majorjoe23

A friend's niece asked for "anything punk rock" for Christmas. The problem is, her idea of punk is Avril Levine and Good Charlotte. I thought I'd expand her horizons and put together a history of punk/new wave sampler CD. So far I plan to include material from the following bands.
The Velvet Underground
Patti Smith
The Ramones
The Clash
Sex Pistols
Blondie
Talking Heads
Black Flag
Misfits

Can anyone think of any glaring omissions from my list(I'm planning to stop mid 80s)?

Also, is there a good book on the history of punk that I can give her and say "Read this to understand why all your favorite bands suck"?

fallow

Television! Anything from Marquee Moon (the title track is one of my favorite songs but it is quite long for a mix).

I guess you are including post-punk since you are getting into New Wave? Perhaps some Gang of Four, Minor Threat, Au Pairs and Wire would work well.

There is an interesting book on the DC hardcore/punk scene called Dance of Days. I actually haven't had a chance to read it, but my buddy -who is something of a guru on everything DC- loves it.

LurkerDan

Glaring omissions? With all due apologies to an administrator here , X is a HUGE glaring omission, IMHO.

Giles

here's an excerpt from the amazon.com listing of the book:

Washington Post
"A truly compelling narrative . . . a powerful piece of cultural reporting."


MOJO
"For anyone interested in the power of independent music, this is an overdue insight into a vibrant, homegrown scene."


Book Description

"A truly compelling narrative . . . a powerful piece of cultural reporting." -- Washington Post

Washington, D.C.'s creative, politically insurgent punk scene is studied for the first time by local activist Mark Andersen and arts writer Mark Jenkins. The nation's capital gave birth to the most influential punk underground of the '80s and '90s. Dance of Days recounts the rise of trailblazing artists such as Bad Brains, Henry Rollins, Fugazi and Bikini Kill.

Mark Andersen is outreach coordinator for Emmaus Services for the Aging, and lives in Washington, D.C. Mark Jenkins writes about music and film for the Washington Post, Washington City Paper, NPR's "All Things Considered," and other outlets. He lives in Washington, D.C.

When I worked at Olsson's Books and Records this is the book we recommended to anyone interested in the Punk scene.

my fave groups were/(are): Circle Jerks and DagNasty ("Whig out at Dinko's")

nodeerforamonth

Get the book "Please Kill Me" by Legs McNeil. An absolute MUST!

Absolut

Maybe some Bad Religion and Social D from the early 80's

BRIAN 1972

My Personal 2 Favs:

"Get in the Van" by Henry Rollins.

"American Hardcore: A Tribal History" by Steven Blush

Chrisedge

The Greatest Punk Band Ever!

Mutley Hyde

The Clash
Sex Pistols
The Ramones

all I needed through high school

As for books, England's Dreaming by Jon Savage was good, covering a lot of ground in a pretty exhaustive tome.

Looks like it's been revised.

Hiro11

Essential additions:
X
Decendents
X-Ray Spex
New York Dolls
Minor Threat
Stooges
Minutemen
Husker Du
Television
Specials (ska punk)
Mission of Burma
The Jam
Buzzcocks
Modern Lovers

...and a copy of 24 Hour party People to understand how post-punk played out.

Jason

I always thought the NY Dolls were glam, not punk, but they are very, very cool. The perfect antidote for a Good Charlotte infection.

Rypro 525

when you get done, can you post your selection, since i might want to get the songs you listed. (btw, i wouldn't use "bodies" by the sex pistols for obvious reasons if you know what the song is about.

majorjoe23

I'll put together a set list as soon as I can. I'm trying to decide if I should do multiple songs by each artist, or limit myself to one each. I guess it depends on how many discs I want to use.

Tscott

Siouxsie and the Banshees - most noteably stuff from their first 4 albums 'The Scream' 'Join Hands' 'Kaleidiscope' and 'Juju'. For your collection, I'd maybe go with their cover of Helter Skelter (if the niece [or her parents] won't mind a MF'er thrown into the lyrics) or something else from 'The Scream' like Hong Kong Garden or Suburban Relapse. OR if you really want to mess with her head, their 14+ min. redition of "The Lords Prayer" is a must.

Josh-da-man

As for books, I'd say "Rotten" by Johnny "Rotten" Lydon would probably be a good place to start. And the aforementioned "Get in the Van" by Rollins.

PJsig08

Big thumbs up.

Also, Minor Threat, Bad Religion, Black Flag, TSOL and others.

You have an important job to do. This quote just makes me angry and scared:

Burnt Alive

15 replies and no metion yet of the Dead Kennedys??? I'm no big fan, but that's just wrong.

To echo the others, X is a must.

Some other important groups I've yet to see mentioned:

The Germs, Adolescents, Circle Jerks, Weirdos, Dickies, Redd Kross, The Damned, 999, FEAR, X-Ray Spex, Generation X, Adverts, Screamers, Sham 69, Flipper, Stiff Little Fingers, Suicidal Tendencies, Bad Brains.
I could go on and on, but this should be enough.

I would also strongly suggest the book "We Got The Neutron Bomb"

PJsig08

I'll also second Circle Jerks and DK. I didn't realize DK was left out, that is pretty bad

fallow

Is this really worth it? I haven't picked it up myself or anything; though I have heard it is inadvertently the "anti-punk" book (since it's mainly about the fashion and not the substance [though I'd argue the fashion is a part of the substance]).

fallow

Oh yeah, another I haven't seen mentioned is the New Zealand outfit The Clean. Essential post-punk from around '78 (I believe?). I think most of their output was re-released in the mid-90s and they have a newly released live disc titled Syd's Pink Wiring System.

Chim

Gang of Four?!? HELLO?!?! Come on guys, you must have Entertainment! by these guys

fallow

See the second post in this thread.

Burnt Alive

I wouldn't say that at all. The book, however, does open up with the Glam scene (which was mainly about the fashion) with Bowie and the like and spends way to much time there, but moves on to Iggy and his exploits at Rodney Bigenheimer's club. Too much time spent on the pre/proto-punk, but I guess you need the backstory to round out the edges.
Then there were chapters devoted exclusively to Darby Crash, The Go-Gos, X, Screamers, Black Flag, the Orange County bands, early visits from the English bands, The Masque (legendary LA venue), the east LA bands, and Chinese restauraunts (no, really!).
It's well worth reading if you're a fan of any of the bands from the LA-area.
The book isn't really authored as it is just a string of quotes and memories pieced together by everyone who was there at the time which lends all the credibility in the world to it. Calling this book "anti-punk" would be insane when the words are coming directly out of Exene Cervenka, John Doe, Jack Grisham, Lorna Doom, Jello Biafra, Levi Dexter, Dez Cadena, Don Bolles, Keith Morris, Jane Weidlin, Lee Ving, Mike Ness, Greg Ginn, Greg Heston & Rikk Agnew's mouths.

fallow

Sounds interesting after all. I'll check it out over my winter break.

atlantamoi

Another book that is interesting to look at every now and then instead of sitting down and reading all the way through is Punk Diary 1970-1979 by George Gimarc. It's a list of names and dates of everything that went down in the 1970's. He also did a post punk diary as well. If you think you know a lot about the late 70's scene you'll quickly realize there's much more there to learn.