So , so hard to choose. I'll toss the first names that come offa the top of my head:

Clash - Give 'Em Enough Rope (Or The Clash, or London Calling)
The Blasters awe-inspiring first LP
Squeeze - Argybargy
Never Mind the Bollocks, of course
Heartbreakers LAMF
Television - Marquee Moon
any of the first 3 Ramones LPs
Stiff Little Fingers - Inflammable Material
Bad Brains s/t
....hell, I could do this all day. What an era!

What do you think about :

Joy Division "Unknown Pleasures" 1979 (post-punk - cold wave)
The Exploited "Punk's Not Dead" 1981 (heavy trash punk)

There's a topic I've been wanting to discuss lately, especially with other musician's. Lately there has been a trend for bands, especially Garage Bands & Rockabilly bands to release their recordings in lo-fidelity.  Basically, setting up a mic or two in the room and getting a live sound, but with all the bleed between instruments, it's pretty lo-fi. There's usually a lot of distortion from over driven amps, especially the bass, which is such a large sound wave it's hard to capture. Plus tons of white noise from ringing cymbals.

I don't understand this approach. I generally record live, but wth all the instruments separated & the vocalist in a booth. This gives you better mixing options and overall clarity of each instrument.

I know a few bands that are pretty popular on the club circuit but can not get their music played on the radio because it;s so lo-fi. It's pretty short sighted really. It may be cool to be trendy & retro, but ultimately, it's closing doors that could help some of these bands actually go somewhere with their music.

I've been recording for over 30 years. I've seen so many trends come & go. Luckily I had the foresight early on, as did my band mates to record at the highest quality we could. My first recordings with The Speedies were done at Skyline & Electric Lady studios in NYC. Not only have they stood the test of time, but since they were recorded in such high quality, those recordings are still generating income for me as they've been used in commercials and as a theme to a skit on the Jay Leno show.

So my advice, to the younger bands out there. Don't sell yourself short. If a record is un- listenable why even bother?

Here's a pic from that early line-up with Steve & Jeff, back in '98. I've seen them many times over the years and they always put on a good show, though I too liked that "Mink Rabbit or Rat' line-up the best. Rachel can be prickly, but f' it, she can sing. Rocket 455 were amazing live!

Rocket 455 was a great band! I think I still have their album on Get Hip.

Brian T. Kirchner said:

They were at their best when the band was led by Steve Shaw(Fondas) and Jeff Meier(Rocket 455).

They were at their best when the band was led by Steve Shaw(Fondas) and Jeff Meier(Rocket 455).

Slovenly is one of my favorite labels. I mean, they really haven't put out anything I wouldn't want to own.

Yep, SLOVENLY really rules ! You should check all their releases and order these great records right now !

ok, I'm having trouble downloading it. Was I supposed to click to open or click to download?

This sampler **KIcks*** Thanks Slovenly! --Elisa

Sounds great! I will sign up. Can't wait to get one! :)

Awesome. Thanks for posting! By the way, Slovenly's on the Hideout, too. Befriend 'em! http://garagepunk.ning.com/profile/SlovenlyRecordings Cheers, kopper

Thanks and a tip of the hat to John at Monkey Beat Podcast for alerting his listeners to a 55-MP3 sampler from Slovenly Records, a Reno, Nevada company.

There's cool stuff from Wau y Los Arrrghs!!!, The Black Lips, Billy Childish, The Reigning Sound, King Automatic, The Hollywood Sinners and more.

And did I mention they're free??!! All you have to do is join their mailing list.
. 

Here is another!

Some reggae nuggets on my page, Check it out ?
Just click on the photo with my face on it.

YES YES YES !!!
That's great news !

Can't get any better than that, kids!

We're happy to announce that Mike Stax's show, Ugly Things on the Radio, which was recently added to the lineup of Real Punk Radio, will now be part of the GaragePunk Podcast Network and included in our network feed. Mike will soon be posting the episodes on his Hideout blog here, so watch for those, too. In the meantime, feel free to subscribe using his show's RSS feed link:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/UglyThings

Subscribe to Ugly Things on the Radio by Email

Cheers,
kopper
GaragePunk.com

I love any band that can crank up real live mayhem on demand. It's quite a mental and athletic feat to do that night after night, and these guys do. Saw 'em in a tiny place in Austin and it was pretty insane.

Check them out tonight - they're doing some live stuff on the 'Later.. With Jools Holland' show on BBC TV.
The show starts at 11:50 pm UK time on the BBC 2 Channel.

saw 'em in Nottingham last year. ace. one of their songs (cement mixer) is on my playlist on my page here..

Yeah as I aluded to in my original email the A-Bones and Flamin Groovies had to follow them. They were good but, really paled in comparison.

Mace Fobes said:

I feel sorry for any poor band that has to play after 'em!

Very cool band. I know Jim from way back in Thee Hypnotics days. My Band The Jackets will be opening up for them in Zürich soon. It will be the first time I'll see the band live. Looking forward to it!

A few psychobilly songs for your list:

The Coffin Nails - Myra Hindley

Nekromantix - Jack the Stripper

Hi everybody,

I only realize a few months ago that the driving stupid were from '66 ... Always thought it was a revival thing or something like this. The shock has been hard.

I read the little story of the band included in the cd leaftlet but I don't know anything else 'bout them ... if there's something to know !

So, maybe someone can tell us about them ? Did they put something out other than "horror asparagus stories" ? Btw, Is there a vinyl version of this album ?

This stuff comes from outter space ... "Girl's got a turtle" song is a real religious experience...

anybody !?