The Damned

The Damned regrouped in 1979 without Brian James and released one of the greatest punk records of all time. Dave Vanian, Captain Sensible and Rat Scabies shared creative control and came up with a rich and stylistically diverse set of songs that walk a tightrope between being fun throwaways and serious rock classics. It's hard to get better than "Love Song," "I Just Can't Be Happy Today," "Melody Lee," "Smash It Up" and the MC5 cover "Looking at You." Take out the "punk" tag and just consider Machine Gun Etiquette as one of the best rock 'n' roll records, period.