Top 20 of 2020 via Ricky Frankel
What a nutty year. Luckily the punk scene made the best of it, powered through, and put out a ton of really awesome music. I’ve been making an ending of the year lists like this since 2014 and this was by far the hardest one I have had to put together. I can’t emphasize this enough — there was A LOT to listen to.
As you will see, this is a list of my favorite twenty full-lengths and ten EP’s/singles of the year, along with a bunch of honorable mentions. Be sure to keep an eye out for which record received my extremely coveted Best Album Art Of The Year award as well.
Usually, I would include a section for the top fifteen shows that I attended, but alas I was only able to go to one show this year. I saw The Drowns/Johnny Madcap And The Distractions at Characters in Pomona, CA in early February and it was a really fantastic show.
It already seems like next year will be an awesome year for new punk rock. I could speculate and hype up rumors as to which bands will be releasing new material in 2021, but as of right now (as I write this in mid-December) I can say for certain that I am stoked for The Dirty Nil’s upcoming album, ‘Fuck Art,’ apparently Brutal Youth have something in the works, and I recently read that Teenage Bottlerocket have some songs recorded. Of course I am holding out hope that we will finally get the release of Dead To Me’s long awaited album, ‘American Son Of Cholo’ and OFF!’s next full-length, ‘Watermelon’ next year. A major bonus would be if Night Birds’ recently released compilation, ‘Fresh Kills Vol. 2’ gets a vinyl pressing.
Here’s to another great year of releases!
Top 20 Albums:
(BAND – ALBUM TITLE – FAVORITE TRACK)
20. Power Alone – Rather Be Alone – “All We’ve Got”
19. Fake Names – Fake Names – “First Ever Lasting”
18. After The Fall – Resignation – “Panic Attacks”
17. The Chats – High Risk Behaviour – “Pub Feed”
16. Bandaid Brigade – I’m Separate – “Break The Grid”
15. Tabarnak – Sharim Tabarnak – “????? ?????”
14. Days N Daze – Show Me The Blue Prints – “Flurry Rush”
13. Pity Party – Concrete – “Empathy”
12. Coriky – Coriky – “BQM”
11. X – Alphabetland – “I Gotta Fever”
10. DFMK – DFMK – “Mal Presentimiento”
9. The Drowns – Under Tension – “Hold Fast”
8. Dragged In – LP 1 – “Say Something”
7. The World/Inferno Friendship Society – All Borders Are Porous To Cats – “All I Can Do To Help You With Your Nightmares Is Keep You Up Late”
6. The Lawrence Arms – Skeleton Coast – “Pigeons And Spies”
5. The Suicide Machines – Revolution Spring – “To Play Caesar (Is To Be Stabbed To Death)”
4. Get Dead – Dancing With The Curse – “Hard Times”
3. Private Function – Whose Line Is It Anyway? – “Evie Part 4” [BEST ALBUM ART OF THE YEAR]
2. Western Addiction – Frail Bray – “Lurchers”
1. PEARS – PEARS – “Comfortably Dumb”
TOP 10 EP’S/SINGLES:
(BAND – EP/SINGLE TITLE – FAVORITE TRACK)
10. Ursula – Fickle 7-inch – “Evergreen”
9. Bandaid Brigade – Travel Light/Break The Grid 7-inch – “Break The Grid”
8. The Shell Corporation – Told Ya So – “Here’s Your Warning”
7. Class Of 86 – Death Is A Door 7-inch – “Death Is A Door”
6. Swingin’ Utters – Sirens 7-inch – “Innocence”
5. Strike Anywhere – Nightmares Of The West – “Frontier Glitch”
4. Classics Of Love – World Of Burning Hate – “Walking With The Lost”
3. PUP – This Place Sucks Ass – “Rot”
2.The Flatliners – Cavalcade Demos 7-inch – “He Was A Jazzman”
1. The Dirty Nil – Done With Drugs 7-inch – “Done With Drugs”
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
(In Alphabetical Order)
Adolescents – Russian Spider Dump
After The Fall/Postage- split digital single
All Torn Up! – Wake 7-inch
AMMO – Promo 2020
Apathy Cycle – Apathy Cycle
Bad Cop/Bad Cop – The Ride
Bad Operation – Bad Operation
Bad Religion – “Don’t Lose Your Head” (Demo), “Faith Alone 2020,” “What Are We Standing For?” digital singles
Billie Joe Armstrong – No Fun Mondays
CHEW – In Due Time
Cobra Skulls – Eat Your Babies (2005 Recordings) [Re-release]
Crazy And The Brains – Where The Juice Drips
Cro-Mags – In The Beginning, 2020 EP
D-Composers – Chabad Religion
Debt Neglector – Bad Faith EP
Decendents – Suffrage 7-inch
Devon Kay And The Solutions – Limited Joy
DickLord – It’s Soooo Boring
Direct Hit! – “Have You Seen It?” digital demo
Escape From The Zoo/Public Serpents – split 7-inch
Good Riddance – Benefit For World Food Program
Jeff Rosenstock – NO DREAM
Jello Biafra And The Guantanamo School Of Medicine – Tea Party Revenge Porn
Laura Jane Grace – Stay Alive
Less Than Jake – Silver Linings
Liquid Death – Liquid Death’s Greatest Hates Vol. 2
M Section – Pastrami Salami
Mikey Erg/Postage – split digital EP
Night Birds – Fresh Kills Vol. 2
NOFX – The Decline Live At Red Rocks
Off With Their Heads – Character, Live On December 9, 2017
Public Serpents/Upper Downer – split 7-inch
Quaranteens – “Where’s My Shirt?” digital single
RebUke – 45…Not A LP 7-inch
Red City Radio – Paradise
Rich Douglas – Goldeneye Orchestrated
Screeching Weasel – Some Freaks Of Atavism
Starving Wolves – True Fire
Street Jail – Street Jail
Svetlanas – Disco Sucks!
The Bombpops – Death In Venice Beach
The Chats – AC/DC CD
The Damned – The Rockfield Files
The Dirty Nil – Blunt Force Concussion 7-inch, Doom Boy 7-inch, “One More And The Bill” digital single
The Eradicator – The Grandfather Of Squash, “Tennis World” digital single
The Follow Ups – Covers/Live
The Killer Smiles – Raising The Stakes
The Manx/Fart Barf – Lazer Lemons split 7-inch
The Menzingers – From Exile
The Raging Nathans – Oppositional Defiance, Live From Wonkfest 7-inch
The Reaganomics/The Raging Nathans – Midwest Duress split 7-inch
Tsunami Bomb – Still Standing 7-inch
The Dwarves/Potbelly – Life Lessons From The Deranged 7-inch
The Lippies – Pop ’N’ Lockdown EP
Ricky Frankel is the author of the book I’m Outta Here!: A Collection Of Interviews & Anecdotes From The Punk Scene (2014-2018), which you can find on Storenvy and Amazon.com.
About the Author
Denise Borders 39, Los Angeles. Denise founded PWV in 2008 and remains the primary manager and photographer/videographer. She is not secretly obsessed with Joey Cape.
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