Punk-rock was an attitude at first, but it was doubled with an eye-catching fashion sense and a good marketing ploy. Then, it very much became a sound – something powerful enough to cut through any speaker and distinguish itself from disco rhythms and grandpa guitar solos. Very few bands had both of these things going for them.

But today, I am talking specifically about the ones who did. I will be counting down the 100 best punk bands of all time. I will be listening to the albums that still sound fresh and starring at the fashion choices that have not yet gotten old. This is the best that punk has to offer.

The 100 Greatest Punk Bands of All-Time

1. Ramones

Ramones wrote the handbook on how to make punk rock. The New York natives were both lucky and cursed.

They were fortunate to find the winning formula, both in terms of sound and look. But they were just ahead of the punk-rock wave that they inspired, just a little too old for grunge, and just a little too fast and loud to register many chart hits.

What Ramones did rely on, though, was extraordinary consistency. While never ditching the 50s pop sound on benzedrine approach or their haircuts and leather jackets, the band made an inordinate number of great albums and extraordinary songs.

Nearly everyone who tries to write punk songs using power chords, who dresses up the band in uniform, or who insists on each member of the band pretending that they have the same family name owes something to the Ramones.

2. Sex Pistols

Sex Pistols was designed to be a great punk band. By that, I mean that manager Malcolm McLaren handpicked its members to be the sorts of people who could stir up chaos wherever they played.

But McLaren had been trying to get a group going for years. In John Lydon and the rest of the Pistols, he’d also found an extraordinary rock n’ roll band.

People like Frank Zappa were quick to quip that the Pistols couldn’t play. They couldn’t play jazz fusion, no, but who the hell wanted to hear that? They could sure play fast, exciting rock music.

Famously, Sex Pistols made one studio album only, “Nevermind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols.” But they caused enough trouble for a whole career.

Neither the reunions, the mysterious death of Sid Vicious, nor the frequent squabbles could change anything. Sex Pistols was a great moment in time, and the punk-rock band is responsible for some of the best songs in the genre.

3. The Clash

The Clash was a brash, confident band on a mission. Yes, they started nearly at the same time as Sex Pistols and were behind their rivals at the first whistle. But Joe Strummer and the rest of the group had a sense of mission about them.

The Clash brought politics into the mix. Strummer, Paul Simonon, Topper Headon, and Mick Jones wrote punk-rock songs about things that mattered – injustice, greed, and third-world countries rising against their oppressors. They were the Bob Dylan of punk rock.

The Clash’s songs, for a long time, also got better and better. This was the first important punk band to incorporate other styles – rockabilly, jazz, or hip hop.

By the time of “London Calling,” The Clash was also the first punk band to play in stadiums of fans. It all fell apart, of course. But The Clash had drawn a clear map to every well-meaning rock with a conscience to follow. For a while, The Clash really was the only band that mattered.

4. Bad Brains

Bad Brains were the Supermen of punk rock when they began playing their first live shows at the CBGB club. The musicians had acquired their chops from playing jazz. And they’d seen what Ramones could do and believed they could make their band sound faster, tighter and more aggressive. Their 1982 debut album proves that they were right.

But Brain Brains brought two other elements to punk-rock music – reggae sounds and a strong sense of spirituality. This helped usher in another batch of bands that played fast and focused on positivity and self-growth. And while all that’s great, “Sailin’ On” still sounds like being launched out of a canon.

5. Misfits

Punk-rock was already supposed to be scary and dangerous. What else could you add to it? What could tip things over the edge? For New York’s Misfits, the answer was to add gore, guts, images and sounds from old horror movies.

That was a mighty great shtick. But The Misfits was also a terrific band. Playing faster than most punk bands and eventually drifting into hardcore, Glenn Danzig and Jerry Only also wrote infectious pop hooks.

The original incarnation didn’t last long, but it launched a horror punk-rock scene and a legend immortalized by thousands of t-shirts of the band worn by kids worldwide.

6. Iggy and The Stooges

The Stooges came much earlier than punk rock. But without Iggy Pop and his Detroit friends, punk wouldn’t have sounded or looked the same. And, upon further inspection nowadays, the sound of The Stooges’ original three albums fits any classic punk-rock playlist just fine. For all these reasons, I’ve included them on this list.

The fact is that nothing was as loud, aggressive, and nihilistic as The Stooges’s three albums for a long time. No other band elicited the same kind of primal reaction in audiences who didn’t know whether to love or hate them.

Iggy Pop eventually, was led by David Bowie toward pop-rock acceptance. But if The Stooges would have been his sole contribution to music, it would’ve been enough.

7. The Dead Kennedys

The Dead Kennedys were funny and dangerous. Sure, there was humor to all of the previous, important punk bands, but none had worn it on their sleeves quite this way. And few, besides Sex Pistols, had quite the appetite to pick a fight with authorities like Dead Kennedys.

The band’s debut, “Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables,” pushed the envelope on what was tasteful or even legal to record. But punk fans reacted to the provocation.

The Dead Kennedys also developed a distinctive sound that still makes listening to their zany, over-the-top early albums a real treat, and the departure of Jello Biafra is a small tragedy for the scene.

8. Green Day

The people who’d been in the original punk-rock bands hated Green Day. The people who’d played in punk bands in the late 80s and personally knew Armstrong, Dirnt and Tre Cool, hated their success.

But that measure of fame made sense. Green Day played punk rock. It was just very poppy, silly, and well-performed. They wanted to be stars, and got it. They wanted million-selling albums, and they got those too.

When the controversy finally died down, Green Day was left with at least three classic punk-rock albums and songs that are known across the world.

9. The Jam

Oh, The Jam was punk-rock. The trio was punk-rock enough that The Sex Pistols ripped them off for “Holidays in the Sun” just to upset them.

It was just that The Jam dressed better than the rest, inspired by the mods and by the Italian fashion of the 1960s. And straight out of their teenage years, Paul Weller, Bruce Foxton, and Rick Buckler played better than most.

Debut album, “In the City,” best shows The Jam’s adherence to the punk-rock sound. By the time of their masterpiece, “All Mod Cons,” the band was still punk in spirit, but the sound was more sophisticated. That matters little. Placed alongside any of the great punk-rock bands, The Jam has the power and the material to stick around.

10. The Pogues

The Pogues showed punk-rock didn’t need to adhere to a formula of electric guitars and songs about hating your parents. Shane MacGowan and the rest of The Pogues were from Irish families living in England.

The band took inspiration from Celtic folklore. They often played acoustic instruments, and their songs sounded like old ballads. But, they were riotous, fever-drenched, and spectacular.

Celtic punk (or Irish punk) was born because of The Pogues. And, still, few bands have made greater albums than the likes of “Red Roses for Me” or “If I Should Fall from Grace with God.”

11. blink-182

blink-182 ushered in a new era for punk rock. The San Diego band wasn’t anchored to classic punk sounds. After a while, they weren’t even tied to the kind of pop-punk that had made groups like Green Day so successful in the 90s.

Nah, blink-182 either incorporated juvenile humor or emo-inspired despair into their lyrics. But they made each and every song immensely poppy and horribly easy to like. DeLonge, Barker, and Hoppus inspired a whole new generation of pop-punk bands. Despite forced reunion tours and albums, the passion for the band has never died down.

12. Buzzcocks

Buzzcocks long lived in the shadow of their more famous peers. This was, after all, a period where a strange number of great bands made their mark.

When the dust finally settled, few punk-rock bands had more strong singles than the Buzzcocks. Powerful yet highly melodic, the Buzzcocks is one of the best singles-bands in all of punk.

13. Blondie

Everyone played a role when on stage at CBGB. If the Ramones were tough guys from the streets, Blondie represented the preppy kids and the cheerleader. Make no mistake, however, the songs, especially early on, had the bite and energy of punk-rock.

Blondie was also among the first bands to accommodate their sound for the pop charts. It worked. The group ended up being one of the most successful acts of the 1980s. But it’s the people who saw the band early on at CBGB who’ll swear that they saw them at their best.

14. Germs

Germs was the band that brought back danger, chaos, and unpredictability to punk when many rock listeners stopped caring about it. Led by the highly intelligent danger seeker Darby Crash, Germs was as much a cult of street kids as it was a band.

The band was together for a very short time. Their L.A. punk opus “(GI)” was their only studio release. But few bands were as powerful, enigmatic, or influential as Germs.

15. Siouxsie and the Banshees

Siouxsie Sioux had been a part of the Sex Pistols’ inner circle just as the group was making it big and causing riots wherever they went. But it was clear that Sioux, known for her larger-than-life personality, would one day front her own group.

Siouxsie and the Banshees were like Sex Pistols, a band always on the lookout for trouble. It was also a band that brought in a sense of melancholy and darkness, helping to inspire the very first gothic-rock bands. Siouxsie and the Banshees is an important band and proof of just how savvy punk rockers can become.

16. Patti Smith

Patti Smith was a writer before she became a frontwoman. Smith further erased the barriers of punk rock. Her music focused on the poetry of her words and the manic energy produced by a band that was in love with the garage-rock groups of the 1960s.

Albums like “Horses” and “Easter” challenged what punk-rock could be and who it was for. A great and challenging artist, Patti Smith belongs to its place on the list of the most important punk acts of all time.

17. Talking Heads

Talking Heads snuck into the world of punk rock by playing in the CBGB club. But by the time of their debut album, what they’d kept was punk’s intense, jittery energy. The song subjects and lyrics were much quirkier, and the New York art scene much more inspired how they interacted with their audiences.

If anything, Talking Heads best reflects the DIY attitude of punk-rock and the fundamental idea of erasing musical rules. By the mid-1980s, the band’s brand of artsy punk had won them several chart-topping singles.

18. Television

Television, too, was a CBGB band, a brand-new invention. Tom Verlaine was another musician desperate to break from rock n’ roll conventions. But the way that the band broke from tradition was much different from the power chords of Ramones or the creepy songs by The Misfits.

Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd’s guitar dueling and songwriting verged on the abstract and courted the supernatural at their best.

Very few bands ever made better albums than “Marquee Moon.” It’s been particularly important outside of punk on the indie-rock bands like The Strokes. And it shows that punk rockers were not just brash but interested in poetry, art, and the surreal.

19. The New York Dolls

NYC was the city where the most important things that ever had to do with punk rock happened. And, The New York Dolls was the first band to prove that kids could really do it themselves and create a scene around their band.

Dressed in drag and trying really hard to sound like The Rolling Stones, The New York Dolls eventually became a hyped-up, enthusiastic rock sound, which was the basis for most of the New York punk rock that was to follow.

20. Cro-Mags

Cro-Mags may sound and look like thugs who might try and beat you up on the street and steal your wallet. In truth, however, Cro-Mags is a fascinating band. Inspired by the original punk-rockers but also by heavy metal, Harley Flanagan led a band spearheading a bold new aggressive sound. Critics called it hardcore metal.

But the story went deeper and included years lived out on the street, veganism, Buddhist teachings, and a fascination with the human race’s obsession with self-destruction.

You won’t hear it on the radio, but the album “The Age of Quarrel” has been massively influential on many punk-rock and hardcore bands.

21. Rancid

Rancid is part of the great lineage of punk-rock bands. Sprung from the ashes of Operation Ivy and clearly inspired by The Clash, Tim Armstrong’s band sought to bring the original spirit of punk-rock to the 1990s music scene. This also meant that the band was open to experimenting with rap or ska sounds. And it also meant that Armstrong wasn’t shy about getting Rancid featured in mainstream media.

Still, Rancid’s greatest achievement is the band’s discography. A group which has produced numerous classics along the way, Rancid more than deserves a place among the best punk rock bands ever.

22. Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers

Johnny Thunders was just a regular New York kid before strapping on a guitar and learning some stage moves from Keith Richard. Once he did that, however, he was transformed. The New York Dolls were proto-punk legends. They greatly influenced the DYI spirit of punk. But Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers were darker, sharper-edged and, in many ways, more direct.

The Heartbreakers recorded a great debut, “L.A.M.F.” As many predicted, conflicts and drug taking meant that they splintered soon after. Thunders recorded a few classics of his own, like “So Alone,” and grew accepted as a kind of saintly figure for punks. By the time of his passing in 1991, some called Thunders “the last outlaw.” It’s hard to say otherwise of this punk icon.

23. The Undertones

The Undertones made punk-rock their way, following little of the rules of bands back in England or the U.S. The Undertones were from Northern Ireland. Some of the tension that plagued the area influenced the band, but not in the way you might have assumed.

The band wrote songs about growing up, falling in love, and getting excited about life. What Northern Ireland did give them was ambition and a sense of joy. If you remotely debate the right of the Feargal Sharkey band to be on this list, just listen to the opening chords of “Teenage Kicks” one more time.

24. Elvis Costello & The Attractions

Elvis Costello was a bit more technically and lyrically advanced than most English punks. He also didn’t have the same haircut and never dressed in a leather jacket.

But Costello was angry. And, together with The Attractions, he was ready to bring that rage into great, sophisticated songs. In spirit, albums like “This Year’s Model” or “Armed Forces” belong to the best punk releases. As for Costello, he became one of the most esteemed songwriters of his generation. That’s pretty punk!

25. Richard Hell

Richard Hell might’ve been the original punk. Yet, his music is an acquired taste. And the story of his life is known mostly by people obsessed with the early days of his music scene.

Hell practically invented the chopped-up shirts, S&M pants and pins through jackets look of punk-rock. But he was also a punk-rock poet. He co-founded Television and The Heartbreakers. But his greatest contribution is the excellent, anthemic “Blank Generation” recorded with the Voidoids.

26. Black Flag

Black Flag didn’t just help to change the sound of punk in the 1980s, bringing more speed and aggressivity to the genre. The band, led by Greg Ginn, and once fronted by Henry Rollins, helped change how punk rockers were seen by their peers.

Few bands worked harder than Black Flag, organizing tours, self-releasing material, and trying to avoid inevitable trouble wherever the band went. Like the best bands, Black Flag has always meant an awful lot to an exclusive club of people.

27. The Stranglers

The Stranglers weren’t sure if they were going to be a punk-rock band. In many ways, fate had that sorted out for them. The band’s early sound was sharp, loud and driven by an irresistible snotty attitude.

The attitude remained intact even as the band’s compositions grew to incorporate psychedelic and pop elements. But, just try and find another band capable of writing and recording 1977’s “No More Heroes,” and you’re bound to fail.

28. Minor Threat

Minor Threat was the start of a new way of viewing the world. To many, punk had been about nihilism. It had been about doing things against authority. For Ian MacKaye and Minor Threat, punk rock was about the freedom of doing the best for yourself.

Minor Threat’s songs were short and blisteringly fast. Every lyric talked about the band’s attitude toward themselves and the scene. And although this hardcore underground punk band recorded little material, all of it is iconic.

29. The Damned

The Damned were one of the bands that, in 1977, battled the Sex Pistols for the heavyweight crown in the punk-rock weight class. And, sure, The Damned was one of the most convincing early punk bands, gathering a sizeable audience in the process.

They were the first band to make it big and tour the U.S. By the 1980s, The Damned had incorporated dark, goth-rock elements, as well as humour, into their releases. In the end, The Damned had one of the most interesting career arcs of any punk band.

30. Descendents

The Descendents are one of the most beloved punk-rock bands of all time. Who could hate them? The Descendents showed, once and for all that no formula creates a great punk band. They showed that fancy equipment, great clothes, or expensive production weren’t needed. All that was needed were great songs and unique personalities.

The Descendents were certainly unique. “Milo Goes to College” may have found the band stumbling into a classic. But it’s been the way in which the band has continued on its journey which has been the most surprising and satisfying detail of ALL.

31. The Offspring
32. Stiff Little Fingers
33. Against Me!
34. Social Distortion
35. TSOL
36. Bad Religion
37. Suicidal Tendencies
38. The Screamers
39. nofx
40. The Minutemen

41. John Cooper Clarke
42. X
43. Magazine
44. Billy Talent
45. The Vibrators
46. The Saints
47. Nuns
48. Generation X
49. X-Ray Spex
50. Dead Boys

51. The Cramps
52. Turnstile
53. The Exploited
54. The Bouncing Souls
55. The Slits
56. Sum 41
57. Circle Jerks
58. Alkaline Trio
59. Sleaford Mods
60. Inside Out

61. The Distillers
62. Good Charlotte
63. The Runaways
64. Simple Plan
65. Bowling for Soup
66. U.K. Subs
67. Operation Ivy
68. The Dictators
69. The Rezillos
70. The Boomtown Rats

71. AFI
72. Millencolin
73. Pennywise
74. The Only Ones
75. GG Allin
76. Fear
77. The Casualties
78. Propagandhi
79. Sick Of It All
80. Jimmy Eat World

81. DEVO
82. FIDLAR
83. The Used
84. Leftöver Crack
85. Lagwagon
86. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
87. Chocking Victim
88. The Vandals
89. New Found Glory
90. Authority Zero

91. Adolescents
92. Goldfinger
93. Tiger Army
94. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
95. Screeching Weasel
96. Guttermouth
97. No Use for a Name
98. 999
99. Agent Orange
100. The Adicts

Memorable Mentions

101 88 Fingers Louie
102 The Nipple Erectors
103 The Suicide Machines
104 Reel Big Fish
105 The Ataris
106 Morning Glory
107 Mad Caddies
108 PUP
109 Skids
110 Tom Robinson Band
111 The Adverts

Ready for a long listen? Here’s our dedicated Spotify playlist highlighting the best songs by the greatest punk-rock bands of all-time.

Do you still need more? See how many from this list made it onto our Greatest Rock Bands and Artists of All Time or how much of an overlap there is with our Greatest Alternative Rock Albums of the 90s.