Punk Revolution!: An Oral History of Punk Rock Politics and Activism

(Hardback)

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Description

The most wide-ranging and provocative look at punk rock as a social change movement told through firsthand accounts

Punk rock has been on the front lines of activism since exploding on the scene in the 1970s. Punk Revolution! is a reflection on this cultural movement over the past 45 years, told through firsthand accounts of hundreds of musicians and activists.

John Malkin brings together a wide cast of characters that include major punk and postpunk musicians (members of The Ramones, Bad Religion, Crass, Dead Kennedys, Patti Smiths band, Gang of Four, Sex Pistols, Iggy & the Stooges, Talking Heads, The Slits, and more), important figures influenced by the punk movement (Noam Chomsky, Kalle Lasn, Keith McHenry, Marjane Satrapi, Laurie Anderson, and Kenneth Jarecke), and underground punk voices. These insightful, radical, and often funny conversations travel through rebellions against Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump, and Vladimir Putin, to punk activism that has taken on nuclear war, neoliberalism, modern warfare, patriarchy, white supremacy, the police, settler colonialism, the climate crisis, and more.

The result is a fresh and unique, global history of punk throughout the ages.

Reviews

Excellent and engrossing! It's a tribute to John Malkin's interview style that he's extracted such a range of people to dig deeper than, dare I say, most punk booksrevealing not only factual histories but emotional positions. The book is a far-reaching reflection on the revolutionary nature of punk rock, its strengths, its failures, its impact, and its diversityan inspiring overview that is both engaging and informative.

-- Dick Lucas, Subhumans and Citizen Fish

The book is very coolfull of great interviews. Like it.

-- Jon King, Gang of Four

The punk revolution might have been the most influential of all twentieth-century subcultures. John Malkin gets up close and personal with the seditious heroes behind rocks most powerful socio-political movement.

-- Steven Blush, author and filmmaker, American Hardcore

Author Bio

John Malkin is a musician, activist, filmmaker, photographer, and radio & print journalist. He is the author of Sounds of Freedom: Musicians on Social Change & Spirituality, and his interviews and writings have been published in many magazines including Punk Planet, Z Magazine, In These Times, Ode, Spirituality & Health, Shambhala Sun, Tricycle, The Sun and Sojourners. He lives in Santa Cruz, California with his wife and son.