Punk Books

Radio Silence: A Selected Visual History of American Hardcore Music

Nathan Nedorostek, Anthony Pappalardo

Amazon Price: $19.77 List Price: $29.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: MTV Press Amazon Marketplace: 26 new & used starting at $18.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> Musical Genres -> Heavy Metal
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> Musical Genres -> Punk
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

"Each scene was a reflection of its time and place. It was organic to each city." (Dave Smalley, DYS, Dag Nasty, All, Down By Law) Hardcore music emerged just after the first wave of punk rock in the late 1970s. American punk kids who loved the speed and attitude of punk took hold of its spirit, got rid of the "live fast, die young" mindset, and made a brilliant revision: hardcore. The dividing line between punk and hardcore music was in the delivery: less pretense, less melody, and more aggression. This urgency seeped its way from the music into the look of hardcore. There wasn’t time to mold your liberty spikes or shine your Docs; it was jeans and T-shirts, Chuck Taylors and Vans. The skull and safety-pin punk costume was replaced by high-tops and hooded sweatshirts. The Jamie Reid ransom note record cover aesthetic gave way to black and white photographs of packed shows accompanied by bold and simple typography, declaring The Kids Will Have Their Say or You’re Only Young Once. This new come-as-you-are attitude attracted skateboarders, surfers, BMX’rs, metalheads, and graffiti writers, with each group adding their diverse influences to the scene. This cross-pollination helped to create an eclectic cross section of bands like Bad Brains, Negative Approach, SSD, Big Boys, and 7 Seconds.Radio Silence documents the ignored space between the Ramones and Nirvana through the words and images of the pre-internet era when this community built on do-it-yourself ethics thrived. Without funding, distribution, or exposure, the scene had to be self-sufficient in order to grow. Everyone involved from bands to fans took it upon themselves to book shows, photograph bands, broadcast pirate radio shows, start record labels, design album covers, publish fanzines, or just offer a place for a band to crash. Authors Nathan Nedorostek and Anthony Pappalardo have cataloged private collections of photographs, personal letters, artwork, and various ephemera from the hardcore scene circa 1978-1993. Unseen images accompany to handmade T-shirts and original artwork brought to life by the words of their creators and fans. Radio Silence includes over 500 images of rare records, T-shirts, fanzines, photographs, and illustrations presented in a manner that abandons the aesthetic clichés normally used to depict the genre and lets the subject matter speak for itself.

The Evolution of a Cro-Magnon

John Joseph

Amazon Price: $13.60 List Price: $20.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: PUNKHOuse Amazon Marketplace: 13 new & used starting at $13.60

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Memoirs
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Disturbing 3 out of 5 stars.
2 of 5 people found this review helpful.

No one is saying John Joseph didn't have a terrible, abused childhood. He did. No one deserves what he endured. However, I wonder if I am the only one noticing certain disturbing things. I guess the main thing that bothers me is is his total lack of remorse for certain bad things he did. I am not talking about the Krishna stuff -- and he says he does feel bad about that -- I am talking about stuff he did on his own.

On pages 347-348, he talks about how he and his brothers rent a house from an Indian immigrant, Umon. For some reason, this man and his family remind John of the Valentis, the terrible foster family that abused him and his brothers when they were kids.

John takes about two pages to describe how they scammed this man out of months worth of rent and caused him all kinds of emotional distress. John describes this with such glee -- he doesn't seem to understand that he is hurting a human being, a person with a family, a person with bills to pay. NEVER does John indicate that he is sorry he did this. It's almost as if he thinks this family owes him somehow. Read the pages (347-248) and really think about what John did and how he sounds when he writes about it. It's disturbing.

This family MAY have reminded him of the Valentis. But they weren't the Valentis. They were just trying to make a living. John should have expressed some remorse. Instead he mocks this Indian man in a way that sounds -- I hate to say it -- almost racist. Look what John wrote: "When he (the Indian landlord) returned with the cops he starting yelling in a mixture of Hindi and English, 'Doo bah did dee had bah dee dee 'want my money' da dondi did dee boo dee dah...now!'"

I couldn't believe what I was reading. OF COURSE this man wanted his money! He had bills to pay and a family to support. How dare John make fun of his language?

The last John has to say on that topic is, "We made plans to meet him one morning at the house to give him his check for the seven or eight months of back rent. We pulled a midnight move the night before and left his a** sitting high and dry on the doorstep."

And that's it. Not one word of apology -- only pride in the fact that they tricked this man. Is it just me or do others think that comment is just dripping with self-righteous contempt? I felt bad for that man and his family. John sounds PROUD of how he scammed him.

When John describes the beginning of the scam, he wrote, "Umon kept smiling, patting Frank's sons on their heads and repeatedly saying in his super-thick Indian accent, 'What a nice American family. So, so nice all of you are.'" After John reports this, he mockingly writes, "Guess he shoulda read Robert McKee's 'Story,' cause the brotha got fooled by the characterization."

That shocked me, too. Why should Umon have read anything? Why is John blaming the victim? Someone who was being truly honest about himself would have written, "I shouldn't have scammed someone who was trying to make an honest living."

And Umon was trying to be nice, to say kind things to kids who, I imagine, didn't hear nice things very often.

I wonder how much personal growth John has really done. He just wrote this book, and he could never have described how he scammed this man with such pride if he had done as much personal growth as he claims he has.

Editorial Review:

In his new autobiography, NYHC legend John Bloodclot Joseph recounts his hard times and spiritual redemption. A traumatic childhood in foster homes was just the beginning of John's evolution. Before fronting one of the most important bands in the underground punk scene, the Cro-Mags, John faced homelessness, addiction, betrayal and insanity. Still, even his success couldn't save him from a relapse that set him back to square one - rock bottom. The book is a raw and unapologetic autobiography about his life. Consider yourself warned.

No Wave: Post-Punk. Underground. New York. 1976-1980.

Thurston Moore, Byron Coley

Amazon Price: $16.47 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Abrams Image Amazon Marketplace: 53 new & used starting at $15.14

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> History & Criticism
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> Musical Genres -> Punk
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> Musical Genres -> Rock

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

No Wave is the first book to visually chronicle the collision of art and punk in the New York underground of 1976 to 1980. This in depth look at punk rock, new wave, experimental music, and the avant-garde art movement of the 70s and 80s focuses on the true architects of No Wave from James Chance to Lydia Lunch to Glenn Branca, as well as the luminaries that intersected the scene, such as David Byrne, Debbie Harry, Brian Eno, Iggy Pop, and Richard Hell.

This rarely documented scene was the creative stomping ground of young artists and filmmakers from Jean-Michel Basquiat to Jim Jarmusch as well as the musical genesis for the post-punk explosions of Sonic Youth and is here revealed for a new generation of fans and collectors.

Thurston Moore and Byron Coley have selected 150 unforgettable images, most of which have never been published previously, and compiled hundreds of hours of personal interviews to create an oral history of the movement, providing a never-seen-before exploration and celebration of No Wave.

Get in the Van: On the Road With Black Flag (2nd Edition)

Henry Rollins

Amazon Price: $13.60 List Price: $20.00 Usually ships in 6 to 10 days By: 2.13.61 Amazon Marketplace: 27 new & used starting at $11.90

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> History & Criticism
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> Musical Genres -> Punk
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> Musical Genres -> Rock

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 51 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

revealing look at the rock 'n' roll lifestyle 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Black Flag lead singer Henry Rollins kept a journal while touring and the result is a fascinating look not only at life in a touring rock band but also at Rollins' own psyche as he reveals his self-doubts, fears and other neuroses. anyone interested in music in general and punk bands in particular will enjoy this

Good book 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Very cool to know more about Rollins and Black Flag on the road, the audiences, the clubs and places, all the bad and good times they had... strong message in it..
Very recommended for all hardcore and punk rock fans and anybody else...

Get in the Van now 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Henry Rollins book is the best rockdocument i have ever read. If you are interested in Black Flag, Henry Rollins or punk / hardcore scene in the 80`s buy this book! That was real harcore touring what they did with a Black Flag.

Editorial Review:

A day-by-day journal from the journals of the ever-volatile Henry Rollins on tour from 1981 to 1986 that captures the irrationality and violence of punk specifically, and the stresses of being on the road in a rock band generally.

Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk (An Evergreen book)

Legs McNeil, Gillian McCain

Amazon Price: $10.88 List Price: $16.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Grove Press Amazon Marketplace: 51 new & used starting at $7.29

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> History & Criticism
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> Musical Genres -> Punk
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> Musical Genres -> Rock

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Good, but not comprehensive 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Pretty good book, but unfortunately not really the complete history of punk rock. It concentrates almost entirely on New York City in the early-to-mid 70s. I suppose the authors included what they know and like, but I wish there was more coverage of English punk rock.

A Must Have for Every Punk Enthusiast! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Legs McNeil lived the punk life in the seventies and eighties in NYC. He published a fanzine called "Punk" and was a definite part of the scene. This historical books tells all about the beginnings and ends of the Velvet Underground,Iggy, the New York Dolls, the Ramones, Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers. The list goes on. Aside, from being candidly hilarious and a pleasure to read, this book really is a must have for punks of the seventies and eighties. The amount of verified information is great and very interesting. After reading this book, I was finally able to separate who was who in that era (Johnny Thunders alone radiated so many bands!) I cannot recommend this funny, sad and most enjoyable book enough. Legs takes us there!!

Editorial Review:

A Time Out and New York Daily News Top Ten Book of the Year upon its release, Please Kill Me brings the sound of the punk generation to life. Iggy Pop, Danny Fields, Dee Dee and Joey Ramone, Nico, Patti Smith, and scores of other famous and infamous punk figures lend their voices to this definitive account of that outrageous, explosive era. From its origins in the twilight years of Andy Warhol's New York reign to its last gasps as eighties corporate rock, the phenomenon that was known as punk is scrutinized, eulogized, and idealized by the people who were there and who made it happen.

The Encyclopedia of Punk

Brian Cogan

Amazon Price: $19.56 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Sterling Amazon Marketplace: 20 new & used starting at $17.22

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> Musical Genres -> Punk
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> Musical Genres -> Rock
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> Reference -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Fabulous! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This thorough tome includes details about punk favorites up to 2006 alongside lesser-known bands and the people behind them. The design and the text are both witty and clear. The large format beautifully shows off the full-color photos. It's gorgeous!

Editorial Review:

When people think of punk they often think of outrageous fashion and iconic bands like The Ramones and the Sex Pistols. But the reality of punk stretches over three decades and numerous countries, with a history as rich and varied as it is shocking and daring. With this lavishly illustrated and authoritative A-Z guide, Brian Cogan leads readers through the fiery history of a furious, rebellious, contradictory, and boundary-redefining musical genre and cultural movement that remains as massively influential as it is wildly misunderstood. As The Encyclopedia of Punk clearly proves, punk music and culture has produced a rich trove of material, above and beyond the hundreds of bands, from books and films to incendiary political movements.

New York Dolls: Photographs by Bob Gruen

Amazon Price: $16.47 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Abrams Image Amazon Marketplace: 51 new & used starting at $12.36

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> History & Criticism
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> Musical Genres -> Punk
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> Musical Genres -> Rock

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Finally! A photographic archive of the legendary N.Y. Dolls 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Flash back to 1973-74: I was an impressionable 12 year old rock fan, when I first saw the NEW YORK DOLLS on Don Kirschner's Rock Concert on TV. Immediately I realized that THIS was what Rock & Roll, and particularly Glam Rock was all about. I had just gotten my first electric guitar & was learning how to play. The Dolls' songs were catchy, easy to replicate, and most of all, COOL! Soon I was on my way to replicating the Dolls in any way I could. This book would have helped a lot in those days. There weren't a lot of photos of the Dolls in the magazines back in the day. This book is a treasure trove of rare & amazing shots by legendary rock photog Bob Gruen. I'd recommend it to anyone who has an interest in this legendary band. Much like my well worn vinyl, and CD's, and the awesome DVD Bob release a year ago, this is a "must have" for any fan of David JoHansen, Syl Sylvain, Arthur "Killer" Kane, Jerry Nolan, and Johnny Thunders.

Editorial Review:

“The Dolls told me: We know you as you really are, and you’re OK by us.”--Morrissey, from his Afterword Formed in New York City in 1971, the New York Dolls prefigured Punk, New Wave, and Glam Metal Rock with their over-the-top style and their ingenious sound, setting the tone for many rock bands that would later come on the scene. Comprised of singer David Johansen, guitarists Johnny Thunders and Sylvain Sylvain, drummer Jerry Nolan, and bassist Arthur “Killer” Kane, the Dolls are the acknowledged influence of bands as diverse as Blondie, the Ramones, Motley Crue, Guns N Roses, Morrissey, the Smiths, and the Sex Pistols. Legendary photographer Bob Gruen has compiled the first photography collection devoted to the New York Dolls and their iconic and unprecedented style. Featuring over two hundred unforgettable images New York Dolls: Photographs by Bob Gruen celebrates one of the most important bands in music history.

Redemption Song: The Ballad of Joe Strummer

Chris Salewicz

Amazon Price: $11.56 List Price: $17.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Faber & Faber Amazon Marketplace: 41 new & used starting at $8.50

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Arts & Literature -> Composers & Musicians -> Rock
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Arts & Literature -> Composers & Musicians -> General
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Arts & Literature -> Composers & Musicians -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

“Engrossing.” —BEN GILL, Mother Jones

“Passionate and detailed.”

—ROBERT CHRISTGAU, The New York Times Book Review

“[An] epic, meticulously researched . . . biography.” —ZAC CRAIN, Esquire

“The most complete and honest account of Strummer’s professional and personal life.” —RON WYNN, The Nashville City Paper

“There was a time when The Clash . . . was (quite properly) billed as ‘The Only Band That Matters.’ [This] biography about lead singer Joe Strummer explains why . . . Salewicz, a longtime Strummer associate and chronicler of the punk scene, quickly settles into his groove and stays there, his words as vivid as the lyrics to ‘White Man in Hammersmith Palais’ or ‘London Calling.’ Details abound, providing fresh glimpses into the Strummer persona, along with those that preceded it . . . [A] compelling tale of Strummer’s too-short life.”

—LARRY MCSHANE, Associated Press

“Will likely go down as the definitive bio of Strummer and the Clash.”

—JEFF TAMARKIN, Harp

Pretty in Punk: 25 Punk, Rock, and Goth Knitting Projects

Alyce Benevides, Jaqueline Milles

Amazon Price: $19.95 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Chronicle Books Amazon Marketplace: 54 new & used starting at $3.90

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> Musical Genres -> Punk
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> Musical Genres -> Rock
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Crafts & Hobbies -> Knitting

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Fun book 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I'll liked this book because its different and fun... I which I could find more like it...

pretty but inconvenient 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Okay. Based solely on the patterns, this book is more like a four and a half. But the lack of multiple sizes for some patterns (the mohair sweater, for instance) makes adjusting difficult.
Also, none of the patterns provide yardage, making substitution nearly impossible.

Editorial Review:

Another boring scarf? More mittens? We're not gonna take it! And neither should you!

Pretty in Punk salutes counterculture fashion with 25 entirely original designs inspired by fashion icons Vivienne Westwood and John Galliano, and punk legends. Indulge your girly side with the Ready Steady Go mini skirt, rebel with Feel the Pain wrist cuffs, or channel your inner rock star with the very same Mohawk hat Depeche Mode's Martin Gore wears on stage. Whether you're new to knitting or a veteran desperately seeking patterns with an edge, you'll find projects here for every mood and every genre. With step-by-step instructions, helpful technical illustrations and intarsia graphs, plus high-fashion photos of all the finished projects, Pretty in Punk is the only authority on anti-authority knitting.

American Hardcore: A Tribal History

Steven Blush

Amazon Price: $14.57 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Feral House Amazon Marketplace: 36 new & used starting at $8.90

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> History & Criticism
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> Musical Genres -> Heavy Metal
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Music -> Musical Genres -> Punk

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 48 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Messy to the point of unreadable even with good intentions 1 out of 5 stars.
8 of 10 people found this review helpful.

Although I have never listened to hardcore, I wanted to read this book becaus eit was recommended by "janitor-x" and I was copying his writings for a half-nephew of mine. I respect "janitor-x"'s view that Michael Azerrad's Our Band Could be Your Life was much too "soft" in tone and focused too much on bands whose aim was not integrity but success on the college radio that emerged in an effort to counter the lack of competition a stiflingly restrictive commercial radio network had in late 1970s America.

The problem with "American Hardcore: A Tribal History" begines with its format, which consists of long series of dialogues involving the major players in the 1980s hardcore scene. There is so little structure or order to the book that a reader will feel he or she is jumping into something most people without knowledge of rock criticism are unlikely to comprehend. The actual writings, whilst they provide a very different and worthwhile perspective from Our Band Could be Your Life, are not the interviews that would provide - were the musicians willing to be at their most explicit about their experiences - very interesting stories for people who have never listened to hardcore. Rather, we have successions of speeches that appear not to be arranged with the slightest logic, with the result that the books does not convey a story as much as it does pieces of news from the time hardcore was popular.

There are also a number of problematic omissions, for instance it is never mentioned that the Dead Kennedys, whilst like all other hardcore artists never able to dent the Billboard Top 200, had a Top 40 single and album in Britain. "American Hardcore: A Tribal History" is written, likewise, in a manner that suggests the evolution of hardcore where it did is self-explanatory when, as I know very well from living in Australia, there are definite social conditions associated with its rise that any thorough book on the subject would at least mention if not explain with some decent sociology. One might be left wondering why some cities had large hardcore scenes and others did not, when there are undoubtedly definite social explanations that a music history student ought to be informed about.

The links of hardcore to other generes, such as rap and thrash metal, are in contrast useful but even they could be much more complete than they are. The actual origin and roots of hardcore, however, is not given any explanation - as I noted above and a problem shared with Our Band Could be Your Life.

On the whole, this is a tough book to read for anybody but the most devoted hardcore fan and even they might be put off by the constant promotional posters and graffiti amongst which the conversations that make up the actual text are scattered. For all my respect for "janitor-x", I really cannot recommend this book to any music listener. It would be better to read some serious journalism on rock, like by Joe S. Harrington, even if very little of it is about hardcore.

Editorial Review:

Angrier and less pretentious than the drug-addled punk and new wave music genres, hardcore was an underground tribal movement created with passion but ultimately destroyed by infighting and dissonance. Among the important figures who emerged from hardcore are Henry Rollins, Dave Grohl (of Nirvana and Foo Fighters), Ian MacKaye (of Fugazi), and the Beastie Boys. Hardcore's legacy, however, continues to influence the do-it-yourself anticommercial trend of independent record labels and touring networks. The author experienced hardcore firsthand as a promoter, record label owner, and radio DJ, and he intersperses the book's oral histories with his informed commentary. Also included are photographs, discographies, and a complete national perspective on the genre.