Awkward, unambitious and with only one album, the trio still left a huge mark, influencing the Stone Roses as well as the entire DC hardcore scene. Empire retell their story, while Fugazi’s Guy Picciotto explains their impact

With no contracts and cheap releases from the likes of Fugazi and Minor Threat, Ian MacKaye and comrades rejected booze, drugs and riches to give US punk a conscience. They look back on 40 years of righteous noise

The Kills star, who releases a spoken word album this month, imagines a New York festival with speakers on every corner – and a resurrected Jimi Hendrix

Former members of Minor Threat, Fugazi and the Evens deliver a bracing blast of moral, melodic US punk

The famously stinky Washington DC music den, now 35 years old, was a crucible for the local hardcore scene – and even hosted the Clintons

When Operation Desert Storm was announced in 1991, punk groups took their protest within shouting distance of the Oval Office. Now a new documentary remembers the collective that gave George HW Bush nightmares

Of the 12 albums on the Mercury prize shortlist, 11 can be listened to in full, for free, on Spotify, writes Chris Salmon