10 banging punk album openers

This is an article about punk rock, so naturally, I would like to begin by talking about baseball. Don’t worry. The baseball talk will only last one paragraph. You see, I’ve never understood why it has been traditional to bat your best hitter in the number 3 position in a baseball lineup. I mean, I understand it – I just don’t agree with it. And neither does Dave Roberts, manager of the newly-minted World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers. Roberts had Shohei Ohtani batting lead-off because he is their best hitter, and by batting him first, you maximize the number of times he gets to swing the bat.

With that off my chest, let’s talk album openers. I know a lot of thought goes into the order of songs on an album. Or it used to, back in the days before streaming. These days, maybe not quite so much. But there is still a logic to it. And I’m not really sure why you don’t always lead off with the best stuff. You’ve got to hook your listener.

A great opening song establishes the tone. It makes a promise to the listener. “Here’s what you’re getting if you invest the time to listen to this entire album.” Both lyrically and tonally, it is the platform from which the rest of the songs launch. It can be hard to get the balance right. “You’re No Good” was not good Van Halen, but it wasn’t such a bad way to open Van Halen II. But “Running with the Devil” was both a great song and a perfect opener for their debut. If I get around to doing a hard rock album opener list, I suspect I’ll be mentioning that one.

10 of the best opening songs from punk albums

I will not be mentioning “Wu-Revolution” if and when I do a hip-hop list. Just in case you were wondering. I know – you weren’t. You came here to read about punk songs. So let’s get to some punk songs.

“London Calling” is the emeritus choice here. I happen to think London Calling is the greatest album of all time, so its title track opener would certainly be on my list a great punk album openers. But I tend to mention London Calling a lot and I would like to spread the love. That’s why it is emeritus. It also means you actually get eleven songs here for those of you into value-added products.

With that disclaimer out of the way and in chronological order, here are ten absolute punk bangers that open their albums.

“Search and Destroy” by Iggy and the Stooges (1973)

Though some lamented the way producer David Bowie seemed to glam up the Stooges, the title track of Raw Power is a perfect intro to a sound that manages to be hard, raw, and still melodic. Some of the credit goes to new guitarist James Williamson. Of course, much of it goes to Iggy himself who co-wrote the lead track with Williamson and sings it in an ideally modulated voice that begins with his typical twitchy energy and then builds to a shrieking climax. Much in the way the entire album does.

“I’m a streetwalking cheetah with a heart full of napalm.” Abstract and topical, all in one opening line and one opening song.

“Cherry Bomb” by the Runaways (1976)

They weren’t the first all-female hard rockers, but they were the first that garnered major attention. With “Cherry Bomb,” the opening track off their self-titled debut album, that attention scared the crap out of suburban American. With 16-year-old Cherrie Currie sneering out salacious lyrics and the twin guitars of Lita Ford and Joan Jett blasting away at some rudimentary riffs, “Cherry Bomb” did exactly what producer/Svengali/songwriter Kim Fowley intended. It introduced a new type of female rock & roller. A band that was not simply going to look and sing pretty.

“I’ll give you something to live for – Have you and grab you until you’re sore”

“Kill the Poor” by the Dead Kennedys (1979)

With a title like Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, the Dead Kennedy’s debut album was bound to be an acquired taste for some. If that wasn’t clear before listening, the first track made it very clear. We now enter the political portion of the punk era.

The Sex Pistols were trashing the establishment across the pond, and the DK’s Jello Biafra was keeping right in step. His operatic opening vocals make clear that this will be an in-your-face blend of passion and camp. It is exaggerated and undeniable. More than anything, it is provocative.

“The jobless millions whisked away – At least we’ll have more room to play – All systems go to kill the poor tonight.” It could have been the theme song for The Purge more than forty years later.

“Rise Above” by Black Flag (1981)

Greg Ginn is about as important as you get in the world of punk music. As a band leader, guitarist, songwriter, and driving force behind SST Records, Ginn did more than anyone to help punk evolve from its early roots into post-punk, hardcore, and beyond. By the time Damaged came out in 1981, the band had cycled through three different lead singers on three different EPs.

On their first full album, they had a fourth man on the mic – Henry Rollins. The purely visceral explosion of speed and volume hits you in the face with Rollins' emphatic vocals on “Rise Above.” There is a punk revolution brewing in the suburbs, and it’s riding on Greg Ginn's guitar.

“We are tired of your abuse – Try to stop us, it’s no use.”

“Creep in the Cellar” by the Butthole Surfers (1986)

The four preceding songs come from albums that are often included in the pantheon of early punk music. Rembrandt Pussyhorse, the Butthole Surfers’ second album, is not generally considered in that league. That’s not to say it is a weak album by any means. It just suggests that the boys from Texas were often too unruly to ever gain a huge following.

Of course, that is what their fans adored about them. Lead singer Gibby Haynes was a genuine wildman, and that is communicated in the way they performed. “Creep in the Cellar” is a perfect introduction to the unique, disquieting sound that pervades their best music. It begins with an orchestral piano playing an eerie series of chords. Then Gibby begins his psychosexual narrative, which you can interpret however you like.

But what makes this a true Butthole Surfers’ gem is that spastic violin, recalling John Cale’s days with the Velvet Underground. That puts the creep in “Creep in the Cellar,” and if the story is true, it was discovered by the band on a used tape deck, initially recorded by a different band. What an awesome twist on the standard punk DIY ethos. It’s LSEDI, as in “let someone else do it.”

“There’s a creep in the cellar that I’m gonna let in – And he sleeps in the alley and keeps tracks of my sins.”

“Linoleum” by NOFX (1994)

From the second you hear those guitars at the needle drop of Punk in Drublic, you know something is different. It's not necessarily different for Fat Mike’s crew. Punk in Drublic was the LA band’s fifth feature-length album. They had been making similar music since their self-titled EP in 1985. Those earlier efforts were a touch sludgier. A bit heavier.

Ten years later, the songs on Punk in Drublic were bright and clean, and they did not lose a drop of energy or speed. They burst out of the loudspeakers, and “Linoleum” let you know that right away.

1994, of course, was the pivotal year in the birth of a new brand of punk, which is often called pop-punk. Green Day and the Offspring are often credited with their groundbreaking albums from ’94. NOFX was right there as well. Like Black Flag’s Greg Ginn, Fat Mike’s Fat Wreck Chords was becoming an indispensable label in the world of punk rock, though this particular album was released on Epitaph, the child of Bad Religion’s Brett Gurewitz.

“I’ve got a bed and a guitar and a dog named Bob who pisses on my floor – That’s right, I’ve got a floor.” How pop punk is that?

“Drain the Blood” by the Distillers (2003)

Brody Dalle namedrops “Rise Above” in the opening lines of the Distillers' third and final album, Coral Fang. Dalle was just 25 at the time, but she had already lived the life of several punk-rock melodramas. And at this point, with her band’s first major label release, it seemed as if “rise above” was a proper attitude. Dalle sings with impassioned anger on “Drain the Blood.” The music pounds but remains melodic enough to have actual hooks. It’s old-school hard rock with a post-modern punk vibe.

Dalle has not proven to be very good at forming lasting partnerships. You can read up on her sketchy relationship with Rancid’s Tim Armstrong, who was almost twice her age when she met him as a teenager – or about her equally troubled marriage to Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme. I’m not weighing in on any of that here. The Distillers broke up after Coral Fang. But they sure went out with an excellent album, and perhaps the song that captures Brody Dalle better than any is “Drain the Blood.”

“All my friends I’ve murdered – Hey, all my bones, no marrow’s in – All these fiends want teenage meat – All my friends are murderers.”

“Another Door” by Bishops Green (2014)

Bishops Green came roaring out of Vancouver with an unstoppable rhythmic attack that recalled the formative street punk bands of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. “Another Door” leans heavily into that forward momentum, rolling downhill on its guitar riffs and bludgeoning bass. Later tracks dive deeper into "Oi!" shouting and stabbing guitars fills, but the opening track lays out the basic approach in an utterly simple, toe-tapping fashion.

This may be the best example I know of where the opener isn’t necessarily the best song on the album (that would be “Gross and Net”) but it is still the ideal opening tone setter (Shohei Ohtani be damned). Unfortunately, health-related concerns have caused Bishops Green to take a break from touring in 2024. Hopefully, they will be able to resume at some point.

“I wish I could but I lost the key – More government policies – Another door slams in your face”

“Kawasaki Backflip” by Dogleg (2020)

Dogleg does not exist anymore. Riding the crest of their debut album Melee and about to perform as support on a Touche Amoure tour, they abruptly disbanded due to allegations against founder and frontman Alex Stoitsiadis. Stoitsiadis penned an open apology when announcing that he would be stepping away from performing while addressing personal behavioral issues. To the best of my knowledge, he has not been heard from since.

If we can leave that aside for a moment, we are left with “Kawasaki Backflip,” an earworm of relentless guitars that sets the tone for one of 2020’s freshest post-punk albums. Dogleg was heavier and messier than standard pop-punk but no less melodic. (FYI – that same Touche Amoure tour had the band Foxtails in support. Foxtails was also hit with allegations that led to their being dropped. Enough said.)

“We can destroy this together, but you don’t talk to me – Will you be the fire or the wind?”

“Baby on My Birthday” by Skating Polly (2023)

If you’re looking for the definitive cowpunk, you’ve found it. “Baby on My Birthday” kicks off Skating Polly’s sixth album, Chaos County Line. Kelli Mayo begins in her cute little girl voice, but soon she and her sister Peyton Bighorse ramp up the grungy guitars, and Mayo turns virtually psychotic in a glorious cacophony of cutesiness merged with gothic horror. It’s a little bit like Dora the Explorer starring in a remake of The Exorcist and it lets you know full well that anything is fair game in Chaos County.

“You don’t know how it feels to be part of a ten-piece hillbilly family – I’m not the leader of the pack or the itty-bitty runt – I need to find a way for attention.”

OK – somehow, I managed to get from Shohei Ohtani to Skating Polly. I’d say that’s a pretty good journey for one day. Next time, maybe we’ll look at great metal openers. Then again, maybe not.

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