10 Best Punk Rock Albums Of The 1980s

10. Black Flag - Damaged

For all its diversity and myriad influences, all you really need to know about punk rock comes in the first 30 seconds of “Rise Above”, the first track on the first record by seminal band Black Flag. A simple, fast paced beat, a shock of feedback, a gritty riff, and Henry Rollins stepping up to the mic to deliver the track’s eponymous refrain.

Rollins was the face of the operation but Black Flag was the brainchild of Greg Ginn, whose SST Records was behind a great deal of the decade’s very best punk music. Black Flag were a hard working, hard partying outfit with tunes like “Six Pack” to back up that lifestyle.

They could play as good as they talked, though, Chuck Dukowski’s gurgling bass set the template for most punk rock four stringers, and Ginn’s ear for a riff is almost unsurpassable. He hurls notes around, making his refrains busy and technical, but always with those earworm tendencies that make this near-50 year old record timeless.

They could have a laugh, too, on the likes of “TV Party” - Rollins is an imposing figure but he’s a dynamite frontman knowing the importance of entertainment.