Radio Silence: A Selected Visual History of American Hardcore Music (Paperback)

by Nathan Nedorostek (Author), Anthony Pappalardo (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"An astounding collection of personal artifacts that tell the story of American hardcore like never before."

Product Description
"Each scene was a reflection of its time and place. It was organic to each city." (Dave Smalley, DYS, Dag Nasty, All, Down By Law) Hardcore music emerged just after the first wave of punk rock in the late 1970s. American punk kids who loved the speed and attitude of punk took hold of its spirit, got rid of the "live fast, die young" mindset, and made a brilliant revision: hardcore. The dividing line between punk and hardcore music was in the delivery: less pretense, less melody, and more aggression. This urgency seeped its way from the music into the look of hardcore. There wasn’t time to mold your liberty spikes or shine your Docs; it was jeans and T-shirts, Chuck Taylors and Vans. The skull and safety-pin punk costume was replaced by high-tops and hooded sweatshirts. The Jamie Reid ransom note record cover aesthetic gave way to black and white photographs of packed shows accompanied by bold and simple typography, declaring The Kids Will Have Their Say or You’re Only Young Once. This new come-as-you-are attitude attracted skateboarders, surfers, BMX’rs, metalheads, and graffiti writers, with each group adding their diverse influences to the scene. This cross-pollination helped to create an eclectic cross section of bands like Bad Brains, Negative Approach, SSD, Big Boys, and 7 Seconds.Radio Silence documents the ignored space between the Ramones and Nirvana through the words and images of the pre-internet era when this community built on do-it-yourself ethics thrived. Without funding, distribution, or exposure, the scene had to be self-sufficient in order to grow. Everyone involved from bands to fans took it upon themselves to book shows, photograph bands, broadcast pirate radio shows, start record labels, design album covers, publish fanzines, or just offer a place for a band to crash. Authors Nathan Nedorostek and Anthony Pappalardo have cataloged private collections of photographs, personal letters, artwork, and various ephemera from the hardcore scene circa 1978-1993. Unseen images accompany to handmade T-shirts and original artwork brought to life by the words of their creators and fans. Radio Silence includes over 500 images of rare records, T-shirts, fanzines, photographs, and illustrations presented in a manner that abandons the aesthetic clichés normally used to depict the genre and lets the subject matter speak for itself.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: MTV Press; illustrated edition edition (October 28, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576874729
• ISBN-13: 978-1576874721
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 7.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #132,308 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Sleep On This!, December 12, 2008

By	Benjamin D. Gleeksman (Saratoga Springs, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

For the masses who felt slighted by Stephen Blush's American Hardcore, Radio Silence is the cure. The book's success lies not in achieving what it has set out to do, but in the fact that it never claims to set out to do anything at all but take snapshots of various facets of the US hardcore scene from the early 80's through the early 90's. By no means is Radio Silence a history book on hardcore, but every page has a history lesson that comes across as much more valuable than Blush's broad sweep of hardcore's past. Radio Silence touches on straightedge, skate rock, screamo (the real screamo that was big 15 years ago), Krisha-core and investigates the localized styles of hardcore that came from Boston, DC, New York, Orange County, Connecticut, San Diego, etc. As the subtitle explains, the content is mainly visual - live photos, demo tape inserts, skateboards and worn out t-shirts take the place of "you had to be there" nostalgic banter. There are some great surprises in the book - a handwritten letter from Mike Muir of Suicidal Tendencies to Pat Dubar of Uniform Choice; a handmade mockup of Youth of Today's Disengage 7" layout; and a great selection of record covers and t-shirts in the back of the book organized by design content. This is a flip-through book - not a book to read cover-to-cover - and every time I open it I find a new picture or quote I hadn't seen before. I was a little bit worried that this book was going to be another punk rock history lesson but the collection of items on display inside have given me more information than any written account could ever have done.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You can see how loud it was, October 5, 2008

By	J. Gonson "Random stuff seller" (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Radio Silence: A Selected Visual History of American Hardcore Music

This is a beautiful book!
I showed it to a friend who said "you can see how loud it was just looking at the photos", and I think that summarizes it very well. The power and passion shine on every page, but the layout is subtle, and the paper quality is exceptional, which leads to an overall pleasure of a book to leaf through.
This would make a great gift for anyone who has ever loved American punk rock!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The ultimate yearbook of the 1978-1993 hardcore eras, October 8, 2008

By	Andrew Jacobs (Orange County, CA) - See all my reviews

I should confess right off the bat that the main thing that made me decide to shell out $20 to purchase this book sight unseen was the sheer number of contributors to it from my beloved Orange County, California hardcore scene. Over the years, I've read quite a few books on hardcore but none of them did a very good job of covering the O.C. hardcore scene to my satisfaction. When I stumbled upon the Radio Silence website via an email from a friend, I was elated to FINALLY see a book about hardcore on the market that employed so many O.C. scenesters, many of whom are just as relevant to me and my life now as they were back in my early 20s (I'm 38 now). Needless to say, after giving it a day's worth of thought (hey, $20 ain't chump change after 8 years of George W. Bush), I made the order on Amazon.

Best $20 I ever spent.

As someone who got heavily into punk and hardcore music in the mid '80s and was actively involved in the early '90s O.C. hardcore scene, Radio Silence is nothing less than the ultimate yearbook of that bygone era. Jam packed with over 500 mostly previously unseen color and black & white photographs of all things hardcore (literally ALL things hardcore, folks) from 1978-1993 and anecdotes from over 100 participants of every hardcore scene that existed during that period of time, the book serves as both an extremely satisfying trip down memory lane for the people who were there and a very thorough sort of introductory time capsule for current hardcore fans who are interested in finding out more about the deep history of this genre of music. Add to that the fact that the pages of this coffee table book (again, I mean that literally) were printed on thick and sturdy paper stock and you've got yourself a timeless document that you will no doubt refer to many, many times throughout your life.