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GG Allin & the Jabbers...maybe not quite philosophically untouchable, but that "Banned in Boston" is a GREAT album!!!
My favorite pop-punk band of all time is Head. Many bands have been called Head, but this is the one from Seattle. They had two 12"ers in the 90's a couple 7"ers before pretty much disappearing...but then they came back in December 2006 with a new album which is just about as awesome as the first. They are the only band I know which actually succeed in "out-Ramonesing" the Ramones. They got it down to a science, playing the bassline an octave up during the chorus. Plus, they keep it way dumb, yet sometimes surprisingly clever...like, singing songs about Pharoah Sanders and shit??? "Street Level Assault" was the 12" that rates as the best, but the new "No Hugging, No Learning" is great, too. "The Monkeys" has a lot of great songs, too, but should not be your first Head record.
Their music no doubt influenced The Spits, who surely should rate mention here. Delightfully moronic shit!
I have a soft spot in my heart for the Meanies. They were an Aussie band through the 90's that made some dorky pop-punk that occasionally had a smack of Nirvana and a little thrash in there. They had a knack for over-producing their sound to such a ridiculous level that the extreme compression made the whole band sound like one instrument, the drums, the bass, the guitar, and all the vocal harmonies even.
Another fave on the edge of being pop-punk for me was Scratch Bongowax. They made some 7"ers and maybe a couple of albums (if you count Japan-only singles and comp track collections as an album (I DO!)). Their songs were stupid, too, but that concealed a clever sarcasm. "Because I Hate You" is so great!
Another quick flash in the 90's was a band called the Tito O'Tito band. They had two guitars playing really messy, and a bit of a ramshackle hardcore edge, but the key features up front were the egomaniacal vocals of Tito and the barely "Mary Had a Little Lamb"-level one-string playing of what I suppose you might call the "lead guitarist."
Pre-Erase Errata was a band I think Ellie would want you to forget, but I liked them a lot. They were called XXY, and "Wiener Boy" was a most excellent slice of dorkness.
There's almost a pop-punk edge to many Mika Miko songs, and they are one of the best and crucial bands in punk rock today, and one of the leading lights in inspiring new bands, I think. Everytime I see them, I expect some unusually high percentage of the young girls in the audience to immediately make a plan to start their own bands. It's a more palpable sense than I ever got from any band with strong female presence since Bikini Kill....and that includes Sleater Kinney.
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