Beginning your debut album with a song about killing children makes a statement which is just what Adolescents did with their trailblazing debut. On the O.C. groups first and only record with their original lineup, these teens helped define the bratty SoCal punk sound that would be replicated endlessly thereafter (see Blink-182, Rancid, the Offspring, et al). In addition to the crucial sing-along Amoeba, the LP is packed with infectious snottiness and surprisingly poetic lines like history’s recorded in a clutter on the floor. Eli Enis

Frontier Records. Recorded at Perspective Sound, Sun Valley. Mastered at A&M, Hollywood by Frank DeLuna