19. Hüsker Dü - Everything Falls Apart (1983)

Hüsker Dü's debut Everything Falls Apart is a raucous, vertiginous noise fest of screeching guitar rock and screamed vocals, capturing the outsider zeitgeist of the hardcore punk movement but little of the substance to the more thoughtful critiques of the genre. Songs like "Bricklayer" and "Punch Drunk" (which, taken together, amount to exactly one minute of the record) are certainly high energy and best when played fucking loud, but don't say much -- lyrics like "kick and punch / kick and punch / kick and punch / kick and punch / who's your friend? / who's your friend? / who's your friend ? / who's your friend? / Your enemy" don't evoke a lot aside from a kind of visceral adolescent aggression that is very real but ultimately fleeting. Even as a B-minus hardcore record, Everything Falls Apart is not without its charms -- the band's cover of peacenik Donovan's "Sunshine Superman" is actually faithful and lovely in its Benzedrine-addled kind of way. And the nihilistic title track is soaring and melodic, hinting at the brilliance to come.