16. Hüsker Dü - Metal Circus EP (1983)

By 1983, Hüsker Dü had honed their live chops to a ferocious edge, but had yet to fully develop the knack for great hooks and melodies that distinguished the band's blistering sonic assault from a thousand other hardcore contemporaries. Intimations of nascent genius can be seen here, but the best songs are all drummer Grant Hart's -- "It's Not Funny Anymore" and the harrowing "Diane." Around this time the band also released their first unqualified act of genius, an epochal re-imagining of The Byrds' "Eight Miles High" that set the punk-rock world on notice that a new sheriff was coming to town.