10 Music Artists Who Released Their Best Album Last

'"Started in '87, ended in '89"

A precursor to what would later become ska-punk royalty, Rancid, Operation Ivy were a short-lived outfit that brought a unique flavour to the late '80s southern California punk scene.

Energy was their first, and last studio album, and offered so much teenage attitude, and charismatic fuzz that guitarist Tim Armstrong and bassist Matt Freeman would refine throughout the '90s with Rancid.

Energy is uplifting in a way that the likes of Bad Religion's Suffer never tries to be, yet retains the youthful angst that Ramones had long abandoned by the time they reached the late'80s. Take Warning is a relaxed, plodding track that retains the sharp guitar riffs that feature throughout, but with foot-tapping tracks like Sound System never far away, Energy sits firmly atop the hill of SoCal punk offerings.

Operation Ivy's lone release ensures the Berkeley-born band have never put out a poor release, and though their discography is only made up of a handful of songs, Energy's influence on modern bands like Green Day, Goldfinger, and even Hollywood Undead is surely far in excess of what four twenty-somethings could have ever imagined.