An Introduction To Bay Area Punk Rock [Image]

The San Francisco Bay Area is home to a huge punk scene. Within this scene are many sub-scenes and sub-genres of punk. This image of 96 Bay Area bands and albums is a great way to get acquainted with the different sounds of Bay Area punk. It includes well known bands such as Green Day, but also has some obscure gems.

This graphic is a good way to discover new bands. The bands are usually placed near other bands that are somewhat similar in style. The bottom right hand corner is a more metal sound. The middle of the image has a more classic punk rock sound. The top right has some thrash and hardcore bands. This is not always true. For example, Filth is next to Quest For Quintana Roo. Those two bands are not very similar, but it's hard to find a transition band that would like those two sounds together. Another way to find new bands is to check out our punk database and see which bands played shows together.

This graphic is also a good way to check out different album covers. There are distinct art styles to different sub-genre album covers. On the left you have mostly pop-punk and ska albums full of color and loud graphics. On the right you find more hardcore and metal bands which prefer black and white imagery.

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