Hardcore California: A History of Punk and New Wave [Paperback]

Peter Belsito (Author), Bob Davis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 10, 1983

A look back at Ed Roth, Von Dutch, and Robert Williams.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Last Gasp (April 10, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 086719314X
• ISBN-13: 978-0867193145
• Product Dimensions: 11.6 x 11.7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,176,458 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book, January 31, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Hardcore California: A History of Punk and New Wave (Paperback)

Yeah, I agree with the guy below. What do you want, a textbook? This was written AT THE TIME and has been in my collection since 83. If you are lucky enough to find a copy somewhere, GRAB IT!

I mean, why go through all the revisionist history that is pumped out nowadays when you can read an actual document from the place and time?

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vivid descriptions by people who were actually THERE, August 27, 2008

By 

David L. Allen (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hardcore California: A History of Punk and New Wave (Paperback)

For anyone interested in the history of West Coast punk music, this book is an absolute must. Like the reviewer below, I have had this book since it came out in 1983 and even then it was an essential first person document of an already-over scene. Many terrific bands emerged from the LA and SF punk scenes post-'83, and some of them (The Three O'Clock, the Bangles, and the Gun Club among others) are mentioned here, but where this book really shines is in Craig Lee's passionate but also accurate descriptions of the first amazing days of the punk scene in LA, and its seeds in the glitter and powerpop movements of the mid-70's. Anyone looking for in-depth sociological analysis might be disappointed and should go read one of Greil Marcus' over-analyzed doorstops instead. But anyone looking for the raw feel and emotion of those early days of a major music movement will find this a captivating read. As an example I give Craig Lee's description of the effects of the first Damned show in LA in May 1977:

<As the Damned charged through the sloppy, intense shambles of a set at the Starwood, the LA kids immediately picked up on the energy and the theatricality of the band. It was making them FEEL SOMETHING. By the end of the Damned set, people looked around, some with a shock of recognition on their faces. Bonds were forming. The poseurs were being separated from the possessed.>

This is as perfect a description of the amazing power of rock in general and punk in particular as I've ever read. Punk has always been like this--you either get it, and love it, or you don't.
There are certainly other books out there that seek to catalog the emergence of the LA punk scene, and I recommend all of them as well. But one thing you will find is that even longer books like Brendan Mullen's "We've Got the Neutron Bomb" simply add a few more details to Craig Lee's description here. As much as I liked Mullen's book, its main contribution beyond what Craig Lee describes here is his greater fleshing out of the pre-punk glitter scene and some of the seminal bands involved (Christopher Milk, Zolar X, the Berlin Brats, and the Quick). Buy THIS book, look at the many amazing pictures, and let yourself get swept up in the excitement of one of the most electrifying musical movements and vital scenes of the last 30 years.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Grab One If You Find One!!, September 7, 2002

By 

A. Cooper "possum" (Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hardcore California: A History of Punk and New Wave (Paperback)

This is definitely one of the best of the punk books. Written in 1983, the photos are wonderful, the text informative - this was clearly done by people who were part of the scene back then, who knew and understood what was going on.