Inspired by Apple Music 100 Best Albums (and my own recent recommendations), I got to thinking this morning about what would top my list of best albums.
After a bit of a think, I realized that while I'm not sure I could compile a list I felt good about of such disparate eras, genres, and contexts... this is my list and I can do whatever I want!
So, in part one of a (undetermined number here)-part series, please enjoy... the best Punk and Ska albums... ever. (In my opinion, of course.)
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It is hard to overstate how the music and culture of Jamaica have impacted my tastes in music, both directly and indirectly. It is also hard to overstate how, at the origins of seemingly every genre of music, there are Black artists that often receive too little credit for their contributions. To me, Bad Brains are an example of both.
Formed as a jazz fusion band in 1979, Bad Brains would switch genres to punk, help establish the sound and scene of DC hardcore, and be banned by many venues by 1980, when they would move to NYC to play CBGB, the venue popularized by The Ramones, Blondie, and Jayne County. The impression Bad Brains would leave behind in DC is immense; Teen Idles / Minor Threat would form in 1979 / 1980 after watching them play, and Henry Rollins would join Black Flag in 1981, paving the way for the popularization of this new era: hardcore.
At the same time, Bad Brains were testing the waters stateside for a movement that was well on its way in England: infusing punk music with Jamaican roots. At the same time The Specials were releasing their self-titled album that launched the second wave of ska (Two-Tone), Bad Brains adopted Rastafari and used their music to help spread its religious message of liberation for the African diaspora. Bad Brains deserves recognition as pioneers across genres and movements, and to this day I smile every time I see their version of The Tower.
NOFX is the worst band I consider a favorite; NOFX has the worst fans in the world.
Now that that’s out of the way, I consider The Decline to be the magnum opus of skate punk, the genre most are familiar with from Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games. An 18-minute song, The Decline outlines political frustrations the band had living in the United States a year before Bush would be president and two years before 9/11. The prescience exhibited by The Decline is astonishing; the same band that would be start PunkVoter and Rock against Bush shows that they were concerned about many of the same issues during a Clinton Presidency.
Sonically, the project is also ambitious; the most ambitious project NOFX had, or would ever release. From skate punk to the sounds of war, the band uses each movement of the song to evoke not just sounds, but soundscapes that illustrate the dread and anger the lyrics espouse. No wonder it inspired an orchestral version.
While I would argue that Fishbone should receive the credit for creating the sound of third-wave ska a decade before it would really take off, Operation Ivy takes my award for best/most important ska album of the ‘80s. Born from the East Bay (greater San Francisco area for you Midwesterners), Operation Ivy was the first project from Tim Armstrong, who would go on to create Hellcat Records, influenced and work with Travis Barker, and is directly and indirectly responsible for more punk-related music than I’d ever be able to categorize here.
Armstrong and Op Ivy present a street-focused ska; a package that presents the sounds of Jamaica in a way that is gritty and rooted in the tones of hardcore punk that had been going for nearly a decade upon release. While Armstrong and Freeman would go on to expand the sound of street punk and become (arguably) its most influential figures, they would never quite reach the heights they had achieved with their former band.
The sound exhibited here is probably the closest I can pass along to what it’s like to visit the average all
ages club across the US; in fact, Operation Ivy’s home base is still going and is one of the most legendary
venues in the States: 924 Gilman St.
(Fun fact: Operation Ivy’s last show was the debut of another East Bay act… Green Day.)
Every local scene with an all-ages venue in the states today owes a lot to the East Bay, to Gilman, and to Operation Ivy.
I came to Refused’s blistering “final” album a decade after its release / disollution of the band. Coming off of a few years of Warped-era post-hardcore, Refused was still a revelation, 10 years later. The production, innovative in 1998, was still fresh, relevant, and it felt as urgent as it ever had. The blistering vocals, punishing pace, and breadth of musical ideas and references truly make this my pick for most innovative punk album.
Just as I was discovering my love for a band long gone, they reunited.So, I hopped on a Megabus from Indianapolis to Chicago, by myself, for the first solo travel I had ever attempted. It was glorious. OFF! (another one of my favorite bands, fronted by Keith Morris, whose work appears on Nervous Breakdown, listed above) opened for them for the perfect two-band show at the Congress. It was, and is still in the running of consideration for, the best show I’ve ever seen. I will never forget screaming “I took the first bus” along with guys twice my age, each of us just as thrilled to be witnessing our favorite band.
In a world where Turnstile is (rightfully) the biggest “punk” band of the moment off the back of an innovative, transcendently produced hardcore record… We’ve gotta remember who did it first.
Transgender Dysphoria Blues (TDB), to me, is the epitome of punk. Released in 2014, TDB marks a significant moment for Against Me!, vocalist Laura Jane Grace, and the scene as a whole. She announced her transition in a Rolling Stone article two years earlier, the first time many folks in the Warped Tour crowd would engage the terms “transgender”, “dysphoria”, or “transition”.
As such, to me TDB is the epitome of what punk is meant to be. Its urgency, message, and tone all point to a subculture unknown to many whose populous have been here and have been mistreated for eons. It became a rallying cry for trans youth in the scene, and a wake up call for the rest of us.
Ten years on, the album hits just as hard as it did in 2014; we may all be familiar with the concepts now, but there are still only a minority of folks willing to extend love, compassion, and protection to the trans community. 🎵