On the evening of July 5, 1976, the Ramones headlined their first concert on British soil. Gathered that night at Dingwalls, in Camden Town, were members of the Sex Pistols, the Clash, the Damned, and more. If one is looking for the moment that punk rock coalesced into a force that would echo, and persist, down the decades, this is it. On the cusp of turning 50, the movement that terrorised nations is now comfortably middle-aged.
The genre has since proved to be both enduring and adaptable. Capably nurtured by our American cousins, in 1994 it even cracked the US mainstream for the first time with the multi-platinum success of both Green Day and The Offspring. Spin magazine called it “the year that punk rock broke… again.”
This list, then, spans both decades and continents; not only that, it also swings from the breeziest punk-pop to groups whose music registers on the Richter scale. Inevitably, a number of worthy artists failed to make the cut – from Siouxsie and the Banshees to Television, TSOL to the Adolescents – while for our successful entrants, we had just one rule: only one album per artist was permitted space on our list. So without further ado, hey-ho let’s go.