Richard Hell was one of the first men on the scene when punk rock emerged in New York City as an early member of both Television and the Heartbreakers (he left both groups before they could record). But his own version of punk wasnt much like anyone elses, and while Hells debut album, Blank Generation, remains one of the most powerful to come from punks first wave, those anticipating a Ramones/Dead Boys-style frontal assault from this set had better readjust their expectations. Love Comes in Spurts and Liars Beware proved the Voidoids could play fast and loud when they wanted to, but for the most part this groups formula was much more complicated than that. Guitarists Robert Quine and Ivan Julian bounced sharp, edgy patterns off each other that were more about psychological tension than brute force (though Quines solos suggest a fragile grace beneath the surface of their neo-Beefheart chaos). And while most punk nihilism was of the simplistic Everything Sucks variety, Hell was (with the exception of Patti Smith) the most literate and consciously poetic figure in the New York punk scene. While theres little on the album thats friendly or life-affirming, theres a crackling intelligence to songs like New Pleasure, Betrayal Takes Two, and Another World that confirmed Hell had a truly unique lyrical voice, at once supremely self-confident and dismissive of nearly everything around him (sometimes including himself). Brittle and troubling but brimming with ideas and musical intelligence, Blank Generation was groundbreaking punk rock that followed no ones template, and today it sounds just as fresh -- and nearly as abrasive -- as it did when it first hit the racks. ~ Mark Deming

Rovi