10 Punk Albums You Need To Own

During most of the '70s, punk didn't really have a clear identity. While there were bands like the MC5 and the Stooges who laid the groundwork for the genre, the rock scene at the time seemed to be dominated by nothing but prog rock bombast and the more lackadaisical sides of hard rock. Just when it seemed like rock had lost its luster, this little street gang out of New York flipped the entire rock world on its head.

Coming like an atom bomb, The Ramones self-titled album is a watershed moment for the entire genre of punk rock. Instead of being just a clever idea, every song on here was a road map to how punk would be structured, complete with punchy tracks that got in and got out before you even had a chance to come to your senses.

While many would argue that the golden age of punk began with a band like the Sex Pistols, it was the Ramones who got their first with odes to sniffing glue, young love, and pretty much anything else that suited the band's cartoonish vibe. Most of the band's early output ended up becoming classics in their own right, but when talking about the greatest of all time, you can't get much better than the original source material.