Rolling Stone magazine’s fetish for lists is pretty well-known at this point. They’ve compulsively ranked everything from the greatest guitarists to the greatest drummers and the greatest albums.

It’s understandable. Throwing a list together under the guise of it being a definitive ranking of something that most agree is subjective is always bound to get people talking. It’s shooting fish in a barrel, really.

Their most recent countdown, the ’40 Greatest Punk Albums of All Time’, has certainly got people talking. Some think the list is surprisingly on the money, whilst others just want to know where the hell London Calling is.

Yeah, apparently The Clash’s groundbreaking 1979 double-album doesn’t cut it as one of the greatest punk albums of all time. Granted though, they did include the band’s similarly earth-shattering debut in the top five.

The list has certainly stirred controversy online (in other words: it worked), with many slamming the inclusion of albums like Nirvana’s Nevermind and the omission of those like The Stooges’ Raw Power.

Of course, you’re always going to have the puritan snobs who don’t think bands like Green Day and Blink-182 warrant a mention in the punk discussion, but this is far less troublesome than the omission of, say, The Damned.

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Consequence of Sound are among the publications to lambast the list, whilst commenters all over Reddit and other outlets want to know why bands like The Offspring, Rancid, Bad Religion, Fear, NOFX, Against Me!, and The Dead Boys were left out.

What makes the list all the more curious is their inclusion of certain ‘proto-punk’ albums in favour of others. You’ve got The Stooges, but no MC5; there’s the New York Dolls, but no Velvet Underground. Oh, and where the bloody hell are The Saints?

You can check out the whole list for yourself below (and then leave your angry comments below that) or via Rolling Stone.

Rolling Stone’s 40 Greatest Punk Albums of All Time

40. Dead Kennedys – Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables
39. Devo – Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!
38. White Lung – Deep Fantasy
37. Blink-182 – Enema Of The State
36. Crass – Penis Envy
35. Fugazi – 13 Songs
34. Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures
33. The Slits – Cut
32. The Misfits – Walk Among Us
31. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever To Tell
30. Sonic Youth – Evol
29. The Replacements – Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash
28. The Germs – (GI)
27. Minor Threat – Complete Discography
26. Flipper – Generic
25. Mission Of Burma – Vs.
24. The Jam – All Mod Cons
23. Pere Ubu – Terminal Tower
22. Bikini Kill – The Singles
21. Richard Hell And The Voidoids – Blank Generation
20. X-Ray Spex – Germfree Adolescents
19. Bad Brains – Bad Brains
18. Green Day – Dookie
17. Television – Marquee Moon
16. Descendants – Milo Goes To College
15. New York Dolls – New York Dolls
14. Sleater-Kinney – Dig Me Out
13. Hüsker Dü – Zen Arcade
12. Patti Smith – Horses
11. The Buzzcocks – Singles Going Steady
10. Nirvana – Nevermind
9. X – Los Angeles
8. Black Flag – Damaged
7. Minutemen – Double Nickels On The Dime
6. Wire – Pink Flag
5. Gang Of Four – Entertainment!
4. The Stooges – Funhouse
3. The Sex Pistols – Never Mind The Bollocks Here’s The Sex Pistols
2. The Clash – The Clash
1. Ramones – Ramones

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