by Richard Hell And The Voidoids

Blank Generation is the debut album by the American band Richard Hell and The Voidoids. It is one of the most representative samples of punk-rock music from the New York punk music scene in the second half of the 1970s.

The history of Blank Generation as a song, which lent its title to the album, begins back in 1974 when Richard Hell composed it and performed it live with his band at the time, Television. In 1976, the EP Blank Generation was released, which contained the recorded song along with Another World and You Gotta Lose. Subsequently, the band recorded the LP Blank Generation at Sire Records studios within three weeks in March 1977, but the result did not please Richard Hell. However, because there was a reshuffling at their record label and the album was to be released in September, Richard Hell and the Voidoids re-recorded it all from scratch at the end of June and the beginning of July. What we finally hear is the result of this recording (!)

As an album, Blank Generation did not achieve great success, but it is one of those albums that later inspired some young people to form bands themselves. One such band was Sonic Youth, while the philosophy of "nihilism" that runs through the lyrics of the song was the foundation upon which the British punk scene was built in the immediately following months.