AOTY 2023
Rolling Stone's 40 Greatest Punk Albums of All Time

Rolling Stone's 40 Greatest Punk Albums of All Time

Original Source →

38.

White Lung - Deep Fantasy
June 17, 2014
Critic Score
76
26 reviews

37.

blink-182 - Enema of the State
June 1, 1999
Critic Score
73
5 reviews

It’s all harmless but still gnarly enough to foment the kind of anti-everything rebellion that spawned rock & roll way back in the day ... Blink-182 have the formula down, and for that, if nothing else, more power to ’em.

35.

Fugazi - 13 Songs
October 1, 1989
Critic Score
95
2 reviews

34.

Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
June 14, 1979
Critic Score
95
4 reviews

By the time of their first LP, Unknown Pleasures, Joy Division had tempered their style, planishing it down to a doleful, deep-toned sound that often suggested an elaborate version of the Velvet Underground or an orderly Public Image Ltd.

33.

September 7, 1979
Critic Score
88
3 reviews

32.

Misfits - Walk Among Us
March 0, 1982
Critic Score
91
3 reviews

31.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to Tell
April 29, 2003
Critic Score
78
16 reviews

Now they just rock out, stripping New Wave and metal and rockabilly down to primal thrust and blare. There are half a dozen songs under three minutes on Fever to Tell, and they sound absolutely complete.

28.

Germs - (GI)
October 0, 1979
Critic Score
90
2 reviews

27.

Minor Threat - Complete Discography
January 1, 1989
Critic Score
100
2 reviews

25.

Mission of Burma - Vs.
October 11, 1982
Critic Score
93
2 reviews

24.

The Jam - All Mod Cons
November 3, 1978
Critic Score
90
4 reviews

23.

Pere Ubu - Terminal Tower: An Archival Collection
December 19, 1985
Critic Score
100
1 review

22.

Bikini Kill - The Singles
June 23, 1998
Critic Score
90
2 reviews

20.

X-Ray Spex - Germ Free Adolescents
November 10, 1978
Critic Score
91
4 reviews

19.

Bad Brains - Bad Brains
February 5, 1982
Critic Score
95
2 reviews

18.

Green Day - Dookie
February 1, 1994
Critic Score
93
7 reviews

17.

Television - Marquee Moon
February 8, 1977
Critic Score
100
4 reviews

Marquee Moon, Television's debut album, is the most interesting and audacious of this triad, and the most unsettling.

12.

Patti Smith - Horses
November 10, 1975
Critic Score
100
5 reviews
"Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine." Patti Smith's debut - from that devastating opening line forward - is a unique rock & roll document; its ambitious musical primitivism, anybody-can-do-it-attitude and casual androgyny laid down a blueprint for punk.

11.

Buzzcocks - Singles Going Steady
September 1, 1979
Critic Score
95
3 reviews

10.

September 24, 1991
Critic Score
89
7 reviews

Too often, underground bands squander their spunk on records they're not ready to make, then burn out their energy and inspiration with uphill touring. Nevermind finds Nirvana at the crossroads — scrappy garageland warriors setting their sights on a land of giants.

9.

X - Los Angeles
April 26, 1980
Critic Score
95
2 reviews

8.

Black Flag - Damaged
December 5, 1981
Critic Score
94
3 reviews

6.

Wire - Pink Flag
December 0, 1977
Critic Score
96
5 reviews

5.

Gang of Four - Entertainment!
September 25, 1979
Critic Score
93
3 reviews

4.

The Stooges - Fun House
July 7, 1970
Critic Score
100
5 reviews

To say that their second album, Fun House, is one of the greatest rock & roll records of all time risks hyperbole, but the evidence is inescapable.

3.

Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols
October 27, 1977
Critic Score
100
3 reviews

Musically, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols is just about the most exciting rock & roll record of the Seventies.

2.

The Clash - The Clash
April 8, 1977
Critic Score
100
4 reviews
Saucier and more cinematic than activist-rock competition from the MC5 to Rage Against the Machine, the album lays down a guide to exile and cunning. The tunes still detonate as the group still insists justice must prevail, no matter how the world just ended.

1.

Ramones - Ramones
April 23, 1976
Critic Score
80
3 reviews
Original Source: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/40-greatest-punk-albums-of-all-time-20160406
Comments
Sign in to comment
6mo
Shitty list
1y
Ridiculously biased towards US albums.
1y
Not as good as SPIN's 50 Essential Punk Albums list but these albums are almost all classics with a couple questionable picks (cough cough bink-182 cough misfits)
1y
Refused - The Shape of The Punk to Come
The best
1y
There is no way that suicidal tendencies did not make this list...
Connect with AOTY
Like Us
Follow Us

November Playlist