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singer. Eric Davidson

We Never Learn: The Gunk Punk Undergut, 1988-2001 Paperback – May 1, 2010

by Eric Davidson (Author)

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(Book). Includes a code for free CD download of many of the bands featured in this book! Nirvana, the White Stripes, Hole, the Hives all sprang from an underground music scene where similarly raw bands, enjoying various degrees of success and hard luck, played for throngs of fans in venues ranging from dive bars to massive festivals, but were mostly ignored by a music industry focused on mega-bands and shiny pop stars. We Never Learn: The Gunk Punk Undergut, 1988-2001 tracks the inspiration and beautiful destruction of this largely undocumented movement. What they took, they fought for, every night. They reveled in '50s rock 'n' roll and '60s garage rock while creating their own wave of gut-busting riffs and rhythm. The majority of bands that populate this book the Dwarves, the Gories, the Supersuckers, the Mummies, Rocket from the Crypt, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, the Muffs, and the Donnas among them gained little long-term reward from their nonstop touring and brain-slapping records. What they did have was free liquor, good drugs, guilt-free sex, and a crazy good time, all the while building a dedicated fan base that extends across America, Europe, and Japan. Truly, this is the last great wave of down-and-dirty rock 'n' roll.

Print length

354 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Backbeat Books
Publication date

May 1, 2010
Dimensions

6 x 0.84 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0879309725
ISBN-13

978-0879309725
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Eric Davidson
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Paperback
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Eric Davidson (Brooklyn, NY) had his share of sleazy good times and success as the singer of the Columbus, Ohio punk band New Bomb Turks, who have played hundreds of gigs in dozens of countries on three continents (and countless labels).

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Backbeat Books; 1st edition (May 1, 2010)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 354 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0879309725
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0879309725
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.35 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.84 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,528,078 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,812 in Music Reference (Books)
- #6,908 in Music History & Criticism (Books)
- #7,241 in Rock Music (Books)

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A. Koziol

Never mind the gunk punk moniker, it's all just rock n' roll

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 2, 2010

Verified Purchase

I've seen the New Bomb Turks live a dozen times or so and when I caught wind of this book from a former Teengenerate member's blog, I had to check it out. Davidson's got a great turn of phrase and his writing style is both polysyllabic and accessible. Not quite a thinking man's Please Kill Me, just more intelligent sounding. Collegiate, if you will. Am I even allowed to say that? Dilligaf.

In reading, you might find yourself reference checking the way a record collector's "record collector" knows more than you ever will and you just pick up some new stuff as you go along. A lot of the honorable mentions and also-rans in this book are scattered about in my own record collection so it's good to know you weren't the only loser feverishly mailing in money orders or cash (pre-Ebay & Paypal) to grab up some low-pressing copy of some inept, 3-chord noise from a band no one's ever heard of and probably never will unless they read this book. But there were these niches within niches and that gets a good deal of fleshing out here which is good. Many of the bands that Davidson mentions toured many places and countries long before more famous bands were around for even a year. Even the Mummies know that a reunion show will only work in Japan ([...]). Who else would see them in the 21st century that's even heard of them?

I recall many of the stories in this book during the time of I would call the 2nd wave of garage rock influenced by people too young to have "been there" when punk exploded on the scene during the mid-70s but old enough to have started their own bands and been influenced by the 1st-wavers. Gunk punk? Maybe, I don't know. I'm no expert but I know what Davidson means by it. It was sloppy, hardly had any production to it, but damn it sounded good and got you movin' and wanting more.

There were tons of bands during the time this book attempts to elaborate upon that would make it probably 10 times its size but it does a good job of gathering, without cherry picking, the cream of the crop and forerunners of the ilk. Teengenerate, New Bomb Turks, Devils Dogs, Mummies, the list goes on but they were all household names to those who were LIVING in that house, or at least in the same neighborhood.

So, in a nutshell, for you garage rockers who wanted to know the whole spew on the Tim Warren / Crypt record thing and other nuggets of 2nd-wave garage rock history, this will be up your alley. There's some decent stuff in terms of bands I didn't know about scattered among the stories that have already made a lot of these bands and related people legends in our own minds. Well researched and follows the chronology faithfully if only just summarily. I enjoyed it immensely.

16 people found this helpful

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oldmanron

As subjective as it ought to be but...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 20, 2011

Verified Purchase

...it could have used a bit more more work, either by it being longer or less 'comprehensive'- trying to cover too many 'scenes' is a big mistake of the book. The more rounded-out sections, such as the ones on the Gories, the Devil Dogs,Pussy Galore and the Gibson Brothers are both great info and fun to read. On the other hand, the sections on The Lazy Cowgirls, the Cheater Slicks and Dead Moon are absurdly short given how important both bands were and are (the 'Slicks are still at it!) Also, the manner in which Davidson attempts to wrap it all up feels sloppy and slapdash.

Also, many important underground rock bands are overlooked completely because they do not fit into the 'garage punk' category. Which as it turns out (and this is what make the book the most informative) was created by none other than Tim Warren, who did more for shaping and moulding the Garage Punk sound than anyone else. As the book reveals, the Gories got their sound by listening to 'Back from the Grave' compilations, which was issue by Warren's Crypt label. The 'Gunk Punk' label is Davidson's make-believe moniker, and that is it.

In spite of the faults, I would still recommend this book for anyone interested in music from the era. As far as I know, no other books have been written on this subject.

8 people found this helpful

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Joshua Wittenberg

Not Much Flesh On the Undergut

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 28, 2014

Verified Purchase

As a fan of a lot of the bands covered in the book, as well as the author's, I thought I'd give it a try. Clearly based on books like Our Band Could Be Your Life and the two oral history progenitors Please Kill Me and We've Got The Neutron Bomb, the book takes a look at the parallel alternative music scene that was lumped under the "punk" rubric alongside the political rantings of mohawked teenagers like GBH and Rancid, but found its inspiration more from 60s garage madness like The Sonics and Screamin Lord Sutch than FEAR or Subhumans.

The chapters don't seem to really follow any sort of linear movement, so the book doesn't swell to anything. It just kind of stops. The oral interviews that segment the chapters drop in and cut off in confusing places since often times they have little or nothing to do with the text going on around them. There really isn't any linkage from one point to another. Secondly, there really is little information about the Gunk Punk Undergut at all. Mostly, we get a lot of information about Tim Warren of Crypt records and his various destructive personal affectations/personality, and a lot of information about the band The Devil Dogs, but if you're looking for a chronicle of the "other indie", that Indie rock that spawned during this era, with these groups, not as a musical style as Indie Rock tends to be fronted as today, with the same budgets and promo/press pushes as their mainstream brethren (since a lot of Indie rock bands today are on major labels anyways, not that the label a record comes out on necessarily matters one iota), then this book might give you a little bit of insight as to what it was like to sleep on a floor back then...if that floor was in Tim Warren's house in Germany, and if you were in the Devil Dogs while doing it, but, otherwise, maybe just go revisit the records.

5 people found this helpful

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