# Best modern punk albums **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 14, 2008, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-punk-albums/433491 "2008-01-14T17:10:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2008, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-punk-albums/433491/1 "2008-01-14T17:10:36Z")
What are the best modern punk albums? Let’s say that anything from 1990 onward is fair game, and stuff from the late 80s might be OK. I’m adding this restriction in because a call for the best overall punk albums will invariably come back with the same old classic punk and hardcore albums, and while those most frequently nominated are genuine classics, the newer stuff tends to get ignored. My picks (and I am by no means a connoisseur):[ul] [li]Operation Ivy, _Operation Ivy_[/li][li]Green Day, _Dookie_[/li][li]Rancid, _And out Come the Wolves_[/li][li]Refused, _The Shape of Punk to Come_[/li][li]Discount, _Half-Fiction_[/li][li]Gallows, _Orchestra of Wolves_ (maybe, we’ll have to see how this one holds up.)[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2008, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-punk-albums/433491/2 "2008-01-14T17:24:40Z")
Butthole Surfers, Hairway to Steven Butthole Surfers, Double Live The Jesus Lizard, Goat Snot, Get Some If grunge counts: Mudhoney, Superfuzz Bigmuff Plus Early Singles Nirvana, Bleach Nirvana, Nevermind ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2008, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-punk-albums/433491/3 "2008-01-14T17:25:17Z")
Bad Religion, _Suffer_ Bad Religion, _No Control_ Face to Face, _Face to Face_ NOFX, _Punk in Drublic_ Screeching Weasel, _My Brain Hurts_ ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2008, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-punk-albums/433491/4 "2008-01-14T17:59:36Z")
Seconded for **NOFX** , _Punk in Drublic_ as well as their new one, _Wolves in Wolves’ Clothing_ **Bad Religion** - _Process of Belief_ for newer punk and _Against the Grain_ for a little vintage BR. **No Use For A Name** - _Leche Con Carne_. _Hard Rock Bottom_ is notably lighter and poppy, but the melodies are better and tend to grow on you. **The Offspring** has some great punk songs on most of their albums, you just have to ignore the pop crap that the radio plays. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2008, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-punk-albums/433491/5 "2008-01-14T18:35:12Z")
I just want to add that the classification of an album from 1990 being “modern” is kind of funny. Kids born in 1990 are in college right now. It’s sort of like asking for recommendations of good modern rock in 1985 and stretching the timeline far enough back to include the Beatles. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2008, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-punk-albums/433491/6 "2008-01-14T18:56:31Z")
Well, to be fair it’s not that the late 80s do not demark an era in punk – just not the era we’re currently in. I saw the late 80s - mid 90s as the rise of more serious and lighter hardcore, along with a concurrent steady popularization of more and more bands, which lead to the Pop Punk era of late 90s - early 2000s. This in turn lead to the mainstreaming of emo and emo-influenced music (along with the continued popularity of pop-punk which was also labelled emo much of the time,) which we are currently starting to get over, IMO, if only because labelling something as “emo” nowadays is about as informative as saying something is “psychedelic-influenced” around 1970, i.e. you can’t get away from it. But ISTM that it’s different from the rise in harsh-sounding hardcore and skapunk of the early-late 80s as well as the first-(big)-wave punk of the 70s, so the question does have some merit. I can only give you my favorites from these eras, as I do not have the extensive catalogue of others: Promise Ring, 30° Everywhere. Fugazi, Steady Diet of Nothing. Park, Building a Better \_\_\_\_\_ Dropkick Murphys, Do or Die. NOFX are good but they don’t have enough great tracks on any one album to make the list. I really like Process of Belief by Bad Religion but it isn’t really a good punk _qua_ punk album, although it is punk, it gets on my “good album” list through the harmonic singing and general songwriting, so I’m not sure if it should be on my entries here. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2008, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-punk-albums/433491/7 "2008-01-14T19:06:57Z")
[QUOTE=Eonwe] I just want to add that the classification of an album from 1990 being “modern” is kind of funny. Kids born in 1990 are in college right now. It’s sort of like asking for recommendations of good modern rock in 1985 and stretching the timeline far enough back to include the Beatles. [/QUOTE] “modern” might not be the best word, but I couldn’t think of another one. The issue at bottom is that if I were to ask for a list of the best punk albums with no qualifiers, I’d guess that about 75-80% of the submissions would be albums released in the 70s, and most of the rest albums released in the early 80s. As I mentioned in the OP, a lot of those are genuine classics, but it gets kinda boring rehashing the same list over and over again when there’s so much new stuff out there. ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2008, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-punk-albums/433491/8 "2008-01-14T20:07:14Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] NOFX are good but they don’t have enough great tracks on any one album to make the list. [/QUOTE] Their discography has its highs and lows, but there are certainly great albums by the band. _White Trash…_, _Punk in Drublic_ and _So Long and Thanks for all the Shoes_ (come on! a Douglas Adams reference, even!) are all excellent albums where most of the songs on each disc are great. I’d highly recommend these albums, just stay away from _Heavy Petting Zoo_ which is terrible. > [@](#): > > I really like Process of Belief by Bad Religion but it isn’t really a good punk qua punk album, although it is punk, it gets on my “good album” list through the harmonic singing and general songwriting, so I’m not sure if it should be on my entries here. I agree that the album is great because of the songwriting (plus the addition of a newer drummer makes things better). I think that is what most “punk” bands are moving toward and how I would define “modern” punk. The musicians are better now and it shows in the songs. You can’t play 4 chords anymore and be a great punk band. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2008, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-punk-albums/433491/9 "2008-01-14T20:11:56Z")
I used to listen to plenty of punk but I’m sort of drawing a blank on classic albums from the 90s - for me it’s a genre where a lot of good stuff does sound the same and doesn’t really lend itself to classic status. Ultrafilter’s suggestion of ‘the shape of punk to come’ is probably one of the few punk albums I hear spoken of in classic terms - influential and whatnot - I didn’t really get on with it. **Kid Dynamite** ’s self titled is an awesome cd - according to wiki it’s an example of ‘melodic hardcore’. Put me down for more of that, love the sound. \*\*In on the killtaker \*\*is my favourite fugazi album, maybe a classic. Very clean atonal sound that’s unmistakable. Second \*\*Do or Die \*\*by the Dropkick Murphys. They’ve got great lyrics considering the competition. Most modern punk f-the man songs sound like bad Sham 69, which is fairly appalling when you think about it. The dropkicks had some quality to their lyrics, a bit of authenticity that made for a great couple of albums. **Your torn up knuckles and faded blue jeans Are the colors you wear and the life that you’ve seen You tell the truth look people in the eye Don’t live your life in no baggy disguise.** You hear that wearers of baggy trousers? THought **the bronx** ’s self titled was v. good at the poppier end of punk.