books:

	American Hardcore: A Tribal History Steven Blush Feral House, 2001 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 48 reviews view larger image
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Really like the semi interview format of how musicians & other key figures tell it in their own words rather than rumors and second-hand information.

It was really great to see chapters on scenes between the two coasts like Texas, Detroit, Phoenix and others. Perhaps not a complete documentation on the smaller scenes, but not bad coverage either. He wrote mostly about the larger well-known bands and notorious tales of the smaller cities, guess it makes sense otherwise readers will go `Who, what? Never heard of it??'

After reading the book, I suddenly realized that we were a bunch of unstable social outcasts back then, to me it was pretty normal and entertaining. Today if one of my children attempted to go `old school hardcore' I'd do anything to turn them toward another direction.

Highly recommend, it's great to see a book documenting a piece of ugly history that is rarely written about.

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Flawed but enjoyable

Yes, this book has its flaws. At times it can be self-righteous, opionated, and even a bit misogynistic in places--very much like hardcore itself often was. The author occasionally rises above his own prejudices, though, and provides a cogent analysis of what hardcore was, what it meant to a generation of social pariahs and misfits, and the built-in factors of obsolescence that led to its demise after only a few years. The oral history is entertaining and informative--I've gotten a kick out of reading the firsthand accounts of how some of my favorite bands came to be, came to prominence, and eventually came to an end. As mentioned in another review, many of the people interviewed have an axe to grind, even after all these years. But the author makes at least a reasonable attempt at balanced reporting through most of the book.

I guess that for me, the primary appeal of this book is that it's like a trip back in time to the days when my buddies and I would listen to the latest SST or Alternative Tentacles comps after school, go to shows at our local "underground" venues and check out the record reviews in the 'zines. Before we were out of high school, we'd formed our own band and were appearing on a small stretch of the northeast HC circuit, with some modest success. My early experiences in the HC years fostered a love of creating and playing music that persists to this day. The overarching message of HC, as far as I was concerned, was this: YOU can do this yourself. YOU can make your own music and your own "scene." You don't have to sit back and wait for the big entertainment companies to spoon-feed you. Long after many other aspects of HC ceased to be relevant, this fundamental philosophy at its core continues to resonate with many kids, young and old, banging away on guitars and drums in basements and garages all over the nation.

If you were involved in HC in the early or mid '80s, whether you were playing in a band, going to shows, pasting up flyers or getting your ass beat by violent jocks because of your "weird" appearance--then you will enjoy this book. If not, you might find the "I was THERE, man!" attitude that pervades some of the text off-putting.

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Fascinating at times but flawed

I won't go in detail on this as other people have covered the same ground. It's a fascinating book at times with detailed looks at Black Flag, Misfits, the Texas scene etc. However, it's main problem is that it's an oral history and this many years down the line, everyone has their own agenda and their own axe to grind so it's hard to know how many of the stories are actually true! It also has several glaring inaccuracies and omissions. As for Blush himself, at several points in the book he comes across as a homophobe and, in his introduction to the book, as someone with a huge ego ("if you weren't there then, you don't have a clue" is the gist of it).

It's still worth a read but it's not the hardcore bible or anything close to that.

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Not to shabby - worth the read.

Its not that bad - but at the same time its not that good either.

I'll get to the point with this one, it has a slew of information, interviews, pictures, flyers, ... (the works) from just about every band from the first wave of punk/hardcore up to the mid 80's. The chapter on the Misfits with a very rare interview of Glenn Danzig giving his take on the band, which is well worth the read alone.

For the most part its somewhat poorly written. The author throws in their opion a bit to much, where the book is almost a really long editorial on the music. Not that it would be a bad thing, but I was just expecting more.

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, page 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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