10 Punk Bands You Need To See Before You're Boring

Time is a cruel mistress. One day you’re a rebellious teen who would never grow up to be some square in a suit and the next day you’re paying taxes. Before we know it, we’ll all be middle-aged, living in the suburbs, doing school runs and standing as Liberal Democrats for our respective local councils.

However, until that fabled time comes, we can still give society the proverbial finger through the medium of punk-rock. With cheap lager, power-chords and stage-dives, we can unite under a flag of freedom like the angrier incarnates of the hippies who came before us.

This is what we live for… until we get mortgages.

So super-glue your hair, look out your studded belt and lace up those Doc Martens. It’s time to check out some bands on the punk scene that you can still buy a ticket for and skank along to today.

Some of these bands are frankly far too old for pink mohawks as it is, so there’s not time like the present! Be sure to catch these guys before, just like your dwindling dreams of becoming the next Johnny Ramone, they’re gone forever.

Social Distortion’s music is an intoxicating mix of punk, blues, country and rock ‘n’ roll. This widely variable combination is what keeps fans engaged from album to album and has benefited the band by keeping them relevant in the punk scene over their forty year existence.

Originally kicking off in 1978, Social Distortion are considered to be one of the highest selling punk bands of their era, having sold over 3 million records. Given that they’ve only released seven studio albums since their inception and have stayed away from mainstream labels and charts, this has been no small feat.

As a result drug addiction, legal troubles, disputes and even death, the band have been on hiatus on more than one occasion and the line-up has rotated over the years. Despite these challenges, Social Distortion are still touring to this day, although they rarely leave North America.

This will be one of the harder bands on this list to catch if you’re living in the UK or EU and you should expect tickets to sell out fast if Social Distortion return. If we are lucky enough to have them again, it will be a tour no punk fan will want to miss.