THE 20 BEST SINGLES OF ’ 77*

(*BY BANDS THAT HAD NOT YET RELEASED ALBUMS)

BY BRYAN SWIRSKY

THE ADVERTS
ONE CHORD WONDERS
These English punks hone their
primal chops while excoriating
critics for attempting to silence
them; frontman T.V. Smith’s bile
burns when it hits.
FIND IT HERE: The Adverts:
Anthology (Fire, U.K.)

THE AVENGERS
WE ARE THE ONE EP
At a time when many U.S.
punks were either a musical
mess or fashion disaster, San
Francisco’s Avengers, led by
Penelope Houston, formed a
perfect package—raw, honest,
gorgeous, and wild.
FIND IT HERE: Dangerhouse,
Vol. 1 (Frontier)

ALTERNATIVE TV
HOW MUCH LONGER
Mark Perry documented the
germinating U. K. punk scene
in his Sniffin’ Glue fanzine.
Then he recorded this blinding
critique about how it all
went wrong.
FIND IT HERE: The Image Has
Cracked: The Alternative TV
Collection (Deptford Fun City)

FIND IT HERE: Can’t Stand the Rezillos (Sire)

SNIVELLING SHITS TERMINAL STUPID/ I CAN’T COME Featuring rock journalist Giovanni Dadomo and future U2 producer Steve Lillywhite, the Shits simultaneously documented and pilloried punk with songs about cheap drugs and unsatisfying sex. FIND IT HERE: I Can’t Come (Damaged Goods, U.K.)

THE USERS
SICK OF YOU
This obscure Cambridge outfit
took their cues from the early
Stooges and stripped the music
down even further, leaving only
an angst-ridden roar.
FIND IT HERE: Seven-inch
reissue (Damaged Goods, U.K.)

R YAN JARMAN
THE CRIBS

“The Voidoids.
I loved Blank
Generation as
soon as I heard it.
I believe they’re the
originators of the
whole punk move-
ment. They seemed
to be walking what
they were talking
and genuinely care
about what they
were doing.”

BUZZCOCKS
SPIRAL SCRATCH EP
Punk’s DI Y zero hour features
four perfectly short, sharp pop
songs turned sinister by Pete
Shelley’s minimalist guitar and
Howard Devoto’s vicious odes to
those who let him down.
FIND IT HERE: Spiral Scratch EP
(Mute)

saw guitar, bubblegum pop,
and synth with schlock theater
for a chant-along of ludicrous
proportions.
FIND IT HERE: The Best of the
Fast (1976–1984) (Bullseye
Canada)

THE VILETONES
SCREAMIN’ FIST EP
Punk’s early critics often
condemned the genre as nothing
more than three chords and a
attitude. In this Toronto band’s
case, two generally sufficed.
FIND IT HERE: A Taste of Honey
(Other People’s Music, Canada)

CHELSEA
RIGHT TO WORK
While Johnny Rotten and Joe
Strummer spat at the crumbling
British empire, here Gene
October furiously describes
what happens after it lands on
your head.
FIND IT HERE: Urban Kids:
A Punk Rock Anthology
(Castle)

PATRIK FITZGERALD
SAFE T Y-PIN STUCK IN
MY HEART EP
Armed with a secondhand
acoustic guitar, Fitzgerald
issued this supposed novelty
love song. In reality, he was
punk’s own Woody Guthrie and
the proto–Billy Bragg.
FIND IT HERE: The Very Best of
Patrik Fitzgerald (Anagram,
U.K.)

JOHNNY & THE SELF
ABUSERS
SAINTS AND SINNERS
The lone single by one of
Scotland’s first punk bands—
a snotty, buzz-driven, under-
two-minute elegy to a pub—
was issued right after three
of the members split to form
Simple Minds.
FIND IT HERE: Chiswick Story:
Adventures of an Independent
Record Label 1975–1982
(Chiswick, U.K.)

FROM TOP: LUC Y HAMBLIN/RE TNA; JIMMY ABEGG; BRAN TLE Y GU TIERREZ

GENERATION X
YOUR GENERATION
This debut single is a brilliantly
gritty cri de coeur, fueled by
raging guitars and Billy Idol’s
crisp snarl and bleached-blond
charisma.
FIND IT HERE: Perfect Hits
1975–1981 (Capitol)

MENACE
SCREWED UP
Seriously unhinged vocals
highlight a driving, mid-tempo
antidrug anthem by a band with
one boot in the gutter and the
other in art school.
FIND IT HERE: Menace: Punk
Singles Collection (Captain Oi!,
U.K.)

THE WEIRDOS
DESTROY ALL MUSIC EP
Whereby L.A.’s Dada punks took
the Stooges’ industrial-strength
nihilism, Captain Beefheart’s
homespun surrealism, and the
Ramones’ street-smart anti-pop
and created a manifesto.
FIND IT HERE: We Got the
Neutron Bomb: Weird World,
Vol. 2 (Bump)

JE MINA PEARL
BE YOUR OWN PET

“I’ve been on an Adverts kick. T.V. Smith wrote such clever lyrics, and Gaye Advert had this rad Joan Jett look. ‘Bored Teenagers’ is such a great song to listen to as loud as possible and scream along with at the top of your lungs.”

THE DILS
I HATE THE RICH
Brothers Chip and Tony Kinman
condemn American excess with
slashing chords and a squealing
guitar freak-out.
FIND IT HERE: Class War
(Dionysis/Bacchus Archives)

THE GERMS
FORMING
The A-side is a lo-fi mess
recorded live in a garage. The
flip side documents the band
sabotaging their battle-of-the-
bands performance for Cheech
and Chong’s Up in Smoke. From
small seeds…
FIND IT HERE: MIA: The Com-
plete Anthology (Slash/Rhino)

METAL URBAIN
PANIK
Insurgent, primitive electronic
punk with pile-driving, wall-of-
sound production and brutal
(French) lyrics. The birth of
electroclash?
FIND IT HERE: Anarchy in Paris!
(Acute)

WRECKLESS ERIC
WHOLE WIDE WORLD
If punk achieved anything, it
allowed singers like Eric
Goulden the opportunity to
bite off a chunk of immortality
on their own terms. This
oft-covered pop song about
teenage yearning is his eternal
classic.
FIND IT HERE: Greatest Stiffs
(Metro)

THE FAS T KIDS JUST WANNA DANCE Campy, glammed-out leather boys from Brooklyn fuse buzz-

THE REZILLOS I CAN’T STAND MY BABY Many English punks foresaw an apocalypse; these Scots were willfully cartoonish, which made them even more subversive.

X-RAY SPEX
OH! BONDAGE, UP YOURS!
Anchored by Lora Logic’s
skronking lead sax, Poly
Styrene’s clarion call for
individual expression made it
clear that “little girls” would not
go quietly.
FIND IT HERE: Let’s Submerge:
The Anthology (Castle)

J MASCIS
DINOSAUR JR.

“Eater was my favorite ’ 77 punk band—they were the youngest band on the scene. I could relate, ’cause Johnny Rotten and Sid seemed old and scary.”