Punk bands that shaped the genre: 20 groups from Queens to Minneapolis

The punk bands that shaped the genre came from a handful of cities within a few years of each other. The short version: the Ramones set the template in New York in 1974, the Sex Pistols and The Clash turned it into a British national story in 1976 and 1977, and Black Flag, Bad Brains and Dead Kennedys rebuilt it as American hardcore from 1979. The 20 bands below are the ones we think a newcomer should know, each with formation year, city and one record to start with. For the wider history, read our account of the history of punk rock.

Before punk had a name

Three American bands set the stage without being punk themselves: the Stooges from Ann Arbor, MC5 from Detroit and the New York Dolls. All three released their key records between 1969 and 1974, and almost every band below cites at least one of them. They are not on the list because they came before the scenes that named the style.

New York

1. Ramones (Queens, 1974). Four friends from Forest Hills who first played CBGB in August 1974. Short songs, no solos, matching leather jackets and a debut album in April 1976 that defined punk’s sound more than any other record. Start with Ramones (1976).
2. Television (New York, 1973). Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd talked Hilly Kristal into booking them at CBGB in 1974, which opened the club to the new bands. More artful than the Ramones, but central to the scene. Start with Marquee Moon (1977).
3. Patti Smith Group (New York, 1974). Poetry over garage rock. Horses (1975) was the first album from the CBGB circle and remains the best introduction.
4. Richard Hell and the Voidoids (New York, 1976). Hell had been in Television and the Heartbreakers and invented much of punk’s look. Start with Blank Generation (1977).
5. The Heartbreakers (New York, 1975). Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan from the New York Dolls. They toured Britain with the Sex Pistols in December 1976. L.A.M.F. (1977) is the record.

You can read more about the context in our guide to New York punk.

Britain and Ireland

6. Sex Pistols (London, 1975). First gig in November 1975 at Saint Martin’s School of Art, then a year of chaos that ended in the Bill Grundy television interview of December 1976. Dropped by two labels before Virgin released Never Mind the Bollocks (1977). The story of that year is in our page on London 1976.
7. The Clash (London, 1976). Joe Strummer, Mick Jones and Paul Simonon brought politics and reggae into punk and made the most widely admired albums of the era. Start with The Clash (1977), then London Calling (1979).
8. The Damned (London, 1976). First British punk single (New Rose, October 1976) and first British punk album (Damned Damned Damned, February 1977), both on Stiff.
9. Buzzcocks (Bolton and Manchester, 1976). Howard Devoto and Pete Shelley saw the Sex Pistols in early 1976, booked them into Manchester’s Lesser Free Trade Hall that June and released the Spiral Scratch EP themselves in January 1977. That self-release changed how bands thought about records. Start with Singles Going Steady.
10. The Adverts (London, 1976). Gaye Advert was one of the first female punk musicians to appear in the press. Their single Gary Gilmore’s Eyes (1977) reached the UK top 20.
11. X-Ray Spex (London, 1976). Poly Styrene’s band wrote about consumerism and identity with a saxophone up front. Start with Germfree Adolescents (1978).
12. Stiff Little Fingers (Belfast, 1977). Wrote about life during the Troubles. Inflammable Material (Rough Trade, 1979) reached number 14 and is regarded as the first independent album in the UK top 20.
13. The Undertones (Derry, 1975). Melodic punk about teenage life rather than politics. Start with The Undertones (1979).
14. Crass (Epping, 1977). A collective living in a house in Essex who ran their own label, printed their own sleeves and turned punk into a political practice. Their records started the anarcho-punk movement. Start with The Feeding of the 5000 (1978).

The rest of the world

15. The Saints (Brisbane, 1973 as Kid Galahad, The Saints from about 1974). They pressed their first single themselves in 1976 and were signed in Britain after the music press made it single of the week. Start with (I’m) Stranded (1977).
16. Male (Düsseldorf, 1976). Formed in December 1976. Their album Zensur & Zensur (1979) is described as the first entirely German-language punk album. German punk developed quickly from here, as our page on Neue Deutsche Welle explains.

American hardcore

17. Black Flag (Hermosa Beach, 1976). Greg Ginn’s band and his label SST created the model of the self-run American punk band: constant touring in a van, records sold at shows. Start with Damaged (1981).
18. Dead Kennedys (San Francisco, 1978). Jello Biafra’s satire and East Bay Ray’s surf guitar. Their label Alternative Tentacles became an institution. Start with Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables (1980).
19. Bad Brains (Washington, D.C., 1977). Started as a jazz fusion band, then played faster and tighter than anyone. Their self-titled cassette (ROIR, 1982) is the start.
20. Minor Threat (Washington, D.C., 1980). Ian MacKaye’s band, whose label Dischord documented the city’s scene. A single song of theirs gave its name to the straight edge movement. All their recordings fit on one compilation, Complete Discography.

Bands not on this list

The Germs, X, Hüsker Dü, the Misfits, Sham 69 and the UK Subs all have strong cases. We limited ourselves to 20 and to bands whose records changed what others did. For individual records rather than bands, see our list of the best punk albums. For what came after punk in Britain, our list of post-punk bands picks up where this one stops.

How to listen

Take one record from each section: Ramones, The Clash, Spiral Scratch, (I’m) Stranded, Damaged. You will hear the original template, the British version, the do-it-yourself turn, an independent parallel invention and the American acceleration. That is punk’s first decade in about two hours.