Our Band Could Be Your Life:  Scenes From the American Indie Underground 1981 -1991 by Michael Azerrad

Published in 2001, Michael Azerrad’s 3rd Rock book chronicles the early histories of 13 original American Indie rock/Hardcore bands.  Including the following:

Azerrad deftly puts together each of the bands histories, explaining their background, how they laid the ground work for today’s network of independent labels and venues, and explained how they influenced the world around them.   He makes careful note to qualify his decisions to cover only certain bands and out of those band to focus on their independent releases.  For example, he limits his coverage of The Replacements (one of my favorite bands) up to just after the release of Pleased To Meet Me.  One obvious omission from the book is R.E.M., having come into existence around the time the book is covering and being on independent label IRS.  Azerrad explains that he purposely did not include R.E.M. since they were one of the first Indie groups to sign to a major label and become hugely popular.  The title of the book is taken from a song by the Minutemen.

Check out some of my favorite tracks from the bands below.

Another must read that I stumbled on in the past year.  This book chronicles a choice selection of underground music from 1978 to 1984, deemed Post Punk by the author and the music press of the time.

I always found the term hard to classify as most designations of rock music are.  In recent times it has been an oft used term; thrown around to describe a ton of newer bands influences.  Alway a cool tag word but never really explained, much like Punk itself and Proto-punk.  Simply put Post Punk is the underground music that sprung up after Punk met an early end and imploded in its original true form with the Sex Pistols rise and fall.  Post Punk would carry on that legacy along with all the off shoots of straight ahead punk rock including British Punk, West Coast Punk, Hardcore, and Oi.  This new music would shed all that was overwrought about the music that they grew up on, expand sonically and turn image and politics inside out.

Reynolds splits the book into two parts, sectioning off the early heavily punk influenced stuff in the first part and then tackling the more pop and guitar band driven music in the second part.  He breaks it up into easily digestible chunks that focus on a geographical or ideological scene (or covers whatever bands he feels are strongly related sonically together, which may or may not be in the same area).  Each chapter is full of his own insights into what made the band what it was and why the music sounded as it did.

He fills out the landscape by explaining what was going on in the world in each respective area at that time.  Included in this landscape was of course the bands but also a rich drama including fledgling record labels, record label heads, managers, Svengalis, producers, fans, and groupies.  A huge number of bands are included, some of them might be a little surprising at first because of their status as 80′s pop music, one hit wonders or their seemingly non-relation to Punk Rock or Rock N’ Roll.  Below is the long list of band/labels that are covered in the book (please note some of the bands only get a few paragraphs).

Playlist:  Post Punk Part One

Playlist:  Post Punk Part Two – New Pop & New Rock

www.simonreynolds.net

There is an actual CD compiled by Mr. Reynolds which was only released in the UK and is rather rare. Rip It Up And Start Again companion CD compiled by Simon Reynolds

If you have any interest at all in American underground music this is a must read.  Being the book is taken from interviews with the actual people on the scene it is an extremely visceral and interesting read.  The coverage is chronological starting in the late sixties covering the Velvet Underground and the other bands that are considered to be Proto-Punk.  The main players in that scene included the Velvets, Iggy and The Stooges, The MC5 &  The New York Dolls.  The story continues covering the bands that originally became known as Punk in the mid 70s.  The tag line originally referred to the bands that made a name for themselves at the now famous NY club CBGBs.  Included are The Patti Smith Group, Ramones, The Dead Boys, & Television.  The book covers through the involvement of The Sex Pistols & Malcolm McClaren and the controversy that followed… plus interviews about what happened to some of the major players like Johnny Thunders and Dee Dee Ramone.  For me the book covered a time period in Rock N Roll that I had not previously explored and introduced to me some  great bands that I wouldn’t have delved into normally.  BTW:  the title of the book is something Richard Hell put on a T-shirt in the early days of Television.