The best
Punk Music books:
Reddit reviews
From 3.5 billion Reddit comments
The best of Punk Music books by number of unique Reddit comments:
Top Reddit reviews mentioning Punk Music books:
If his topic is of interest, I heartily recommend the book Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil (one of the founders of Punk Magazine) and Gillian McCain. It’s a series of interviews that traces the history of the punk movement way back to the late 60’s, with bands who mostly considered themselves as art rock/avant-garde or just old school rock revival. It covers a lot of lesser known punk / punk-adjacent bands too, and introduced me to a whole bunch of great music I had never heard of before, like Television and the Voidoids.
Read Nothing Feels Good. All your answers lie within that book:
Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers, and EMO https://www.amazon.com/dp/0312308639/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_b1bqDb7MDE8FN
As a TL:DR, Emo has gone through several waves of popularity and genre fusions, so it gets confusing.
To summarize the last 30 years, Emo started as a reaction to political hardcore bands in the 80s (Rites of Spring), then it sort of mutated into alt/indie rock (Sunny Day Real Estate, The Promise Ring, Jawbreaker) in the 90s.
The reason people have the reaction to Emo they have now is because of its next mutation was less a musical style and more of a lifestyle/subculture that blew up in the early to mid-aughts. This was Emo's largest mutation, which is why it's hard to define.
Bands like Dashboard Confessional led the way, while bands like Brand New, Taking Back Sunday, and (whether they agree/like it or not) Thursday pushed it along for bands like My Chemical Romance to elevate it to its height.
Today, we're seeing a reaction to that mid-aughts Emo subculture. Beginning in about 2009/10, bands like Fireworks and The World is a Beautiful Place... have taken us sort of full circle. Now Emo can be defined by twinkly or clean guitars (Tiny Moving Parts), or even more of a grunge-y sound (Citizen, Movements, Moose Blood). For a full experience of what Emo is in 2019, listen to Sunsleeper; they are an amalgam of Citizen, Movements, and Brand New.
For me Emo is back in that sweet spot, like how it was in the late 90s, early aughts before it blew up. I don't think it's going to blow up that way again, but for now it's nice to have consistently good music coming out from the scene while everyone else ignores it.
I don't think you asked for a history lesson, but get me started on Emo and I can't shut up (I really just wanted to post the link to the book and look where it took me, haha).
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk, or whatever the kids say these days.
If you haven't already read it, Please Kill Me is a really awesome read. https://www.amazon.com/Please-Kill-Me-Uncensored-History/dp/0802125360/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?adgrpid=58644037400&gclid=Cj0KCQiAz53vBRCpARIsAPPsz8VVbtoWEzXmAMBantMYGvH6L4L5GQm6f5kvN3wqwEtzTzI4IhoHtOwaAkEBEALw_wcB&hvadid=274723839062&hvdev=m&am...
Edit: Damn that's a long-ass url!
Yes definitely. I also think Glassjaw's impact on east coast bands in the late 90's often goes underrated. This book is great for learning more about the development of post hardcore, but it was published in 2000 so it doesn't have any info on what happened in the following decade unfortunately.
If you can get a hold of the book Destroy All Movies!!!, it tried to list all movies with punks in it. The book is out of print and hard to find now, unfortunately. Here is the link to the Amazon page for it, though : https://www.amazon.com/Destroy-Movies-Complete-Guide-Punks/dp/1606993631
Yup, it was. It's a shame I didn't realize it at the time, but that's how it goes right? Yes! Pat Graham is the man. HE put together the book I mentioned and it's really good. It's mostly photos with some interviews and stories from band members and stuff. From the sound of it, Pat was like the fourth (or fifth) member of MM in the early days, along w/ Dann Gallucci, and came with them on every tour in their "vansion."
Here's the link to the book. I hadn't realized it's selling for $200 and up though, which is really weird. It's a nice book with some great lesser known photos of the band and the landscapes from his window in the van etc, but hopefully is reprinted so it is more affordable for people.
https://www.amazon.com/Modest-Mouse-Pat-Graham/dp/1576876519
No. I'm not familiar with that amp, but if I was going in blind, I'd say you could play this style with a fender style amp. Anything with a good clean channel should do.
I could totally be wrong, and that amp might be the key element to Daniel's sound, but don't let the gear stop you from playing. He, and a lot of other early goth/post-punk players have styles that are very hard to imitate, and it's not because of their gear, so don't get hung up on buying everything the internet tells you to buy. Keep an open and creative mind and don't get hung up on nailing a certain sound. Find yours along the way.
Also, if you're into reading, check out "Rip it up and Start Again" by Simon Reynolds. It's a great book covering post-punk from 78-84. Not a lot of mention about gear, but it's been more inspiring to me than any pedal review, demo, or other gear related content in recent memory.
an essential source for anything like this (which can never be completed, "kids will always take the torch away", etc) is Andy Greenwald's <em>Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers, and Emo</em>. the writing is cringeworthy at times, especially at the end of the book when he interviews some suicidal teen girl with a Livejournal (dear God...), but you will learn things and get a basic "map" down in your head.
> am a big Jimmy eat world fan but I didn't realize that static prevails was on a major. They basically got signed based on speculation from their self-titled which most people have never heard. - Really shocking to hear about Thursday and hiw they owe the label (or at least did).
Have you read Nothing Feels Good?
Much more centered around emo and early mall emo craze of the late 90s/early 00s. Talks a bit about Jimmy Eat World and their rise.
Dunno if you like books, but there’s a great book about the American punk scene from ‘81 to 91’ that details Dü, along with a dozen or so other bands from their formation on through the years. Lots of great stuff in there.
Yup. je viens de finir l'auto-biographie de NOFX. C'était pas tout rose, loin de là.
C'est vraiment une bonne, et très particulière lecture.
Find a therapist. Telemedicine makes it easier. Specifically a trauma therapist. Someone who specializes in trauma therapy and skills. You can talk over the phone. Work on mindfulness skills. Dialectic skills. Cognitive distortions etc. Therapy can help us get out of our minds and gain control. I’ve also found listening to Tony Robins or Jack Canfield helpful. Have you read Dharma Punx dharma punxby Noah Levine? Good book with life lessons. Like box breathing. The Seals train with this technique. box breathing technique . Everyone’s journey is different. Just posting on this thread is a good start/step. Good luck. You are not alone.
Also this dude currently kinda sucks but back in the day he was my mentor and teacher and at the time he wrote this book I decided to get sober. He does document using H and other drugs / drinking and how he found Buddhism and meditation. I found it to be super helpful as long as reading about using won’t trigger you it’s worth a look ! https://www.amazon.com/Dharma-Punx-Noah-Levine/dp/0060008954
This book exhaustively covers punks in film through the year 2000. From documentaries to movies with punk rocker characters to movies with punks acting in them to movies with a dude with a mohawk as an extra in the corner of a crowd shot in one scene. From big budget Hollywood to New York art underground.
Its a huge coffee table book styled encyclopedia that also features amazing interviews with directors, actors, and all kinds of people involved in the punk/film axis.
Its been out of print for a few years now, so its expensive. But its still worth it.
https://www.amazon.com/Destroy-Movies-Complete-Guide-Punks/dp/1606993631
Still think you get it for less on ebay, new aswell.
Which reminds me of another crazy bit of history - I'm sure you know this but just for the sake of this subthread. DOM (the methyl analog of DOC/DOB/DOI which was actually the first in the series) was discovered by Shulgin in the early 60s. By 1967 somebody was selling it in San Francisco as "STP" in 10+ mg tablets. If you know anything about the DOx series that's a crazy high starting dose, especially since people used to the quicker come-up of LSD would sometimes take more than one. I remember there's a reference in Please Kill Me to Iggy Pop taking STP and tripping for three days. Quite a few people went to the hospital on that shit.
Simon Reynolds has done extensive research into the subject.
I would suggest reading "Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984", but make sure you get the UK version. The US version is missing most of the chapter on goth.
As a photographer/film photography lover/musician/modest mouse fan, it's one of my favorite books that I own. Lots of great photos in there, good stories, and a behind the scenes look at MM's career.
https://www.amazon.com/Modest-Mouse-Pat-Graham/dp/1576876519
A couple of great sources on the birth of punk are are these two:
hey guys,
my name's jeff, i was one of the directors of the Backstage Passports. the linoleum cover is by Christine "Cece" Sherman. i just did a quick google search trying to find a full version online to share with you all but no luck. :(
she does pretty great covers of Franco Unamerican and Eat The Meek as well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgMJFgsh9VA
and while i'm typing, i'm programmed to always mention that everyone should pre-order NOFX's new book, "The Hepatitis Bathtub and Other Stories"!
www.amazon.com/NOFX-Hepatitis-Bathtub-Other-Stories/dp/0306824779
I've got a book on the history of punk rock, told entirely in the form of quotes from people in and around the movement (this one), and it for some reason talks a whole lot about the Doors.
If you haven't done so already, you should read the chapter on Dinosaur Jr in the book Our Band Could Be Your Life. The impression I got after reading that was that Barlow was more difficult to get along with than Mascis.
I enjoyed reading Noah Levine's Dharma Punx -the story of how he kicked drugs using meditation -- so much that I've been listening to his 'Against The Stream' dharma talks for years. He's stayed clean now for 20 years. Apparently people in his community have started an alt (or addition) to AA called RefugeRecovery that aims to help people deal with their addictions via buddhism/meditation. It's early days but there might be a group in your area.
You might gain some benefit from reading Dharma Punx by Noah Levine. It's not the be-all, end-all of Buddhism, not by a long shot, but I found it a really easy way to access an intro to Buddhism when I was in a really rough place in life.
These two are my personal favorites. They both under $10 and I have made most of the recipes from them and loved every single one. My go to recipes come from these books. They are also way more entertaining than most cookbooks. Although it is almost entirely food recipes, Don't Feed the Bears has instructions on making a tattoo gun with a toy car motor. Pretty metal.
The cookbook Please Don't Feed The Bears has some incredible vegan recipes. There might be a copy at your local library. Even if you're a meat-eater, the recipes are just darn good, worth having the book regardless of food choice :)
If you do find a copy, pick one of the chili recipes.
Actually got into them recently while reading Our Band Could Be Your Life. Double Nickels is awesome but it's kind of an imposing start. I dug in a little and picked up What Makes a Man Start Fires and the Buzz of Howl EP. Grittier but they complement each other really well.
hm, there's not a whole lot of bands that I loved, but now hate. Hell, I owned the first 2 Korn albums, but I don't really hate those albums even if I thought the band became really shitty after that.
The Industrial genre as a whole is dead to me even if it was all I listened to from age 14 - 17 or so. No innovation came to the genre post-1992 or so (though some good albums were still released) and bands like KMFDM were basically recycling Naive for decades on end. I have some interest in the genre in terms of its context in post-punk to where I have a better understanding of bands like Throbbing Gristle Cabaret Voltaire, and Chrome and I still keep my Skinny Puppy and FLA albums around even if I don't really listen to them anymore, though I still listen to Ministry and some Coil.
The genre went off the deep end around 1997 or so and became rave music for goths. So much like Korn, I grew tired of a genre that I thought had played itself out and got much worse and then moved on. I don't dislike it, though listening to some of the genre feels a bit too brooding High Schooler for me, so I do find it odd when grown adults, sometimes older than me, still listen to the genre.
If you are looking for more information on the topic, there is a book called "Destroy all Movies" that has a definitive listing of Punk Rock related films. It is available on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1606993631/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER