Customer Reviews

Straight Edge: Clean-Living Youth, Hardcore Punk, And Social Change

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I just finished reading this and I want to convey how impressed I am with this author. Not only does he talk about straight edge from a personal/biographical viewpoint, he incorporates direct quotes from other individuals in the scene, especially the Denver sXe scene, into his very well organized book. Moreover, he doesn't just leave his findings un-analyzed. Haenfler looks at the inherent contradictions in straight edge in light of gender roles, militant vs. positive straight edgers, and more. He really looks at straight edge in relation to what other ethographers and sociologists have said about subcultures and other non-mainstream movements, including punk, teeny-boppers, and skin heads, to name a few of the comparisons. As I said in the title of this review, this is truly an intelligent and complete ethnography; Haenfler looks at straight edge from so many social and cultural angles, really getting to the core of the movement, while still exploring the implications of the widespread variation amongst straight edgers. I'm really hoping to be able to use this book for a writing seminar I'm in at the moment...how cool would that be?

On a more personal note, this book solidified my pledge to being straight edge and really made me feel proud of that decision. Haenfler mostly discusses straight edgers in the hardcore music scenes in Denver, NY, and Boston, but I've never been a member of any real straight edge "scene." It's got to be easier for straight edge kids who have a support group to keep them on track, but I've never really had that. Reading this book made me realize that I've come to the same sort of progressive conclusions about life, society, and politics that other scene-straight edgers have, but all on my own. So in that sense, this book really connected me to the global straight edge movement.

Haenfler also provides a good historical analysis of straight edge as well by discussing in relative detail the music that was and is so essential to the scene. He gives a well-balanced and well-intermingled look at straight edge hardcore music as well as the other social implications of straight edge. He clearly knows a lot about the music too.

Thanks to Ross Haenfler for writing this book. Seriously, it is so frickin good. And it made me feel so good about the world. Sweet deal.

I was stoked on this book when I first heard about it, but having read it over the summer I can safely say that I'd not recommend it to anyone. It fails both in its depiction of the straight edge scene and as an academic text.

If you want to read a book that attempts to analyze straight edge by trying to fit it into the contours of some pretty dubious social theory be my guest, but since the author doesn't offer ANY ARGUMENTS for the social theory (which is basically just cribbed from standard sources...Judith Butler...seriously?...this is the kind of thing that makes Choke cry) part I have no reason to believe any of it is true.

The author makes large scale social constructivist assumptions about masculinity/femininity but doesn't really attempt to justify or provide reasons for his theoretical apparatus, he just lists some sources.

Maybe they don't demand rigorous argumentation in sociology departments or maybe there's something I'm missing, but it seems like the author's expectation was that readers would share some common set of theoretical underpinnings thus making the need to argue for his theoretical apparatus beside the point.

The end result of all this is this: we learn that straight edge boys are generally "progressive" young men who need to be a little nicer to the girls. If we just made more "protected space" for them at shows they'd be there in droves waiting in line to join us in a rousing chorus of cumbayah.

On the more general SEHC history/exegesis, dude basically shows his true colors. He grew up in South Dakota and didn't go to many shows. He didn't really get involved in HC on a serious level until after he was in grad school in the mid 90s. Even then it was in Colorado, which we all know is not exactly a paradigmatic representation of what's generally been a very coastal phenomena. So we get a history lesson from a dude who spent his formative years listening to STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART and the rest of his time in a relatively small, isolated, young scene.

Beyond that, there's a lot of quotations culled from an interview with officially retired homosexual activist Duncan Barlow (the names are changed but it's pretty clear who's who in some cases) who manages to make clear in print just how much of a pretentious prick he can be. Anyone who has doubts about whether he should have been punched by Marc Porter should peruse some of the pedantic b.s. Duncan cooks up for this interview.

All of this suggests that he may not've been in the best position to offer insight into straight edge as a general phenomena. Imagine a guy attempting to write a social history of baseball who grew up in Japan and visited the US for a week a few years ago. I think you'd get a similar effect.


As both a straight edge kid and an academic this book struck me as a disaster.

I can't tell you how disappointed I was in this book. Being straightedge for 11 years, I was initially excited that someone had finally written an academic book on the subject. This book however, not only falls terribly short of anything that could remotely be called academic (not well written at all), it also fails to really look at straightedge in an in depth way. From discussing fashion trends to dancing/moshing styles, the book strays into irrelevancy over and over again. I would have loved to read some intelligent quotes from "scenesters" as well instead of the usual "how can I trust a sellout" and "true till death" stuff you can hear at any hardcore show.

As a woman, I especially found the chapter on women within straightedge to be awful. Instead of attempting to examine the role of women in shaping the local/national scene or discussing those women who've been in the forefront, the author talks about "coatracks" and girls attending shows just to find favor with the men.

Thumbs down.

Ross really did a wonderful job with this book. He analyzed the Straight Edge subculture from both a sociological point of view, as well as from a fan perspective. Ross has been part of the Straight Edge scene since the late 80's, and has witnessed a lot during this time. This gave him the ability to truly analyze the scene. The book reads great, and I recommend it to anyone that is interested in learning more about this subculture.

This book is a first that I know of on the subject that's written by both an academic and a current member/participant. Just because of that fact it is worth checking out. I think it does a good job explaining the movement in a way that makes sense to both members and interested outsiders, without sensationalizing it as usually done by non-participants, or demonizing or downplaying it as sometimes done by ex-participants. An actual sociological study, this book is a lot more than interviews with bands, stories and anecdotes.

Reading this book sort of reminds me of Jim Carrey's routine on Living Color, "the dysfunctional home show." Are you ready for some dysfunction? The author captures well the rhetoric of these simians trying to wax profound. I don't think he traces the origin of this, shall we say, dysfunction. For example, when you look at the Circle Jerks or the Dead Kennedys, we find a theme at war with another theme, such as that of Sid Vicious. The former were juwes who tried to remold the punk rock scene into a platform for their ideas. Meanwhile, the nazi theme wanted to rebel against the rebellion by staying off drugs and so on. The end product was a frankenstein monster of clueless kids who look like Linus van Pelt with an attitude. The author delved deep, but not deep enough. Why not tell the truth? Moreover, why not call this group of individuals for what it is, namely a collective body of sociopaths! To imply a depth that isn't there is not fair to the reader. I mean, I've seen some of the dumbest kids who subscribe to this stuff. Calling it a subculture implies it is a culture. Culture, by definition, should not be associated with unruly morons who are against the status quo and who pride themselves on not having a motive for being against the status quo. It's like trying to find a zen experience in the antics pee wee Herman. The author, like the straight edgers themselves, attempts to envision the depth of a Socrates in the madcap protégé whose head has been hit too many times in the mosh pit. That's not fair to the kids, nor too the reader. These kids need to know that their lives have been manipulated by leftist juwes who want to harness their energies in support of a socialistic agenda.

The title gets the idea wrong from the begining. Clean living. I saw the guys from Earth Crisis chase a punk down the street in Birmingham, AL because he was wearing a leather jacket.Clean living? Bourgeois politics. Mainline and straight-edge are or should be considered two different takes on an idea. The idea that you shouldnt put all you life's importance on drinking,sex, and smoking. That allowing brands to create your lifestyle culture isn't rebellion. Its supporting the system of corporate abuse some of us see. You can have a drink, you can have sex, and still be straight edge. Being a drunk and a screwing everyone and everything you see isnt being straight-edge. This is exactly why a second version of Out Of Step had to be recorded.
Oldy Moldy JOke: How many straight-edge people does it take to drink a 12 pack? One if nobody else is around! ehhhhh!