The Encyclopedia of Punk [Paperback]

Brian Cogan (Author), Penelope Spheeris (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 9, 2008

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

While a punk encyclopedia seems like an oxymoron, music writer and musician Cogan nicely succeeds in producing a useful resource illustrating the urgency and importance of punk rock from its mid-1970s start to the movement's vitality in the present day. A plethora of great photos—from the Clash and the Sex Pistols to newcomers Groucho Marxists and the Shemps—accompany knowledgeable, fascinating and fast-paced entries that illuminate punk bands' struggle to survive (the Ramones were paid only $5,000 for their starring role in Rock 'n' Roll High School in 1979) while avoiding being co-opted by the mainstream music biz. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Punk rock is dead. Or is it? Pop-culture and media scholar Cogan believes that, although punk’s original founders are long gone, the punk ethic and punk music still live on in modified forms. Though these forms may be radically different than what the pioneers of punk had in mind, they still reflect what Cogan terms punk’s “loose overall precepts.” He has assembled this encyclopedia to help general readers get an idea of what those precepts might be. Entries are arranged alphabetically, and the bulk of them represent individual punk bands. Each band is given a date of existence; a breakdown of their history, including key members and personnel changes; and—at the very end of the entry—recommended albums for required listening, followed by a complete discography.Seminal bands may receive longer than the average entry length, which runs about two or three paragraphs. The book is unique in that it also has entries for punk’s subgenres, movements, personalities, terms, labels, pioneers, “svengalis,” and accessories. Nearly every inch is splashed with high-quality images, including iconic album covers, live-concert photos, publicity stills, magazine covers, ticket stubs, handmade flyers, and famous recording-session photos. There is a two-page world map dedicated to punk “scenes,” giving the locations of the scenes and listing the bands associated with them. The end of the book is stacked with “extras,” including a punk time line (starting in 1974), a list of the 100 essential punk albums, a list of the top 10 punk drummers, and great moments in punk television. Punk rock is not for everyone, and there is some extreme language and behavior highlighted in the book, but this will be appreciated by those who are curious about punk and its origins, and what punk’s been up to lately. --Jerry Eberle

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Sterling (November 9, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402759606
• ISBN-13: 978-1402759604
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 11 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,016,115 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Should have verified facts and done some proofreading..., February 8, 2009

By 

North Dallas 40oz. "Kurt" (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Encyclopedia of Punk (Paperback)

The book "the Encyclopedia of Punk" by Brian Cogan is ambitious , comprehensive, and overall fairly informative to the casual punk rock fan. The book is worth purchasing for the rare photos and flyers alone. Unfortunately, however, there are numerous errors throughout the book, and those who are reading about certain bands for the first time will find some of the inconsistencies confusing. In addition to the flat out errors, the author shows too much bias and personal opinion, which detracts from the historical reference aspect of the so called "encyclopedia". In other words, is the book intended to be an encyclopedia or a critical review? Overall, buy the book, but buyer beware, proceed with caution.

Most readers will likely question the inclusion of certain bands (Lost Locker Combo?) and the exclusion of others. Several glaring ommisions of note include: Antiseen, Backyard Babies, Jeff Dahl, Electric Frankenstein, the Hellacopters, L7, the Lazy Cowgirls, the Lunachicks, the Lords of the New Church, the Nomads, Sloppy Seconds, Sonic's Rendezvous Band, Sympathy For the Record Industry, and Turbonegro.

The following is a list of errors, inconsistencies and questionable statements found in "the Encyclopedia of Punk":

Pg. 2- The Accused: The Accused were not a "grindcore" band and did not play "at the speed of light". The term "grindcore" did not come about until the band Napalm Death released albums that did feature songs that were played at the speed of light and these "grindcore" songs were virtually indistinguishable from one another. The Accused coined the term "splatter rock" themselves to describe their own brand of hook laden hardcore songs which featured crunching metal riffs, abrasive vocals and lyrics which could have been lifted directly from the script of a classic splatter flick. The songs had plenty of structure and were in no way considered grindcore. Oddly, under the Accused entry, the book omits any reference to "splatter rock", the very term used by the Accused to describe their own sound.

Pg. 21- Battalion of Saints: The book is confusing regarding the circumstances of Battalion of Saints' guitarist Chris Smith's death. Under the Battalion of Saints entry on page 21, he is said to have died of an overdose after leaving Battalion of Saints to play in the band Kraut. Later, page 162 under the entry for Kraut states that Chris Smith died in a "tragic drowning". A search on line reveals "The story was that he slipped in the bathtub and cracked his head open, proceeding to drown. They actually had found him lying dead in the bathtub with syringes laying all over the place from shooting up heroin and speed". While the exact cause may be uncertain, the book should address the inconsistency.

Pg. 28- Black Flag: The lineup entry for Black Flag contains numerous errors. Dez Cadena did play guitar, however, he did not play bass as indicated. Dez was also one of several Black Flag vocalists, which is omitted in the lineup listing, however, is correctly noted later in the entry. The lineup list at the beginning shows both Keith Morris and Ron Reyes as having played bass, however, it is well known that they were both singers for Black Flag and were never bass players. The book gets the lineups correct in the band description and history, so it is inexcusable and extremely confusing to the reader for so many errors to be recorded in the lineup section at the top of the entry.

Pg. 38- Broken Bones: The book inexplicably describes Broken Bones as mixing "horror and splatter rock", however, Broken Bones sound is standard hardcore thrash with speed metal influence becoming increasingly present in later years. The label "splatter rock" should be reserved for that genre's founders, the Accused, which, as mentioned previously, was omitted entirely from their entry in the book.

Pg. 40- Butthole Surfers: The book correctly states that the Butthole Surfers were formed in San Antonio, TX by Gibby Haynes, and that Haynes is the son of children's TV show host "Mr. Peppermint". For the record, the Mr. Peppermint show was local to Dallas, TX where Haynes grew up, and not San Antonio as implied. Haynes formed the Butthole Surfers while attending Trinity University in San Antonio. In the discography section, the Surfers' own label which released several of their records is incorrectly called "Latino Beggerveil" when it is actually "Latino Buggerveil". The entry states that "one early song was composed almost entirely of snorting and spitting". This is not accurate and does the Surfers a disservice in that the song that the book refers to, Lady Sniff, is actually a thoroughly arranged piece of music with instrumentation and lyrics, and the snorting and spitting is used as a type of "sample". The song Lady Sniff is highly listenable, and, as is all of the Butthole Surfers' music, is groundbreaking and totally original.

Pg. 48 & 49- The Circle Jerks: The Circle Jerks entry contains several major inexcusable errors. The book states that the Circle Jerks singer Keith Morris "appeared only the Jerks' first 7" single", however, he was the Circle Jerks one and only singer throughout their existence. Later, the book states "The best remembered lineup of the band appeared on the Golden Shower of Hits album and subsequent tour, which featured Earl Liberty on bass and Chuck Biscuits on drums". The Golden Shower of hits lineup was actually Roger Rogerson on bass and John Ingram on drums. The book states that bass player Zander Schloss was "from the Weirdos", however, Zander Schloss was with the Circle Jerks for many years and several albums before playing bass with the Weirdos for their reunion shows beginning in 2004.

Pg. 52- The Clash: The Clash entry contains a rather egregious error for such an important and well documented band. Their first LP, 1977's self titled punk classic, is credited in the book as having been produced by former Blue Oyster Cult producer Sandy Pearlman. However, the first album was in fact produced by former 101ers roadie and Clash soundman, Mickey Foote. Sandy Pearlman was the producer for the Clash's sophomore LP, "Give 'Em Enough Rope", which, technically was their first LP released in the US, as the self titled debut was available in the US as an import only. Strangely, legendary Mott the Hoople producer Guy Stevens goes unmentioned as the producer of the Clash's masterpiece "London Calling".

...contd.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow ... impressive and fun book!, April 7, 2010

By 

Patrick West "changezine" (NYC, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Encyclopedia of Punk (Paperback)

Look, I'm a totally critical punk hardcore guy. I've read just about every "punk" book. And I gotta say I really like this book!

It is the ultimate coffee table book for cool people. It is so insanely thick and large it won't fit on your book shelf. But the short, fun little pieces on major punk and hardcore people, bands, scenes and movements were well-done, I think.

You know how most books are about punk totally ignore hardcore? And most books ignore things after 1986? And how when dudes weite about straight edge they seem compltetly ignorant of early punk rock? Well, this book lets it all come together in one big happy family.

I could not imagine the amount of time and effort that went into this.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous!, November 13, 2008

By 

Melissa Ditmore (US) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Encyclopedia of Punk (Paperback)

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!