The Essential Music Library project is an attempt to get the many musical minds of the SDMB to sit down and discuss what works are absolutely necessary for a well-stocked musical library. There will be roughly 20 threads detailing a variety of genres so that we can get the depth that would be missing from a single-threaded discussion and the breadth necessary to cover what’s out there.
This thread’s topic is punk and its immediate descendents, post-punk and new wave.
Ramones, the anthology - titled Hey Ho Let’s Go, IIRC
Sex Pistols, Never Mind the Bollocks
Buzzcocks, Singles Going Steady
Dead Kennedys, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
DRI, Dirty Rotten LP
Operation Ivy, self-titled
Green Day, Dookie
Rancid, And Out Come The Wolves
On the punk side - first and foremost would be the Clash and their albums The Clash and London Calling.
Second on the punk side would be the Sex Pistols and Never Mind the Bullocks Here’s …
In terms of new wave then first would be Elvis with his seminal albums of the late 70’s and 80’s like *Armed Forces, My Aim Is True, This Year’s Model, Get Happy * and *King of America *.
For the distaff side how about starting with Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and *I Love Rock & Roll *, followed by the Pretenders and their self named album.
Just touching the obvious ( ) ones but let’s see what others have to say.
Top of the post-punk list goes to the Talking Heads (not The Talking Heads, mind you). Essentials from them are Fear of Music, Remain in Light, and Stop Making Sense and its soundtrack, but you can’t go wrong by buying their entire catalog.
I would have gone with Another Music in a Different Kitchen for the Buzzcocks. . I don’t know if they get two albums.
Add in:
X, Under the Big Black Sun, More Fun in the New World.
Lou Reed, Rock’N’Roll Animal, Transformer
Lords of the New Church, Is Nothing Sacred
The Pretenders, The Pretenders
The Minutemen, Double Nickels on the Dime
Th Cramps, Bad Music for Bad People
Black Flag, Damaged
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Kicking Against the Pricks
And also:
Forgotten Rebels, Surfin’ on Heroin
Yes, I know it’s way obscure, but you need one or two of those in any good library.
MC5 - Kick Out the Jams
New York Dolls - NY Dolls
Suicide - Suicide
Dictators - Go Girl Crazy
Patti Smith - Horses
Damned - Damned, Damned, Damned
Iggy and the Stooges - The Stooges
The Velvet Underground -The VU and Nico
Jawbreaker - 24 Hour Revenge Therapy
Sunny Day Real Estate - Diary
The Get Up Kids - Something To Write Home About
Jimmy Eat World - Clarity, Bleed American
Fugazi - The Argument
The Promise Ring - Nothing Feels Good
Dashboard Confessional - The Swiss Army Romance
Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends
Brand New - Deja Entendu
Cursive - The Ugly Organ
Rites of Spring - Rites of Spring
Black Flag - First Four Years
Electric Eels - Eyeball of Hell
Pere Ubu - Modern Dance
Wire - Pink Flag
Angry Samoans - The Unboxed Set
GG Allin - You Give Love a Bad Name
Richard Hell - Blank Generation
The Dwarves - Free Cocaine
The Chosen Few - A Root and a Beer
Radio Birdman - Radios Appear
The Saints - I’m Stranded
Iggy and the Stooges - Raw Power
The Germs - GI
The Slugfuckers - Cacophany
The Birthday Party - Junkyard
John Cale - Music For A New Society
The Homosexuals - Astral Glamour
The Modern Lovers - The Original Modern Lovers
Simply Saucer - Cyborgs Revisited
And because so much of punk came on 7"s, the endless compilations (Killed by Death/Bloodstains/Murder Punk/and on and on and on) also need to be considered.
A few that have already been mentioned
Dead Kennedy’s
the Clash
Bad Religion (The Gray Race is my personal favorite)
Operation Ivy
Rancid (Let’s go)
Minor Threat
Fugazi (The Argument, Thirteen Songs)
A few that haven’t been
NOFX
Fishbone (The Reality of My Surroundings)
Suicide Machines
The Misfits
The Cure (I guess i would call them post-punk)
Essential punk:
Never Mind The Bollocks - Sex Pistols
The Clash - The Clash
Damned Damned Damned; Machine Gun Etiquette - The Damned
Ramones - Ramones
Inflammable Material - Stiff Little Fingers
Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables - Dead Kennedys
The Scream - Siouxsie & The Banshees
Rattus Norvegicus - The Stranglers
The Crack - The Ruts
Troops Of Tomorrow - The Exploited
Post punk:
Killing Joke; What’s This For - Killing Joke
Entertainment - Gang Of Four
Public Image - Public Image Ltd
Pink Flag - Wire
Cut - The Slits
Unknown Pleasures - Joy Division
Ju-Ju - **Siouxsie & The Banshees **
New wave:
Parallel Lines - Blondie
Setting Sons - The Jam
London Calling - The Clash
Black & White - The Stranglers
) ones but let’s see what others have to say.