ABOUT PUNKY GIBBON
PUNKY GIBBON IS A PUNK ROCK DISCOGRAPHY AND INFORMATION SITE. IT BEGAN AS A HOBBY AND STILL IS. IT'S AIM IS TO BE A RESEARCH TOOL, NOT A BUSINESS.
I DO NOT SELL STUFF THROUGH PUNKY GIBBON AND I DO NOT MAKE MONEY FROM PUNKY GIBBON. IN FACT, IT COSTS ME £90.00 A YEAR. AND, NO, IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO OFFER DONATIONS OR GIFTS FOR THE UPKEEP OF THE SITE, SO PLEASE STOP OFFERING!
MY AIM IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION FOR FANS AND IS NOT TO SELL THINGS.
PLEASE STOP TRYING TO BUY STUFF FROM ME OR SELL STUFF TO ME - I AM NOT RICH ENOUGH!
THE TEXT IS MY OWN EXCEPT WHERE CREDITED.
UPDATES / ABOUT / WHAT'S INCLUDED
Lots of discographies updated and biographies corrected (see here).
NEW CUT-OFF POINT FOR WHAT RELEASES ARE COVERED
I've decided, after much faffing about, that I shall not be including information on new studio releases released after 1986 (although see below for the inevitable exceptions). By this I mean new studio recordings, not archival releases, which continue to interest me and I suppose you. (However, please see link below because some of this information can still be accessed here.)
I'd originally decided the year 2000 was a good cut-off - a nice, round year - but 1986 now seems a lot better. And it makes more sense.
The breaking point was updating and expanding the discography for the UK Subs: their last two studios LP of the decade were Japan Today and Killing Time, requiring at least seven entries for what are mediocre records. This meant doing a track listing for each release, and then images. Then I was threatened with having to update information on subsequent releases I like even less, such as Mad Cow Fever, Normal Service Resumed, Occupied and so on. Then there was all this shit by Vice Squad, Wire, XTC and The Vibrators I was dreading the thought of going through.
With apologies to great bands such as Screeching Weasel and Fugazi, I tend to think of 1986/1987 as being the end of the best punk era:
Come 1986/1987 the following bands had recently split, or were heading into a period of hibernation:
Crass (split 1984 but still made the odd one-off studio recording)
Minutemen (split 1985)
SS Decontrol (split 1985)
Dead Kennedys (split 1986)
The Clash (split 1986)
Hüsker Dü (split 1987)
Chelsea (had released Rocks Off in 1986, their last LP for three years)
The Damned (split 1987)
Black Flag (split 1987)
Discharge (split 1987)
999 (didn't really split but had made no new studio releases since 1985 and made no new ones until 1993)
Angelic Upstarts (no new studio releases in in 1988, 1989, 1990 or 1991)
Peter And The Test Tube Babies (no new studio releases in 1987, 1988 or 1989)
X
Devo
Angry Samoans
The following bands had been gone for a while but were about to reform (or had just done so):
Wire (came back in 1985, but made no new releases until 1987)
Alternative TV (1986)
The Dickies (came back in 1986 - although they never REALLY went away)
Adolescents (1986)
Bad Religion (1987)
Social Distortion (1987)
The Lurkers (1987)
Dead Boys (1987)
Sham 69 (1987)
Stiff Little Fingers (1988)
Buzzcocks (1989)
The following punk bands had reinvented themselves as something different:
The Mekons (had discovered C&W in 1985)
Suicidal Tendencies (had turned into metal heads in 1985)
TSOL (released a heavy metal LP in 1987)
The Stranglers (had been playing soft rock/pop since 1982)
XTC (had been going all psychedelic since 1983)
The Saints (had been getting less and less punk since they reformed in 1979)
Descendents (reinvigorated themselves in 1987 as ALL)
The Exploited and GBH (had gone more metal/thrash-sounding)
And then there's all the others which had split YEARS before and reformed MANY YEARS later:
The Dictators
RF7
Rocket from the Tombs
Radio Birdman
London
The Rezillos
The Members
The Boys
Magazine
The Wall
Undertones
Then we had groups like NOFX, Bad Religion, the Queers and The Vandals - some of whom had been going for a few years (or more) but were proving to be the start of the '90s thing rather than an '80s thing, and I generally prefer the '80s thing to the '90s thing.
I think you get the idea: basically, there was a period when punk petered out a bit and 1986 seems like a good place to stop listing records. There are some exceptions to this rule, however:
If a band with a long discography had its last releases in 1987 (i.e. Husker Dü) and/or its last release for YEARS in 1987 (ie. Rudimentary Peni), I've included those releases just to make the discography complete. It just doesn't seem right to have everything a band listed except one last record.
So, to recap, new releases after 1986 are being ignored: except where the occasional exception applies. I know this will annoy some people (especially because I am removing these items from the site!!) but it's my site and I gotta do it.
For ease of reference, the following bands have been removed completely from the main site for the reasons stated above:
The Abs
Action Swingers
Active Minds (well, not entirely - there's some compilations listed)
The ADZ
The Aints
ALL
Alloy
Anti-Heros
Argy Bargy
Armitage Shanks
Bad Influence
Jello Biafra
Dim Stars
Gods Lonely Men
Greg Graffin
The Hanson Brothers
The Insurgence
Texacala Jones & Her T.J. Hookers
Lard
Pinups
Screeching Weasel
However, because I've already done the work - and quite a lot of it, I might add - I have moved them into a separate section called ARCHIVE which will not be updated.
I have also used this archive section for the stuff I've already done on later releases by Stiff Little Fingers and Sham 69. I'll re-up the information on later stuff by The Dickies, The Lurkers, 999 and others if enough people ask me to.
And consider this also:
Due to the information/requests coming my way, I am now NOT including information on alternative/foreign pressings of records and reissues. Many thanks to everyone who has been sending updates on obscure foreign variants and reissues, but I've decided to make doing this website FUN again, not a brain-numbing chore.
I'M STILL UPDATING THE FOLLOWING- Band lineups (where known) and photos (where available)
- Links within the "lineup" information so you can see what other bands that person was in (this is very selective)
- Discographies for the more important labels i.e. Dischord/No Future/Raw and so on
WHAT'S INCLUDED
"You ain't no punk, you punk"
I aim to be comprehensive, with caveats. There are sooooo many bands that could be described as punk or punky - but aren't. Including them all would be as pointless as it is futile. I like to think all the well-known acts are going to be covered (this is a work in progress after all), as well as all the important "unknown" ones. There are literally thousands of painfully obscure bands who released singles and then vanished, bands hardly anyone has ever heard of.
If you want to find a place for them here, PLEASE CONTACT ME.
Many of the bands listed are indisputably Punk Bands: Sex Pistols, Dead Kennedys, Angelic Upstarts, (and though some morons dispute this) The Clash. The grey area usually lies with crossover artists and punk offshoots such as New Wave, Goth and Industrial. So I'll address them briefly.
PRE-PUNK BANDS - For the sake of history, I will be (eventually, but don't hold your breath) be listing a number of pre-punk bands who have influenced punk in a big way: The Velvet Underground, MC5, Stooges, New York Dolls, Modern Lovers, a handful of '60s garage punk, Beefheart, some Krautrockers, pub rockers, the Cleveland bands of the early '70s, and so on. Can't be arsed with Bowie, Kraftwerk, Hawkwind or Roxy Music, although I acknowledge their influence.
METAL/CROSSOVER - Suicidal Tendencies, a punk/thrash combo will be included; Sepultura and Slayer will not - too metal. Bands like Napalm Death are an entirely different genre, although I might include early Napalm Death if I ever get around to it.
ACTS WHO LEFT PUNK BEHIND - Given that a fair few of the bands have changed direction considerably or had only a brief connection with anything punk, I have only listed what I consider to be "relevant" releases. Elvis Costello's early work is punky enough for me, his latter work is another matter. Television Personalities stopped playing punk in the early '80s and have issued many, many records since. The same goes for Joe Jackson and Vic Godard (minus Subway Sect). To list millions of records that fall out of the scope of this site would be pointless and, for me at least, boring. To be fair, I have pointed out in the general text where these conditions apply.
MOD/POWER POP - The Jam, The Vapors and The Chords were the punky face of neo-mod and will eventually be addressed; The Circles and Squire weren't, and won't. "Skinny tie" bands have no place here, although some of the better "power pop" groups do: this is a personal choice.
ELECTRONIC BANDS - bands like Soft Cell and Heaven 17 are ignored; more new romantic I suppose. Other electronic bands such as Suicide, DAF and very early Human League have an unmistakable punk thing about them, if more to do with politics and attitude than actual music, so I'll find a place for them. Eventually.
INDUSTRIAL/GOTH - I will be ignoring industrial bands - Throbbing Gristle and Chrome being notable exceptions - and Goth groups except maybe Bauhaus and a few others (Southern Death Cult, Brigandage). Ghost Dance and Sisters of Mercy are far enough removed from punk to be worth excluding, although I am happy to concede that the influence of punk is plain to see.
SWANNING AROUND THE SITE
Bands are arranged alphabetically, with "number" groups listed before the letter "A". Wherever I have not adhered to this rule I have used a cross-referencing system to send you to where those bands are discussed. Otherwise, you can search for specific stuff using the fancy search thingie (if it works), or by country, or even genre.
The listings contained within are as complete worldwide discographies as I can make them. The discographies are split into these categories:
- Singles/Albums
- Extraneous Releases
- Demos/Tapes
- Promos
- Bootlegs
- Various Artists
Singles/Albums
This is a rather generic heading containing proper releases which fall within a band's career trajectory i.e. they go into a studio, record some songs, and release them in album/CD/single/cassette form. Maybe they also issue a high profile compilation or live album with their consent, such as The Stranglers' Live X-Cert or Stiff Little Fingers' Hanx! Therefore, releases after a band has split up fall into the first category below. As for songs released as freebies, such as The Damned's Stretcher Case Baby or The Clash's Capital Radio, these are included not here but in the "Extraneous Items" section below because they are not strictly "normal" releases.
Extraneous releases
Includes records issued after a band has split (including high-profile best of's and live albums); cash-in live albums, compilations of demos and singles, box sets, twofers, unique reissues (such as the 1988 Clash singles I Fought The Law and London Calling), freebies. Occasionally I'll lump side projects into this category.
Demos/Tapes
This generally applies to anarcho and hardcore bands, who released their demos on cassette and sold them through the post or at gigs. They are not normal releases. Check out the Subhumans and The Apostles pages for elaboration.
Promos
I've been very selective about these.
When a band releases a new single or album, special copies of these are often sent out to radio stations or magazines as promotional tools. Sometimes they contain the full album/single, sometimes just selected tracks, and sometimes (in the case of promo CD singles), just the main song. Back in the days of vinyl, major record companies such as CBS and EMI issued promo (or demo) versions of many of their singles, which were usually identical to the standard releases except they would have legends such as "Release date" on the label, or big "A"s emblazoned across them so that reviewers and programmers would know which was the A-Side. Sometimes they came in company sleeves only, or generic looking ones which were all info and no fun. Therefore, they shared titles which their record they were promoting i.e. the promo version of 'White Riot' was also called 'White Riot'.
Sometimes the radio would get two versions of the same song, i.e. a stereo version on side one an a mono version on side two.
None of the above are included.
The only promos I shall include are ones with unique titles. Check out The Clash discography for details: promo versions exist for most of their singles, and are therefore excluded. There are however some other oddities: If Music Could Talk, Fingerpoppin' (AOR Re-Mix) and The World According To The Clash, which are.
Bootlegs
Not to be confused with pirated copies of proper releases. I've been very selective about CDR and cassette releases because there are so many of them and I'm getting sick of listing them.
Various Artists
Again, I've been very selective about these because there are so many of them. Generally, I've included them when: tracks included are exclusive to that release, the track in question is a rare single made widely available (through, say, Anagram's "Punk Singles Collection" sets), or the album is in itself important and/or noteworthy (Live At The Roxy London WC2, 1-2-3-4 Punk & New Wave 1976-1979).
THE RECORDS
WHAT'S COVERED:
All discographies relate to legal releases that are (or were) publicly available, as well as some of the more interesting promos and as many bootlegs as I can cover.
Which pressings are covered, precisely? Well, your standard Punky Gibbon discography will include:
Original Pressings:
1. Original UK pressing (on vinyl and, if issued, simultaneously on that format, CD)
2. Original US pressing (on vinyl and, if issued, simultaneously on that format, CD)
3. Original [insert country here] pressing (on vinyl and, if issued, simultaneously on that format, CD) for non-English bands.
Therefore, An Aussie band like the Saints might warrant three pressings (UK, US and Australia); but an English band might warrant just two (UK and US), or one (if said release was US-only).
Note that some Foreign pressings are included throughout. Many records since the early '90s were pressed in Germany and the Netherlands and distributed throughout the whole of Europe, including the UK. I have listed these as they are essentially UK releases, but I have stated their actual country of manufacture.
There also a number of labels which made records that were heavily imported into the UK, or intended for the UK market:
Epitaph Europe
Fan Club
New Rose
Munster
And some others
These have all been treated as if they were UK releases (although I have decided to remain true to their country of manufacture).
Reissues:
1. The best CD reissue. If the best CD reissue was issued in more than one territory, I've opted for the UK version as a first choice.
2. Especially interesting vinyl reissues. These are few and far between. A good example will be one which was never originally issued on vinyl, or a reissue loaded with extras.
Other Items:
1. Unique album length Foreign releases.
2. Tapes, if they're interesting enough.
Promos and Bootlegs
4. Promos, if they are unique.
5. Bootlegs.
WHAT'S NOT COVERED:
I have only noted cassingles and cassettes when they offer something unique (or are for some reason notable i.e. early examples of such), because I don't believe there is any real interest in these godawful things. I am not going to indicate the presence of inserts, special pressings and other record collector stuff, because although people keep asking me to, it's impossibly time-consuming - I have however added images of these where I have them. Essentially, you'll get all the releases of which I am aware; I'll give the original release date; label and catalogue number; track listing for each permutation; chart positions (where known); record credits as seen on the record; record credits not mentioned on the record (where known); reviews; and additional notes where I think it's appropriate. If they're pressed in red and you'd rather not buy The Lurkers instead, I'll include that because coloured vinyl is fun, but I'm not about to go into the minute details of label variants or slight differences in font sizes on back covers.
COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN: In this day and age, with the advent of the Internet, the country where any given record is manufactured and/or released is increasingly irrelevant and often impossible to pin down. Many labels - and not just the majors - have worldwide distribution, and nowadays it is quite normal to find records (chiefly CDs) in the UK that are manufactured in mainland Europe or Germany. In many cases, country of origin is fairly obvious, but here are some notable exceptions: France may be the home of New Rose (and its affiliated labels, Last Call and Fan Club) and Line may be a German company, but these labels readily distributed their product in the UK. So what's the solution? I've opted for the easy route and listed New Rose records as French, and Line as German, and wherever possible (or where I've remembered) I have stated if they were issued in the UK in that format. Also, it's no harder ordering an overseas release than a domestic one these days. In other words, if the disc has a UK address on it, I've listed it as a UK release, ditto for the USA, ditto for Sweden.
RATINGS: You can't really compare Horses with Let's Start A War (Said Maggie One Day), at least in terms of perceived quality; they're so different. And you can't really claim one is more punk than the other (although the latter oh-so-obviously is: there's more swearing on it and fuck Patti Smith). I won't give ratings; they're for idiots who only skip to the 1 star review for a laughs. I might start issuing a "buyers guide" for some of the longer discographies, such as UK Subs or PiL, pointing you towards their key releases (although this would be necessarily subjective).
