Customer Reviews

Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"Dance of Days" is a thrilling but ultimately incomplete and unfocused take on the most self-absorbed music scene in American rock history. For all their "activism", DC punks made some pretty great music, but you wouldn't know it from reading "Dance of Days". Maybe because it was penned by Positive Force founder Mark Andersen. And maybe because his impressions of "what happened" are consistently shot through a filter of self-important antiestablishment political posturing and bumpersticker sloganeering.

Y'see, Positive Force was the political soul to the Dischord/harDCore scene's aggressive mind, but when the two became hopelessly inseparable somewhere around the outbreak of the Gulf War (and, ironically, the arrival/creation of Fugazi), suddenly everything that came after became really, really IMPORTANT (and unfunny), and everything that came before looked homophobic, sexist, racist, and dead WRONG. And if you were around at the time of this catastrophic transformation in DC music history (I was), you'll admit that the music put out by the bands and people discussed in "Dance of Days" became wrecked with the sort of black-vs.-white puritanism that punk was supposed to be against in the first place. Every Fugazi song became an opportunity for social catharsis, detailing the long list of crimes perpetrated by the "oppressors", be they men, meat-eaters, or the cops. Fidelity Jones is described in "Dance of Days" as some sort of "voice of the voiceless" (to cop a lame bumpersticker pseudo-radical phrase), and Andersen's treatment of the "riot grrrl" phase suggests he slummed with their ideals for reasons more related to his own sexual guilt than for musical enjoyment.

But then, almost everyone I knew that went to DC punk shows back then was into it for the "message", so I guess by that definition this book is okey-dokey. But I gotta ask: where is Jawbox, one of the best bands (musically speaking) to evolve from this scene? Or how about Shudder to Think, one of the most strikingly original groups to come out in the 90's? Or Autoclave, the progenitor of every girl group discussed in the riot grrrl chapter? Or Scott McCloud's flashingly amazing Girls Against Boys? Or projects like Moss Icon? Tsunami? These guys get a sentence out of chapters that appear totally devoted to live Fugazi concerts and their supposed political "importance". At the end of the second half of the book, I was rolling my eyes at every mention of "do it now!!" and "the future is in our hands!!" What once seemed important (but in a personal way, not the public drama that Andersen extols) has become ridiculously excessive and corny.

This is precisely what the DC scene always had going for itself in the late 90's: politically charged individuals like Andersen and the Positive Force set dominated the discourse, the stage, the airwaves, the record bins, and the zines. They set the tone, and if you didn't march to their beat, you left town eventually (both Shudder To Think and GVSB relocated to New York, for reasons probably unrelated to DC politics, but their music flourished there, in a way it wouldn't have in DC). How fitting, then, that the "definitive" book on DC punk history serves up a slice of that old-time, stifling political bandwagoneering. I suddenly feel guilty listening to Bad Brains while chomping on a cheeseburger. Don't tell Ian.

Anyone interested in underground music, activism or civil disobedience should buy this book in a flash. It describes how a small clique (in this case a handful of Washington, DC high school kids) united by energy, idealism, and a Do-It-Yourself ethic can spearhead national campaigns to change society.

Step by step it tells the story of Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Faith, Rites of Spring, Fugazi, and other DC hardcore bands and the social movements (Straight Edge, Positive Force, Revolution Summer, Riot Grrrl...) they inspired. It was exhilarating to see a local phenomenon erupt into international musical trends and activism I read about in such distant papers as the Bangkok Post. And reading the whole, hardscrabble saga is almost as exciting.

The one prior book on DC punk, Sun Dog Propaganda's great "Banned in DC", was more a photo album than a history. In contrast, "Dance of Days" is exhaustively researched, rapidly paced, and full of vivid characters. It's especially brilliant at suggesting the link between punk cultural values and progressive politics, something usually ignored by such books. As well as inspiring newcomers, it will stir up fond memories for scene insiders and even provide them new information.

Admirably, the book is more than a celebration. The authors deal also with the downside of the movement, condemning its violent, bigoted elements. While this face of punk has long been exploited by the mainstream media, "Dance of Days" had to address it to provide a balanced account. Acknowledging that the scene had serious problems just makes its final renaissance seem all the more miraculous.

Like the scene it describes, the book has flaws that prevent it from being the last word on DC punk or the equal of a study like Jon Savage's "England's Dreaming". The section dealing with the scene's most exciting era, pre-1984, has little of the "juice" you'd expect from fans' memories of hardcore. Punks may be reminded of the history books they ditched to hang out at the 9:30 because there are few amusing anecdotes and no real sense of fun or abandon. While authors like Gina Arnold take narrative gusto to mawkish extremes, some enthusiasm would've made these chapters both more fun and evocative of the era.

I applaud the authors for stressing the activism of harDCore, but their earnestness gives some chapters a dark tone. As a casual spectator to the scene I was deeply unsettled by their expose of its fascist and street-gang elements. One detail especially bothered me: A person who was very helpful to me at one of my first gigs is described here as a vicious, gay-bashing neo-Nazi. The book gives little indication that this person had some positive qualities. Similarly, the authors' depiction of the heyday of the Georgetown Punks focuses on violence and elitism rather than the gleefulness of the clique. Insiders may deem this old news, but those less hip should prepare to be disillusioned.

Another drawback is the lack of a coherent timeline. Often the chronology is so confusing that it is hard to tell in what month or even year a particular gig or event took place. For a book called "Dance of Days", and with such a factual tone, this is surprising.

Despite these qualms I was overwhelmed by the book's breadth, detail, and fair-mindedness. As an example of how grassroots art and activism can create a community and even improve society, it is inspiring and unsurpassed.

Obviously this book took a lot of time and effort. It's just too bad Andersen and Jenkins were so focused on ultra-politically correct Dischord and Positive Force. Anyone who was there between these years can tell you there was a helluva lot more going on than what's in this book. I agree with the reviewer above--so many bands & people are missing and skimmed over, I suspect because they just weren't in the Dischord clique. I'm talking Moss Icon, Images, MFD, DSI records, Outcrowd, Marginal Man, Parasite, Mopagans, Immoral Discipline, Indian Summer, Neverman, Agent 86, Safari Club, Barbecued Iguana shows, Avail (another who fled...to Richmond), the Hated,...SO many others. And whythe hell the chapter on riot grrrl? That was Washington STATE, as far as most DC punks are concerned. There were always women involved in the Washington scene.

The cheap production values don't help this book's case much, though I heard the authors paid forit themselves due to trouble with the publisher. A sad story and a slanted way of telling it.

Ok, strap on your rose colored, politically tinged, pseudo shining path blinders and delve into the slanted, branded, censored, ivory towered, ignored, unexplored, head-in-the-sand view of "punk" in the nation's capital. Two decades? They got that wrong- should have been "Two Pinhead Views of Punk..."

Anyway, these guys certainly weren't playing the clubs and hanging out with the bands to really know what went down, and what was said, as Ian MacKaye has expressed. As obvious groupies with a few favorite bands, they've left out such a sizable chunk of history- either because they didn't know, or (heh, heh) they couldn't care less, or both- that one cannot take too seriously this "history" of sorts. They've unearthed too few bones and voices to give credence to such a lofty book title. At best it's a molecular thin slice of some of what was going on, thus failing the admirable goals actually educating readers.

For raw objectivisim, this book gets a zero. There are some nice pics and for what they do write about- sans the strained politburo commentary, public policy side-bars, and soap operatic narrative- some of the content is interesting, but way too serious for it's britches. C'mon this is punk history, not Hegel's Phenomenology of Mind.

Now, how about a challenge? For Volume 2, maybe they could dig deep, pull up their pants, roll up their sleeves, get out their trowels and do the hard, sweaty work of an objective historical chronicle which will truly enlighten and educate readers.

Hint: Haggle for it at the yard sale.

Anyone who goes to a Fugazi show (in DC) knows that the first 5 minutes of it are going to be taken up by Mark Anderson passing off bumper-sticker quotes as deep political lecturing and flogging for "Positive Force", which may be doing some good for the community, but has surely cramped the musical scene. He's insufferable. If you haven't had the misfortune of seeing him live, you can read his book which is a couple hundred pages of political posturing dressed up as the history of DC punk. The book is nothing more than unrelenting praise of Fugazi and self-serious [junk] about politics. Worse than being inane, Anderson's politics are BORING. No one cares, guy. DC - and the country - are doing better than ever no thanks to his and his friends luddite and reactionary (dressed up as "progressive") politics.

Dance Of Days is a decent enough book. It tells stories well and covers as much as it can through the political activist-colored glasses of the author, Mark Andersen. The book was co-written (read cleaned up) by DC alt-journalism staple Mark Jenkins, who probably and thankfully removed the tear-stained confessional aspects of Andersen's writing that moistens the book's beginning and end.

The subtitle is misleading to some because it's not hugely comprehensive of every band and scene in DC, but Andersen's not a writer by trade but an active participant in the Dischord scene as an organizer for Positive Force, a DIY activist group. The book is slanted heavily towards politically correct assumptions of what is right and real, but in that regard its saving grace is Andersen's compulsion to point out the bad along with the good. To his credit, and in defiance of the rules of political activism, he insists on reporting the DC scene warts and all.

In the world of Dance Of Days, "meaning" is really super important. Lyrics contain the answers to life's problems and banging pickle buckets in the park across from the White House accomplishes a whole lot. Shows are remembered in perfect detail, and the right word or note creates synergies between band and audience as close to a religious experience as most are ever going to experience.

The major players of the scene are creative types full of the euphemism "contradictions". Ian MacKaye is ok even though he's pushy with ideas and more violent than you'd imagine. The DC scene would rank up there with Passaic, NJ if not for him. Henry Rollins is pathologically hypocritical in everything he does and says. HR of Bad Brains is clinically insane.

It's safe to say Dance Of Days is not a history of the DC punk scene but a well researched set of remembrances of what one person found exciting and interesting. It's where you can read the line "They were trying to survive, searching for a tribe, for family, for fun" and maybe not puke. Maybe.

I suspect most people bought this book just because it is about Dischord and the DC scene, and we like the idea of a cool looking book format about the scene. But this book is, overall, a letdown.

Like the author himself, this book is a bit of a bore that seems to glorify certain things without driving a sense of vitality at all. The details can be cool but often times are tedious and painful to read. Let's face it-- no one from outside the scene would find this book tolerable at all.

I am not going to debate what bands were/weren't included. I just found the book to be long and, ultimately, slightly a downer. Disappointing. Steal it from a friend then give it back-- you'll see.

While I agree with many of the complaints against this book (it being focused on only one element of the D.C. scene and certain bands etc) I do find it to be one of the few and certainly one of the very few well written books on American hardcore music (unlike American hardcore a tribal history for example which reads like it was written by a disgruntled four year old)

Some of the pictures of the early D.C. scene are exellent (how old were Bad Brains in those photos???) and the book well documents the evolution of bands and their members both musically and politically. The main bands being Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Iron Cross, Scream and several others covering their high and low points over the past two decades.

The downside is the heavy focus on a few key bands (I would have liked to read more on other 80s D.C. bands Swiz for example but they receive only about 3 lines (if that) and lables (Dischord being the main focus of the book to the point you would think they were the only label in Washington) and the second part of the book goes way top heavy on Fugazi, Bikini Kill and the effects the whole Nirvana indie music explosion had on the D.C. scene.

This book may have a few faults (and other reviewers have listed them) but it is well written and documented and if you have an interest in the Dischord bands then this is the book for you.

This book shows that punk also had a conscience and an intelligent voice and was not simply a means to "blow off steam" as Steven Blush would have us believe.

This books is crucial for fans of the DC scene and all of the people and bands involved with Dischord Records. Reading this book I learned about the context in which the lyrics of those bands were written. This book is like the glue that pulls all of the DC puzzle pieces together. NOW I understand the situations that gave birth to the way so many of those people were thinking. This book clears up a lot of mysteries for me. Seriously, I had a hard time stopping once I started reading. I can't recommend this book enough for people who are true fans of all things Dischord. The authors did an amazing job pulling all the pieces together. I'm so happy that I got this book.

A solid, if initially a bit monotonous in its narrative, account of punk in Washington DC

The book almost starts by offering straight away a nitty gritty linear narrative of punk conception and evolution. Initially the structure does not feel very inviting with an almost immediate dive in micro details that takes a while to put in context. The strange format for a book that without a few minimal insets with BW photographs, is essentially written narrative also contributes to this feeling of awkwardness in published form.

But if one tries to follow along and leave this initial first impressions aside, the volume actually does a rather nice job of dwelling in the development of a local punk scene, its growth, and influence. Politics and controversies both local and at a broader scene are exposed with personal and interesting points of view, and more often than not with fair contextualization.

It is not a gossip volume per se, although in a couple of places seems almost about to go in that direction to quickly retreat. Ultimately that sense of personal accounts and openness about the author's involvement gives the text an interesting and engaging quality. Ultimately it is good material in any case to further understand the history of local culture in Washington DC, the States, and how it was woven with social action and popular media.