2009 Reading #82: Our Band Could Be Your Life

[snurri]

Books 1-10.
Books 11-20.
Books 21-30.
Books 31-40.
Books 41-50.
Books 51-60.
Books 61-70.
Books 71-80.
81. Elektra: Assassin by Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz.

82. Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes From the American Indie Underground 1981-1991 by Michael Azerrad. Another loaner from janradder. (I am a terrible book borrower, so I'm trying to get some of this stuff back to him.) Azerrad profiles thirteen bands that were alternative before "alternative" became a marketing category; some of these bands were hugely important for me (Dinosaur Jr, the Replacements), while others I know only by reputation (Beat Happening, Mission of Burma). This is, I think it's fair to say, something of a hagiography; much of the book is nakedly reverent, and even when talking about the foibles of various musicians and label runners it mostly has a tone of fond amusement. I can't say I minded, though. One thing that nagged at me throughout, though, was how many of these stories are boy's stories, and white boys specifically; granted, Azerrad has no control over the nature of indie rock or the timing of when punk broke, but it'd be nice to see someone profile the Runaways, Hole, Babes in Toyland, L7, Sleater-Kinney, etc. in a similar fashion. (Perhaps someone has and I'm not aware of it?) Despite that reservation, this is one hell of an inspiring book--the defiant trailblazing of Black Flag, the DIY ethics of the Minutemen and Fugazi, are humbling, since I feel like I still haven't figured out how to get most of my energy into my art. Punk rock, despite its anyone-can-do-it credo, is as prone to myth-making as the rest of rock 'n roll, and this (along with, say, Please Kill Me) is a sort of Prose Edda of the pantheon. Highly recommended for fans of the era and genre of music.

Comments

[rnb.livejournal.com]

I keep meaning to read this just because of how much I love Big Black, but I still haven't gotten around to it.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

You could always get it from the library and just read that section, or at least start there in case the style doesn't grab you.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

It's a great book -- I even enjoyed reading about the bands I didn't much like -- and at least for me, it really captured the excitement of punk rock in the eighties.

[bloodlossgirl.livejournal.com]

I'm working my way through this one, too, having already read "Please Kill Me". I was pretty impressed with the section about the Minutemen, so far. I'm not sure if there's a book about the girls of punk - I'll have to ask Dr. Nick about it. If any one knows, it's surely him.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Please Kill Me is SUCH a great book. I think this one is not quite as good in some ways, but it's even more of a testament to making your art happen when no one else gives a shit about it.

[bloodlossgirl.livejournal.com]

Too right. You've hit the nail on the head.

P to tha S

[bloodlossgirl.livejournal.com]

My source says that the UK girl-punk bands like the Slits, Raincoats, & X-Ray Spex might be covered a little bit in the book "England's Dreaming", and possibly some in the Simon Reynolds book "The Sex Revolts", but agrees that there is a distinct lack in treatment of the US girl-punk bands like the Runaways. It would be interesting to see a book connecting punk & post-punk up with the riot-grrl stuff like L7 and Sleater-Kinney. A lot of the female bands of the early 80s were a little more on the New Wave side.

Re: P to tha S

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the recs; I will have to check out those books!

[jsridler.livejournal.com]

Loved the book, though I don't recall it being haigiographic for all the bands. And it cut into some of the myth making from the era (Henry Rollins could be a dickhead, the Replacements were assholes 90% of the time to 90% of everyone in their path, including their old manager and bandmates; Bob Mould was not a pleasant human to be around a good lot of the time). At least it tempered things better than when these bands write about themselves (and if you want to read a myth smasher, check out All Over But the SHouting, an oral history of the Replacements. Westerberg's an asshat, and being talented doesn't change that).

I guess I'm not well versed on the female bands of the era that made the same kind of dent that these bands did on indie and then mainstream music via the Nirvana explosion (Hole is too after the fact, as is L7 and Babes in Toyland, I think: their fame and impact came out of the trail blazed by these bands and Nirvana). Were there female bands as big and important as Black Flag and the Minutemen from this era? Outside of bands with female members (Sonic Youth, Pixies), I'm drawing a blank.

But a lot of the book is inspiring, especially the "DYI" and damn the torpedoes attitude of MoB (who are awesome, by the way), Black Flag, Minutemen. Glad you dug it.

JSR

[snurri.livejournal.com]

The weird thing about the Replacements, though, is that people love them even more for being dicks. I guess that's kind of what I meant. I agree, though, that the book doesn't portray everyone as saints; it's just that there's a tone of awe to most if not all of the portraits.

What I was trying to say when I mentioned the timing, etc. was that I know that the all-female bands generally came after this, it's just that the absence of a female presence really stood out to me. Not a deficiency in the book, exactly, but it troubles me a bit that indie rock was no different from any other era in that respect. I'm not sure it's changed still, although I think it's better. So that's something outside of the book, but something I was thinking about as I read it.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

I think that one of the reasons there wasn't a huge presence of female punk bands in the eighties (at least, American punk bands) is that hardcore drove a lot of the female musicians away. If you look at pre-1980 you'll see a larger number of women in punk rock (people like Chrissie Hynde, Debbie Harry, and Poly Styrene talk about how the reason they got into punk was because how open it was to women). Post-1980, though -- when hardcore really took over what punk was and when bands like X, Talking Heads, Blondie, and the Go-Go's (among others) were shoved into "New Wave" -- the women disappear with a few notable exceptions. Even things like slamdancing tended to have more girls involved before hardcore. Even though not all of the bands in the book were hardcore, they came from or existed in that world. It wasn't until the late eighties and early nineties that this started to change with bands like Babes in Toyland and Bikini Kill (if you haven't, you should listen to the phone call Kathleen Hanna made to Mike Watt that he put on Ball Hog or Tugboat? -- it sums up the male-driven music of the eighties, at least from her perspective).

[snurri.livejournal.com]

I should say, too; sometimes I think these capsule reviews come across more negative than I intend. To be clear, I liked the book a lot.

[thehighhat.livejournal.com]

Good book!

[pgtremblay.livejournal.com]

Very good book.

[alicek.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I've been meaning to read this. It sounds great. Thanks for the review!

As someone else in the comments has mentioned, Simon Reynolds strikes me as one critic who seems quite aware of gender issues in rock (because, man, there are just so many people who are all, Whaaaat, these are just the bands I happen to like and that are good JEEZ, if they even acknowledge the absence of women). His book on post-punk, Rip It Up and Start Again*, is one of my very favorite books on music ever. I haven't read The Sex Revolts, his book with Joy Press (another awesome critic, not solely of music), but I'm looking forward to it.

*Which I can lend to you if you promise to give it back! I have the UK edition, which actually matters in this case as apparently the US edition is shorter by almost 200 pages!

[snurri.livejournal.com]

I think I have a copy of Rip It Up and Start Again here somewhere; if not, though, I may take you up on your offer!

Magic of thinking big.

[(Anonymous)]

Dear David,

First,are you the author of "Magic of thinking Big" ? If yes, then I would like to discuss a small fact in this book that I have recently read. Please let me know if you prefer to discuss.

Thanks,
Sathya Kondasani.

Re: Magic of thinking big.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Hi Sathya:

Nope, that's not me; the David J. Schwartz that wrote that is now deceased. Sorry!