10 Classic Records (still in print) that Any Self-Respecting Vinyl Collector Must Own

We hope that 2014 is going to be the year you stop settling for compressed-to-hell MP3s and start collecting vinyl albums. Records sound vastly superior when compared against those compressed MP3s you got for free. They have great artwork, lyric sheets (usually) and extensive notes about the music, as well as voluminous “thank you” lists where you might discover your next favorite band.

Now we know you’re itching to start your collection with a German import double-disc colored vinyl pressing of Brand New’s The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me. But hold on there, buddy: Why not take that wad of Christmas money, march into a record store and buy numerous crucial records from the entire spectrum of punk? Yeah, colored vinyl sure is pretty, but you don’t stare at them while they’re spinning.

We know record collecting can be a daunting, overwhelming exercise, tainted by trying to keep up with limited-pressing runs and collector-scum vermin getting all high and mighty on you because you were seven when a crucial record came out. But we’re here to help you get going. (You’ll be doing a lot of pre-ordering in the future, promise.) Where do you start? Well, we know there’s no way to make any internet list of “essential” anything bitch- or troll-proof. Hence the two basic terms decided upon for this list were the continued significance of these records throughout the years to this scene, followed by their constant availability in the last remaining brick-and-mortar establishments. (So you will never hear “Dude, it’s been out of print on vinyl for seven years. Sucks to be you” from lifers or uppity salesclerks.) Now go get a turntable and feed that beast!

AGAINST ME!, Reinventing Axl Rose (NO IDEA)
WHY: Laura Jane Grace crafted an alloy of earnestness and cultural analysis couched in gruff vocals, thereby establishing Against Me! as the next generation in a lineage that includes Social Distortion and Rancid.
TURN UP: “Pints Of Guinness Make You Strong” extols the power in self-medicating against your worldview. The world’s a mess, it’s in your drink.

BLACK FLAG, Damaged (SST)
WHY: Because before you were born, somebody had to redress the balance of all the putrid mainstream garbage the late ‘70s had to offer. Black Flag ignited a musical zeitgeist that put the world (including agents of law enforcement in Southern California) on notice. DIY ethics/subterfuge + attitude + fearlessness = Black Flag. Your favorite bands wouldn’t feel that way now if someone didn’t prove it could’ve been done decades ago.
TURN UP: “Rise Above.” Because it’s not just a song title: It’s a fuk’n way of life.

BLOOD BROTHERS, …Burn Piano Island, Burn (SECOND NATURE)
WHY: The Blood Brothers’ major-label debut (on vinyl courtesy of Second Nature Recordings) is the stylistic musical equivalent of being trapped in a racquetball court while 25 players launch Hi-Bounce Balls at you. Chrome-melting post-hardcore that’s vibrant, life-affirming and sometimes downright unlistenable.
TURN UP: “Ambulance Vs. Ambulance,” where the tag-team vocal style of Johnny Whitney and Jordan Blilie feels like they’re running a relay and burying the runners baton in each other’s chests.
CIRCLE JERKS, Group Sex (FRONTIER)
WHY: With 14 songs in 15 minutes, this record is a crucial document of snotty SoCal punk, back in the days before “slam dancing” became “moshing,” and the energy was still in its nascent stage. Sample song titles: “Deny Everything,” “World Up My Ass” and “I Just Want Some Skank.”
TURN UP: “Red Tape,” because Lucky Leher’s drumming is a benchmark of supreme feckin’ coolness and frontman Keith Morris hates, well, everything.

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THE CLASH, London Calling (SONY/EPIC)
WHY: Punk dudes (and it’s always dudes, right grrls?) who are long in the tooth like to dismiss everything after 1992, as if punk wasn’t susceptible to mutation and the influence of succeeding generations the way other genres are. Clearly, said grump-sacks forgot how U.K. punk avatars the Clash changed the game with the ambitious and resonating London Calling. You got funky chicken-scratch Motown-sound guitar (“Clampdown”), menacing reggae (“The Guns Of Brixton”), ska (“Rudie Can’t Fail”) and at least one unapologetic, unvarnished love song (“Train In Vain”). While “harder, faster, louder” is a pretty good ethos, the Clash had already did that years prior. Clocks and calendars don’t have rewind switches, friends.
TURN UP: “Clampdown.” If you don’t get a chill up your spine when Mick Jones sneers, “It’s the best years of your life they want to steal,” you’re terminally hopeless and should go join the Tea Party.

THE JESUS LIZARD, Goat (Touch And Go)
WHY: When the rest of America were embracing the “genius” of bands like Third Eye Blind, Candlebox and whatever label wrote checks to MTV and America’s radio promoters, the Jesus Lizard were creating highly propulsive and gloriously caustic tracks several parsecs ahead of anything being run up the alternative flagpole. Elements in a lot of today’s so-called “hotness” were done much better by these dudes more than 20 years ago. (Full disclosure: This writer was asked to write liner notes to the 2009 reissue of this album, a record he loves more than some members of his extended family.)
TURN UP: “Mouth Breather,” one of the best singles to come out of the ’90s underground, period.

MINOR THREAT, Out Of Step (DISCHORD)
WHY: You can’t talk about trends in punk (or classic 12-inch-sized vinyl artifacts) without acknowledging Minor Threat for igniting the straight-edge movement. While the band released a number of great 7-inch singles and comp tracks, the Out Of Step EP remains a cohesive smattering of heart, soul and passion from the nation’s capitol—a list of attributes that have eroded significantly over the years.
TURN UP: The title track, which encapsulates the whole sXe manifesto in no uncertain terms while still telling the calendar to fuck off, three decades later.

NIRVANA, Bleach (SUB POP)
WHY: It’s the album that set up a genre (grunge) and helped three dudes (okay, two; Grohl’s not here yet) bring other elements and participants of underground culture into the mainstream.
TURN UP: Nothing like the ugliness of “Negative Creep” to appeal to disaffected youth and outlaw bikers alike. Do you see why nobody expected this band to do what they did?

RANCID, …And Out Come The Wolves (EPITAPH)
WHY: This was the glass-ceiling-smashing record that nodded toward British punk history (from the Clash to Angelic Upstarts) and the SoCal scene. The world noticed as the band played the game by their rules, from a crucial Saturday Night Live appearance to sold-out gig notices all over the planet.
TURN UP: Tough one to call: “Roots Radicals” feels like a psychic blueprint to earnest-punk scenes far and wide. But “Ruby Soho” is considered the punk-lifer fave. Put it this way: Which body part are you okay with us removing? There’s your answer.

THURSDAY, Full Collapse (VICTORY)
WHY: More so than any other album (or band for that matter) coming out at the time, Thursday’s crucial sophomore release defined the synergy of passion and musicianship we now define as “post-hardcore.”
TURN UP: “Understanding In A Car Crash.” Because you should get your water from the moving stream where it’s fresh, not from the well.