After not really taking much of an interest in music as a kid (the odd early Queen, Slade or Sweet appearance on TOTP amongst the usual dirge of Tamla Motown and Brotherhood of Man the only thing to keep my attention), one night in 1978 my brother and I were parked in front of the box (again watching TOTP) and from the opening chords of the Boomtown Rats' "Looking After No.1" we suddenly realised the music we'd been looking for had arrived. In the coming weeks, the Stranglers and the Jam added themselves to our list of favourite bands and, as they say, the rest is history... here's a quick list of those bands who have particularly blown my mind - last updated 22nd Jan 04

	45 Grave	Long before Goth became fashionable, Dinah Cancer and her band were pumping out their high octane creepy punk rock and it certainly worked for me! Highlights are their 1983 "Sleep in Safety" LP and post-breakup "Autopsy". Dinah is still doing similar stuff with Penis Flytrap.
	Adhesive	A perfect blend of melody, aggression and great political lyrics, unfortunately now broken up. One of the best bands to come out of Sweden - my favourite record is "From Left to Right"
	Adrenalin OD	Awesome blend of fast and funny, AOD's first two albums are magnificent.
	BGK	Powerful political heavyweights from the Netherlands
	Bad Brains	A band whose early material certainly surpasses their later efforts. At the time they became popular they were unique as a Washington DC-based Afro-American Rastafarian punk band. The cassette-only self-titled release on ROIR (now available on CD) in 82 definitely their best work. I got to see them once in Stevenage and that gig stands out as the closest to musical orgasm I've ever, erm, come... and I couldn't even afford a beer that night so no chemical enhancement either
	Bad Religion	Pioneers of melodic hardcore with intelligent political lyrics, their debut 7" and LP are good but a little basic, but the followup "Into the Unknown" was horrible. They then split but reformed in 1988 and released 'Suffer', which is a classic. I also love 'No Control' and 'Against the Grain' but their stuff got very samey and after Brett Gurewitz left they totally lost their edge. He's now back and their new stuff is OK but still very much a variation on a theme. Greg Graffin is the only lyricist for whom I need a thesaurus handy when reading the lyric sheet!
	Battalion of Saints	Legendary band, most of whose members are now dead. Their 1984 'Second Coming' LP still rips my head off every time I hear it. Don't bother with the more recent 'A.D.' stuff which is pretty boring
	Bivouac	I seem to have a thing for guitar gods (Bob Mould, Ken Chambers etc) and Paul Yeadon really should be added to that list. I saw these guys loads of times in the early 90s and they never disappointed. Even after signing to Geffen their material was still good - they broke up in 95, victims of the death of grunge, in which pigeonhole they'd been stuck.
	The Bollweevils	Early stuff pretty forgettable, but 'Heavyweight' is a superb LP. Pity they split up just when they were at their creative peak. Also get hold of 'History of the Bollweevils Part 2' which contains a load of later era B-side and comp tracks, all of which are excellent.
	The Damned	Their early stuff with Brian James was pretty sound (New Rose particularly) but Machine Gun Etiquette is one of my favourite records ever. From the opening mayhem of Love Song there isn't a bad track on it, and Vanian's vocals are exceptional. Pity they degenerated into drippy pseudo-gothic pop after the mostly-OK 'Black Album'.
	Dead Kennedys	Fantastic early 80s punk band whose politics were instrumental in my education. Jello Biafra is still out there doing spoken word shows, but the recent legal action and pathetic 'reunion' with various other vocalists has damaged their legacy.
	Dezerter	Polish punk veterans still going strong and turning out quality music throughout their career. Started back in the Communist era when anti-government political activism usually resulted in arrest, so the utmost respect to them. The '10 Years' EP recorded with Kaska Nosowska reworks their debut record with additional female vocals and is fantastic.
	Government Issue	Another band I grieve at never having seen. I actually turned up at the George Robey to see them back in the 80s to find out they'd had a crash in their van and John Stabb had broken his leg. Their material is split between the rough early (pre-1985) hardcore stuff - 'Blending In' is one of my favourite tracks of all time,and their much more melodic later releases which was still outstanding. 'World Caved In' still reminds me of a girl I spent way too much time fruitlessly chasing back at college in 1983, and 'Massacre' has one of the most infectious riffs ever recorded.
	Husker Du	Bob Mould's unique guitar sound, especially during the Metal Circus, Zen Arcade and New Day Rising era still hits my musical G spot every time. Utterly superb until they signed with Warners, then a decline until they split in 1988. Mould went on to form Sugar who were also excellent and then went solo. His latest work dabbles heavily in dance music and synthesisers but there's still some of the old magic there.
	Joy Division	My favourite band in the world during my school days. I loved their abrasive early 'Warsaw' material, and was into them long before the release of 'Unknown Pleasures' when they became darlings of the British music press. Even though their later material was utterly depressing, they had this majesty about them which evaporated after Curtis' suicide and the frankly shit New Order could never emulate. Managed to see them once at the Rainbow in Finsbury Park supporting the Buzzcocks, after which I could die happy.
	Kerbdog
	Kid Dynamite
	Killing Joke
	Monsterland
	Moving Targets
	Naked Raygun
	Overwhelming Colorfast
	Poison Idea	First heard these guys on the Xcentric Noise comp tapes and they blew my brains out. The 'Pick Your King' EP and 'Kings of Punk' LP are two of the best punk records ever recorded. Pity they lost their edge and degenrated in shitty metal around the turn of the late 80's/early 90s before breaking up in about 94. Managed to catch them at ULU where they were fantastic, but a bittersweet time due to my breakup with Anna the week before.
	Pulley
	Quicksand
	Rudimentary Peni
	The Ruts
	Samiam
	Satanic Surfers
	Sense Field
	Sex Pistols	Never Mind the Bollocks is still THE punk album of all time, and still sends shivers up my spine 26 years after I bought it while away on French exchange with the school and smuggled it into the house as I knew my Mum would make me take it back if I brought it home from a record shop nearby.
	Shades Apart	Saw them at the Forum in Tunbridge Wells supporting Samiam in about 97 and almost killed myself dancing. The first four records were great, but like so many they signed to a major and forgot everything that made them what they were, sapping down to make themselves more radio friendly and even re-recording some of their old good songs and making them sound like shit on the awful 'Eyewitness'.
	Sinkhole	All the current crop of pop-punk teenybop stars ought to grovel at the feet of Sinkhole. Without sacrificing their punk edge, these guys crafted the catchiest tunes on the planet between 93 and 96. Get 'Groping For Trout' or the post-breakup 'Retrospectacles' and you won't regret it.
	Siouxsie & The Banshees	The first two LPs and 'Hong Kong Garden' single are totally awesome. After Severin and McKay left, the material became much poppier and I eventually lost interest when the sappy 'Kiss in the Dreamhouse' came out in 82. Standout track which still gets me going is 'Love in a Void'.
	Six Minute War	The band that first introduced me to socialist politics as an incredibly naive 16 year old when everyone else was on the Anarchy bandwagon. My first ever on-stage experience as I was hauled up to help do backing vocals during their Action Space Theatre show supporting Flux back in the early 80s.
	Stiff Little Fingers	I still remember the hairs standing up on the back of my neck the first time I head the intro to 'Alternative Ulster' coming out of my radio listening to John Peel one night in 1978. Another band who literally took thier lives in their hands by telling it like it was while living in the middle of a warzone - once they signed to a major and moved away, their whole creative impetus vanished and they quickly turned to shit. Anything recorded 1980 or earlier is superb, the later stuff stinks.
	UK Decay	When I was at school in Bedford, these guys from Luton were our local heroes and I lost count of the number of times I saw them. Again mentuioned as embryonic goth pioneers, they very much did their own thing in the early 80s - the standouts probably being their 'Sexual' 7" and Rising from the Dread 12".
	UK Subs	I lost count of the number of times I saw these guys in my teens - Charlie Harper is just one of the most down-to-earth decent people I've ever spoken to; last time I saw them was in a tiny pub (the Shelley Arms, now defunct) just up the road from where I live in front of about 70 people. The first three albums are great and totally epitomise the whole late 70s UK punk spirit.