A personal history of
LA Punk
By John Doe w/ Tom
DeSavia
- Publisher: Da Capo Press (April 26, 2016)
I have been looking forward to reading this book. The LA punk scene
has been under-represented. Many people were not aware of it until 1981. Most
of this multi-faceted book focuses on the golden age of the Masque and the early scene,
roughly the years 1976-1981. Hollywood
had a glam rock and groupie scene going on in the early part of the 1970s. That
soon morphed into the new punk thing when everyone got a leather jacket. In
NYC, they had the clubs Max’s Kansas City
and CBGBs and a lot of movies and books and documentaries. London
had almost too much hype and coverage. London
has often been mistaken as the birthplace of punk rock. Los
Angeles was always a third city with an equal force of
creativity and importance, ahead of San Francisco,
Chicago and DC.
Back at the start, LA had the clubs: the Masque, The
Whiskey, and The Starwood were all the main locales for the early scene; plus
new clubs were opening up all the time. This book pays attention to the
Canterbury Hotel, a block away from the Masque, as LA’s dingy answer to the Chelsea
Hotel. Most of the scene’s original
100, or “original 200,” it’s not clear who’s card carrying member or not, are
people who are no longer with us. For those dozen people or so who are still
with us, some have detailed accounts and others have vague memories that seem
general. There was a lot of drug and alcohol abuse back then. I am sure some
people have blacked out most of the time. I know that I have.
There is an introduction by Billie Joe Armstrong. He’s not
from LA and he came along ten years too late. I guess the editors of this book
wanted to include a big name to attract the millenials? It turns out that most
of people in this book are not from LA and came out west when they were young
adults. A third of the book is written by John Doe, so it becomes X-centric.
Some of the best LA bands of the time like The Weirdos, The Screamers, and The
Alleycats, are there in the background.
The book starts out slow. The intro by Armstrong and the
forward by Tom DeSavia are generic punk outlines. Instead I suggest that the
reader only recall the first time they heard The Ramones or The Germs. Because
these two sections are general reminiscences by music fans. In the first real
chapter John Doe remembers playing The Whisky and recalls his first impression
of the Masque. Exene Cervenka doesn’t add much with her vague history report.
Where are the personal tales? John Doe returns in the next section with an
impressionistic piece about living on Genesee Avenue,
and banging Lorna Doom of The Germs.
The first part of the book drags. The best part of the book
comes next: there are two long chapters by Jane Wiedlin and Pleasant Gehman. Jane
Wiedlin talks about growing up in the valley and going to fashion school. She
discovers the LA punk scene and moves into the Canterbury Hotel. She reminds us
that the Go-Gos started out as a punk band. They were the only band to achieve
success and tour internationally. While most of the others turned to heroin. Orange
County punks didn’t kill the
original scene, heroin did. And lack of any success outside of the scene.
Pleasant Gehman links the original scene with The Germs and
The Gun Club: some of the best bands to come out of it. Her view of the LA
scene is the most cinematic. Her story about how her friends went to meet the
Sex Pistols on tour in the south to lose their virginity was pretty hilarious. The
hardcore scene came in and Pleasant went rockabilly.
John Doe has a few more chapters that fill in the blanks. Chris
Morris talks about his experiences with working at a movie theater and Slash
Magazine. Tom DeSavia focuses on the photographers of punk, the best ones being
Ed Colver and Jenny Lens. Robert Lopez talks about growing up in San
Diego and being in a teenage punk band. The focus
turns on how east LA punk and Latino punk bands became involved with the
original movement.
Of course, Henry Rollins chimes in and was a little late to
the LA scene. By this point of the book I notice how few original native Los
Angeles people are represented here. Henry Rollins
doesn’t really add much color to what has been said better before. But it is
interesting that he mentions how he was followed by the police and the FBI. The
question remains: was punk seen as a threat by the FBI at the time?
Chris D. speaks about his experiences with Slash Magazine.
Mike Watt goes on for a few pages about growing up Pedro. John Doe speaks about
what is punk and not punk. Charlotte Coffey writes about not being cool and not
very punk, but being in the Go-Gos, which were the only band from the original
scene to have any success and play stadiums.
There is a lot of anti-OC sentiment in these pages. Most of
this is refuted by Jack Grisham of TSOL. TSOL is still one of the current bands
still offering their brand of punk today. While many lament the end of punk
around 1982, due to the OC invasion, in reality the OC punk scene had been
boiling for years. Sandy West of The Runaways was from Huntington
Beach. There were backyard house parties with The
Crowd and The Outsiders. There was more of a punk uniformity and gang element
post 1981 and that was unfortunate. But it’s a little sad when people in the
original scene are still trying top be the king of the high school when they
are 25.
Whether punk had died or not, one thing was for sure
post-punk had started. There was goth, rockabilly, electronic music, ska, and
new wave. Most of the old punks had put their cards in the rockabilly/Americana
movement. Dave Alvin of the Blasters addresses much of this in his chapter.
Kristine McKenna Mourns the death of the scene artfully in her section. John
Doe then wraps in up nicely. It’s a compelling read and a fresh looking back on
the complicated scene.
The band X had been in two documentaries. Still LA feels
under-represented in punk rock retrospectives. There is always New
York and London,
and Los Angeles is a strong third
city, although you might think it’s an equal to DC, Boston,
Chicago and San
Francisco. Some of the LA bands don’t really seem as
punk as we would like them to. They would play with The Knack, 20/20, and The
Plimsouls at the Starwood, although no one talks about those bands being punk.
Punk music is at heart a folk movement. Anyone can start a
band. The bands become more successful and move on to the bigger mainstream
stage, like the Go-Gos, or they stop after one album and become a legend, like
The Germs. Lack of success, and money, and experiences on the road, force bands
to hang it up after a few years. Or you can change your tune, or start a new
band.
Punk didn’t die in 1982. It just got predictable and old. Due
to lack of support and recognition, many bands turned to drugs. Heroin in the
early 1980s killed the scene. The OC kids didn’t ruin the scene. The scene
became ugly and violent overall. Those younger kids of the 1980s didn’t relate
to society and older bands that were too cool for school. And musicians heading
towards 30 and playing for five or ten years didn’t want to be spit on by a 15
year old with nothing to lose. See you at the Go-Gos farewell concert tour. It will be fun.
Review by Alexander Laurence
