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Aug 17, 2021 · The 30 Best Punk Bands of All Time. Punk has continued to evolve over the past few decades (we also avoided pop-punk, for the most part, for this particular list), but the essence of a great punk song remains intact: fast-paced music, lyrics rooted in anti-establishment, and a welcome sense of danger. Advertisement.
The list above (view it in a larger format here), the “All-Time Punk Top 100”—voted on in 1981 by readers of the “music paper” Sounds—contains a handful of songs from Siouxsie and the Banshees and Public Image Limited. Some people might choose to split hairs.
- Anarchy in The UK – Sex Pistols
- God Save The Queen – Sex Pistols
- Lust For Life – Iggy Pop
- Chinese Rocks – Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers
- I Wanna Be Sedated – Ramones
- White Riot – The Clash
- Crazy Little Thing called Love – Queen
- I Fought The Law – The Clash
- Straight Edge – Minor Threat
- True Trans Soul Rebel – Against Me!
The archetypical punk song, this 1977 Cook, Matlock, Jones, and Rotten song was the proverbial foreign object in the punchbowl of the overproduced British rock scene of the late 1970s. Dripping with contempt for the British hierarchical worldview like the rest of Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols, this is one of the classic punk songs...
Recorded almost midwaythrough the 70-year reign of Queen Elizabeth II, this ripping indictment of English authority is a classic punk banger. Half-sung and half-shouted by Johnny Rotten, the angry lyrics and simple message of rage toward the system and its abuses, personified by the Queen, make this a song that will long outlive its target. Next: U...
Former Stooges frontman and shirt-abhorrer Iggy Pop made this song about drugs and rock and roll a personal anthem. The rolling drums, punchy bass line, and near-incomprehensible lyrics make this one of the most punk songs ever written. Next: Ultimate playlist of songs about drugs (our full list)
Originally written for the Ramones but rejected by the band, this three-chords-and-the-truth punk song was recorded by Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers. It could not possibly more obviously be a Ramones song, and in later years, co-writer Dee Dee Ramone regretted not getting to perform it with the Ramones.
Written over a Christmas layover in London where everything was closed was this curiously poppy lament about the grind of touring. The cheerful tune and bouncy melody hide a ground-down worldview of Joey Ramone’s depression at the monotony of flying all over the world to play the same songs repeatedly. Next: The best punk bands of all time
The Clash’s first single is this indictment of indolence. Written after Joe Strummer witnessed Caribbean youths fighting police, this song laments the unwillingness of white youths to fight authorities with the same vigor. He later complained that whites were “too cozy” to fight for their rights, in a rebuke to white supremacists claiming that he w...
Theatrical, over-the-top, and glamorous, all can be used to describe Queen. But punk? It seems a stretch, but this tight, stripped-down 1980 song from The Gameis. Fans have noted every way this song is different from everything else Queen ever recorded, including Brian May’s sole recorded use of a Fender Telecaster, not his self-made Red Special. N...
Covering this singleby the Crickets, The Clash added defiance and rage, reversing the gee-whiz tone of the original. In their version of this classic, they bring a defiant sneer to lyrics that played straight and sounded sappy and defeated. The Clash continues the pattern of taking sappy old songs and adding a new, defiant twist to them.
Loud, fast, and short, this song shows off the ethos of a then-new movement in punk. Straight-edge—i.e., sober—punk sought to show that punks could be just as loud and angry without alcohol as with it. Minor Threat succeeded at this goal with “Straight Edge,” creating a song that grabbed the world by the ears and screamed at it that a new kind of p...
Laura Jane Grace’s fiery statement of identity, this song was the first written and recorded after her 2012 transition, and its fierce hooks and in-your-face chorus make it simultaneously heartfelt and aggressive. The lyrics and open contemplation of the implications of the loneliness of transness make this more than just a statement song.
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- “Anarchy in the U.K.” by Sex Pistols. is one of the best punk songs out there! By punk rock band the Sex Pistols, the hit was their debut single in 1976 and was featured on their album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols.
- “London Calling” by The Clash. This punk song reflects the Clash’s growing interest in styles beyond their punk roots. The song and album alike include themes of social displacement, unemployment, racial conflict, drug use, and the tricky responsibilities of adulthood.
- “Blitzrieg Bop” by Ramones. This popular punk rock song whos composition is accredited to the American punk rock band Ramones, who first released it in 1976 as the opening track to their self-titled album.
- “Rebel Girl” by Bikini Kill. Widely considered a classic example of punk music, “Rebel Girl” continues, to this day, to remain emblematic of the riot grrrl movement of the 1990s.
Mar 2, 2022 · In honor of pop-punk’s latest surge into the mainstream, we’re counting down the 100 greatest pop-punk songs of all time. The list includes the biggest and best hits the genre has...
Apr 6, 2016 · The Stooges. Our list of 40 Greatest Punk Albums of All Time, covering everyone from the Ramones and the Sex Pistols to Sleater-Kinney and Blink-182.
Aug 17, 2021 · At the risk of starting a riot, Consequence is ranking the 50 best punk songs of all time. See our staff list.
