Mekons

When it comes to longevity, productivity, and anarchy-inflamed ambition, the Mekons mostly consign their British punk-rock peers to the dustbin of history. Formed as a no-musical-skills-required University of Leeds art collective in 1976, the Mekons launched their recording career with “Never Been In a Riot”, a pitiless parody of The Clash’s “White Riot”. Their first album, 1979’s The Quality of Mercy Is Not Strnen, asserted the punk bawl they maintained until pivoting into classic country with an enhanced lineup on 1985’s lovably loose Fear and Whiskey. They made anti-capitalism fun again while biting the hand that fed them on The Mekons Rock ’n’ Roll (1989) and the self-referential The Curse of the Mekons (1991), setting the stage for 2004’s Punk Rock, 15 raw re-recordings of their 1977-81 broadsides. Several dozen musicians have passed through the band’s ranks, but original Mekons Jon Langford and Tom Greenhalgh (alongside longtime vocalist Sally Timms) keep on rockin’ in the unfree world, as on 2019’s battered-but-not-beaten Deserted.