411 Music Top 5 07.22.08: Top 5 Punk Bands

Posted by Blake Lauderback on 07.22.2008

As we continue our look at the many faces of rock, we are breaking down our Top 5 Punk Bands of All Time featuring everybody from The Ramones to The Misfits and Iggy Pop to The Dead Kennedys. Did your favorite make the cut?


Good day ladies and gents, and welcome to another rousing round of musical banter here at The Music Zone Top 5.

Before we jump into this week's lists, I am proud to take this opportunity to announce last week's winner of the reader's poll… Mr. Dan Haggerty!!! 411's own Master of Metal took home our first ever prize, but never fear, the polls open up again today as you have the chance to vote for your favorite writer's list! (And frankly, since last week was the first ever, the rest of us have plenty of room left in the win column.) Dan was unable to join us this week for the Top 5, as I hear he is still recovering from quite the vacation in Sin City. Here's hoping he will be back in the flock next week so that he may gloat about… I mean… enjoy this honor.

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Now, it is time to spike up your hair, paint your nails black, shove a safety pin through your nose, and go all out in preparation for the Top 5 Punk Bands ever! Everybody ready to fight the establishment and declare anarchy? Sweet… (Hey, Ho!) let's go.

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The Top 5 Punk Bands of All Time

Rob Samuels
[Random contributor and occasional reviewer]

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Siouxie and the Banshees, Green Day, Patti Smith, Rancid, Bad Religion, The Damned, Black Flag.

5. The Misfits - After an awful lot of deliberation I have placed The Misfits in fifth place, but it could easily have been any one of the above Honorable mentions in this space. Like many of the acts listed above, The Misfits were able to twist traditional Punk, mixing it with multiple genres to create a new style. Dubbed "Horror Punk" the bands elaborate stage gear and heavier approach to song-writing has inspired artists as broad as Metallica, Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, and even The Chili Peppers. Because of their undeniable influence and image The Misfits make my list.

4. Iggy Pop (and The Stooges) No list of "Top Punk artists" would be complete without Mr. I. Pop, or "The Godfather of Punk" as he is known. His wild stage antics and legendary attitude make him more than a Punk legend - he is a Rock & Roll icon. The Stooges, (Iggy Pop's inaugural band) were a major stepping stone towards the creation of Punk. Warping the sounds of The Velvet Underground and earlier Mod bands like The Who, The Kinks and The Small Faces, The Stooges unintentionally became the first real "Punk" band.

3. Sex Pistols - Arguably the most famous Punk band (certainly this side of the Atlantic), The Pistols were Punk attitude personified. Seemingly more interested in their image than music, The Sex Pistols made a huge impact on the Punk scene. The middle classes of England were genuinely threatened by The Pistols Anarchic attitude. Add in their publicity stunts like saying "Fuck" on live TV, and playing "God Save the Queen" on the River Thames created a huge buzz around the band. Although they only released one album, Never Mind the Bollocks... Here's The Sex Pistols is a cracking Punk Rock record.

2.The Clash - The Clash were one of the first bands to take the raw aggression of traditional Punk and combine it with other genres to create completely new styles. Surely the most innovative Punk band, The Clash borrowed the soulful rhythms of Reggae and Ska and adopted them into their music. Their ingenuity helped open the doorway for acts like The Police, Ian Dury and The Blockheads, and Elvis Costello, and later, the likes of Madness and NOFX to rock the music industry.

1. Ramones - The Ramones were one of the major pioneers of the New York Punk scene in the early 70's. The bands two-minute blasts of simply structured and powerful music instantly set them apart from their more elaborate contemporaries. The Ramones looked different, acted different and sounded different - neatly summing up the whole Punk mentality and refusing to conform.

As recording artists, The Ramones self-titled debut is arguably the greatest Punk album of all time - and their longevity is almost unrivaled in the genre. You cannot deny how influential a band The Ramones were, inspiring many imitators, including most famously Malcolm McClaren who was struck by their clothing and attitude enough to rush back to London and set up The Sex Pistols. The rest is history.

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Jesse Coy
[Starship Exile]

5. The Misfits - from the horror punk of B-movie creatures and things that go bump, to a chorus of zombies calling out for brains, to the darker hardcore drive of the material they issued right before Glenn moved on to Samhain, the Misfits are great punk originals. Call it blasphemy, but I even appreciate some of the post-Glenn tunes.

4. Bad Brains - Representing the East Coast punk scene, these guys are still producing some great material, entirely unique, with their blend of punk and reggae. Like many great punk bands, they've had their fair share of controversy. Some of it is chronicled in their classic, Banned in DC. They inspired their fair share of acts, producing an excellent catalogue of material over the years.

3. The Ramones - I am so glad to have seen them on rwo separated occasions, because they left us so quickly, one after another! Joey, Dee-Dee, and finally Johnny. (In a most un-Spinal Tap way, all of the drummers survived.) Sure, Iggy Pop deserves credit, but really, it was The Ramones that were the "Johnny Appleseed" figures of American Punk, going over to the U.K., and inspiring nearly all of the famous punk acts that you can think of to pick up a guitar and hammer away at it! So many albums, so many great tunes. Sorely missed.

2. The Clash - The Sex Pistols may have had the look, posture, and the hype, but The Clash were the real thing. And they expanded their sound, incorporating Dub and Ska elements, just to name a few styles, because for them, what was really "punk" was not a sound, but rebelling against the norms, even if that meant breaking down the walls and barriers in what was becoming a stodgy and stagnant scene, punk in the early 80's. Always remember, "Rudie Can't Fail!"

1. The Dead Kennedys - It started in America, and my list ends in America. To me, punk meant most of what this act represented. Thinking, rebellion, intelligent social criticism, satire, and a challenge to the system. They ran their own label in the 80's, Alternative Tentacles, and despite the later problems that ensued between Jello and his other former band mates, nothing can take away their classic punk tracks, from "Holiday in Cambodia" and "MTV Get Off the Air," to "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" and "Moon Over Marin.

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James Palm
[Reviewer, Listmaker]

HONORABLE MENTION: The Clash, The Saints, The Misfits, Black Flag, The Stooges. Punk died in 1985.

5. Sex Pistols - They certainly weren't the first. There were plenty of albums released before 1977 that were and would come to be known as punk. But the Sex Pistols made punk their policy, they paved the way for what punk would become; anti-establishment, socio-political, and angry as hell. The exploits of their second bassist and the ironic reunions have sullied their legacy to some extent, but that one solitary record still packs a punch. Best Album = Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols

4. Bad Religion - As if picking up from where the Pistols left off, 1981 saw the first release from California's Bad Religion. Did you read that? 1981. Longevity for punk bands is difficult, especially when you run out of ways to say "The government totally sucks". But this is an intellectual band - frontman Greg Graffin himself is a professor of life sciences at UCLA - and Bad Religion have maintained the rage louder and better than any other punk band of the last two decades. Their sound influenced the neo-punk of the 90's, but they remain the last great punk band. Best Album = Against The Grain

3. The Ramones - Perhaps the first purveyors of the theory that all you need to make a song is three chords. The very idea of punk is represented by the "brothers" Ramone. Ball-tearing speed. Mindless content. Rebellious appearance (at the time). They thought the music world was filled with bloated rock stars taking themselves far too seriously. So the group decided to strip their songs down to bare minimums, and helped start a revolution. Unfortunately, once the 80's hit, the quality dropped off. A lot. But for half a decade they were the best punk band going. Best Album = Rocket To Russia

2. Minutemen - It's hard to find ways this band could be any more punk. Years before it was a novelty, the Minutemen churned out albums containing 20 odd blasts of minute-long anthems. Their lyrical content ranged from serious political commentary (" Viet Nam ") to not-so-serious political commentary ("Political Song For Michael Jackson To Sing") to discerning anecdotes ("Shit You Hear At Parties"). They kept to a DIY attitude: set up your own tours, drive your own van, play every night, record cheaply, etc. The burgeoning career of the Minutemen was cut tragically short in 1985 when frontman D. Boon was killed in a car accident. It was an omen itself to the death of punk. Best Album = The Politics Of Time

1. Dead Kennedys - When you say punk, people think fast and angry music. They think socio-political subject matter. They think wild concerts. And so when you say punk, I think of Dead Kennedys. Exploding out of San Fran in 1979 and lead by the greatest frontman in the history of punk rock, one Jello Biafra, DKs took the scene by storm. Their output was sensational; 5 albums in 6 years. Jello ran for mayor of San Fran (he came fourth). They were brought to trial for "distribution of harmful matter to minors" by including an H.R. Giger painting in their liner notes. One of their finest songs championed rioting against the police. Another accused Jesus of being a terrorist. They even had the balls to berate their own fans in "Nazi Fucks Fuck Off". They are also responsible for the most punk act in history. At an award ceremony in 1980, the band chose to interrupt their own performance of "California Uber Alles" and instead played "Pull My Strings", a vicious anti-commerical song in which Jello asks if his cock is big enough and his brain small enough to be a star. It was the sole performance of the song. In short, they were THE punk band. Best Album = Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables

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Blake Lauderback
[Ask 411 Music, Reviewer]

HONORABLE MENTION: MC5, The Misfits, Joy Division, and Bad Religion

DISCLAIMER: I'd like to go on record as saying that I absolutely cannot stand The Sex Pistols. I am not sure that any other band in history has reached such ridiculous levels of notoriety for doing less. They had one album… ever… and frankly, I think it was crap. Somehow, these jackasses parlayed their one-trick pony album into the annals of rock history, and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame itself. So, what do these hacks do when their band is enshrined with the likes of the true greats in the industry? They turn their nose up at the occasion, as if it is beneath them somehow. Suits me I suppose, as they shouldn't be allowed admittance even if they paid for admission.

5. Television - Not all punk music has to be stripped down, three chord rock. Television brought the dual guitar into the world of punk rock, and despite the fact that they had a small, but cult like following, they managed to influence countless acts that followed them. Their style drew from the typical punk influences like The Velvet Underground, but also from more unlikely sources such as surf-rockers The Ventures and San Fran's own, The Grateful Dead.

4. Green Day - I know many of you out there, including several of my colleagues, consider punk dead and buried by the early 80's, refusing to acknowledge the genre's resurgence in the late 80's and early 90's. I personally don't believe that we can continue to turn a blind eye to the success of Green Day. As teens, the boys from Green Day were stereotypical punk rockers on a scene that was buzzing once more on the underground. When the band released their major label debut, Dookie, the doors were flung open for a new generation of punk rockers to tap into the psyche of the American Youth once more. It is a shame that many of their fan's were so short sighted, because any true believer of the punk mentality should be able to see that Green Day didn't shun their fans, but rather did whatever they wanted to, whenever they wanted to. After all, is their anything more punk than that?

3. The Clash - Now please don't take my previous remarks about The Sex Pistols to mean that I hate the British Punk scene, as that is not the case. I believe that The Clash are very deserving of all that they have received, and that they should take some from Johnny Rotten while they are at it. The Clash took the style of the U.K. infused punk, mastered it, and then moved forward, expanding the genre with every move they made. Plus, "Should I Stay or Should I Go" is a true classic punk anthem.

2. Iggy Pop and The Stooges - Many fans seem unaware these days that Iggy Pop used to make Ozzy Osbourne look like a freaking monk at times. Where Ozzy was weird and creepy, Iggy was just a damn loon on stage… passionate, energetic, and filled with rage. The Stooges can barely be considered punk by the usual definition, but their work laid the groundwork for all of these other bands to follow. While punk roots aren't as evident in their early work, which was much more avant garde than some of their later material, the genre might never have existed without these maniacs.

1. The Ramones - The thing that endures these guys to me (other than their name being a tribute to one of my beloved Beatles) is that they have an outstanding sense of humor. Sure, they had the political and social commentary that was required to be considered a punk band, but they often did so with brilliant tongue in cheek sarcasm, that to me is infinitely more effective than the screams of "anarchy" from some of their contemporaries. Classic tunes by these incognito rockers that have woven themselves into the consciousness of the masses include "Blitzkrieg Bop," "I Wanna Be Sedated," "Teenage Lobotomy," and "The KKK Took My Baby Away." The kings of the three chord punk tune are the undeniable champs here in my eyes.

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That is it your dirty little punk rockers, and I am just a little saddened that no one included Avril Lavigne or New Found Glory. Just kidding! I don't want you all to crucify me for making a joke the way you all did poor Jesse last week when he jokingly included Spinal Tap on his metal list before giving his true answer of Black Sabbath. From some of his responses you would think that he had just told an orphanage that their wasn't a Santa Claus or something.

Next week we will be taking on the Top 5 Progressive Rock Bands ever, so tune and drop out, and we will try to keep the 20 minute keyboard solos to a minimum.

Don't forget to drop me a line and vote for your favorite writer / list!

Until next time, defy the establishment... or whatever.