WHAT’S
YOUR
’ 77
PUNK
FAVE?

THE 30 ESSENTIAL PUNK ALBUMS OF 1977

riots), Costello was better read, and his gritted-teeth sardonicism birthed such inspired tracks as “Less Than Zero,” the must hummable antifascist screed ever written. B.R.

“Alison,” “Watching the
Detectives,” “Mystery Dance”

this sophomore album turned these junk-culture smart alecks into a tuneful rock machine. A smoking Stooges cover intended to show respect actually challenges the original. I.R.

“Science Gone Too Far!” “Search
& Destroy,” “Steppin’ Out”
BRITT DANIEL
SPOON

“Iggy put out both The Idiot and Lust for Life. And there was the first Damned album. It was revolution, man, us versus them.”

BLONDIE
PLASTIC LETTERS

After bringing sexy girl-group sass to the scene with their ’ 76 debut, Blondie went a little arty on their sophomore effort, mixing cool, catchy numbers with weirder sonics. Pure pop with a futuristic, even apocalyptic, edge. G.K.

“(I’m Always Touched by Your)
Presence, Dear,” “Denis,” “I’m on E”
THE BOYS
THE BOYS

Among the few early British punks with a pronounced pop edge, this quintet had the skinny-tie/skinnier-trouser look down, with lively odes to virginity loss and vomiting—not necessarily at the same time. D.B.

“First Time,” “Living in the
City,” “Sick on You”
THE DAMNED
DAMNED DAMNED DAMNED

Their lead singer looked like Dracula, their drummer called himself Rat Scabies, and their bass player was on a mission to never live up to his own nickname, Captain Sensible. But the Damned’s guitarist/songwriter Brian James knew his way around a killer riff, and he corralled these loonies into a punk posse that was both a joke and a threat. G.K.

“Neat Neat Neat,” “New Rose,”
“So Messed Up”
THE DIODES
THE DIODES

Widely considered Canada’s first punk album, The Diodes is less radical and raucous than other countries’ early contributions: It’s more traditional skinny-tie rock. But the Toronto quartet makes good use of the past, supplementing originals about girls and tennis (!) with two peppy ’60s covers. I.R.

“Tennis (Again),” “Red Rubber
Ball,” “Shape of Things to Come”
THE CLASH
THE CLASH

An import-bin hit two years before its proper U.S. release, the Clash’s debut was the galvanizing, idealistic opposite of the Pistols’ no-future dreaming—its directness tempered only by “Police & Thieves,” the seminal punky-reggae jam. B.R.

“I’m So Bored With the U.S.A.,”
“White Riot,” “Police & Thieves”
DEAD BOYS
YOUNG LOUD AND SNOTTY

Fronted by mewling contortionist Stiv Bators, these Cleveland émigrés to the CBGB scene were so overtly slimy they made the Rolling Stones look like Jane Austen characters. Unapologetically sexist and adolescently narcissistic, they made a pummeling case for “no socially redeeming value” punk. G.K.

“Sonic Reducer,” “I Need Lunch,”
“Caught With the Meat in Your Mouth”
IAN DURY
NEW BOOTS AND PANTIES!!

Sharing little more than a Cockney accent and an independent mind with London punks, 35-year-old Ian Dury filled his first solo album with good-time funk and abundant personality. Adolescent anarchy is no match for Dury’s older-wiser odes to sex and drugs and ’50s rock’n’roll. I.R.

“Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll,”
“Wake Up and Make Love With Me,”
“Sweet Gene Vincent”

DR. KNOW BAD BRAINS “The Ruts. And Ramones’ Rocket to Russia.”

ELVIS COSTELLO
MY AIM IS TRUE
While hardly as aggressive as his peers
(those ballads didn’t exactly inspire
THE DICTATORS
MANIFEST DESTINY
Although it contains only one of the
New York band’s truly great songs,

M.I.A. “For me, the Sex Pistols pretty much sum it up. Nobody went to see them because they were good musicians. They just did their own thing. And that’s what punk is.”

DEAD BOYS

EATER
THE ALBUM

The youngest of the first-generation Brits, as well as the most primitive, these teenagers made up for their so-so songwriting with enthusiastically crude Velvet Underground, Alice Cooper, and David Bowie covers. Too bad The Album didn’t feature their terrific ’ 77 single “Outside View,” though subsequent CD reissues do. D.B.

“You,” “Lock It Up,” “Fifteen”
EDDIE & THE HOT RODS
LIFE ON THE LINE

An early beacon for punk’s manic pop thrill, the speedy but rootsy Rods might have been left behind in ’ 77 if not for guitarist Graeme Douglas, who joined in time for their second long-player. His songwriting gave the Rods’ rampant energy depth and direction: up-to-the-minute power pop. I.R.

“Do Anything You Wanna Do,”
“Quit This Town,” “(And) Don’t
Believe Your Eyes”