to NOLA with friends to go to the multi-story Tower Records that was on Magazine St at the time. I was able to talk my parents into a couple of daytime festivals, but I couldn't talk them into going to shows at night in the city, so I didn't really get to go to punk shows until I was in college.

I also remember around 1999, I moved into a dorm with a computer lab on the first floor and I found out that you could get lots of punk records on ebay. I remember bidding on tons of "lot of random punk records". I would scour Goodwills and thrift stores for any punk or new wave, or anything that looked interesting. But really, it was the humble mixed tape that helped me discover punk.
 
I grew up in a very small Mississippi town, so I got very little exposure to any music that wasn't country. By the time I was 12, I had found the campus radio station for MSU, but that was still pretty tame. The closest music store was over 30 miles away in another town. My family moved after my first year of HS down closer to NOLA, but this was in the early 90's so most of the music I heard was over the radio. It wasn't until I got to school and kids started making me mixed tapes that I was able to hear any punk. I finally lived in a place where there was a mall with a music store, and if I was feeling really rebellious, I would sneak down to NOLA with friends to go to the multi-story Tower Records that was on Magazine St at the time. I was able to talk my parents into a couple of daytime festivals, but I couldn't talk them into going to shows at night in the city, so I didn't really get to go to punk shows until I was in college.

I also remember around 1999, I moved into a dorm with a computer lab on the first floor and I found out that you could get lots of punk records on ebay. I remember bidding on tons of "lot of random punk records". I would scour Goodwills and thrift stores for any punk or new wave, or anything that looked interesting. But really, it was the humble mixed tape that helped me discover punk.
I miss mixtape culture. That was so much fun. But I think of how often I'd heard a song on one that I loved and never be able to figure out who it was unless someone I shared it with knew it already.
 
I worked in a kitchen with two dudes who had a punk show on local AM radio. They were my music gurus at the time and turned me on to so many punk bands I never would have heard of otherwise.
I was in a calculus class with the guy that ran the metal show for KLSU. We used to do HW together because I rock at calculus, so he would invite me to the studio. The punk show was right after his show, so I would hang out with the guys that did the punk show too.
 
40. Dead Kennedys, 'Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables' (1980)
39. Devo, 'Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!' (1978)
38. White Lung, 'Deep Fantasy' (2014)
37. Blink-182, 'Enema of the State' (1999)
36. Crass, 'Penis Envy' (1981)
35. Fugazi, '13 Songs' (1989)
34. Joy Division, 'Unknown Pleasures' (1979)
33. The Slits, 'Cut' (1979)
32. The Misfits, 'Walk Among Us' (1982)
31. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, 'Fever to Tell' (2003)
30. Sonic Youth, 'Evol' (1986)
29. The Replacements, 'Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash' (1981)
28. The Germs, '(GI)' (1979)
27. Minor Threat, 'Complete Discography' (1989)
26. Flipper, 'Generic' (1982)
25. Mission of Burma, 'Vs.' (1982)
24. The Jam, 'All Mod Cons' (1978)
23. Pere Ubu, 'Terminal Tower' (1985)
22. Bikini Kill, 'The Singles' (1998)
21. Richard Hell and the Voidoids, 'Blank Generation' (1977)
20. X-Ray Spex, 'Germfree Adolescents' (1978)
19. Bad Brains, 'Bad Brains' (1982)
18. Green Day, 'Dookie' (1994)
17. Television, 'Marquee Moon' (1977)
16. Descendents, 'Milo Goes to College' (1982)
15. New York Dolls, 'New York Dolls' (1973)
14. Sleater-Kinney, 'Dig Me Out' (1997)
13. Hüsker Dü, 'Zen Arcade' (1984)
12. Patti Smith, 'Horses' (1975)
11. The Buzzcocks, 'Singles Going Steady' (1979)
10. Nirvana, 'Nevermind' (1991)
9. X, 'Los Angeles' (1980)
8. Black Flag, 'Damaged' (1981)
7. Minutemen, 'Double Nickels on the Dime' (1984)
6. Wire, 'Pink Flag' (1977)
5. Gang of Four, 'Entertainment!' (1979)
4. The Stooges, 'Funhouse' (1970)
3. The Sex Pistols, 'Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols' (1977)
2. The Clash, 'The Clash' (1977)
1. Ramones, 'Ramones' (1976)

40. Dead Kennedys, 'Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables' (1980)
One of the first punk albums I bought. At the time I wanted the songs to be faster but still dug it. Should be much higher on this list.

39. Devo, 'Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!' (1978)
I don’t think I’ve actually listened to this album as a whole although familiar with a good amount of the songs. Devo is great.

38. White Lung, 'Deep Fantasy' (2014)
I like them but don’t think they need to be on this list.

37. Blink-182, 'Enema of the State' (1999)
stopped listening to Blink 182 after Dude Ranch. Get this off of this list 😂

36. Crass, 'Penis Envy' (1981)
My favorite Crass album.

35. Fugazi, '13 Songs' (1989)
Yeah it’s good.

34. Joy Division, 'Unknown Pleasures' (1979) Favorite album to mosh to..

33. The Slits, 'Cut' (1979)
Love it

32. The Misfits, 'Walk Among Us' (1982)
Not my favorite Misfits album but still miles beyond and non-Danzig Misfits albums

31. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, 'Fever to Tell' (2003)
I like the album but question it’s inclusion.

30. Sonic Youth, 'Evol' (1986)
Favorite album by one of my favorite bands

29. The Replacements, 'Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash' (1981)
So sue me but I don’t know this band too well. That being said I’ve dug through some albums and enjoyed some things.

28. The Germs, '(GI)' (1979)
Loved this in high school. Tried watching some live footage recently and it was so unlistenable 😂

27. Minor Threat, 'Complete Discography' (1989)
Blew me away the first time I heard it. I needed everything I listened to to be as fast and angry.

26. Flipper, 'Generic' (1982)
I love this album.

25. Mission of Burma, 'Vs.' (1982)
I like Mission of Burma but admittedly haven’t spent much time with this one.

24. The Jam, 'All Mod Cons' (1978)
Haven’t heard it.

23. Pere Ubu, 'Terminal Tower' (1985)
Haven’t listened to this one either.

22. Bikini Kill, 'The Singles' (1998)
Odd choice for the album but love Bikini Kill

21. Richard Hell and the Voidoids, 'Blank Generation' (1977)
Yeah it’s a classic

20. X-Ray Spex, 'Germfree Adolescents' (1978)
Duh also classic

19. Bad Brains, 'Bad Brains' (1982) It rips.
Love this era of Bad Brains. They kinda lost me at I Against I but HR is one of my favorite hardcore punk vocalist

18. Green Day, 'Dookie' (1994)
I liked this album but hate everything they became after it.

17. Television, 'Marquee Moon' (1977)
Yep.

16. Descendents, 'Milo Goes to College' (1982)
Probably a top five album in high school.

15. New York Dolls, 'New York Dolls' (1973)
Sure. I’m not a huge fan but enjoy some of their stuff.

14. Sleater-Kinney, 'Dig Me Out' (1997)
Number 14? I liked them but still..

13. Hüsker Dü, 'Zen Arcade' (1984)
Yes.

12. Patti Smith, 'Horses' (1975)
Never heard it! I know..

11. The Buzzcocks, 'Singles Going Steady' (1979)
Fantastic.

10. Nirvana, 'Nevermind' (1991)
What? Also I don’t really like this album that much. That’s right. Some good songs but not my jam overall. Bleach and In Utero cool tho.

9. X, 'Los Angeles' (1980)
Classic.

8. Black Flag, 'Damaged' (1981)
First Black Flag album I bought. After later hearing Keith Morris and priors fronting Black Flag I briefly thought Henry Rollins ruined Black Flag and hated everything after Damaged. I was a dumb kid ok. I now love some heshy riffy long haired era Black Flag. Keep the new stuff away from me.

7. Minutemen, 'Double Nickels on the Dime' (1984)
Wish I owned this.

6. Wire, 'Pink Flag' (1977)
Great!

5. Gang of Four, 'Entertainment!' (1979)
Love it. Treated myself to the Gang of Four box set that came out last year and it’s great. Solid Gold is underrated.

4. The Stooges, 'Funhouse' (1970)
Didn’t hear it until my mid 20s but obviously it’s essential

3. The Sex Pistols, 'Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols' (1977)
Still have the tape from high school. Personally not my top 3 but I get it

2. The Clash, 'The Clash' (1977)
Not my favorite. You heard me..

1. Ramones, 'Ramones' (1976)
I love the Ramones. I’d rather listen to the worst Ramones album than most of what I hear the kids today listening to.
 
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I was never a big Ramones fan, but the only album I've ever listened to them with any regularity was "It's Alive". I think I was too late for them and their normal albums sounded too slow to be punk. I know that they were revolutionary at the time, but it was still slow.

It's Alive has all the hits at a much quicker pace.

 
It was even that way in early internet days! I remember being guided in the right directions by some music shamans I knew on another message board I frequented back in like 2007-2010~

2007-2010 “early internet days” 😂😂😂

I remember the old school message boards back when we got our first dial up modem connection in 2000 lol. I used to frequent the melody maker one and chat to my mates on aol messenger whilst downloading on Napster 😂
 
2007-2010 “early internet days” 😂😂😂

I remember the old school message boards back when we got our first dial up modem connection in 2000 lol. I used to frequent the melody maker one and chat to my mates on aol messenger whilst downloading on Napster 😂
I used a text-only BBS during college, 1987-88. No computer audio files then!
 
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