I was a massive KISS fan in 1977, and around 1978 I got into Ska along with my buddy Paul. That summer, Paul went to England with his parents and brought me back a bunch of albums, like the Sex Pistols, Never Mind the Bullocks, and the Clash, "The Clash". But it was Black Flag's, "Nervous Breakdown" that got me fully into the punk scene here in Los Angeles.
I'm still active in the scene, and still see shows.
As someone who got into punk in the last few years it wasn't necessarily albums given the ability to stream individual songs, however, the three largest influences were probably Everything Goes Numb by Streetlight Manifesto, Dookie, and War on Errorism by NOFX
The one that really sticks out in my memory is:
Wire - "On Returning (1976-79)", a compilation of their first three albums.
Two other ones when I started getting into punk are:
X - "More Fun In The New World"
The Clash - "The Clash"
EDIT: These are among the earliest punk albums that I listened to the whole way through. If we were to talk individual songs... well that's a whole other ballgame.
Doh...! I almost forgot another crucial formative album for me:
Siouxsie & The Banshees - "Once Upon A Time (The Singles)"
Compilations were the entry point back in the days of LPs and cassettes.
Americana by The Offspring was #1 for me. I remember begging my mum to buy it when I was 11 and it was love at first listen. After that came the rise of Napster and p2p sharing and well...the rest were probably not acquired through legal means.
Sum 41 - Does this Look Infected
The Offspring - Conspiracy of One
Rise Against - Siren Song of the Counter Culture
Something like this, stubbled together using shady websites on the computers of my school's library, which I realize now, was a really punk thing to do. Good times.
For some reason, Give Them Enough Rope by the Clash was an early influence on me. Love that album.
I started out with what I consider to be some sort of trinity of Clash, Ramones and the Pistols, so if I am to list two more albums not by the Clash it would probably have to be Ramones' self titled album and Never Mind the Bollocks.
The Pogues followed right after. It took me a couple years more before I was ready for hardcore punk, and local bands didn't exist before I moved to the city for uni. That said, very little competes with the Clash still.
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