The Top 10 Most Underrated Punk Bands

When people talk about the usual suspects are guaranteed to be mentioned. Bands such as the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Jam, Green Day, Bad Religion, and Rancid are always talked about, but there are many other great punk bands that may have found success back in the day, but either failed to reach the same success as some of their peers or have become less known as the years go on. Here are 10 of the most underrated Punk bands that you need to listen to.

10. Descendents

Descendents formed in 1977 and are still performing today. The band has disbanded many times over the years, but not because of bad blood within the group, but because of the singer, Milo Aukerman, going to college to pursue an education in biology. Milo holds a doctorate in biology from UC San Diego, conducted postdoctoral research in molecular biology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the University of Pennsylvania. Basically, he is super smart. When he isn’t researching plants and other aspects of biology, he can be found on stages across the world and the band is often hailed as the founders of Pop-Punk.

9. The Vibrators

The Vibrators formed in 1976, signing to Epic in 1977, with a Top 30 album following shortly after. Their song “Automatic Lover” was the bands only song to crack the Top 40 in the Singles Chart. The band is still performing today over 40 years later. Stiff Little Fingers name comes from a The Vibrators song of the same name, the more you know.

8. Eddie & The Hot Rods

Eddie & The Hot Rods has remained one of the UKs top pub bands since they formed in 1975. The band broke up from 1985-1996 before reuniting until 2019 when the bands lead singer, Barrie Masters, suddenly passed away at the age of 63. The band saw moderate success in their early years, with their most successful album, Life On The Line, charting at number 27 in the UK Charts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUYkHNAtXTI

7. U.K. Subs

The U.K. Subs was formed in 1976 and the band are still performing today, having released 22 albums throughout their near 45-year career. The band saw 2 Top 20 albums in the early 80s and has maintained a fairly decent fanbase throughout the years. One of their songs “Down On The Farm” was later covered by Guns N’ Roses on their “The Spaghetti Incident” covers album in 1993, the last studio release by Guns N’ Roses for 15 years.

6. Zebrahead

Formed in 1996, Zebrahead has released 13 albums to date, taking influence from Punk, Ska, and Rap music. The band has found relative success throughout the years with songs such as Anthem and Hell Yeah. Zebrahead found the most success in Japan where they regularly tour. If Rap infused Ska-Punk sounds like your thing, there’s plenty of great songs to choose from.

5. MxPx

MxPx was formed when the members were just 15 years old, finding success fairly quickly, signing to Tooth & Nail Records the following year. For nearly 30 years the band has been together, with no member changes, releasing album after album and regularly touring.

4. No Use For A Name

No Use For A Name was one of the top 90s American Punk bands, regularly featuring on the Warped Tour and being a key part of Fat Wreck Chords. Sadly, lead singer Tony Sly passed away in 2011, with the band immediately disbanding. Due to this the band has begun to be forgotten about, which is a shame as they wrote some of the best modern Punk music there is. If you need a little more persuasion to check them out, Chris Shiflett from Foo Fighters was a member of the band from 1995-1999, playing on tracks such as Chasing Rainbows, Invincible, and Coming Too Close.

3. Anti-Flag

Anti-Flag is one of the top bands in the American Punk scene, with fast-paced and aggressive politically fueled tracks such as The Press Corpse and This Is The End. Like many of the American bands on this list, they have a fairly large fanbase that is very loyal and dedicated. But outside of the scene itself, they aren’t a band that you will often hear and haven’t been able to recapture mainstream success after a brief stint in the early 2000s.

2. Siouxsie And The Banshees

Siouxsie and the Banshees enjoyed a 20-year career from 1976-1996, releasing hit songs such as Hong Kong Gardens, Dear Prudence, and The Passenger. The Sex Pistols’ Sid Viscious was a founding member of the band, playing the drums for the group. Siouxsie and the Banshees were a key part of the post-punk movement, but sadly as the genre lost popularity, so did the band.

1. Stiff Little Fingers

Finally is perhaps the most underrated Punk band of all time, Stiff Little Fingers. First gracing the airwaves in the late 70s, the Belfast quartet gained their initial popularity after the bands debut single, Suspect Device, was featured by legendary radio DJ John Peel. He loved the song so much he played it twice in a row. Since then the band has continued to release new music and tour for over 40 years, releasing hit songs such as Alternative Ulster, Fly The Flag, Tin Soldiers, and Nobodies Hero.

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.