Customer Reviews

The Encyclopedia of Punk

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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 In addition to the flat out errors, the author shows too much bias and personal opinion, which detracts from the historical reference aspect of the so called "encyclopedia".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.

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.

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!

I didn't exactly read it (Who reads a whole encyclopedia), but I looked through it for a while in the bookstore. It seems pretty informative and has lots of pictures. From my brief perusal, I found two things to fault it with. First, though mentioned in the Minutemen entry, fIREHOSE doesn't get its own entry. I suppose the boundary between punk and alternative is not so clear cut. Second, though the great Shonen Knife does get an entry, including a full page photo, the three Japanese female punks shown are simply NOT THEM! Considering the additional errors others have pointed out, I'd say this valiant and appreciated effort merits a second edition, after some careful editing.

I give this book a 9 out of 10. It was missing a few punk bands that I felt should have been in there. But a very interesting, & colorfull book!

This is a good reference for looking up well known punk bands. It offers basic information about each band and their discography. There are many more bands I would like to have seen included but considering the hefty size of this volume as it is, I think they did an admirable job of compiling info on bands in the punk scene.

This book obviously had quite a bit of time and hard work put into it. I noticed the exclusion of some of my favorite punk artists like Choking Victim, Leftover Crack, Suzi Quatro, US Bombs, and the Distillers, but hey, no one's perfect. I enjoyed the little side sections about punk culture and I think it's pretty useful that they included every band's lineup and discography. It's not flawless, but this book is definitely worth buying.

Punk music stripped rock to its basics and injected danger into the rock scene, focusing on anti-establishment themes and ideas. Punks formed their own bands, record labels and zines - and THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PUNK charts this movement in an A-Z encyclopedia of the movement. From summaries of 500 punk bands, zines, clubs and labels to archive photos, and a timeline of events, THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PUNK provides a vivid, graphic survey of the music scene key to any collection strong in rock and alternative music history.

Beautifully put together, well written, this is a must-have for all who were in the scene back in the 80s (as well as the little neopunks running around today.) The Descendents received proper respect, as did other bands, both big and small. I'd have given it 5 stars, but I thought a few bands were left out that should have been included, and a couple of bands were included that really didn't deserve it. I also would have liked a mention of the smaller scenes that helped seed the hardcore world -- that would have made it perfect.

Thanks for a great, well-priced book. Worth every penny.

This an amazingly well done coffee table book with some of the best punk/hardcore photos I've ever seen. And Cogan's entries are thorough and thoughtful and well-written. And he doesn't pretend that punk died sometime in the early 80's like many of these books do. Any book with full-page glossy color photos of Dag Nasty, Quicksand, Crass, and Black Train Jack (fer chrissakes) is well worth the money.