Here is the cover art for my compilation The Top 40 Punk Albums Of All-Time. This mix is a couple of years old, and while it inspired this post, the blog write up is a generation or two removed from the original, and includes several different album choices.
This cover was totally inspired by Jamie Reid‘s classic artwork for the Sex Pistols in the 70′s. I printed out a color picture of the safety pin, and then added the cutout newpaper letters to this, one by one. I then color-copied that and sized it down to cd cover size. I figured the punk ‘zine look would probably be my only chance to use my lousy handwriting on one of my mixes (and get away with it) so that’s the back cover.
Not perfect, but it’s something…
Here’s the front cover:
[This is a scanned version of the original cover - much darker than the original.]
Here’s the back cover:
Here’s the track listing:
40 – Devo * Gut Feeling
39 – Buzzcocks * Ever Fallen In Love…
38 – The Seeds * Pushin’ Too Hard
37 – The Cure * Three Imaginary Boys
36 – Germs * Lexicon Devil
35 – Mission Of Burma * Secrets
34 – The Heartbreakers * One Track Mind
33 – Richard Hell & The Voidoids * Blank Generation
32 – Husker Du * Never Talking To You Again
31 – The Cars * Don’t Cha Stop
30 – Ramones * Cretin Hop
29 – Pixies * Crackity Jones
28 – The Dils * Blow Up
27 – XTC * Making Plans For Nigel
26 – Wire * Dot Dash
25 – Black Flag * Rise Above
24 – Circle Jerks * When The Shit Hits The Fan
23 – NY Dolls * Personality Crisis
22 – The Jam * The Modern World
21 – Dead Kennedys * Let’s Lynch The Landlord
20 – Patti Smith * Gloria
19 – Fear * Let’s Have A War
18 – Gang Of Four * Damaged Goods
17 – Talking Heads * New Feeling
16 – Nirvana * About A Girl
15 – X * In This House That I Call Home
14 – Joy Division * Transmission
13 – Bad Brains * Banned In D.C.
12 – The Saints * I’m (Stranded)
11 – Velvet Underground * Rock & Roll
10 – Radio Birdman * Murder City Nights
9 – Monks * Monk Time
8 – The Undertones * I Gotta Getta
7 – The Modern Lovers * Roadrunner
6 – The Stooges * T.V. Eye
5 – Buzzcocks * Autonomy
4 – Minutemen * #1 Hit Song
3 – The Clash * Brand New Cadillac
2 – Sex Pistols * Bodies
1 – Ramones * Blitzkrieg Bop
Tags: cover art, Jamie Reid, Mixes, Punk, Ramones, Sex Pistols, top 40 punk albums
11 October 2007 at 10:38 am |
Awesome!
Nice range on this list. Nirvana is a bit of a stretch though. You could have included Green Day, who ripped off the sounds of many of these groups to go mainstream. I do think you’re a little light on the sound, maybe missing a little bit of the angst of the movement. I mean Talking Heads, the Cure and the Cars.
I would have subbed in some more hard charging groups like the Butthole Surfers (props to Texas) (give a listen to the Butthole Surfer’s theme song), the Misfits (listen to “Skulls” and tell me that Marilyn Manson or NIN have anything on these guys) and Suicidal Tendencies (“Institutionalized”). Other great bands of the era were DOA (give “fucked up Ronnie” a try), Meat Puppets (the entire “Meat Puppets” album) and the Descendents (the “Milo goes to College” album; 10 minutes of the best 15 songs you’ve ver heard).
This all represents my personal quibbling, but this is a solid list.
23 April 2008 at 9:39 am |
More sex pistols needed, they were the best and most punk ever!!!!!!!!!!!!
27 April 2008 at 3:19 am |
Hi thank you so much for this list!
I’m all into old Punk right now so this list is perfect!
Love Joy Division!!!!
15 May 2008 at 12:48 am |
I can almost agree with this list…
With just one small modification this would be perfect.
You left out The Misfits!
they should be placed somewhere around 4 – 10.
It is impossible to not have Misfits on a top list of punk bands, punk albums, punk songs etc…
Anyway great list =)
15 May 2008 at 12:58 am |
My brother busted me on that as well.
What can I say? They were never one of my favorites, but enough people like you keep talking in my ear, and I’ll have to fire up a couple of their albums and start getting into ‘em…
Thanks for the word!
15 August 2008 at 11:37 pm |
uuummm….I believe you mean Songs, not albums hahaha
15 August 2008 at 11:39 pm |
On a lighter note, not a bad selection.
16 August 2008 at 8:53 am |
Thanks Bojack. I actually meant albums, but picked one song off of each for the sake of this sampler…
28 October 2008 at 11:49 am |
The absence of Fugazi and The Damned is a little odd, but otherwise, solid list.
28 October 2008 at 12:34 pm |
Yep, I recognize the value of both those groups, but that was just a personal preference. I cleaned this list up a bit after re-thinking the Cure and the Cars. Take a look at the final list here.
22 July 2010 at 8:10 am |
fuck tht dude greenday aint no ripp off!! nd also were where the misfits dude come on!!
22 July 2010 at 12:35 pm |
You’re absolutely right – Green Day isn’t derivative, Punk was invented in 1992, and I’m a little fish, writing this blog from the bottom of the sea…
28 May 2011 at 10:37 pm |
not having rancid or bad religion on this lame ass list makes it totally bogus…….
you know nothing of punk rock
all these lists are gay buncha artsy fartsy nonsense
29 May 2011 at 11:18 am |
Yawn.
23 August 2011 at 12:17 am |
there’s no crass either, what is this!? :P