Customer Reviews

My First Time: A Collection of First Punk Show Stories

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To say that I love this book would really be a major understatement as it totally rocks!!! With essays by the likes of Boff Whalley, Michelle Tea, Ben Sizemore, and Joe Queer (to name but a few of the many awesome contributors), you know this is going to be an excellent anthology. While many great books on the subject of punk rock have been published in recent years, this is my personal favorite. Covering topics ranging from the straight edge subculture to gender relations in the punk scene, this fun, multi-generational collection of punk rock initiation stories (and photographs) really captures the rebellious spirit of this political and artistic movement. Indeed, anyone who has been out on the streets at any of the major global justice and anti-war demonstrations in recent years knows the enormous impact punk rock has had on shaping radical youth. As such, this book is a joyful tribute to the loud, angry, anti-authoritarian music that has politicized so many alienated teens. While I sadly cannot remember the first punk show I ever attended, I do remember how deeply liberating punk rock was for me as a young gay kid during the latter years of the dismal Cold War Reagan administration. I also remember all those awful crushes I had on other punk guys who were all tragically heterosexual! (This, of course, was way before the advent of queercore punk bands like Pansy Division). While nowadays I listen to far more folk music than punk, I like to think that I've maintained my commitment to the left libertarian DIY punk rock ethos. Not only does this book bring back a lot of wonderful memories for me, it makes me proud to still be a punk, albeit a rather crunchy one in Birkenstocks rather than combat boots! Thank you Chris Duncan for compiling these important stories, and thank you AK Press for publishing yet again another thought-provoking and empowering work.

p.s., if you enjoy this book, check out Craig O'Hara's "The Philosophy of Punk", as the two books compliment each other perfectly!