Favorite Punk Guitar Riffs

Someone I follow on Instagram asked for favorite punk guitar riffs. I had opinions. This isn't exhaustive, but it's what came to mind at the moment I saw it:


The Ramones - Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment
The Damned - New Rose
Rancid - Avenues and Alleyways
Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen in Love
Television - See No Evil
Misfits - Last Caress
Dead Boys - Sonic Reducer
The Saints - Stranded
Sex Pistols - Anarchy in the UK
The Undertones - Gotta Getta



With some more thought I'd have included:

The Dead Kennedys - Holiday in Cambodia
The Clash - Should I Stay or Should I Go
The Blue Hearts - Owaranai Uta

and of course, the song this blog is named for:

The Dictators - Who Will Save Rock and Roll?

Misfits - Last Caress

My trainer Mike decided it was high time to educate the youngsters today about music. We ended up talking about The Misfits and he played a bunch, starting with this:



Great stuff. I insisted he follow it up with Where Eagles Dare.

Misfits - Where Eagles Dare

Reason #1 to love the Internet: Everything is out there somewhere.

Back when I was in High School, I got a ride . . . somewhere . . . with a friend of a friend. On the trip, he was blasting some hardcore the whole trip. All I could remember from the whole soundtrack to the trip was "I ain't no goddamn son-of-a-bitch." Decades later, that popped back into my head and I searched for it on Google.

Misfits, "Where Eagles Dare." Makes sense. He was a big Misfits fan, now that I think back. Also, the parking brake was how he stopped the van.


Good song, good stuff, and the Internet is pretty amazing if only for that one reason. It's all out there, somewhere, and even a single line from a half-heard hardcore song is enough to hear the whole thing over again.