Contributions
Here’s when you can get the back catalog of punk icons Bad Brains
Bad Brains, the righteous and ferocious Washington, DC-based rastapunk quartet who arguably invented hardcore, have won back the rights to their back catalog. In the near future, they will undertake an extensive remaster/reissue campaign. The records will be issued on a custom imprint, Bad Brains Records via Org Music. “Hey what’s up Bad Brains family,” […]
These 15 punk albums from 1989 ended the ’80s loudly
Welcome to Alternative Press’ 15 best punk albums of 1989. It’s easy to look at the final year of the decade and see it as transitional. But there are portents of the future all over this list. Yet, truth be told, haven’t we seen that with all these lists? As we’ve worked on this series, […]
These 15 punk guitarists of the '80s set the standards for the future
Welcome to Alternative Press’ list of the 15 greatest punk guitarists of the ’80s. As the timeline shifted from the ’70s into the new decade, the music changed. Punk had morphed from stripped-down, high-speed rock ’n’ roll with a nasty attitude. It was now faster and louder than the already fast and loud sound, with […]
These 10 SST Records releases defined ’80s punk and beyond
These 10 albums represent SST Records’ greatest achievements. Greg Ginn began Solid State Tuners at age 12 as a mail-order electronics business still thriving in his early adulthood. In 1978, when pioneering California indie label Bomp! Records dragged its heels releasing Nervous Breakdown, the debut EP from his punk band Black Flag, Ginn figured he […]
These 15 punk albums from 1988 helped shape alternative rock's future
Welcome to Alternative Press’ list of the best punk albums from 1988. Which, at the time, would have had most folks scratching their heads. After all, in 1988, the entire world thought punk rock was dead. Look at the charts: Guns N’ Roses and the more lightweight Sunset Strip glam-metal acts were defining “rock ’n’ […]
These 17 punk guitarists from the '70s truly forged the cutting edge
Part of the initial hype around punk rock was it had “no guitar heroes.” That was an exaggeration. To clarify, punk (in part) was meant to destroy the cult of technique. The obsession with 15-minute guitar solos, cramming in every note and lick you know at lightning speed. After all, what’s the point of playing […]
Here are 10 times ‘SNL’ brought punk into America’s living rooms
“Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!” Those words have rung out across American airwaves at roughly 10:35 p.m. every sabbath for 45 seasons. Saturday Night Live (fondly and culturally known today as SNL) which premiered under its original title of NBC’s Saturday Night Oct. 11, 1975, became one of history’s longest-running US TV series. […]
QUIZ: Do you know when these classic ’70s punk albums were released?
Record collectors of any sort can be a persnickety bunch. But few can be worse than punk-rock record collectors with titles spanning from the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and beyond. They can make Simpsons character Jeffrey “Jeff” Albertson (aka “Comic Book Guy”) look positively well-adjusted. Come on: In a world in chaos, much like the lyrics […]
Here are 15 forgotten punk albums you’ll wish you discovered sooner
You think you know your punk history? You’ve studied protopunk, punk rock, post-punk, hardcore, grunge, pop punk, garage-punk and every other hyphenated subgenre spinoff? You know your Stooges and MC5 and New York Dolls and Flamin’ Groovies? Your Ramones and Heartbreakers and Blondie? Well, that’s cool. But do you know about the stuff that fell […]