The 10 Most Overrated Punk Albums Of All Time

I am so sick and tired of the same old top 10 punk album lists that name the same overplayed and over hyped albums over and over and over again. The sad thing is that most of the time the album listed isn’t even the best album from a particular band. The same albums seem to appear in every single one of those lists. It makes me want to throw up in my mouth. Well, those same albums that appear on those lists also appear on my list but only in a different kind of way. So with out further adieu, here are “The 10 Most Overrated Punk Albums Of All Time”, or T10MOPAOAT for short.

10. Social Distortion-S/T:
Do you know why everyone in the world loves this album? Because it has a cover of a Johnny Cash song on it, that’s why. That means that grandma’s and grandpa’s, aunt’s and uncle’s the world over are closet Social Distortion fans. As for the rest of the album, yeah it has “Story Of My Life” and “Sick Boys” on it, but can you name another song off of that album that isn’t the radio friendly borefest “Ball and Chain”? I didn’t think so. If you want a real punk album by Social Distortion, they maybe you should look into “White Light, White Heat, White Trash”. It’s hard, fast, furious and makes no lame attempts at faux-rockabilly. Moving along…

9. Black Flag-Damaged:
Let’s face it, Henry Rollins is boring. Even in a hardcore punk band, I find him extremely dull. He likes to flail his arms around and flex his dimple a lot but that doesn’t make up for the fact that he can’t sing or write a decent song yet is considered to be one of the greatest icons of the punk community. Apparently, making a bunch of noise on stage and running around like an idiot are things of great achievement. You gotta love hardcore. Thank you for that Henry Rollins or should I say, thanks for nothing.

8. Mighty Mighty Bosstones-Question The Answers:
EVERYONE that says that they’re a Bosstones fan seems to love this album and hates “Let’s Face It”. I’ll never understand that one. Whereas “Let’s Face It” was the Bosstone’s most two-tone sounding album, to me most of the songs on “Question The Answers” end up being a bunch of shrieking guitars that fade off into nothingness. Can anyone seriously believe that even the weakest songs on “Let’s Face It” are worse than the best that “Questions” has to offer? “A Dollar and a Dream” is a terrible song and “Stand Off” and “Toxic Toast” are pretty much the same song. This is one of those cases where people are afraid that they’ll lose scene points if they don’t hate the best selling album and like what their older brother says was a better album.

7. Descendants-Milo Goes To College:
Why is this album on everyone’s list? Even if you can get over the annoying voice of Milo Aukerman, the rest of the music is bland and out of tune. (*Sarcasm Alert*) With great song titles like “Myage”, “Tony Age”, “Marriage” and “Bikeage” it’s no wonder that everyone thinks this album is so great. I prefer to call it “Whineage” because this truly was the beginning of emo. Thankfully, ALL got it right with experience…and a better singer.

6. Dead Kennedys-Frankenchrist:
Sure, the album title is one of the coolest album titles of all time (check it out, I’m sure there’s a list out there somewhere), but the Dead Kennedys really got it wrong with this album. I could be wrong, but when I listen to “Frankenchrist” I hear a surf rock album. Surf rock was part of an earlier counter-culture movement much like punk was a decade later, but we’re forgetting one thing here…and that is the primary audience for surf rock in the 60’s…hippies and surfer dude jocks. Hippies are pretty much every single thing that punk rock goes against. Love, peace, understanding, bell-bottoms and flowers don’t go well with a band that promoted anarchy, violence, rebellion and blood stained white t-shirts. It’s a good thing that the Dead Kennedys broke up shortly after this release or else we would had to succumb to the possibility of DK touring with Bob Wier and Ratdog.

5. Rancid-And Out Come The Wolves:
Rancid are by far the best punk rock band on the market today, but when I think of their best punk album, “And Out Come The Wolves” is far down on that list. After the limited commercial success that Tim Armstrong tasted with “Let’s Go” it’s apparent that “And Out Come The Wolves” was a full on effort to gain radio airplay. If you listen through, you’ll find be hard pressed to find an actual punk song but you’ll find your fill of radio-friendly rock songs complete with nifty guitar solos and more melody than you could shake a melody stick at. With the success of Green Day and the Offspring back in the early 90’s, Rancid felt that they could jump on the pop punk bandwagon and bring in some quick cash. They then felt that they had to do the same thing with the ska revival and “Life Won’t Wait” until they finally released that punk album that we were waiting for. And where do you see Rancid’s 2000 self-titled release on those punk album lists? You don’t. What a shame.

4. The Clash-London Calling:
Note to writers of future top ten punk album lists; it is mandatory that you include “London Calling” in the top three of your list. If not, thou shalt anger the punk gods and thy shall smite thee with their three chords of fury. I really don’t get where people come off and call this a punk album. Much like with Rancid’s “And Out Come The Wolves”, the Clash were obviously leaning towards the poppier end of the music spectrum and instead of creating the greatest punk album of all time, they created the greatest rock and roll record of all time. If you look at everything else that the Clash released after “London Calling” you can note that they didn’t release another single punk album. If you want a punk album for your lists, drop the Clash’s first album on there and not this faux-punk version of the Beatle’s “Abbey Road”.

3. Ramones-Mania:
The Ramones stuck to their guns throughout their career and managed to sound basically the same from their self-titled release all the way through to their last studio release, “Adios Amigos”. Well, when you take thirty songs that sound the same and put them together on an album that runs almost eighty minutes, you have yourself one of the most boring albums of all time. “Mania” is a collection of the most recognizable songs by the Ramones…a best of disc…and those should never be included in a Top 10 list. And remember kids, the most popular songs aren’t always the best songs. Dig a little deeper into your dad’s record collection and you’ll find at least ten Ramones albums that are better than this.

2. NOFX-Punk In Drublic:
Why NOFX is included in best of Top 10 lists in the first place is beyond me but what really pisses me off is when people rave about this particular album. Are they deaf and unable to hear that this album has nothing to offer? Absolutely nothing at all? Oh, you beg to differ? What are you going to do, argue about how great of a song “Punk Guy” is or go on about NOFX’s political stance with “Perfect Government”? Do you realize that both of those songs makes no fucking sense and that they use the same guitar riff from “Linoleum” in just about every other fucking song? People obviously like terrible music and this is one of those fine examples. Speaking of terrible music, that brings us to the number one most overrated punk albums of all time. And the winner is…

1. The Sex Pistols-Never Mind The Bollocks Here’s The Sex Pistols:
First of all, let me say that when terrible music comes to mind, I immediately think of this lousy band. I can’t get over the fact that just about everyone seems to think that this piece of sonic garbage comes anywhere close to being worth listening to. This band could not and still can’t play their instruments…and they’ll be the first ones to admit it. If you think that that was what punk rock was about, then you are obviously in the dark about the whole punk movement. The Sex Pistols were nothing more than a bunch of bored teenagers that were deprived of attention so they felt that if they spiked their hair, wore leather and put pins through their nipples, that they would be able to get up on stage and romp around and smash things and people would overlook the obvious fact that they sucked as musicians. They drew attention to themselves by causing trouble in jolly olde England with swear words and public drug use while bands like the Clash and the Exploited could rip your face off and make you think at the same time. And the legacy that the Sex Pistols are remembered for is “Never Mind The Bollocks”, and album that sounds like it was pieced together by a group of third graders on crack. Best punk album of all time. Right…and Jesus killed the dinosaurs because they made fun of his momma.