Skate punk, from the outside in. Each step is a genre and the single record this encyclopedia would put on first. Play them in this order and the last one should sound like a next step rather than a wall.
- 1 The way in
Rock 1954
The whole family: guitar, bass, drums and a beat borrowed from blues and rhythm and blues. Every branch below grows out of this trunk, metal included.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
The Beatles - Revolver, if you want to understand why everything branched so fast.
The Beatles, Revolver (1966) - 2 Then
Punk rock 1974
Three chords, two minutes and zero patience for solos. A full reset of rock, and the second major source of extreme metal.
Shouted. Barked or chanted, and you can still make out the words.
Put on
Ramones - Ramones. Fourteen songs in twenty-nine minutes, not a wasted note.
Ramones, Ramones (1976) - 3 Then
Pop punk 1977
Punk speed, garage-pop choruses and lyrics about suburban boredom.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
The Descendents - Milo Goes to College. The manual, written twelve years before the boom.
The Descendents, Milo Goes to College (1982) - 4 What you asked about
Skate punk 1990
Faster, more technical pop punk with two-beat drumming and short solos. The soundtrack to skate videos.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
NOFX - Punk in Drublic. Technical, fast and unreasonably well written.
NOFX, Punk in Drublic (1994) - 5 Where to go next
Melodic hardcore 1985
Same speed and urgency, but with sung choruses and guitar harmonies.
Shouted. Barked or chanted, and you can still make out the words.
Put on
Kid Dynamite - Kid Dynamite. Seventeen songs, twenty-four minutes, zero fat.
Kid Dynamite, Kid Dynamite (1998)
Assembled from the tree: every genre Skate punk descends from, in order. Skate punk has no subgenres, so the last step is the genre that rates closest to it by sound.