What Are Some Good Punk Rock Bands?

[Blue Canary]

The problem is that most do not understand the evolution of "punk", it means a lot of different things to different people.
It can be political.
It can be independence from corporations.
It can be anti-establishment/government.
It can be about DIY(doing it for yourself).
It can be about TFY(Thinking for your self).
It can be about attitude, or it can be about fashion.
It can be a particular musical style.

If punk to you means spikey hair, power chords , and saying Oi! Then you might only have a superficial understanding of the culture.
I'm not a big fan of the majority of the bands listed so far in this thread and would consider them the cookie cutter, watered down, corporate manifestations of what people now understand as "punk" but I hate to be all music snobby about it. People have different frames of reference, blah blah, subjectivity and all of that.

If you like it, listen to it I say.

I literally do not care how they look or where they are from, or even really have an opinion on what makes "punk". I just thought that a lot of the stuff I like is either classified as "alternative" or "punk", so I thought I'd ask. But yeah, I don't have an opinion on what defines punk, I just know what I like, and what I like is a lot of the time either alternative or punk.

 

[Spacefiller]

I literally do not care how they look or where they are from, or even really have an opinion on what makes "punk". I just thought that a lot of the stuff I like is either classified as "alternative" or "punk", so I thought I'd ask. But yeah, I don't have an opinion on what defines punk, I just know what I like, and what I like is a lot of the time either alternative or punk.

Well then you are in luck because most of the bands I listed ride the line between punk and alternative.
Really, a band like Fugazi or Joy Division do not fall under any category...hence the term "alternative" (some people like the term "post- insert term here"). These artists may have some "punk" influence, but they are their own thing and have their own sound.

I think it's perfectly fair to have a conversation of what "punk" is, I personally think the term has become somewhat meaningless(because of the reasons in the my post you quoted).


My commentary was mostly aimed at the 'punk music sucks' crowd and people who equate "punk" with a store at the mall that sells shiny things to high school kids. Because there have been brilliant, innovative, and technically accomplished artists that have been lumped into the heap with that "punk" label.

Take Fugazi for example, I believe they are one of the greatest ROCK bands of all time, just last month I was asking a guy at work if he had ever heard of Fugazi and he was like "yeah, isn't that some old punk band"? Which stung a little for me to hear.

 

[(◕‿◕✿)]

didn't take long for this thread to become starbucks fedora debate of music

 

[Spacefiller]

didn't take long for this thread to become starbucks fedora debate of music

I really don't see a "debate" anywhere.
but...
I see what you did there...
I'm no stranger to being called a pretentious hipster.
Apparently, having well thought out and informed opinions really seems to rub some people the wrong way.


besides all that, I'll have you know that I find starbucks coffee far too bitter and my fedora(s) have been shelved for the winter.

 

[Batman]

Rage Against the Machine is probably not considered Punk by most people, but the band certainly has its punk elements, a very many of them or only a few depending on your criteria for the music genre.

Anyway, I love RATM. They are the most anti-government, anti-authoritarianism, anti-corporate America, anti-capitalism, and anti-cultural imperialism band I know. The band members are all basically left-libertarians in the anarchist communist tradition.

 

[the8thark]

Two I like a lot are:

1. Simple Plan.
Mainstream I know but they have their fans and I'm one of them.

2. The Living End
Not totally punk but they have punk elements. And I think people in this topic might like them. Well worth checking out.
Mainstream in Australia but outside Australia not sure if they are that popular. Defo worth checking out.

 

[(◕‿◕✿)]

I really don't see a "debate" anywhere.
but...
I see what you did there...
I'm no stranger to being called a pretentious hipster.
Apparently, having well thought out and informed opinions really seems to rub some people the wrong way.


besides all that, I'll have you know that I find starbucks coffee far too bitter and my fedora(s) have been shelved for the winter.

My comment actually wasn't really directed at you, I agree with some of what you said. I was more referring to the way people act about music in general and how they get hung up on genres and definitions. Or the people who say things like:

There are no good punk bands. If there were they wouldn't be punk anymore.

I like the Warlock Pinchers.

None of them really. Punk rock is overrated and reserved for the kinds of people who think Hot Topic is still cool.

Essentially just quotable statements that people don't really think about or consider the implications of, but it's easy to say and popular. It applies to lots of things, but with punk it's a good example, because lots of people will say things like this not because they've heard the music and don't like it (which is of course perfectly fine, everyone has a right to their opinion and to say it) but because it's fashionable or popular to say it.

My point is really more about how people are so quick to write off music because it's not what they're taught is good music. If we all just listened to music that is deemed high quality and good music we'd all be listening to soft rock and some classical and our lives would be boring as hell. That doesn't mean that type of music is bad, it's just that a lack of diversity and trying different things is boring and stagnant. To me it's much like how people talk about colloquialisms and slang as being uneducated or bad grammar. It's a subtle form of elitism and something they don't really think about or aren't really aware of, but it's easy to say and kind of makes you feel good when you say until you realize what you're saying.



Some more bands I would suggest are Cress, Burnt Cross and Leatherface. They're basically anarcho-punk, which is what I've been listening to a lot lately. There's also stuff like Anti-Product and Social Justice. Not So Quiet On The Western Front is a compilation album of a ton of different punk bands with different styles and messages, it has some interesting stuff on it.

 

[Spirit]

The Vincent Black Shadow?

 

[Dan]

This is a pretty good punk rock band. May be too hardcore for your tastes.

 

[Trio the Punch]

Essentially just quotable statements that people don't really think about or consider the implications of, but it's easy to say and popular. It applies to lots of things, but with punk it's a good example, because lots of people will say things like this not because they've heard the music and don't like it (which is of course perfectly fine, everyone has a right to their opinion and to say it) but because it's fashionable or popular to say it.

Okay but based on what I personally value in music, punk is entirely garbage. I haven't been taught to think any specific way about punk, I've just heard a lot of bands that are considered punk and not found anything redeeming in it. I do like a few punk bands (Like the Warlock Pinchers and The Dead Milkmen) because they're decent as comedy bands, but punk at large seems to pride itself on simplicity and loose performances (wouldn't generalize to all punk bands, but this /seems/ to be somewhat core to the genre) which has absolutely /zero/ appeal to me as someone who listens to music to appreciate instances of complexity and mechanical precision. I won't say there's no trace of elitism in that, but it's hard to get rid of the impression of the genre as being whiny, sloppy, juvenile, and samey because every single time I try to listen to anything that someone has called punk music, it sounds like that. So. I /do/ think about my opinions. It has nothing to do with what's fashionable.