Inaugural pick for the Pitchfork Book Club
GQ's One of the Best Books to Read Right Now
How can so many people pledge allegiance to punk, something with no
fixed identity? Depending on who and where you are, punk can be an
outlet, excuse, lifestyle, escapism, conversation, community, ideology,
sales category, social movement, punishable offense, badge of
authenticity, reason to drink beer forever, or an aesthetic of
belligerent incompetence. And if someone has a strong belief about what
punk is, odds are they have even stronger feelings about what punk is
not.
Sam McPheeters championed many different versions. Over the course of
two decades, he fronted Born Against, released dozens of records and
fanzines, and toured seventeen times across the northern hemisphere. In
this collection of essays, profiles, criticism, and personal history, he
examines the diverse realms he intersected--New York hardcore, Riot
Grrrl, Gilman street, the hidden enclaves of Olympia, and New England,
and downtown Los Angeles--and the forces of mental illness and creative
inspiration that drove him, and others, in the first place.