# 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:** 5
**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, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/81 "2007-12-15T02:58:46Z")
[QUOTE=JohnnieEnigma] That’s like a pop song, hardly punk. [/QUOTE] Punk attitude though. The whole of the first Vanilla Fudge album (it’s all covers of pop classics if you are unfamiliar with it) is proto-punk of the first order. Proto-metal, too. Good stuff for 1967. ---
**Author:** ![stanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@stanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stanger)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/82 "2007-12-15T04:17:30Z")
Well, when I think of punk, I think of music that was created by people who didn’t like all the slick studio sounding stuff that was being made at the time. A music that was just plain stripped down rock-and-roll. For that reason, I think “Loudmouth” by the Ramones is a good example. [http://youtube.com/watch?v=bc9xhAM8WMU](http://youtube.com/watch?v=bc9xhAM8WMU) Real rock-and-roll could easily be played by talented singers and musicians, but punk showed a thousand garage bands that you didn’t have to be able to sing, play an instrument well or compose witty lyrics to rock. ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/83 "2007-12-15T05:09:03Z")
Wow. Nostalgia rush. I’m only the third to mention the Vandals, but Anarchy Burger, from the Peace through Firepower album does it for me, when I want “Punk” “Anarchy Burger, hold the government! America stands for freedom, but if you think your Freee, try walking into a deli, and urinating on the cheeeese!” I still have Social Distortion and Dead Kennedys on my playlist. How could I move to california without ‘Moon over Marin’ on my playlist? Oh, and for Suicidal Tendencies, my fav. Track is ‘Suicide’s an Alternative’ “Sick of you, you’re too hip, sick of life IT SUCKS” - Unabashedly incoherent. I’ve also been known to shout, when I see a teen-or tween-ager in retro punk gear: “Hey! You! Punk is dead, we killed in 1988, and you missed it!!!” I’m Thinking Punk rock jumped the shark with the Dead Kennedys ‘FrankenChrist’. I had the version with the H.R. Giger penis landscape poster. Wish I still did. ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/84 "2007-12-15T05:19:45Z")
Oh, and The Cramps. I Love the Cramps. ‘Can’t find my mind’ ‘People ain’t no good’. Oh oh, and Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper. - redneck punk, if you can believe that. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/85 "2007-12-15T05:22:02Z")
[QUOTE=Hippy Hollow] Or maybe “C30, C60, C90, Go!” by Bow Wow Wow. [/QUOTE] 3 5 4 1 2 5 GO! (That just reminded me of the best opening in postpunk is all.) ---
**Author:** ![WreckingCrew](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wreckingcrew/32/4080_2.png) [@WreckingCrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WreckingCrew)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/86 "2007-12-15T05:39:12Z")
Oh goodie, I get to be the first to mention Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers. I love the New York Dolls, but not quite punk. But Johnny on his own - no question about it. This one is from one of the many revivals of the band, but I think it will get the point across. Stay tuned for the chatter after the song for the full punk effect. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhw_TFGmKDw) ---
**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, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/87 "2007-12-15T06:20:38Z")
[QUOTE=Biggirl] [OT] You and me are gonna have to give up our coverted Black Spokesperson pins if we keep posting in threads like this.[/OT] [/QUOTE] Nah, just showin’ that we know a lot more than “Am I a racist,” etc. 🙂 [QUOTE=Ludovic] 3 5 4 1 2 5 GO! (That just reminded me of the best opening in postpunk is all.) [/QUOTE] Yeah, it’s cracking, innit? That reminds me of the intro to “Warsaw” by Joy Division as well. Oh, and a true punk classic: “Fuck Off” by Wayne County and the Electric Chairs. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/88 "2007-12-15T07:05:53Z")
[QUOTE=Struan] Husker Du -[Don’t Want To Know If You Are Lonely](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luK9-bQVj0k) \ Bauhaus - [Bela Lugis’s dead](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq2RXSboWMs) [/QUOTE] First, I love that Husker Du song. I can’t name five songs by them, but that one’s in my MP3 collection. Second, have you ever heard Nouvelle Vague’s cover of “Bela Lugosi’s Dead”? If not, [give it a listen](http://zeonmusic.blogspot.com/2007/10/2007-halloween-mix-part-1.html) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/89 "2007-12-15T07:15:36Z")
I’d agree with **HoboStew** ; Minor Threat’s “Filler” was my first thought. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/90 "2007-12-15T08:48:47Z")
One night, a while back, _Rage_ the twice weekly all night music video show on ABC TV (Australia) played an all punk homage. I was sitting at my computer working while it played in the background. Many of the songs mentioned in this thread were played. And there I was tapping my foot to things that sounded, now, as safe and familiar as old Chuck Berry stuff. I lived in London in 1976 and 77 and saw lots of these acts and they didn’t feel safe and familiar at the time. The best reminder I have of how it all felt, the distilled essence of live punk is not one song but a short, shitty movie: _The Cramps Live at Napa State Mental Hospital_. That’s punk. ---
**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, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/91 "2007-12-15T18:17:42Z")
[QUOTE=elfkin477] Second, have you ever heard Nouvelle Vague’s cover of “Bela Lugosi’s Dead”? If not, [give it a listen](http://zeonmusic.blogspot.com/2007/10/2007-halloween-mix-part-1.html) 🙂 [/QUOTE] That was awesome. I love Nouvelle Vague. Speaking of punk, their cover of “Too Drunk to Fuck” is tons of fun. Mr. Bunny would like to cast his vote for Minor Threat - Good Guys Don’t Wear White, as his favourite punk song. ---
**Author:** ![Kuboydal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@Kuboydal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuboydal)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/92 "2007-12-15T23:44:39Z")
Forgive me if I seem a bit outdated, but making videos for MTV is not punk rock. (Begging one’s pardon before saying anything isn’t punk either, but not caring anyways certainly is) ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2007, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/93 "2007-12-16T00:16:22Z")
[QUOTE=MrSquishy] I am shocked, I say shocked that it took until post #19 for someone to mention Dead Kennedys. [/QUOTE] No kidding. Jello Biafra is probably the only punk rocker to walk the walk. ---
**Author:** ![lexan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/73ab20/32.png) [@lexan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lexan)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2007, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/94 "2007-12-16T01:24:15Z")
[QUOTE=Queen Bruin] No kidding. Jello Biafra is probably the only punk rocker to walk the walk. [/QUOTE] That might have been true until he started employing what we might charitably call creative accounting when it came to paying the other guys in the band their royalties. Fuck Jello, he’s as dirty as all the major label bosses he used to rail against. My vote for most punk song ever goes to Blitzkrieg Bop. Yeah, the Ramones may not have had the technical proficiency of Wire, the iconic image of the Sex Pistols, the political radicalism of the Dead Kennedys, or the DIY ethic of Minor Threat, but when I think of punk rock, I always think of Blitzkrieg Bop. Just a simple, bubblegum pop song cranked up to 11. The song’s a brilliant celebration of rock and roll as a violent sublimation of teenage sexual frustration, and basically encapsulates the spirit of punk rock, to my ear anyhow. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2007, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/95 "2007-12-16T01:52:07Z")
All you whippersnappers who weren’t there, you can’t even begin to imagine what Sex Pistols did back in '76. There seems to be some kind of debate about which is more punk and even if my 2007 ears know that _Anarchy in the Uk_ or _God save the Queen_ aren’t all that hard hitting now, but without context, you might as well think that **Lamb of God** is the heaviest of heavy metal bands. But hearing **the Pistols** in '76 is quite different from hearing them now. At the time, they sucker punched what the public knew as Art Rock or Progressive Rock. Acts that were considered dinosaurs, acts like **Pink Floyd, Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, Barclay James Harvest, Mike Oldfield**. At 29, \*_Bryan Ferry \*\* had covered_ Smoke gets in your eyes \* two years earlier. **Gabriel** had just left **Genesis** after doing _The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway_, Zep released _The song Remains the Same_. Critics were raving about how \*_Springsteen \*\* was the epitome of the new wave that was gonna save rock’n’roll, based on his_ Born to Run \* album. Enter a band created by Westwood and McLaren, much in the way boy band like **Back Street Boys** or \*\*Westlife \*\* were created to fit a market. Looking at early videos by **Sex Pistol** s miming to the backgorund track show **Sid Viceous** repeatedly remembering to snarl and \*\*John Lydon \*\* being as off sync as a telenovela dubbed to English. None of that matters. Parents were upset, rock’n’roll was back to playing small basement clubs to an audience of 200 drunk teens. the **Pistols** , as constructred as they were, forced record companies and A&R guys to start looking in different directions and even though \*_The Clash \*\* had recorded as **The 101’ers** and releasead protopunk Five Star Rock’Roll Petrol_, no one really cared. After _Anarchy in the UK_, all the main labels wanted in on this new thing and this opened for a flood of new bands, most of them crappy. The few that survived re-arrranged the landscape of music, much as what **Elvis** did in '56, **the Beatles** in '64 and **Nirvana** in '91. [Pretty Vacant.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOQ4f7YItX8) \*Best song title ever. ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2007, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/96 "2007-12-16T02:09:51Z")
Well, I’m gonna go with my good Honey’s voice on this , and he’s a good music expert, mainly in blues, country and reggae. Whoa! I was away surprised at his attitude with this question. I was going with Sex Pistols, later Johnny Rotten, Also Iggy Pop, and, then, the Ramones, leading into all other sorts]. He, then said, definitely, in his mind, i[the Bad Brains](t washttp://www.plyrics.com/lyrics/badbrains/paytocum.htm) were the seminal Punk band. This is a guy who, at, sixteen years old, had a blues radio show, and a reggae show, and was kinda a bellweather here, when not so easy to do. Gonnna cut him some slack now… Ok, he’s playing the 45!, now here, banging the earbones…“Pay to Cum”, supposedly the fastest punk song then, Jeeez it sounds like it now, bt realy not off key at all. There’s my vote. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2007, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/97 "2007-12-16T02:47:38Z")
[Definitive answer.](http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/08/the-fems-go-to-.html) ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2007, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/98 "2007-12-16T03:15:14Z")
[QUOTE=elelle] Well, I’m gonna go with my good Honey’s voice on this , and he’s a good music expert, mainly in blues, country and reggae. Whoa! I was away surprised at his attitude with this question. I was going with Sex Pistols, later Johnny Rotten, Also Iggy Pop, and, then, the Ramones, leading into all other sorts]. He, then said, definitely, in his mind, i[the Bad Brains](t washttp://www.plyrics.com/lyrics/badbrains/paytocum.htm) were the seminal Punk band. This is a guy who, at, sixteen years old, had a blues radio show, and a reggae show, and was kinda a bellweather here, when not so easy to do. Gonnna cut him some slack now… Ok, he’s playing the 45!, now here, banging the earbones…“Pay to Cum”, supposedly the fastest punk song then, Jeeez it sounds like it now, bt realy not off key at all. There’s my vote. [/QUOTE] Hardcore, again. Fuck, I know I’m a prick, but Bad Brains was one of the first hardcore bands, along with another band that is mentioned a lot here, Minor Threat. I don’t mean that people didn’t consider themselves punk back then who went to Bad Brains shows, but punk are those early punk bands who wanted to make music but would never be allowed on labels. Hardcore came about a little later, where people took this further and just wanted to fuck shit up. I guess it doesn’t matter, whatever you feel is punk is punk, as that’s one of the main points. I’m just bringing it up because the thread would be a different beast to me if the question was “Most harcore song ever?”. That’s all. And, again, I must ask, where the hell is the love for Richard Hell? And only one vote for Johnny Thunder? ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2007, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/99 "2007-12-16T04:30:00Z")
[QUOTE=ZebraShaSha] Hardcore, again. Fuck, I know I’m a prick, but Bad Brains was one of the first hardcore bands, along with another band that is mentioned a lot here, Minor Threat. I don’t mean that people didn’t consider themselves punk back then who went to Bad Brains shows, but punk are those early punk bands who wanted to make music but would never be allowed on labels. Hardcore came about a little later, where people took this further and just wanted to fuck shit up. I guess it doesn’t matter, whatever you feel is punk is punk, as that’s one of the main points. I’m just bringing it up because the thread would be a different beast to me if the question was “Most harcore song ever?”. That’s all. And, again, I must ask, where the hell is the love for Richard Hell? And only one vote for Johnny Thunder? [/QUOTE] No, with ya there right off, with Johnny Thunder. And, agree with the hardcore definitiion. I was really surprised when my music expert Hon was so hell-bent on Bad Brains as definitive. (Though, “Pay to Cum” is an argument for that) I lean more towards Sex Pistols and Dead Kennedys, the wistful bands of my youth. Both of us then went on to live in Mississippi to work with blues musicians, and all that punk crap pretty much paled rightly after that proper education. Thanks be. ---
**Author:** ![Risha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Risha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Risha)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2007, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021/100 "2007-12-16T04:42:31Z")
I think that I’m going to have to go with “U-Stink-But-I-❤-U”. Or possibly “Let’s Run Over Lionel Ritchie with a Tank”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-punk-song-of-all-time/430021.md?page=6)