Nazi Punks Fuck Off! A Punk Music Thread

Are there things you are angry about? Is it your parents? Teachers? Boss? Politicians? Systems of oppression? Yourself?

Do you like to express that anger through fast & aggressive guitar & yelling? Perhaps there isn’t all that much yelling. If you said yes to any of these questions Punk music may just be for you.

Let’s discuss why you enjoy punk music. How did you discover punk? What are your favorite bands? What have you been listening to? Who have you seen and was it a good experience? Are there new bands we should all look into? Let us know here.


I’ll start with my dad was a punk during the 70s in Los Angeles & would regularly see The Germs, Ramones & Black Flag growing up. He got me into punk music driving me to swim class on Sundays listening to Forming & Richie Daggers Crime off of the Germ’s Complete Anthology. In middle school I fell in love with Green Day & Sum 41 although I have since fallen away from their music quite a bit but I want to make clear (all punk music should be accepted here (except Nazi punk)). When I moved back to DC I learned about Minor Threat & Bad Brains & instantly fell in love with the former as a child. To this day they are still my favorite punk band and a few years ago I made a fool of myself (imo) when I was starstruck by Ian MacKaye at a screening of the Bad Brains documentary & couldn’t find words to say as my Uncle (who apparently is personal friends with him & Henry Rollins) introduced me to him.

As for the concerts I’ve been to, I saw Flag (Black Flag without Greg Ginn because he’s a jerk) with my partner which was great, although it was a little weird to hear middle aged men yell about how they hate their teacher. However, The Dirty Nil & War on Women opened for them and they absolutely stole the show. Both are really good & I recommend anyone check them out if y’all haven’t already.
I also went to watch Suicidal Tendencies & Bad Brains in Argentina with my dad & according to him the ST concert had the biggest moshpit he had ever seen after the one he was in during a Butthole Surfers concert in the 80s. Bad Brains was probably the best concert I’ve been too even though they were all in their 40’s or 50’s. The switch from punk to reggae fit perfectly because you could get a respite & by the end of the concert people still had that PMA.

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I think I discovered punk solely through the Tony Hawk games. It’s mainly why Hitler Bad Vandals Good is one of my fave albums of all time still.

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I was just reading an old thing from The Quietus with Mike Watt discussing his 13 favourite albums and he talks a little about punk as a philosophy - whether you’ve heard these albums or not (or if you hate them even) his comments are all worth reading: http://thequietus.com/articles/14671-mike-watt-minutemen-the-missingmen-favourite-albums

I was never really into pop punk or the like (despite being born in the early 90s) so my first exposure to punk was like, Dead Kennedys & Bad Brains as a teenager, e.g. 2 of the biggest bands from either U.S. coast. I guess part of why I liked them both so much (and still do) is that they each had their own unique twists on the punk genre, DK with the surfy guitar (which I ADORE) and Bad Brains with the reggae/dub influence (ditto). I remember hearing Pay To Cum for the first time and just having one of those “what the hell IS this” moments where I immediately I had to hear more.

after that I started branching out towards like, UK post-punk. I was pretty obsessed with that first Gang of Four album & the big 3 (especially Pink Flag) from Wire for a long time. as for modern punk, I guess my current faves are White Lung and Priests, both killer bands I’ve gotten to see live (both put on fantastic shows). White Lung’s guitarist Kenneth William is an actual real life wizard, I’m pretty sure. they had one of my fave albums of 2016 (look up “Dead Weight”) and Priests put out one of my fave albums of this year so far (Nothing Feels Natural), although it’s not strictly punk.

I am super, super jealous that you’ve gotten to see those bands live - Bad Brains especially! glad to hear Flag (lol) and BB can still kill it.

and finally I’ll take this chance to highlight Friction, an 80s band from Japan that rules extremely hard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuHFbjAvyAw

also, yo, you’ve got a cool ass uncle.

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Fun fact their punk stuff came before they really discovered Reggae. They were some of the best musicians in a genre of “learn 3 chords & start a band” was because they actually wen’t to art school to learn Jazz which is where they got a lot of their speed & rhythm from.

That uncle told me a story that right after my dad & I saw Bad Brains he told Ian that Minor Threat should get back together & tour South America cause they would make a killing & Ian apparently got really pissed. He’s moved on from MT & apparently really hates people asking him to get back together which is why my uncle thought it would be funny to suggest.

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I didn’t start listening to anything punk-related until I got to college. The way it happened was I was friends with some metal heads, and they convinced me to go see Mastodon at this big four band show that included them, Dethklok, High on Fire, and Converge. I was excited to see all of them except Converge, who just sounded like a bunch of cacophonous shouting from their videos. Me and my friends were all convinced they’d be lame, but figured we’d stay for their set anyway (since Mastodon came on right after). They opened with the song Plagues, and by the time it dropped, I was sold on the band. A few songs later, there was a huge moshpit right in front of us, and in a move that was completely out of character for 17-year-old ligeti, I jumped right in (this was also my second concert I ever went to). Long story short, I realized that I liked loud, aggressive, fast-paced music with a shouting singer – my future love of punk and hardcore music had been formed.

After that, I’ve seen Converge every time they came to town, discovering a few great bands when they were their openers (Touche Amore being a pretty awesome standout). In additition, over the years I made my way out to a decent number of DIY shows, I’ve also seen Refused during their reunion tour, Savages when they were touring for Silence Yourself, and Titus Andronicus more times than I can count. Even if it’s not “pure” punk music, there’s just something about going out to punk-adjacent shows that gives me a sort of cathartic release other music just doesn’t provide.

Also, I’m a big fan of the big-hitters: Fugazi, Dead Kennedys, Bad Brains, The Replacements etc. but they were all before my time. :confused: As for current bands, while they’re definitely more “in the punk spirit” than anything else, I never miss an opportunity to recommend checking out Algiers!

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BIG ups for Bad Brains and Algiers being mentioned

my mom’s always been a huge Clash fan so i guess that was my technical first punk band, but i have more memories from high school of listening to Propagandhi, Ging Nang BOYZ or The Stooges. Mike Watt was also a huge influence for me when i was learning to play bass, he’s so so good. a lot of the current bands i love are definitely less “punk-punk” but stuff like Pissed Jeans, Idles, Self Defense Family all share a lot of the core principles. i suppose a fussy genre-head would call them more like post-hardcore or something

anyways i think a lot more people should know about Self Defense Family so here’s a cut from back when they were called End Of A Year (excuse the corny lyrics video but it’s the best audio quality)

ooh, Savages are really good. I saw them live last year and it was such a good, positive-energy show.

For something lighthearted, try Fidlar. For the opposite, try Iceage.

Found my copy of this album recently and I’m having a bit of a renaissance.

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Got into punk(and ska/ska-punk/skunk/reggae…) because of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater/my mom (super into The Clash, The Ramones, Early RHCP, Sex Pistols, and New Wave bands). One of the first CDs I bought for myself was the Tony Hawk 2 soundtrack, and one of the first albums of a band I got for myself (other than crap on the radio that I was into because child) was NOFX’s the War On Errorism. I’d try to hang out with the skater kids, but I didn’t skate. My parents pushed me into doing an extracirricular activity, and I settled on learning saxophone and joining the school band and getting exposed to a lot of Jazz and Classical music (and Dave Matthews Band…).

Flash forward, I’m in a punk/ska band and have tons of friends in the Florida/regional scene, I go to The Fest every year, and I have too many records.

Being a weirdo outcast that isn’t really sure what they’re angry at all the time made punk a natural fit for me, and it’s always been a good place for me to find people/artists that really speak to me and mean something. Some of my favorite releases include:

The Clash - London Calling
The Flaming Tsunamis - Fear Everything, Externalities
Less Than Jake - Losing Streak
Operation Ivy (and really any of those bands, Common Rider, Rancid, etc.)
Latterman - No Matter Where We Go…!

and way too many others.

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I was actually super into skate punk while growing up and I don’t think I’ve ever gotten that out of me. There’s something comforting about people from all over the world letting out some frustration in music. My jams:

Didn’t really have a taste for punk until very recently, and I honestly don’t know why I’ve grown a fondness for it so suddenly. It’s a cool feeling being able to explore a genre I knew so little about.

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I’m pretty new to proper punk, although pop punk was totally my entry to rock music, and Rage Against the Machine was my intro to political music, so I feel like I’ve always had one foot in the door towards punk. I’ve been getting into it a bit more recently after getting heavily into PUP and deciding to write an angry political punk EP as part of my ongoing project to write music in genres into which I haven’t ventured. Turns out my voice is too soft for punk, but it’s whatever. Would be interested in hearing recommendations of good contemporary punk bands, particularly those who aren’t a bunch of cis straight white dudes.

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just out of the bands already mentioned in this thread that are still active, Algiers and Propagandhi fit the bill, not to mention the entire japanese punk scene (Ging Nang BOYZ, THE××ズ, Shinsei Kamattechan)

punk has a rich history of minority artists and it’s worth looking into the classics: Husker Du, X-Ray Spex, Melt-Banana Bad Brains, just to name a few

Two favorites from Philly that fit the “aren’t a bunch of cis straight white dues” are Soul Glo and Mannequin Pussy. Soul Glo more hardcore style of punk with really powerful lyrics that are worth reading since you probably won’t catch them just listening. Mannequin Pussy does a blend of more pop punk stuff with some hardcore bits that I’m so in love with. Their album last year was my favorite of the year.

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Can we talk about how fuckin rad ska punk is? Cause it’s pretty rad. Also folk punk, and just in general [thing] punk is pretty great.

I’ve been listening to Reap the Storm which just came out a few months ago and is definitely a very good album In particular, I think Building Walls and Those Who Sow The Wind are pretty strong songs. In addition to basically endlessly listening to Days N Daze who have so many good albums and splits, but their latest Crustfall which just came out a month ago is so great.

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damn, I’ve never thought of Shinsei Kamattechan as punk, but word. I love Tsumanne a whole lot.

Melt-Banana’s another fave, I’ve seen them live twice and they’re so much fun. and I’d be remiss if I didn’t bring up Midori, they’re prolly my fave punk band ever honestly.

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AH!!! i knew i was forgetting someone important! i loved Midori so so much growing up, i think they’re probably my first japanese punk band ever. Midori are fascinating to me because they blend jazz-fusion with punk in a way that really reminds me of Minutemen and Bad Brains, but they attack it from a completely different angle. god i haven’t listened to them in ages, i’m gonna put some on right now! thank you for the blast from my past

(regarding Shinsei Kamattechan, i genuinely believe that anything post-hardcore-adjacent with the right attitude absolutely counts as punk)

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Anymore Japanese punk recommendations? I really love Midori, Melt-Banana, The Cabs, and Boredoms earlier, more punk influenced stuff but have had a hard time finding anything more recent then most of those. I’m sure there’s more great stuff out there I’m just having a tough time trying to find any of it.

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my personal favourites are Mass of the Fermenting Dregs and tricot, even if the former is more shoegaze-y and the latter is more math rock-y. Macdonald Duck Eclair rules as well but they’re only loosely punk, more extremely high-energy electro-pop with some noise and ambient elements. as far as classic JP punk goes, NUMBER GIRL is essential as are GOING STEADY and the Ging Nang BOYZ, whom i love so much i will gladly mention a third time in this thread. Zouo, Scumraid and G.I.S.M. are essential early hardcore punk as well.