Green Day are the best punk band of all time, according to an online poll conducted by Rolling Stone in conjunction with Twitter and Facebook. The American Idiot idols beat out founding forefathers The Clash and The Ramones – who placed second and third on the list respectively.
The Sex Pistols, with one of the shortest but most spectacular careers in punk history, came in at fourth; its members Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious are still remembered best for the antics that truly epitomize the movement: musical ineptitude and a hateful attitude.
Dead Kennedys, led by the politically-minded frontman Jello Biafra, ranked fifth.
Filling out the rest of the Top 10 were Iggy and the Stooges in sixth place, Black Flag in seventh and The Misfits in eighth, while Orange County punks Social Distortion took ninth position and Bad Brains landed at number 10.
Ironically, Green Day, formed in 1987, is the only group in the Top 10 not to have been founded in the 1970s era of punk.