Best British Punk Rock Bands From the '70s and '80s

Here is a list of some of the best Punk Rock to come out of Britain. If you have any more bands to add to this list, feel free to.
The Top Ten
1 Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although they initially lasted just two and a half years and produced only four singles and one studio album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, they are considered one of the most influential acts in the history ...read more.

The inspiration for almost every British punk band (including The Clash). They did what punk bands are meant to do - burn up after their first album.

the sex pistols were the real definition of punk rock... everyone else on this list is great, but the sex pistols just took it to a whole other level.

What the hell would we be listening nowadays if the sex pistols never happened, I still listen to never mind the bollocks weekly,
And the live album from their 1996 Finsbury park filthy lucre tour,
If you ain't heard it get yourself a copy quick

Never Mind The Bollocks remains among the best and most influential punk album of all time - all made their money and living lavish lifestyles, good for them!

2 The Clash The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk.

Unlike the pistols with a huge selection of one amazing album, the clash have three amazing albums, two good ones, and a steaming pile of crap. The clash were able to explore different genres while still being punk. For example they did a rap song, they did funk, R&B and even dance. But they were still punk rockers.

The Clash are well deserving of this spot, just listen to London Calling album and their debut album. America has Ramones and England has Clash!

The clash was revolutionary for punk. They took punk to new places. The clash are the gods of punk. Go the clash you deserve number one!

Sold out to America. Overrated and never true punk. Punk was never ska or reggae, listen to them!

3 U.K. Subs

Gave me the punk injection 35 years ago and they burnt down the house tonight in innsbruck!

Just about making the top 50? Fantastic punk band and Charlie Harper...what a legend.

Punk still, punk forever! Charlie Harper rules!

Best punk band ever what a guitarist.

4 The Damned

Saw them in 1976, better than the pistols and clash at that time, closer to the Detroit sound than the rest

The Damned brought out the first TRUE punk record, New Rose. Full of energy, full of bite and great beat to pogo to. What more do you want?

I don't understand why Clash is above this band... Clash is more post punk than punk rock, but this band... 100% punk rock!

Classic versatile group that have proven to inspire many modern groups with there lyrics and still popular today on the goth punk scene.
To top it all the unique voice of Dave Vanian!

5 Buzzcocks Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band formed in Bolton, England in 1976 by singer-songwriter-guitarist Pete Shelley and singer-songwriter Howard Devoto.

Unique lyrics, catchy beat and just enough anger to quench your rage.

One of the best early punk rock bands and there music actually tells a story not just a bunch of works!

Their combined singles (Singles Going Steady) show their real strength

The Punk Beatles! Absolute classics were made by these guys. Even better than the Clash in my opinion!

6 Stiff Little Fingers

Inflammable material is still one of the best albums of all time, still mind blowing to any generation

Best punk band of all time.

Inflammable Material still blows me away

By far the best band in my teenage years and they are still going strong today. Bloody love 'em!

7 The Anti-Nowhere League

'I Hate People' surely one of the most underrated punk tracks of all time!

Animal and co made some classics
We are the league one of the best punk albums made

So they are 41 on the list, SO WHAT?

8 The Business
9 Sham 69

No question...the best punk band and still doing it in 2015. From the heart and no bull, no other band ever told it from the heart like Sham 69. Always and Forever.

"If the kids are united...", nothing else to say!

Sham 69 told it as it really was. Still doing it nearly 40 years on! Pursey and Parsons legends. We come from places you don't wanna go! No other band comes close. The greatest band that ever lived!

Not in top 10 where are the likes of ruts skids undertones!

10 Charged G.B.H.

G.B.H. NUMBER 46! Have you lost your mind? In the top 10 is more like it!

Great band, great tunes, always deliver live

I am the Hunted. is a top ten bit of noise anyday.

City Baby is a classic,top band.

The Contenders
11 Subhumans

#1. Still together today. Way more integrity than short lived junkies.

Still sound as good now as they did back in the day.

12 Sid Vicious John Beverly, born John Simon Ritchie, later named Sid Vicious, was an English musician, most famous as the bass guitarist of the influential punk rock band the Sex Pistols, and notorious for his arrest for the alleged murder of his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen.

Remember climbing the rigging what a weird song man

Just a tad overrated...

He did it his way

13 Rudimentary Peni

Should be in the top ten.

14 Cockney Rejects

Far and away the best Punk band / any band of all time, and still going more than 25 years later... awesome...

Definitely should be in top 10.. great band

15 Discharge Discharge are a British musical group formed in 1977 by Terence "Tezz" Roberts and Royston "Rainy" Wainwright. While the band has had substantial line-up changes over its history, the classic line-up from the early 1980s featured bassist Wainwright, drummer Gary Maloney, Anthony "Bones" Roberts playing guitar, and vocalist Kelvin "Cal" Morris.AllMusic calls the band's sound a "high-speed noise overload" characterized by "ferocious noise blasts".

The best hardcore punk group bar none - spawned thrash metal

Best band ever

16 Conflict

I am shocked to the core that Conflict and their seminal album the ungovernable force isn't anywhere in the list considering they influenced a lot of bands included. The most influential Anarcho punk band after Crass. If you don't know you weren't there.

17 The Jam The Jam were an English mod revival/punk rock band during the 1970s and early 1980s, which formed in 1972 at Sheerwater Secondary School in Woking, in the county of Surrey.

This band mixed beat lyrics teenage angst and style to deliver social and political relevance in hard hitting 3 minute hits. not punk but still important but still impact. Red Cow.

Their punk stuff, which is on their first couple albums, is not their best work, but it is still damn good and better than some of the stuff above them on this list. -James Richards

The Jam 28th? What? Listen to the "In The City" album from '77

More Mod than Punk, but Mod with a hard edge and fantastic lyrics. Saw them in 1980...so much energy.

18 Crass

They stuck to their punk rocky values!

The clash, the adicts, the damned and crass

Excuse me but you obviously haven't heard Sham 69!

Most woke punk band

19 The Stranglers

Put their later material to one side for a moment... Anyone who saw The Stranglers in their early years would've witnessed 'punk' at it's very finest.

By far and away better than any other punk band

They were too old to be punks, too outrageous not to be. Brilliant band.

Easily the best group on this list.

20 X-Ray Spex

If more people heard her voice, listened to their music and listened to her lyrics, then Poly would be recognised ad the tragic punk genius she was. She made punk beautiful and intelligent. Listen to her the vote for her

X-Ray Spex represent the punk ethos, their sound, Image and attitude. Poly Styrene is a role model for young women.

What an amazing and complex woman Poly was. Germ free adolescent is years ahead of its time and identity is a feminist roar against stereotyping and sung with such raw passion. Pure punk genius

Yeah they only have one album but that one album is great polystyrenes voice

21 The Toy Dolls

Truly an amazing band. Listen to Olga's guitar playing. He plays lead and rhythm like a god in their recordings and live. Truly the best.

I have never heard anyone like him play solos and rhythm together, saw him 3 times in France last year. superb

Absurd Ditties is their best album, and maybe the best punk album I have ever heard.

22 The Partisans

Great band! Deserve a higher spot on the list!

23 The Ruts

Babylon's Burning - On of the best ever Punk songs!

Cruelly cut short by Malcolm Owen's heroin addiction, but The Crack is probably the best punk album, end to end, especially those searing first four songs.

Babylon's burning is an absolute classic! Love it so much!

Fine band with great lyrics

24 Cock Sparrer

Better than any band on this list. Shock Troops for the win.

The great band

25 Adicts

The longest surviving punk band with the original line up! Should be way higher!

The adicts should be way higher up the list dude!

It's a pity that this band languishes so low on this list...

Needs to be way higher up

8Load More
PSearch List