“Punk rock is art, punk for me is freedom” , said Kurt Cobain about this musical style of short songs, with an accelerated tempo and distorted sound, full of provocation and rebellion based on brutal simplicity. With Iggy Pop and his Stooges as their parents, the Ramones and the Sex Pistols as first class students, and the emblematic New York club CBGB as their base of operations, the 70s gave us the best records of a genre that has written one of the most influential chapters and controversial in music history.
From New York and London, but also from Vigo or Salvatierra (Alava), direct to your Spotify, these ten albums that we have selected to instruct and entertain you helped to define music that is much more than four chords. We hope you enjoy these ten jewels from the crown of punk rock. As Joey Ramone used to say… “Hey! Ho! Let’s go!”.
1
The Dictators – Go girl crazy! (1975)
With the always eccentric Handsome Dick Manitoba at the helm, these New York proto-punks achieved with this album a mixture of punk rock and heavy metal whose brutal influence on subsequent bands would not become apparent until years later. And not only in music, but also in image. A great sense of humor, a couple of good covers and a perfect start to delve into his discography and the genre.
2
The Damned – Damned Damned Damned (1977)
On February 18, 1977, Stiff Records released the first British punk album, and the honor went to a band that energetically made up for any lack of playing talent. Damned Damned Damned combined the spirit of the Ramones with the insane style of The Stooges in half an hour of effective punk rock. Another band record: they were also the first English punks to cross the ocean and tour the United States.
3
Misfits – Walk Among Us (1982)
Considered one of the best and most influential punk rock bands in history, their aesthetics and the themes of their songs are related to comics, B-series horror movies, zombies, vampires… Born in New Jersey and originally led by singer Glenn Danzig and bassist Jerry Only, on their first LP they managed to deliver 13 lightning-fast catchy tracks like Hate Breeders and Night Of The Living Dead in just 25 minutes that made it an instant classic.
4
Iggy and the Stooges – Raw Power (1973)
The Detroit band was one of the great pioneers of punk, but this album was a total disaster from Iggy Pop’s botched production – which David Bowie had to fix – to its failure to sell. But the punk explosion in the United Kingdom in 1977 turned it into a cult work when The Stooges had already dissolved for a couple of years. Considering how many different drugs Iggy was doing at the time, it’s miraculous that they could put together such a powerful record with hits like Gimme danger or Search and destroy .
5
New York Dolls – New York Dolls (1973)
“The biggest influence the Dolls had on punk was to show that anyone could do it,” said lead singer David Johansen. Before the Ramones there were these crazed and androgynous Rolling Stones who, although they didn’t have the punk image that would come soon after, did anticipate the wild sound of this genre. The Dolls took the best of Bowie and the Stooges to create something completely new, on an album where every song is a bomb.
6
La Polla Records – Hail (1984)
How not to make room in these basic classics for Evaristo’s group that on their first album sang to “postcard punk, shop window punk”. One of the many criticisms of a record in which they hit politics, porn, rock stars and everything else that comes their way. As a curiosity, according to their record company, up to a million copies of this Salve were shipped , but the band rejected the Gold Record. Very punk.
7
Total Loss – When do you eat here? (1982)
Before moving on to more classic rock, to doing versions of Lynyrd Skynyrd and experimenting with blues, in its first incarnation with German Coppini on the microphone, those from Vigo were more punk than anyone. And this album, in addition to a fabulous cover and a sublime title, contains a tremendous download of fast hits based on minimal guitar chords and surreal lyrics such as Killing hippies in the Cies , (Even though I’m in the frenopathic) I’ll throw you out of the attic or Ayatollah! .
8
The Sex Pistols – ‘Never Mind the Bollocks Here’s the Sex Pistols’ (1977)
“If the recording sessions had gone my way, the record would have been unlistenable to almost everyone,” said Pistols frontman Johnny Rotten. And for many people that was exactly what happened. But when the only official album by the iconic English band hit the charts with its lyrics about abortion and lawlessness, the scandal in the UK was enormous. The album is considered one of the most controversial in the history of music and the true Gospel of punk.
9
The Clash – The Clash (1977)
With the Sex Pistols and The Damned, in the late ’70s The Clash formed the Holy Trinity of British punk. Although we’ve already glossed over the wonder that is their London Calling , the debut album by the band of Simonon, Jones and Strummer became the quintessential street punk, most combative and politically conscious in pre-Thatcher England. Tracks like White Riot or London’s Burning stand out on a pioneering album that paved the way for bands like The Jam and later Rancid or Green Day.
10
Ramones – Ramones (1976)
When the Ramones recorded their debut album for $6,400 in February 1976, their goal was simple: “cut out the clutter and focus on substance,” as Tommy would later say. But how these four outcasts so different from each other could create one of the capital works of music, is more difficult to explain. “We thought we could be the biggest band in the world,” Johnny said. And this is where it all started.
