10 Weirdest Cult Albums You Need To Hear

Most of what's on the charts is on there for a damn good reason. For as much as some of the material may seem annoying, many of the songs that are at the top of streaming services always have the tendency to get stuck in your head. However, other albums aren't meant to be catchy...nor even pleasant. Throughout the tenure of rock music, there have been many albums that have challenged the listener throughout their runtime. Whether it be a newer band with an abrasive sound or a seasoned band going through a weird point in their career, these albums have definitely made a handful of jaws drop in their time.

Granted, some of these are much harder to handle than others. While some of these just get by on the shock factor alone, the rest of these albums stand out because they put your mind through a woodchipper by the end of their runtime. They can be unpleasant, innovative, or just plain strange, but these albums have made many fans come back for more over the years. Even if they never really set the world on fire, all of the music presented here has at the very least intrigued the public over the years.

Towards the end of the '70s, punk was just starting to go in a heavier direction. While new wave may have been the cooler version of underground music, there was a tinge of hardcore punk that was rising from beneath the surface. People may have wanted to something a bit harsher, but nothing could have prepared them for something like the Germs.

Coming out of the California rock scene, these guys were some of the most chaotic musicians you have ever seen onstage, with Darby Crash being an absolute madman whenever the spotlight was on him. It got even weirder once you listened to GI, which made for the most abrasive listen the punk world had ever seen. Granted, some of these more chaotic passages are commonplace nowadays thanks to bands like Bad Brains and Minor Threat, but this first iteration actually made the concept of punk rock actually sound dangerous.

Though this album was certainly noteworthy in its time, the spark ended up snuffing itself out when Crash died in early 1980 of a heroin overdose. Guitarist Pat Smear may have been able to bounce back thanks to his work with Nirvana and Foo Fighters, but The Germs' maniacal take on punk rock remains one of the most underrated classics from the early days of the genre.