10 Perfect 1980s Rock Albums With No Bad Songs

Punk rock deserved a much better sendoff than what happened to it in the '80s. After being heralded as one of the most important musical movements in rock history, the heavyhitters of the genre never bothered the charts too much in the '80s, with Green Day being one of the few to put it back on the charts in the '90s. If it was the end for the golden age of punk, The Clash were going to give it the final hoorah it deserved.

Though London Calling was released at the tail end of 1979, the record didn't truly pick up steam until we reached the next decade, with Joe Strummer and Mick Jones trading back and forth across this bulletproof track list. This is also the sweet spot before punk started to become a parody of itself, as the band toy around with different textures on songs like Jimmy Jazz and Death or Glory.

The most important part of punk is the passion though, and you can hear it in spades on each track, from the resiliency of I'm Not Down to the lonesome sad sack narrating the song Lost in the Supermarket. As the end of the '70s started, punk was starting to lose its edge and become a cartoon. Whenever you heard Joe Strummer blare out the words to London Calling though, you knew that this was no joke. The punks were ready to go to war.