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The history of Los Angeles punk is largely composed of a series of brief, but brilliant, flashes in the pan. Since its inception in the late '70s, the genre has been consistently livid, often funny, rarely commercial, but always socially relevant. From the British-influenced first wave, to the violently political hardcore scene that followed to the revival in the late '90s, the music remains irritated, youthfully temperamental and unmistakable for anything else. Without question, L.A. punk is an undeniable part of the story of American music. Now if only they would play it on the radio. --Kai Flanders

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10. The Dickies
The Incredible Shrinking Dickies
The Dickies' amphetamine-soaked covers of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" and The Monkees' "She" provide an insight into the heart of punk: speed it up and get to the fucking point. Reacting to the ballads of long-haired troubadours of the '70s, The Incredible Shrinking Dickies injects quickness where there was once excess. They never take themselves too seriously; on "Poodle Party" they sing "You're the easiest except for me." In the end, the group were never scared to break any of punk's unwritten rules, even allowing for a variety of instrumentation, including a sax solo on "Shadow Man". -- Kai Flanders

Angry Samoans

The history of Los Angeles punk is largely composed of a series of brief, but brilliant, flashes in the pan. Since its inception in the late '70s, the genre has been consistently livid, often funny, rarely commercial, but always socially relevant. From the British-influenced first wave, to the violently political hardcore scene that followed to the revival in the late '90s, the music remains irritated, youthfully temperamental, and unmistakable for anything else. Without question, L.A. punk is an undeniable part of the story of American music. Now if only they would play it on the radio. --Kai Flanders