2020 has been a truly awful year in many ways; lockdowns, isolation, social distancing, job losses, losing loved ones, pubs, venues, restaurants, cinemas and theatres closing, missing family and friends … life has changed beyond recognition
Like many other people, I didn’t realise quite how important live music was to my life. Going to gigs with like-minded people, having a bit of banter over a pint, enjoying familiar bands and discovering new ones.
Since March there’ve been no handshakes, hugs, smiles, chats over the merch table, handing over a tenner for a CD or a T-shirt which will help the band pay for their petrol home. I miss it, more than I ever thought possible.
Most of the new music I’ve discovered this year has been while sat on my own, in front of a computer, on Bandcamp, or Youtube, with some recommended by others. That’s great, but it doesn’t replace going to a gig.
Thank God then (or whichever deity you worship) that even if it’s been a hand-to-mouth sort of year for many of them, bands have stayed creative, and come up with some absolutely cracking music.
And it’s no exaggeration to say that in these troubled times, new (and old) music has helped keep me sane, as, like so many others, isolation has caused me to struggle at times with my mental health.
Last year, my first running this website, I produced a list of my top 20 albums of 2019 (which you can read here). In 2020 it’s proved impossible to narrow it down to 20, so I’ve done a Top 30.
Any of the top half a dozen could have been No 1, so I’ve tried to rank them by the impact they made when I first heard them, and how often I’ve gone back to them over the course of the year.
I haven’t included any compilations, live albums or reissues, while others are missing simply because I haven’t heard them, or because they’re too mainstream (eg Eels, James Dean Bradfield, Biffy Clyro, Bruce Springsteen, Deftones, AC/DC).
So without further ado, and in reverse order, here’s my Top 30 albums of 2020:
This is the third album from all-girl LA punk band Bad Cop Bad Cop, and it’s an upbeat record featuring 12 tracks which take their songwriting in a more personal direction than ever before. Well worth checking out. Read the full review HERE.
This Canadian punk trio come from the same Toronto scene as PUP and Fucked Up, but remain something of a rarity – they’re fronted by a black man. The Ends, their second album, is a short, sharp blast of energy, which sees The OBGMs (short for The oOoh Baby Gimme Mores) blaze through 10 songs in 24 minutes. Read the full review HERE.
Dirt Royal are an energetic three-piece rock ‘n’ roll band from Brighton who draw their influences from punk, indie and garage rock. With this second album they’ve found their own niche, while referencing bands like Secret Affair, The Enemy and The Spitfires. Read the full review HERE.
Huddersfield-based singer and pianist Carol is best known for her work with Crass co-founder Steve Ignorant, with his acoustic project Slice Of Life. This is her second album of solo material, but for all her links with the scene, this is not a rock record of any sort, but an album full of music from the heart, with real depth and soul. Read the full review HERE.
Dream Nails are a four-piece DIY punk band from London who mix unapologetically political content with sassy pop-punk joy. This is their debut album, but a few of the songs feel like old friends, having previously featured on the self-styled punk witches’ 2019 live acoustic album. Read the full review HERE.
If you don’t know what Canadian Celtic punks The Real McKenzies are about by now, 10 studio albums into their career, you probably never will. Blending driving punk rhythms with traditional melodies, their songs are often rebellious, sometimes poignant and frequently anthemic, and your record collection is a better place with them in it. Read the full review HERE.
Lion’s Law, from Paris, have come to be regarded as one of the elite modern bands of the worldwide street-punk scene. One listen to this fourth album and it’s easy to see why; their tunes, musicianship and sheer presence show them to be more musically proficient than many people expect an oi! band to be. Read the full review HERE.
Out Of Order are a street rock ‘n’ roll band from Montreal, Canada, who have been around in one form or another since 2001, and this is their fourth proper album. It’s 14 slices of Oi!-influenced punk which veers off at times into metal and hardcore territory, but there’s always melody at the heart of the record. Read the full review HERE.
If you want to fall in love with a young band who play modern punk with real old-school passion, look no further than Aerial Salad. Formed in Manchester in 2016, the three-piece burst onto the scene the following year with their excellent debut album Roach, which made it onto many critics’ end of year ‘best of’ lists. This follow-up is short but sweet – nine songs in just 26 minutes – it’s all killer and no filler. Read the full review HERE.
For the last nine years, glam punks Dirt Dox Disco have been on an unstoppable rise through the ranks of the UK’s punk scene. Looking like partygoers who’ve been left with the poundshop dregs of the dressing up box, they’re all about swaggering tunes with huge singalong choruses. This is another slice of irreverent singalong punked-up rock ‘n’ roll. Read the full review HERE.
Seven years after first recording together as The Sensible Gray Cells, The Damned’s Captain Sensible and Paul Gray returned with a second album. Joined by Johnny Moped drummer Marty Love, they explore their love of ’60s garage psych-pop. Sensible admits some of the songs were written for The Damned, but weren’t “wearing the right shirt”. Read the full review HERE.
Knife Club are a DIY punk ‘supergroup’ comprising members of various bands from Manchester-based TNS Records. This debut album contains moments of hardcore aggression, garagey guitar, lots of melody and addictive sing-a-long choruses. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable slice of punk rock noise. Read the full review HERE.
The League Of Angry Drunkards are three punk scene veterans from Lowestoft in Suffolk, the most easterly town in England. This is their second album and it’s packed with huge riffs, gnarly bass and pounding drums, and lyrics which show pride in working class roots. Read the full review HERE.
Hot Rockets are a three-piece punk-influenced band from Whitby, North Yorkshire, who have created quite a buzz since forming three years ago, building quite a following with their sleazy riff ‘n’ roll. This debut full-length is full to the brim with planet-sized riffs which will make your speakers shake. Read the full review HERE.
Brassick are a Birmingham band who play a mash-up of punk, metal and hardcore, and this long-overdue second album was their first new material in three years. From start to finish it’s an unrelenting barrage of fast-paced hardcore punk, with some massive guitar sounds and a rhythm section that could wake the dead. Read the full review HERE.
American hardcore band PEARS have made it to album number three, and if you haven’t discovered what all the fuss is about yet, it’s high time you did. Frontman Zach Quinn described it as “more uplifting than either record that we’ve done, but it’s not a happy record”. It’s full of anger and energy, and I like it a lot. Read the full review HERE.
Spunk Volcano, the masked lunatic who fronts both the Eruptions and Dirt Box Disco, is nothing if not prolific. Having already written and released a new DBD album this year (see No 21), he followed it with album number five from his increasingly impressive other band. Sometimes they’re silly, sometimes they’re rude, sometimes they’re sad – but you can’t ignore songs this good. Read the full review HERE.
Political punk icons Anti-Flag released their 12th studio album, and it was business as usual for the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, crew. Known for their politically-charged lyrics and activism, this is their usual mix of anarcho punk and hardcore, with a mainstream sheen. Read the full review HERE.
Blue-collar Philadelphia punks The Menzingers didn’t rest on their laurels during lockdown; they set about re-imagining their most recent album, 2019’s excellent Hello Exile (reviewed here). The result, recorded in homes, attics and basements, presents the 12 songs in a whole new light. Read the full review HERE.
London band The Speedways make guitar-based power pop which owes as much to classic rock ‘n’ roll as it does to new wave chops. They refer to their sound – only half-jokingly – as ‘Ronettes punk’. They write timeless songs about falling in love and having your heart broken. Every one of the 12 tunes here could be a single. Read the full review HERE.
Like The Menzingers, The Lawrence Arms trade in heart-on-the-sleeve punk rock which features anger and melody in equal measure. This is their first album in six years, and while they’ve mellowed a little with age, it still contains all the elements of their sound that fans have grown to love. It has a dark undercurrent, imagining an apocalyptic future, and it was a perfect album for this year. Read the full review HERE.
Dublin post-punks Fontaines D.C. arrived fully formed last year with debut album Dogrel, which earned them several end-of-year accolades – including ours. Could they do it all again with their ‘difficult’ second album? This builds on the formula that made the first so successful, but also takes them in a new direction which shows they’re not one-trick ponies. Read the full review HERE.
Punk rock in its original incarnation aimed to shock, whether it was the way bands dressed, the language they used or what they sang about. Sometimes a band managed all three, and Midlands misfits Hung Like Hanratty are keeping those values alive. They’re not for the easily offended, but this third album is full of infectious tunes. Read the full review HERE.
The Drowns are punk scene veterans from Seattle and Los Angeles who play an energetic brand of streetpunk, delivered with real conviction. This is their second album, produced by Ted Hutt, who has captured their ballsy live sound perfectly. It’s 11 slices of fast-paced punk rock ‘n’ roll, which will appeal to fans of bands like Cock Sparrer and Bouncing Souls. Read the full review HERE.
After three years in the wilderness, unable to record or tour due to legal wrangles, the brothers Jarman returned with their eighth album, on their own label, and sounding as good as ever. This is as fresh-sounding and vital as anything they’ve ever done, full of killer lo-fi indie rock tunes. Read the full review HERE.
Maid Of Ace are four sisters from Hastings who play no-holds-barred punk, veering towards hardcore in places. They’re finding their sound with each successive album, and this third offering is a big step forward, in terms of songs and production values. It’s their best yet. Read the full review HERE.
This is the debut proper album from a post-punk trio who have been creating quite a stir in London for the past two or three years. It was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, but certainly worth the wait. In equal parts frantic, considered, ear-splitting and melodic, they produce a harsh, noise-punk sound which mixes elements of ’80s anarcho bands with modern groups like Slaves. Read the full review HERE.
MMATSU are a cross-genre punk band from Norwich/London who combine elements of punk, ska, pop and post-hardcore, and this self-released record marks them out as one of the UK’s brightest up and coming bands. This is as accomplished a first album as any band could wish to make, with guitars that bite, a rock-solid rhythm section and horns that swing, while Millie could sing you the phone book, and make it sound good. Read the full review HERE.
I ‘discovered’ LA five-piece Spanish Love Songs as tour support for The Menzingers, and fell immediately for their heart-on-the-sleeve blue collar punk rock. This is their third album – and what a record! Tackling weighty topics like addiction, depression, debt, mass shootings, and climate change, it packs a powerful punch. Read the full review HERE.
This is the long-awaited third album by IDLES, the Bristol five-piece who bulldozed their way into the mainstream with their first two records, earning plenty of accolades and a few awards along the way. Ultra Mono is 43 minutes of barely-contained rage, railing against some of the most pressing social concerns of the day. Frontman Joe Talbot says they’re not a punk band. He’s right, they’re much more than that. Read the full review HERE.
So there you have it, my Top 30 albums of 2020. Doubtless there’s a few bands you’ve never heard, and others you’ve never even heard of, but these are the records which rocked my world the hardest in the year just ending.
I could list another batch which just missed out; Dream Wife, The Big Moon, The Blinders, The Lovely Eggs, THICK, Litterbug, Wendy James and TV Smith; then there’s some the albums that for one reason or another I haven’t got round to listening to, which could well have been contenders: Wire, Cro-Mags, The Defects, Pauline Murray, The Chats, 999, Bob Mould and Svetlanas, to name just a few.
Anyhow, hopefully there’s a few ideas here to spend your Christmas cash on. Thanks to everyone who’s clicked on one of my articles this year, and given me the encouragement to persevere with my musical ramblings, when at times it’s all seemed a bit pointless. See you in 2021. Surely it’s got to be better than 2020…
