No Thanks! The '70s Punk Rebellion (2003) Purists could split hairs about some of these selections (was Nick Lowe really a punk?), but in general this is simply top-notch: four CDs' worth… Various Artists Rock
The Clash | REBEL, REBEL The Clash are among the pivotal punk bands featured on ''No Thanks!''
Image credit: The Clash: Michael Putland / Retna
REBEL, REBEL The Clash are among the pivotal punk bands featured on ''No Thanks!''
EW's GRADE
A

Details Release Date: Oct 28, 2003; Lead Performance: Various Artists; Genre: Rock

Purists could split hairs about some of these selections (was Nick Lowe really a punk?), but in general this is simply top-notch: four CDs' worth of vintage pogo-party starters by everyone from big guns like the Ramones and the Clash to more-marginal-but-equally-worthy weirdos like Pere Ubu and Magazine. The absence of any Sex Pistols tracks is glaring -- that rotten punk John Lydon forbade their licensing -- but any compilation that rescues both Television's ''Little Johnny Jewel'' and Eddie and the Hot Rods' ''Do Anything You Wanna Do'' from obscurity deserves a coupla tons of praise. The perfect Christmas gift for your blink-182-loving nephew who thinks Green Day invented this stuff.

Originally posted Oct 27, 2003 Published in issue #735 Oct 31, 2003 Order article reprints