Favorite Punk And Alternative Music

[Godoggo]

The metal thread inspired me to start this thread. I like talking music but this is probably the only genre of music that I know enough about to have a decent conversation about.

Most of the bands I listen to are probably more anarcho/political punk than anything else but my tastes run the gamut of different styles of punk.

Poison Girls are one of my favorite bands. Vi Subversa's voice is just nuts and they were a lot more experimental than most of their contemporaries.
This is one of my favorite songs by them and it proves punk can be pretty
too.

<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/AC_DEJwhNm4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

So what are some of your favorites?

[Godoggo]

Don't know why that's showing up as a white box. I'll link it. http://youtu.be/AC_DEJwhNm4

[Pyro Tramp]

The Clash, The Ramones, Iggy Pop. Contemporary punk I love Sonic Boom Six, The Bronx, Dwarves, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Cancer Bats. Gogol Bordello are definitely worth experiencing and Turbonegro have their moments but are quite inconsistent.

I can't deal with a lot of that pop-punk nonsense. A few bands like Bad Religion and The Offspring have a few good records, just reminds me of being 13 with no taste. Do like The Distillers a whole lot. And if you can count them, At The Drive In possibly tops my list. Bad Brains, Dropkick Murphies are solid, also. I like the little i've heard of Fugazi.

[linespalsy]

A few...

The Fall, Butthole Surfers, Foetus, The Misfits, The Contortions, Bobby Soxx (& the Teenage Queers), The Cramps, The Simpletones, Christian Death, The Gun Club, The Talking Heads, Public Image Limited, Suicide, Crisis, The Sisters of Mercy.

(I'll try to add more later, feel free to contest these as many are also postpunk/new wave/goth/whatever)

[akatemple]

The First three Offspring albums, Rancid, Iggy Pop, Black Flag, Minor Threat, L7, Dead Kennedy's, Butthole Surfers, Misfits, Bad Religion, Pennywise, The Cramps, Sex Pistols, The Ramones, Operation Ivy (early Rancid basically) I am a huge Punk Rock fan, but I am having a hard time remembering the names, i'll try to think of some more later...

Best song by The Offspring, Beheaded

Beheaded (http://soundcloud.com/offspring/beheaded) by Offspring (http://soundcloud.com/offspring)">Beheaded (http://soundcloud.com/offspring/beheaded) by Offspring (http://soundcloud.com/offspring)

[John McClane]

http://www.epitaph.com/dispatch/_depot/title/c91f3a5e652622cc60da19359472d262.jpg

I'm sure there are plenty of members who can testify to my obsession with Bad Religion. I consider them to be one of the absolute greatest punk bands of all time, and there's a reason for that: the lyrics and harmonies.

I personally grade punk on two standards: one, its lyrical content, or how it presents and propagates anti-establishment philosophy (i.e. does it further people to educate themselves?); and two, its guitar rifts and drums. Bad Religion has yet to not deliver on these two things since I start listening to them back in HS. They've released a total of 15 studio albums in the last 30 years, so track selection with these guys is immense.

Now they have had their bad albums, of course, but few can deny the importance of these three albums: Suffer (1988), No Control (1989), and Against the Grain (1990). Those three albums sealed the deal on Bad Religion's influence on the punk community. Also, the return of Brett Gurewitz to the band in 2001 saw the release of two more great albums back to back titled The Process of Belief (2002) and The Empire Strikes First (2004). They fumbled the ball with their record after those two but it's still an enjoyable listen. Of course, they got it right again with The Dissent of Man (2010).

Overall, I'm really impressed with the quality of this band when you have Greg Graffin and Brett Gurewitz co-writing the albums. I honestly think they're one of the top writing teams today, too. I'm not sure how much they've got left in them but even if they disbanded today I'd be content with all the content they've given us. It really is a vast backlog of music.

[linespalsy]

I'll try and think of some more bands and their songs soon, for now I just wanted to beat mark to mentioning Wire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTGNnSgfp5Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEJSe8vutnM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV9MIQGgTEo

[Godoggo]

The Fall, Butthole Surfers, Foetus, The Misfits, The Contortions, Bobby Soxx (& the Teenage Queers), The Cramps, The Simpletones, Christian Death, The Gun Club, The Talking Heads, Public Image Limited, Suicide, Crisis, The Sisters of Mercy.

(I'll try to add more later, feel free to contest these as many are also postpunk/new wave/goth/whatever)

I'm fine with it all being lumped into together. A lot of people who listen to one will listen to the other. Heck The Talking Heads once toured with The Ramones. That would have been a great and weird show.

I like quite a few of the ones you have listed especially The Butthole Surfers. I love the drive that their music has and there is a quality to Gibby Haines voice I love.

[Skepsis93]

I love The Offspring. Also Thursday, Tsar and Saves The Day.

[Godoggo]

I personally grade punk on two standards: one, its lyrical content, or how it presents and propagates anti-establishment philosophy (i.e. does it further people to educate themselves?);

That's what I love about bands like Bad Religion, Crass, A.P.P.L.E ;etc. I remember the first time I heard Crass's Do They Owe Us A Living? I wanted to hear more and I wanted to know more. I started reading books I would have never read before and talking to people I formerly would have ignored. My mind just started going in a different direction than it had been previously. Good stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opQOJUG_JBY&feature=related

[wintertriangles]

Dead Kennedys
Bad Religion
The Damned
Crass
Misfits/Samhein
****ed Up

Some Sex Pistols stuff is great, but other than that the genre is pretty washed out, as far as the bands I've heard/remembered (listening to Wire now also never heard The Fall). A lot of bands being mentioned IE: Sisters Of Mercy, Suicide, Black Flag, At The Drive In are all great bands but not punk at all.

As far as history goes, I saw a lot more musical dignity in what came out of punk. That's not to say punk is drivel, really good punk is really good, what it represents is wonderful and important/necessary, but things like The Birthday Party/Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, the whole post-punk movement, Joy Division and Bauhaus' revolution, black metal, all these things I feel superseded punk, if only because punk was a living time bomb and naturally died very fast. ****ed Up is the only band around today I'm comfortable labeling punk even though they're rather progressive ambiance-wise, and Bad Religion haven't been good in years, but thankfully the output of quality outweighs the recent rehashes.

[Loner]

What y'all said and this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoF_a0-7xVQ

Suicidal Tendencies

[Holden Pike]

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/33d5fd8b53b55bf0d647cfc8a8bd0691/30259.jpg http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ5Ik_lQJKjpcZK8783GfKW3YYiMKz9OKNozc_uW864r1aYUaXPuPSRTpdP
Alvin and the Chipmunks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG8-Ay6nIQA

[Pyro Tramp]

F-ed Up are pretty special live

[linespalsy]

A Few random favorites by The Fall (out of over a hundred):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3skvkMYXNU0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpVTk7LoNfk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nJXTQEZwdw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW932IKyc50

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY7fbqxcc_E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V9OZj6ng9s

[Godoggo]

I keep thinking of tons more. These two bands were to become major influences on the alternative music scene.

Husker Du

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZmdzQpRuiQ&feature=related

Minutemen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzyzVZZfUfM

[linespalsy]

I haven't listened to Husker Du enough to form a strong opinion (I have a couple albums and I've only listened to them a couple times), but one song that I liked almost immediately is this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Mm6KgHSOv4

[John McClane]

Here are some of my favorites:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpXlDtblQyk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g63Rw2QAscQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9pVHn-J20Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-WNA0vF2RQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4nmArSDL88

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1IiPkQa2iY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOyRIyOvBn4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JJGOMfMizs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njBW6VMfgwo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qf_g3bdzfe4

[Loner]

Has anyone heard of Void?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ozr4MJ7C1Yw

Void - Who Are You?

[linespalsy]

but things like The Birthday Party/Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, the whole post-punk movement, Joy Division and Bauhaus' revolution, black metal, all these things I feel superseded punk, if only because punk was a living time bomb and naturally died very fast.

I agree with all of this. I don't think post-punk and punk are everywhere mutually exclusive though. The Birthday Party for example has at least as much in common with punk as it does with much of the Bad Seeds (like all the ballads). A lot of the offshoot/related categories seem to also be more related to fashion (goth, industrial etc.) than a cohesive sound or aesthetic, while others are just catchalls for self-styled outsiders (I've often seen both the Residents and James Chance referred to as No Wave, but Chance also strikes me as much closer to punk than The Residents are, at least on his early stuff.)

Sisters of Mercy have some punk-ish stuff that I'd be just as happy calling something else, but for the sake of this thread is worth mentioning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND-f7OGrahw

[Godoggo]

A lot of the offshoot/related categories seem to also be more related to fashion (goth, industrial etc.) than a cohesive sound or aesthetic,

Hmm. I've always thought that industrial music had a particularly cohesive sound. Even more so than punk. I haven't listen to a whole lot of goth other than The Swans and Fields of the Nephilim, whom I adore. What do you guys consider Joy Division?

By the way, I just sent Yoda a pm asking to include alternative music in the title. I'd rather be inclusive than exclusive and there are some really good bands that hang on the fringes of being punk.

[TylerDurden99]

The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Ramones.

[wintertriangles]

Hmm. I've always thought that industrial music had a particularly cohesive sound. Even more so than punk. I haven't listen to a whole lot of goth other than The Swans and Fields of the Nephilim, whom I adore. What do you guys consider Joy Division?.Swans is sooooooo weird but amazing, I don't know what I'd call them. I would possibly call Joy Division punk but they're so much darker and moodier, like all punk is WAY UP HERE energy wise, and Joy Division are like ....**** that...which is pretty punk.

Fields Of The Nephilim are rather different, a bit goth, a bit darkwave, a bit metal/rock. Really just listen to Elizium, it's beautiful. I can't take any other goth bands seriously except Sisters Of Mercy. I guess some Cure and Siouxie and the Banshees but eh that's stretching it.

If we're including Alternative now we have to talk about this album because it's easily, without doubt, one of the best in the genre:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41G72N0H86L._SL500_AA300_.jpg

[Godoggo]

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41G72N0H86L._SL500_AA300_.jpg

I haven't really heard much by them except their one song that was pretty well known-forget what it's called. I'll have to go and give them a listen.

Here's some Fields of the Nephilim:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl4zkpMqzuw&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCIjriorCjo

I think these two are when they sounded most goth. They did sound a lot more metally on some of their tracks and I don't care for them very much. One song they have Moonchild sounds very much like Sisters of Mercy.

[linespalsy]

Hmm. I've always thought that industrial music had a particularly cohesive sound. Even more so than punk. I haven't listen to a whole lot of goth other than The Swans and Fields of the Nephilim, whom I adore. What do you guys consider Joy Division?

Could you give me some examples of the typical industrial sound? (I'm not trying to prove you wrong or anything, I'm just curious what other people think industrial music sounds like, since I don't talk to too many people about music anymore)

As an example of the lack of a cohesion I'm talking about take Subhuman (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWAEw_VJ5m0) and Terrible Lie (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKW-fpx_Hw0&feature=related). I don't hear much continuity between Throbbing Gristle and Nine Inch Nails but both are in their own ways typical industrial. Or take any two given songs by Foetus and chances are they'll match up in terms of attitude and humor more than genre. I'll Meet You in Poland Baby (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmO5N5TVwpc) and Satan Place (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI7bm-5rpX8&feature=related) (from the same album). Here's Genesis P. Orridge from Throbbing Gristle a few years after Subhuman: Just Drifting (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8YyExTQqik), as well as Ov Power (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh7B7IYq5Ys) from the same album.

Depending on who you ask industrial will include electropop and EBM, noise, ambient, or some other sounds. It could be sad robot dance music or it could be unmelodic grinding, or an ironic parody of pop or it could even have guitar solos like some Controlled Bleeding and Ministry:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi36ZpdUk3A

Swans are similarly all over the place, some I would say is industrial, some goth, or something else entirely.

If we're talking about goth I think my favorite is early Christian Death (especially the first album that Rikk Agnew played on -- very punk, or post punk or whatever). The vocals of that Fields of Nephilim song sound very metally compared to what I think of when I think of Goth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-M2Mf513wc

Bringing it back into the realm of punk, here's some Rudimentary Peni:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScFt7vu9bYM

[Godoggo]

Could you give me some examples of the typical industrial sound? (I'm not trying to prove you wrong or anything, I'm just curious what other people think industrial music sounds like, since I don't talk to too many people about music anymore)

Sure. Here's Flag Front 242 (http://youtu.be/zs0_oiS5FQY) and God Is God Laibach (http://youtu.be/W7SFcB0vOhQ) Other examples would be Du Hast Rammstein (http://youtu.be/KzGKsXPBILw) Assimilate Skinny Puppy (http://youtu.be/vARK3Ayo2Hg) Einsturzende Neubauten Headcleaner (http://youtu.be/rd-SpXJ3ops) Those are some of the bands I think of when I think of Industrial. I'm fully willing to admit that I might be classifying bands as something else when I hear them and they don't have what I think of as a typical industrial sound. There's so many categories and sub-categories.

Fields of The Nephilium do have very growly vocals and some of there music has a very metal vibe to it, but it still has a very goth feel to me.

Good choice on Rudimentary Peni. I like them a lot.

[linespalsy]

Love Einsturzende Neubauten. Have you heard Abwarts? Pretty decent German Post-Punk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhu2lyvdot0

Some more good punk: 45 Grave, Bobby Soxx, Swell Maps, 100 Flowers, Desperate Bicycles, Crisis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1dn1XKMR3s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25v2k6MOBmA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBird5fA1bY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRLw5vajupk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfuvNVpxaCQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98p4kmEqj_Q

[Pyro Tramp]

Fnm ftw

[planet news]

The Fall is great. I seem to like these two songs most by play count. Just liked 'em I guess. Alright, I'm out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICxLWXceNKs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_xo4PTI7MA&feature=related

[Godoggo]

Abwarts? Pretty decent German Post-Punk.

I had not until now. I actually find them more than pretty decent. Yeah, new band to get into to. :)

Here's a band that I haven't talked about yet, Chumbawamba. Damn, I loved that band and have no idea what happened to them.

Some great songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA4FTIz2Zrw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXllT4EsRmE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X62h8Wf5mY&feature=related

They went a little wonky even pre-TubThumping but when they were good they were brilliant.

[mark f]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ngFWyeNvaQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6fFJX4OkDw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0xdpqKbG0ghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwVT5Ys_64E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2lkAODZJvghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vse3J5-SR3Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URYxAdHzO5ghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v3CzvQ9e_w

[mark f]

Let's hear it for the Women...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSHf1svbQrAhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljRhU0K-ooI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEmn0Oqzrf8&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2EDHYk50S0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF_kUB_mdmAhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6glW8k1qdk&feature=fvst
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p3oTfikVXAhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ssql3nT4zVE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RumJQTivaC4&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTHpfZhfQbk

[John McClane]

Here's some punk music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qoehky-36K4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4ScST1yb4U

[StrongReaction]

Second the Bad Religion obsession. They've been my favorite band for over 15 years now and are definitely one of the greatest punk bands of all time. Even after all these years No Control is still my favorite record and Suffer and Against The Grain are must haves if you're into punk. Hell I even love No Substance and The New America (albums almost universally derided by BR fans). They're one of the most intelligent and thought provoking bands in the genre and they manage to get their point across without sounding condescending or preachy. Also they put on one hell of a live show.

[StrongReaction]

Some other favorites - Social Distortion, The Pogues, Hot Water music, Gaslight Anthem, Alkaline Trio, The Misfits, Pennywise, 98 Mute, The Offspring, Strung Out, Good Riddance, Operation Ivy, Rancid, The Clash, The Suicide Machines, Streetlight Manifesto, Descendents, No Motiv, The Get Up Kids and many others...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRZkazpG3Z8


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WBDT82wAyg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INFo3YDz-Ak


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7frMA6BuUEI