At least I think I mean punk, I’ve been getting into The Offspring and The Vandals recently and I’m after bands that play similar music.
Any suggestions?
Some of my favorite punk bands:
The Clash (the ultimate British punk band; they blended reggae, ska, and rockabilly influences with punk and took political stances with their lyrics).
The Ramones (the ultimate American punk band; they played three-chord songs inspired by 1950s rock ‘n’ roll and early 1960s girl groups).
The Descendents (perfect pissed-off angsty teenage pop-punk).
Social Distortion (very melodic, tuneful punk with definite rockabilly and Americana/country influences).
Reverend Horton Heat (they play “psychobilly”; a more obvious rockabilly/punk hybrid).
The Cramps (the godfathers – and godmother – of psychobilly; they epitomize dirty, swampy, punk rock raunch).
Operation Ivy (very “street”-sounding punk with lots of ska influence).
Rancid (formed by two Operation Ivy members; often described as having a “1977-era” punk sound, more occasional ska rhythms).
Fifteen (honestly I don’t know much about them, but their song “Petroleum Distillation” pretty much epitomizes everything punk should be about, lyrically and musically).
More ska-punk bands I love (some are more ska, some are more punk):
Less Than Jake
The Pietasters
The Toasters
MU330
Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Reel Big Fish
Goldfinger
Mustard Plug
The Hippos
Save Ferris
Skankin’ Pickle
And if you like them, here’s some “straighter” ska:
The Skatalites
The Slackers
Hepcat
New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble
Skavoovie and the Epitones
The Usuals
Desmond Dekker
Not exactly straight punk, but hard to resist: Gogol Bordello and Flogging Molly, who are respectively gypsy-punk and irish-punk fusions.
In more of a ska vein, Mephiskapheles is worth checking out–or at least their first album, God Bless Satan.
ska is not punk
just fyi
Dead Kennedys.
fear
Man, I played in a ska-punk band for years, you don’t have to tell me that. But there’s a lot of crossover between the fanbases, you can’t tell me that’s not true.
X.
I’ll second the Dead Kennedys. Everybody could use a Holiday in Cambodia.
A few others I neglected to mention:
Fugazi–I’ve never been able to get into these guys in any serious way, but I seem to be in a minority on this. They’re sort of an experimental hardcore punk thing, I suppose (hopefully someone else is more of a fan, and can help, heh).
Minor Threat–The original band of one of the guys from Fugazi. (IIRC, one or more of the other guys went on to form Bad Religion?) Important and fun in small doses. I think I’d like them more if they kept their mouths shut–the adolescent posturing and ‘straight edge’ stuff gets a little trying.
Iggy & the Stooges–more of a proto-punk, really.
The Misfits
Check out AllMusic, it has listings of similar bands and is a generally great site.
She is absolutely punk, but absolutely different from everything mentioned so far: Patti Smith. Horses is as close to a classic as you can get, yet she remains largely unknown to a lot of people.
Same for Richard Hell’s Blank Generation - absolute classic, but relatively unknown for some mysterious reason.
The Germs, who were one of the first LA punks, also have some pretty good stuff.
If you want things more like what you mentioned, try, say, Stiff Little Fingers, Screaching Weasel, Bad Religion, etc, etc.
Finally, don’t forget all the pioneers: New York Dolls, MC5, Damned, Television, etc. All are good, really.
(And, check out www.pandora.com if you haven’t yet.)
My personal favorite punk band has to be L7.
Well, I like both The Offspring and The Vandals, and I like Bad Religion, Bad Brains, Black Flag (mostly the early stuff), and Avail (though that’s more hardcore). I also have to second the following: The Clash, The Ramones, Dead Kennedys, & L7. Flogging Molly (and the Dropkick Murphys) are good, but I know that they’re not everyone’s cup of tea.
Can I get a shoutout for my hometown, Washington D.C.?
Minor Threat
Fugazi
Ignition
Grey Matter
Shudder to Think
Jawbox
Holy Rollers
Fire Party
Nation of Ulysses
Fidelity Jones
Beefeater
Norman Meyer
and many, many, way too many, more…
You might like the German Punk Pop Band Die Ärzte. A bit different, a bit watered down and campy like Offspring, it’s in German of course, but they have some really great lyrics if you translate them.