One of my favorite things about being a programmer is that I get to listen to music all day. I know that many of my peers do this as well, and we’ve all seen silly suggestive lists of “the best music to code to.” I’m old enough and cynical enough to know that my taste in music is better than everyone else’s, so I’m not going to waste any time arguing about what’s good or bad. It did occur to me the other day as I rocked-out-with-my-Mock-out that there are certain songs that define certain genres for me. So, I guess I’ll go ahead and start a silly suggestive list.
Musical genres themselves are stupidly annoying. Show me the person who says they can definitively state the differences between between punk, hardcore punk, and metal-core, and I’ll show you a person who’s argument is easily Swiss-cheesed. Genres are different for every person. What’s punk to me may be rock and roll to someone else. An original punk rocker might listen to some of these songs and say, [In sloppy British accent] “Whot tha fock, that’s fockin’ rocknroll, not punk!”
So, with that lengthy and broken disclaimer made, I now propose three songs that, to me, are quintessential punk rock. When I think of punk, I think of songs like these:
Scared of Chaka – “A Lie and a Cheat”
This is the song that made me think about doing this list in the first place. The classic, lo-fi sound, pounding drums, and ripping guitar, along with the understated distorted lyrics make this song a lot of fun to bounce around in an office chair to.
Dillinger Four - “Mosh for Jesus”
Sure, they’re from the same city as me, but I still think that Dillinger Four is one of the exemplary punk rock bands of the last 20 years. The sharp contrast between vocals and the unapologetic rampage of guitar and drums always get me nodding my head. Besides, what a great song title!
The Arrivals - “Born with a Broken Heart”
Not only is this a great punk song, it’s a great rock song. There I go, mixing genres again. Swiss-cheese is me. The bridge alone in this song makes it brilliant.
Those are the only three I can think of right now, but I’ve been missing my old days as a music reviewer, so I’ll probably whip out more totally off-topic and completely subjective posts like this in the future. Meanwhile, dear readers (assuming I have more than one), what songs scream PUNK to you?