THE 30 ESSENTIAL PUNK ALBUMS OF 1977
Vega and Martin Rev provided twisted
inspiration to both Soft Cell and Bruce
Springsteen, who’s covered their
“Dream Baby Dream” live. G.K.
“Frankie Teardrop,” “Rocket
U.S.A.,” “Ghost Rider”

R YAN ADAMS
“No matter what
anybody says,
the Grateful Dead
were punk as fuck.
Pirates. Wild men.
Doing huge-ass
shows regardless
of mainstream cred,
and they were peak-
ing hard in ’ 77.”

TALKING HEADS
TALKING HEADS 77

David Byrne’s naïveté has always been a little faux, as his band’s debut attests—this is a remarkably sophisticated record that delights in the springy textures of its own sound, with the lyrics a series of funny masks Byrne puts on. Punk goes to college? Alas, maybe. G.K.

“Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town,”
“Psycho Killer,” “Pulled Up”

WIRE

TIM KASHER
CURSIVE

“When I was in
grade school, my
older brother had
a tape with Sex
Pistols on one side
and Generation X
on the other that
I eventually used
to learn covers
for my first band.
Once I was old
enough to find my
own punk bands, I
bought TheClash
on vinyl...and then
the shirt...and then
the poster.”

THE RUNAWAYS
QUEENS OF NOISE

The Runaways were panned on arrival as manager Kim Fowley’s jailbait wet dream. But their second album is more than hot pants and go-go boots: It’s a snapsot of the decadent L.A. proto-punk scene that spawned them, bolstered by strutting glam-metal riffs and a sneering attitude Courtney Love and Pink owe no small debt to. D.P.

“Queens of Noise,” “Neon Angels
on the Road to Ruin,” “California
Paradise”
“God Save the Queen,” “Pretty
Vacant,” “Anarchy in the U.K.”
THE STRANGLERS
RATTUS NORVEGICUS

The novelty (for ’ 77 punk) of an organ player didn’t make these former pub rockers sound any less muscle-bound or mean. With its withering lyrics and bottom-heavy crunch, this powerhouse debut is a bare-handed killer. I.R.

“London Lady,” “Peaches,”
“(Get a) Grip (on Yourself)”
TELEVISION
MARQUEE MOON

Eight songs with a shitload of guitar solos by four guys wearing polo shirts? What kind of punk record is that? Simple: Television were the standard-bearers for the visionary, poetic side of punk. And while they were very big on musicianship—another punk no-no, supposedly—their carefully worked-out dissonances were always bracing and revelatory. G.K.

“Venus,” “See No Evil,”
“Marquee Moon”
M IKE D
BEASTIE BOYS

“I was very into the
first Slits album.
I played drums to
that a lot. Budgie
had a sophisticated
bongo/high-tom-
tom pattern.”

THE SAINTS
(I’M) STRANDED

The first album from these Australian punks was recently remastered, but its crud-encrusted sound will never be cleaned up: The roaring guitars sound like they’re about to disintegrate, while Chris Bailey sings of alienation and untamed ardor as if he’s ready to pass out. B.R.

“(I’m) Stranded,” “Wild About
You,” “Erotic Neurotic”
THE STRANGLERS
NO MORE HEROES

Name-checking Leon Trotsky on one track and lusting after jailbait on another, punk’s answer to the Doors followed up their startling debut with this even stronger collection, whose formal sophistication and innate pop sense belied a nasty streak several kilometers wide. D.B.

“Something Better Change,” “No
More Heroes,” “Bring on the Nubiles”
THE VIBRATORS
PURE MANIA

Britain didn’t have a Ramones facsimile in 1977, but the early Vibrators came close. The London quartet’s unpolished yet inordinately tuneful debut found pop’s essence and gave it punk grit, keeping things joyously simple. I.R.

“Yeah Yeah Yeah,” “Into the
Future…,” “Baby Baby”

THE SEX PISTOLS NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS, HERE’S THE SEX PISTOLS What seemed revolutionary 30 years ago—Steve Jones’ roaring guitar noise, Johnny Rotten’s sneeringly nihilistic lyrics—sounds decidedly less so now, but that’s only because this album remade rock in its own perverse image. That the Pistols followed it by promptly imploding only proved that their ballyhooed “no future” promises weren’t empty. D.P.

SUICIDE
SUICIDE
“Frankie Teardrop” sounds like the
name of a doo-wop song. But this har-
rowing ten-minute track was recorded
by a New York duo armed with banks
of keyboards and rhythm machines,
and a very poor attitude. Wedding
the emotional directness of rockabilly
to a minimalist electro aesthetic, Alan

WIRE
PINK FLAG

These high-IQ Brits took the Ramones’ “onetwothreefour!” ethos and applied it to more realistic scenarios of the horrors of the modern world. Punk goes to college part two, maybe. Or Beckett at a breakneck tempo. G.K.

“Three Girl Rhumba,” “ 12 X U,”
“Strange”

By Doug Brod, Glenn Kenny, David Peisner, Brian Raftery, Ira Robbins

MORE AT SPIN.COM Buy the 30 essential albums. Plus, for song samples, video links, additional artist testimonials, and much, much more, log on to spin.com/1977.