# Most punk song of all time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 14, 2007, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021 "2007-12-14T18:49:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2007, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/61 "2007-12-14T23:52:08Z")
Husker Du -[Don’t Want To Know If You Are Lonely](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luK9-bQVj0k) Big Black - [Kerosene](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dRMvOkPhmw) Bauhaus - [Dark Entries](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJCuF6cJGVs) Bauhaus - [Bela Lugis’s dead](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq2RXSboWMs) Dead Kennedys - [Holiday in Cambodia](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R11x32WoxrM) Sonic Youth - [Schizophrenia](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uz_bCyirfn8) Sonic Youth - [Starpower](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ztH6Uk_Rq0) ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2007, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/62 "2007-12-14T23:53:18Z")
Heh, I really should go to bed and not muck about on video services. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/63 "2007-12-15T00:17:59Z")
[QUOTE=Biggirl] The only one’s I can reach for, because they’re the only ones I own: [/QUOTE] In a similar vain: “drug me” by the dead kennedys. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/64 "2007-12-15T00:40:54Z")
Heh, I really should go to bed. Sisters of Mercy - [Alice](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hsWZO8e2Po) Guess I’m not really being punk enough here. Well there’s always [X-ray Specs](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAL_j-f8gmA) with the timeless classic “Oh Bondage, up Yours!” And a great band from Edinburgh [The Shop Assistants](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIaI4F-tGJ0). Their best song was Safety Net though, but that was only a long-deleted 7" release twenty odd years ago. I’ve got an MP3 copy that I’m happy to share to anyone who PMs me. And here’s The Jesus and Mary Chain: [Never Understand](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs-42ge-TWY), and this is also the Mary Chain [You Trip Me Up](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdwbEa10CF4&feature=related). Perhaps they listened to White Light/White Heat a bit too much. Whee I’m pissed. Here’s Swans getting all het up about [Raping a Slave](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLnpFo8yPoM). Swans were very loud, Leftfield were even louder ([A](http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2fvimphEeN4), [B](http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2FWOLsYpCvY&feature=related), but My Bloody Valentine were [the loudest](http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=EyoGjNVPlrs). sometimes [quiet though](http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=GB8nCE2EoIw) ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/65 "2007-12-15T00:43:26Z")
And sometimes other-worldly [http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=fomiTa3Ryko&NR=1](http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=fomiTa3Ryko&NR=1) ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/66 "2007-12-15T00:50:23Z")
Germs: Forming. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV539g9qVWs](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV539g9qVWs) John Frusciante (RHCP) covering Forming [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWPdb-W5mcE](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWPdb-W5mcE) This is punk. Halfway through the first video, someone climbs on stage, smashes the mike into the singer’s face, then the band jumps him. ---
**Author:** ![NailBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NailBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NailBunny)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/67 "2007-12-15T00:52:17Z")
OT Alright **Struan** , that’s it. You’re Scottish, you drink good booze, you like _Doctor Who_ AND the Birthday Party - you are officially my first Doper crush. /OT Though I don’t know if I’d consider the Birthday Party punk, per se. In style, certainly, in music, I dunno. Next you’ll tell me you’re familiar with the Boys Next Door as well. Topic? Uh, yeah…I got nothin’. The mister is the punk expert. Now if you want most _goth_ songs of all time… ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/68 "2007-12-15T01:19:47Z")
There’s the timing thing. Many of us in this thread were thinking of original punk. Original punk, as I sort of alluded to before, didn’t fully realize until later. It was built upon by many great and not-so-great artists. When I listen to _Never Mind The Bollocks_ these days, I’m struck by how not-really-punk the music is, but with Johnny Rotten singing, it just oozes punk attitude. Same with the Ramones first album; it seems kind of tame when viewed through the lens of all that followed, but in 1976, nobody had a record like that out. Those two band really were pioneers. Go look at interviews with The Clash The Jam, Wire, Buzzcocks, et al, and to a man, they will tell you they were inspired by the Pistols and/or Ramones. Plenty of people have been harder, faster, more profane, whatever, but the Pistols and Ramones were the seeds of that. Sure, there are bands so freaking hard it can make your ears bleed, but You Really Got Me was the hardest, nastiest, filthiest riff known to man in 1965. I think the same way about the Sex Pistols and the Ramones, circa 1976. I tend to have somewhat myopic tastes at times, but I can see the punk in just about everything. That’s what draws me in, that, hey, fuck you aspect that makes punk, and for that matter, rock n roll, what it is. It’s all good, even when it’s bad. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/69 "2007-12-15T01:21:31Z")
[QUOTE=NailBunny] OT Alright **Struan** , that’s it. You’re Scottish, you drink good booze, you like _Doctor Who_ AND the Birthday Party - you are officially my first Doper crush. /OT Though I don’t know if I’d consider the Birthday Party punk, per se. In style, certainly, in music, I dunno. Next you’ll tell me you’re familiar with the Boys Next Door as well. Topic? Uh, yeah…I got nothin’. The mister is the punk expert. Now if you want most _goth_ songs of all time… [/QUOTE] Yea, half of his are goth punk (descendants of The Damned), some more are shoegazers (Jesus and Mary Chain (yes, they are), My Bloody Valentine), some hardcore/emo (Husker Du), and everything else 2nd or 3rd or nth wave punk. So let’s get this straight: what is punk? Fuck you attitude? Original punk bands? I can give my opinion but I’m not the OP ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/70 "2007-12-15T01:27:07Z")
[QUOTE=NailBunny] OT Alright **Struan** , that’s it. You’re Scottish, you drink good booze, you like _Doctor Who_ AND the Birthday Party - you are officially my first Doper crush. /OT [/QUOTE] NailBunny, we shall speak of Mr. Tennant’s hair, Ms. Minogue’s boots and the true story behind the Titanic incident in 12 days time. (I’ll allow you a decent interval to catch up!) ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/71 "2007-12-15T01:27:25Z")
There’s punk in the English sense (Sex Pistols, Clash, Buzzcocks, etc), and more extreme stuff (Crass, Flux of Pink Indians, Poisen Girls) There’s mainstream american punk (X, Ramones, etc) There’s [American Hardcore](http://www.sonyclassics.com/americanhardcore/) as epitomized by this film. I haven’t seen it yet, but my old thrash buddies said it captures this era. DOA, Circle Jerks, pre-Henry Black Flag, Minor Threat and many more. Most people in this crowd thought the Dead Kennedy’s were sell outs. For the most american Hardcore song, not sure if there is _one_. Wasted by the Circle Jerks, code Blue by TSOL, The Prisoner by DOA, 12XU by Minor Threat would be a few contenders. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/72 "2007-12-15T01:30:00Z")
[QUOTE=China Guy] There’s punk in the English sense (Sex Pistols, Clash, Buzzcocks, etc), and more extreme stuff (Crass, Flux of Pink Indians, Poisen Girls) There’s mainstream american punk (X, Ramones, etc) There’s [American Hardcore](http://www.sonyclassics.com/americanhardcore/) as epitomized by this film. I haven’t seen it yet, but my old thrash buddies said it captures this era. DOA, Circle Jerks, pre-Henry Black Flag, Minor Threat and many more. Most people in this crowd thought the Dead Kennedy’s were sell outs. For the most american Hardcore song, not sure if there is _one_. Wasted by the Circle Jerks, code Blue by TSOL, The Prisoner by DOA, 12XU by Minor Threat would be a few contenders. [/QUOTE] How about _Straight Edge_ by Minor Threat? Well, I guess, I don’t know. But that song is the shortest milestone in any music genre you care to list. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/73 "2007-12-15T01:38:27Z")
[QUOTE=ZebraShaSha] Yea, half of his are goth punk (descendants of The Damned), some more are shoegazers (Jesus and Mary Chain (yes, they are), My Bloody Valentine), some hardcore/emo (Husker Du), and everything else 2nd or 3rd or nth wave punk. [/QUOTE] Ach I’m drunk. Leave me alone - I was just trawling through Youtube for stuff I like. I acknowledge the not-very-on-topicness. You are wrong about the Mary Chain being shoegazers though. Shoegaze was a term invented by the NME to describe the Oxford scene and variants thereof a good few years after Psychocandy came out. I’ll just pretend you didn’t type the “Descendants of The Damned” thing in the hope that you can retain a shred of credibility. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/74 "2007-12-15T01:43:26Z")
[QUOTE=Struan] Ach I’m drunk. Leave me alone - I was just trawling through Youtube for stuff I like. I acknowledge the not-very-on-topicness. You are wrong about the Mary Chain being shoegazers though. Shoegaze was a term invented by the NME to describe the Oxford scene and variants thereof a good few years after Psychocandy came out. I’ll just pretend you didn’t type the “Descendants of The Damned” thing in the hope that you can retain a shred of credibility. 😉 [/QUOTE] Yea, thus me saying “yes, they are”. All the Brit kids copied Pyschocandy and everyone but the media denied they were ever involved in shoegazing, so Jesus and Mary Chain are by extension of being wall of sound from production/guitar pedals/effects. And… The Damned were the first goth band, from what I remember. I spoke of them earlier. [The Damned.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Damned) So goth bands, Nick Cave included, were influenced by The Damned, although Nick Cave was producing music at or around the same time and I couldn’t be arsed to find out exactly what’s what. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/75 "2007-12-15T02:03:51Z")
I would play “Give It Back” by The Dickies, or “No More Heroes” by The Stranglers. Or maybe “C30, C60, C90, Go!” by Bow Wow Wow. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/76 "2007-12-15T02:12:45Z")
[QUOTE=Hippy Hollow] I would play “Give It Back” by The Dickies, or “No More Heroes” by The Stranglers. Or maybe “C30, C60, C90, Go!” by Bow Wow Wow. [/QUOTE] [OT] You and me are gonna have to give up our coverted Black Spokesperson pins if we keep posting in threads like this.[/OT] ---
**Author:** ![JohnnieEnigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@JohnnieEnigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnnieEnigma)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/77 "2007-12-15T02:18:44Z")
Anything by the Talking Heads or even the Ramones would be an all time punk song. ---
**Author:** ![JohnnieEnigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@JohnnieEnigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnnieEnigma)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/78 "2007-12-15T02:26:36Z")
[QUOTE=Struan] Vanilla Fudge - [You keep me hanging on](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71cGLyOKhSc) [/QUOTE] That’s like a pop song, hardly punk. ---
**Author:** ![Lilacs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Lilacs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lilacs)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/79 "2007-12-15T02:43:26Z")
Oh, I’m very late to the punk party… The Clash - _Career Opportunities_ and _White Riot_ Dead Kennedys - _California Uberalles_ and _Well Paid Scientist_ Minor Threat - _Betray_ and _I Don’t Want to Hear It_ Black Fag - _Fix Me_ and _American Waste_ Ramones - _Blitzkrieg Bop_ and _Beat on the Brat_ Just to name a few. I started to list the enitre Dead Kennedys catalog and had to start over. I still consider the Sex Pistols to be Punk, if only for the fact that Johnny Rotten had attitude. And because _God Save the Queen_ rocks. And I love _Liar_. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/80 "2007-12-15T02:52:37Z")
[QUOTE=ZebraShaSha] Yea, thus me saying “yes, they are”. All the Brit kids copied Pyschocandy and everyone but the media denied they were ever involved in shoegazing, so Jesus and Mary Chain are by extension of being wall of sound from production/guitar pedals/effects. [/QUOTE] Well, the Mary Chain certainly gazed at their shoes or the back of the room when playing live in the early days. They were influenced very heavily by Phil Spector’s “wall of sound” production (and The Velvet Underground, obviously). I guess by your retrofitting criteria that The Ronettes were shoe-gazers? And The Damned were never the originators of goth, FFS. Just because Dave Vanian styled his hair in the fashion of Lily Munster means dick - they were a bunch of pub rockers who recorded some punky tracks and eventually released Grimly Fiendish to the embarrassment of all. You have to look to Bauhaus or Siouxsie and the Banshees (with a side helping of Joy Division) to find the roots of goth. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021.md?page=5)