the Clash

To consider Alternative Press’ list of 1994’s top 15 punk albums, one has to bear in mind two factors: Green Day’s Dookie was released Feb. 1. Kurt Cobain died by his own hand April 5. The alternative nation’s voice was suddenly, shockingly stilled. After three years of the most popular music being an agonized scream […]

When the ball dropped in New York City’s Times Square at the stroke of midnight Dec. 31, 2009, punk rock had been around 35 years. (Or 33, depending on if you date the subculture from when the Ramones began playing gigs or from the mythic Punk Year Zero of 1977.) It was well into its […]

Despite what some TikTok troll in his aunt’s basement is incoherently ranting about in 2021, punk rock isn’t dead by any means. It never has been, and a sea of incredible bands in its aggressive world get overlooked all too often. We’re here to remedy this. Whether you’re a punk-rock purist who thinks that Sex […]

Post-punk had to happen. Punk rock opened all this space for people to make exactly the kind of art or culture that the disenfranchised had been imagining in their heads, and maybe had limited means or skills by which to make it. But what if you didn’t want to crank out recharged three-chord rock ’n’ […]

“Joan Jett doesn’t play rock ’n’ roll,” I wrote two years back, reviewing her SXSW showcase for The Austin Chronicle. “She is rock ’n’ roll.” It’s true. The individual born Joan Marie Larkin in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, embodies the music and spirit better than anyone this side of Keith Richards. As Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong […]

“Goth-punk,” eh? Not as far-fetched as you might believe. Goth was essentially an offshoot of punk, especially its darker early bands—the Damned or Siouxsie And The Banshees, anyone? But basically, anyone playing chainsaw punk rooted in the artsier end of glam a la Bowie and Roxy Music, a fondness for Hammer horror films, macabre literature […]

Alternative rock still dominated popular music in 1993. This obviously begged the question of just how “alternative” something was if it was now on a major label and on the radio. Not necessarily a bad thing. After all, we’d never have to hear Whitesnake again. Bottom end and distortion returned to rock record-making in a […]

In the ’70s, England had two great punk cities. Most across the planet thought London was the world’s only punk capital, completely ignoring the music and culture’s beginnings in New York City, mostly due to the Sex Pistols’ outsized reputation and influence. But if London was English Punk City No. 1, Manchester definitely came in […]

You would think television (the medium, as opposed to Television, the band) and punk rock were a match made in heaven. After all, the music and culture are sharp, edgy and visually arresting. This should have made punk flawless televisual fodder, right? Truthfully, punk and TV collisions have more often resulted in mutual incomprehension and […]

The mood of 1992: “We won!” Nirvana’s Nevermind sold by the truckload hourly. All anyone could talk about was alternative rock and grunge. Record biz execs walked around that spring’s SXSW convention in Austin in floppy, artfully unwashed hair, just-purchased flannel shirts and ripped jeans. You’d pass a line of them in the parking lot […]

Punk was, by design, meant to be small and regional. True, bands might break out and become national or even international. But the overarching idea was keeping things small and accessible. You wanted to be able to reach out and touch your favorite band in a small sweaty club, maybe have a beer with the […]

Akron, Ohio born and bred Christine Ellen Hynde has led the Pretenders from the top of the charts since the band’s debut single, a 1979 rethink of Ray Davies’ “Stop Your Sobbing” that killed the Kinks’ 1964 Mersey Beat-ish original on contact. Sort of a spiritual big sister to Joan Jett, she led that gang […]

When pub-rock singer Joe Strummer of the 101ers first met with former London SS guitarist Mick Jones in 1976 to brainstorm material for a new band eventually named the Clash, Strummer was shown one of his songs, “I’m So Bored With You.” He wasn’t having it: “‘Ere, let’s rewrite this now!” The rather wimpy romantic […]

Is there anything better than hearing one of your favorite bands cover an old-school hit? Or put an alternative spin on that “guilty pleasure” song you’ve secretly been jamming to for weeks? New renditions often improve on originals by expanding and elevating their sound. And while debating which version is best is often a subjective […]

Whether you’re curating your own wish list or getting ideas for your closest friends and family, it’s never too early to start sorting out your holiday shopping plans. Department stores might have the classics, but what about shopping for the punk in your life? Maybe you need a quick list to share with your own […]

Modern-day guitar legend Tom Morello has never shied away from politics. Back in the ’80s, the Rage Against The Machine guitarist worked as a scheduling secretary for California Democratic Sen. Alan Cranston for two years. Now, Morello is better known as Rage’s ever-respected king of strings, making his voice heard time and time again. Even his […]

This is a public service announcement: If Green Day’s epic ¡Uno!, ¡Dos! and ¡Tre! trilogy counts as one really, really long album, then the classic band have eleven diverse albums in their esteemed 30-plus-year catalog. Eleven. That’s 170 songs total—and 100 more than most of your favorite bands. Because there’s truly something in every genre […]

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 […]