Best Punk City
 

Which city do you feel has had the best punk scene? Personally I have a fetish for the San Francisco/Los Angeles Scene, what with Black Flag, The Germs, The Weirdos, X, The Avengers, Black Randy, The Eyes, etc., with Boston coming in at a close second. What do you folks fancy?

Eeeggghhh there was supposed to be a poll. Someone ought to fix that five minute rule.

London of course ;)

pffft gotta give it to london

London. Easily.

I'll be original and go with London...but yeah.

London internationally but in the states I gotta give it to LA with the NY CBGBs scene a close second.

Original Punk: London
Hardcore Punk: Washington DC

NY second to LA??????? (OUTRAGE)

Zurich

New York should be disqualified for not having a punk scene but a scene that wandered around aimlessly until things in London started happening before deciding they were a punk scene after all.

Seconded.

So, yeah, London gets my vote as well

aimless wandering sounds pretty punk to me

^agreed

^ I concur.

Thats why I love the New York Scene. You have The Heartbreakers, The Ramones, Talking Heads, Richard Hell, Television, Blondie, Suicide, Patti Smith, all completely different bands, unified only by the fact that they all played CBGB, making it probably the most eclectic scene.

Don't forget Los Angeles. If you have any doubt, you need to see Decline of Western Civilization.

What about these days though? I'd have to say Minneapolis or Oakland CA.

It seems like every LA 70's punk compilation I get is awesome, no matter how unknown the bands are.

I can only think of 3 punk bands that I like that a recent and still active, and I believe they're all from different places. Im not too fond of 99% of the punk these days.

Vancouver, Canada is not the best, but it is has always had a good scene.

I remember back in the day Melbourne had a small but pretty fun punk scene :) Brody Dalle from The Distillers (even if they were crap) who married Tim Armstrong hailed from Melb. Boys Next Door, formed by Nick Cave and Mick Harvey in 1974 were also from Melbourne (although some may argue they are more art-rockish than punk. The Reals, The Babeez, The News, The Young Charlatans, and Suicide Records also. There was also a well-known punk scene in Queensland, Australia consisting on The Saints existed, but I'm not too knowledgeable on that one.

Definitely not the best punk cities but I thought I'd mention :)

Don't forget Radio Birdman-great band from Sydney.

Seattle is up there.

Ah yes! How could I forget. And I'm impressed that you know of Radio Birdman :) Also The Hellcats, another from Sydney.

Unfortunately now Australia has turned into a wad of beach-bummed bogans.

They are certainly not Punk but I really like The Cat Empire too but I am digressing..

Not Indianapolis, I know that much.

I am digressing too but, before they had any records I saw The Cat Empire play at a little nightclub in Melbourne called The Night Cat back in 2002! Really fun group. Don't listen to them much anymore though now. Anyway, back on topic....

Damn. I am a little jealous. I have heard that they are good live.

New England area has a decent punk/hardcore seen.

London

New York

Sure its been covered but the 1970s Lower East Side in NYC - Richard Hell & The Voidoids, The Cramps, New York Dolls, Patti Smith, Television, Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers, The Ramones, Talking Heads.

When I think of say London or LA, I think of two or three great bands and lots of third-rate copycatism going on... that's something you can never accuse the folks at CB's of. Punk shouldn't be a strict code - the whole point is illustrated by the Bowery bunch.

Gainesville

LA, definetely. I haven't had a chance to check out the scene at all recently, so, who knows. Maybe it really has gone to ****. All I know is that in the 80's it spawned some of the best bands in hardcore.

SF and Berkeley are a close second to me, but that's probably because I've lived in California my entire life. Gilman is still a great place to go.

New york City!

origin of punk

How about Australia? :)

The Saints were one of the first punk bands :) They beat the Ramones by a couple of months. :) From my hometown Brisbane, Australia.

Also, we have Radio Birdman (Sydney), Nick Cave (Melbourne), The Survivors (Brisbane), The Leftovers (Brisbane), The Screaming Tribesmen (Brisbane), The Celibate Rifles (Sydney) and Blowhard (a somewhat dodgy but fun Brisbane ska punk band my boyfriend's dad is a member of that's been kicking since 1989).

Brisbane can't compete with the notorious punk cities like London or New York, but figured I'll mention it :) For a relatively small population Australia has, we're a pretty talented bunch :)

I'm gonna have to go with Gainesville, FL. It may not have the largest wealth of bands (though Hot Water Music and Against Me! are both from there) but it is the headquarters of No Idea Records and the now-defunct Plan-It-X Records, not to mention that The Fest, one of, if not the most popular punk festival takes place there every year. Basically it has a lot of participation from residents.

im gonna have to go ahead and say CT as far as a hardcore scene goes

I vote Minneapolis, one of the first Punk bands started here in '75.

The Suicide Commandos - Burn It Down

CT isn't a city though.

the first page of this thread is an insult to eardrums. London? Really?

Anyway, I think the Northeastern Cities of the U.S. are created to make punk music. On numbers I'd give it to NYC, but my hometown makes me cringe when I say that.

NYC and LA 'bout even.

Wasn't Hated Youth from Gainesville?
That ep that was released a few years ago was great.