15 Punk Songs To Beat The Boredom

We get it, you're bored. Like Vyvyan from the Young Ones, you're “very, very sober and very, very bored!” Well, probably sober. Fear not, the punks have got your back: they've been writing songs about boredom and the end of days since long before this terrible pandemic began and they're with you for the lockdown. Stay home, wash your hands, and blast away the boredom with us.

Manchester's Buzzcocks have the distinction of being the first UK punk band to start their own record label (New Hormones), on which they released their debut EP, Spiral Scratch, in 1977, with Boredom being arguably their best known track. It's the only release to feature Howard Devoto as singer, however, because he quit the band on the eve of its release. “I get bored very easily,” he said.

The last song ever played by the Sex Pistols before they imploded on the final date of their first U.S. tour, this Stooges cover rather sums things up. Apart from the 'maybe go out, maybe stay at home' bit. Definitely stay at home!

You may have found yourself staying in bed rather longer than usual and having bizarre apocalyptic dreams, but thankfully Portland legends Poison Idea have got you covered. Although you're unlikely to get much rest with this one blasting full volume... and neither will your neighbours!

As someone has already pointed out in the YouTube comments section, this might be the ultimate quarantine theme song. 'I'm sick!', 'I'm bored!' Us too, Iggy, us too! As someone else pointed out, at least he's wearing gloves in the video. A topless renegade he might be, but don't fault Iggy's hand hygiene.

'Nothing to do, nowhere to go,' sang the brudders on this Ramones classic from Road To Ruin. If only it was 24 hours to go! In light of all the cancelled gigs, getting to a show before you go 'loco' might, alas, be a bit optimistic.

A scathing attack on media lies, which, alas, is all too relevant today. Aren't you bored with fake news and misinformation? The title of the song, incidentally, seems to be a nod to the aforementioned Iggy Pop tune, but without proof, this is merely conjecture... much like most of what you read in the press! Wayooooooh!

Okay, let's have a little positively with this stunning Pink Fairies cover. Maybe you've always wanted to write a book or learn an instrument? Well, now would be the perfect time. 'Don't talk about it, do it! Do it!' One imagines that inky workaholic Rollins is keeping himself busy, so should you!

What is it with those friends who still want to drop by in the middle of a sodding lockdown? Blast this at them through the letterbox! Stay home... or as the Upstarts put it, 'Fuck off, and leave me alone!'

Let's be honest, it's not the best idea to have a TV party where all you friends pass out on the couch, and Black Flag were being sarcastic, but the line 'We've got nothing better to do / Than watch TV and have a couple of brews' now seems grimly prophetic.

X-Ray Spex singer Poly Styrene was way ahead of the curve with the title-track of their 1978 debut album. No need to clean your teeth 10 times a day, as suggested here, but washing your hands is a good way to stay germ-free!

Some wit on Facebook has already put this one over the top of a Boris Johnson speech. Granted, when it was written, all the clubs were closing down due to recession, but this is a regrettably fitting soundtrack for current times. 'Bands don't play no more', indeed.

'We're talking into corners, finding ways to fill the vacuum...' Well, thanks to Netflix perhaps it's not that bad yet, but spare a thought for the bored teenagers 'looking for love'. Is there a social distancing app yet?

One of the few positives to this ongoing lockdown is that you'll have plenty of time to discover new bands. The aptly named Cute Lepers were apparently formed by Steve E Nix of The Briefs, back in 2007, and despite releasing two full-length albums and a handful of singles, have previously managed to escape our attention. Good stuff. Check 'em out.

Once again, Jaz Coleman and his merry prophets of doom hit the nail squarely on its head with a very large hammer. 'Plague, on every house on earth. Plague, accidental curse. Plague, across continent and coast...' This band are scary sometimes!

A one-minute burst of genius, Here We Are Nowhere captured the tedium of living in a town where there was nothing to do. Over four decades later, it seems to succinctly sum up the ongoing lockdown: 'No shows in town, there is no place to go. Here we are nowhere, nowhere left to to go.'

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