I'm quite fond of Desaparecidos (side project of Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes fame. Very different style.)
Their first album from over 20y ago is still sadly very relevant.
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Honorable Mention: The Kinks - All Day and All of the Night (1964)
70s: the origins of the "punk" movement
Ramones - Do You Remember Rock 'N' Roll Radio?
The Clash - I'm So Bored of the U.S.A.
The Sex Pistols - God Save the Queen
The Stooges - Search and Destroy
Stiff Little Fingers - Alternative Ulster
80s: independent punk emerges
Adolescents - Kids of the Black Hole
Circle Jerks - Wild in the Streets
The Pogues - The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn
90s: punk evolves and goes mainstream
Rancid - Journey to the End of the East Bay
Strung Out - Exhumation of Virginia Madison
Dropkick Murphys - Barroom Hero
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - The Impression That I Get
Social Distortion - Ball and Chain
The Offspring - The Kids Aren't Alright
Anyway, there you go!
I tried to pick out what I think are some pretty quintessential examples of punk music across 3 decades, reflecting the style and subject matter of the bands and the context of that time period. But punk is much more stylistically and thematically diverse scene than people might think, so consider this list just a starting point.
Also, even though this list ends with the 90s, I should also say that punk continued to evolve and go pretty strong from the 2000s on, a lot of the bands listed continued to make great music and new bands continues to pop up too.
So there's a lot more to dig into.
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Check this post for some more modern suggestions.
I'm just going to choose a few bands and albums
The Chats - Fuck Off
Ausmuteants - World In Handcuffs
STIFF RICHARDS - State Of Mind
Private Function - Six Smokin Songs
Mini Skirt - Casino
Dennis Cometti - Suburban Condition
CIVIC - New Vietnam
Motormark - Chrome Tape
The Stubs - The Famous Fairy Tale
Obliviously, punk can get really into the weeds of "what is punk?" with Jeffrey Lewis, Defiance Ohio, or DEVO but I played it safe with those reqs since I didn't see them elsewhere in the list.
NOFX - The Decline has to be one of the greatest punk songs. At 18 minutes, it doesn't represent the average length of punk songs though.
If you want to dig deeper, watch this video where a YouTube bassist analyzes the whole thing.
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Bad Religion is pretty good.
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Listen to albums if you want to really go into something musically: I suggest you first two Ramones, first Clash and a taste of early garage rock like Who, Sonics, Stooges, MC5. (Then you'll have the ear to understand the many Post-Punk masterpieces.)
German recommendations as well?
Check out Ton Steine Scherben
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-HwQr1uP2DcO7VkO0xeqjrCeoGWmm9OQ
Edit: although their sound often isn't typical pogo punk
Else maybe look into WIZO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1JNS2t4_G4
Or some current stuff from Austria: Anda Morts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIF10b5e7Mg
Edit 2: and how could I forget Slime?!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRDfDkVRA70
Edit 3: and obviously Aufbruch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR7Wb13bXEg
Operation Ivy - The Crowd
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Kind of vague request, but this playlist looks decent enough as a starting point.
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Crass - Big A little A
On the music and image side, check out Iggy Pop and The Stooges, and of course The Ramones, for where punk started. Ramones are a bit odd here, because they wanted to recreate the energy of 50s-60s rock'n'roll, and as a result nobody else sounds quite like them, except bands that emulate them deliberately — but their songs work splendidly in the rock'n'roll style (can't find proper rock'n'roll covers, because they have a couple songs with that word in the title).
For where punk ended up, see Napalm Death — they married hardcore-punk to death metal, adding blast beats and inventing grindcore.
Lot's of US answers here, so some UK to counter it: Sex Pistols - Anarchy in the UK, Tenpole Tudor - Swords of a thousand men, Sham 69 - If the kids are united, Dickies - Banana splits, The Exploited - Maggie. One US band that no one ever mentions as a punk band: Beastie Boys, the whole album was released as a single.
NOFX - The decline has already been mentioned, so I’ll add social distortion- don’t drag me down.
When I want political aggro punk it's dead Kennedys, clash, mc5, atari teenage riot, black flag, bad brains.
For more of a rap alternative style would of course be RATM, Public enemy and for more of a nihilistic approach Death Grips.
Local band no one might know. These guys are fantastic, seen more Cry Havoc! shows than any other punk band. This is my favorite song of thiers
Less known UK bands:
Inner Terrestrials - Tales of Terror https://innerterrestrials.bandcamp.com/track/tales-of-terror
Radical Dance Faction - Surplus People https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=xhKsBHRpcvE
Autonomads - Breadline Britain https://autonomads.org/videos/breadline-britain/
Chumbawamba - The Day The Nazi Died https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLkPwxcIji0
AOS3 - Politics https://aos3.bandcamp.com/album/diversionary-tactics (track 4)
Sporadics - Tear Down the Law https://thesporadics.bandcamp.com/track/tear-down-the-law
Thanks for all the recommendations! Also, please remove the source identifiers, don't want to get our accounts linked!
The Damned - Machine Gun Etiquette
Fugazi - 13 songs
Sublime - 40oz to freedom
FEAR - I Don’t Care About You
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I'll be your Johnny on the spot by Ween.
Where is my mind by The Pixies
Look for a show on the radio that you can likely find online called "the ongoing history of new music" by Alan Cross it is fantastic for going in depth on new music starting with punk and new wave. There is some like 900 episodes.
pre punk: the stooges. search and destroy also the MC5: kick out the jams
dead kennedys: holiday in cambodia
fear: i love living in the city
minor threat: minor threat
bad brains: sailin on
butthole surfers: sweat loaf
sex pistols: god save the queen
Stiff Little Fingers - Alternative Ulster The Clash - London Calling FEAR - Let’s Have a War Misfits - Hybrid Moments Circle Jerks - The Crowd Rancid - The Way I Feel
There is so much good punk rock out there.
Circle Jerks - Live Fast Die Young
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13 Stitches - NOFX
John Wayne Was a Nazi - M.D.C. (Millions of Dead Cops)
Kill the Poor - Dead Kennedys
It's My Job to Keep Punk Rock Elite - NOFX
Wolves in Wolves Clothing - NOFX
Dinosaurs Will Die - NOFX
Holiday in Cambodia - Dead Kennedys
Linoleum - NOFX
Those capture the vibe for me
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I'd say that an excellent starting point is no fun by the stooges, a song which some (mostly me) would credit for intriguing artists to create the punk scene in the UK
Jeff Rosenstock's No Dream album is peak, as is its ska punk counterpart Ska Dream.
It's hard to distill Punk down since at its core it was anti-establishment and anti-conformist, and that could be expressed in various ways. But as others have mentioned, the Dead Kennedys really were the flag bearers for an evolved, purposeful, and thoughtful punk movement you may be looking for. Frontman Jello Biafra famously did not bend to pressure from state and fed on obscenity laws both in court and public debates and is an interesting story on its own.
Their obvious songs being Holiday in Cambodia and Kill the Poor.
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