A History Lesson In Garage Punk Sleaze

Ghettoblasters & Switchblades book club recommendation: We Never Learn

For any fan of garage rock this is a must read. It's the history (Please Kill Me style) of the late 80s and 90s garage punk scene that pretty much got ignored by the mainstream media until the Strokes and White Stripes struck gold. this is the story of those bands who laid down the foundation for the garage rock revival of the 2000s. for any fan of the The Dwarves, The Gories, Oblivians, Thee Headcoats, New Bomb Turks, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, The Mummies, Rocket From The Crypt, Teengenerate, etc... this is your bible.

Things you will learn, Billy Childish is one bitter asshole. Jack White fucked over a lot of people to get to the top.

Like any book written about a music scene that was never super popular there tends to be an attitude that THIS WAS THE REAL PUNK SCENE, which is of course bullshit and kind of annoying, but overall this is a love letter to the era and there's lots of great stories and pictures to enjoy. the book also has a list of essential singles and records of the era. Cool shit.

There's also a tumblr for the book, if you are interested: http://www.weneverlearnbook.com/

When Bad Lit becomes Art

of all the memories i have from tours, one of my all time favorites was driving across the wastelands of the Midwest while listening to an audio tape copy of GET IN THE VAN by Henry Rollins. it’s a collection of journal writings from Henry’s time in Black Flag. it’s half band-biography and half rambling self loathing retarded poetry/thoughts on life (dumb thoughts), and whining. there's some serious livejournal level cryassery going on. basically Hank hates everyone and Greg Ginn is mean. there are some really funny moments and even some Black Flag stories that really can inspire a young band out on their first ever tour. but mostly the best parts of the book are Rollins’ weird poems or thoughts or whatthefuckever.

sample: "I touch her hair. Her shoulders clench together and she stares at the ground. She looks like a stone bird. I am an iceberg. Everyday I float farther and farther out to sea. But that can’t be. An iceberg feels no pain. An iceberg doesn’t feel cold. I feel cold. I feel distant. There is no one. There is nothing. That’s where I am. She won’t look me in the eye anymore since I asked if I could kiss her. Even wanting turns her cold."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! oh to be a kid again. the book is full of nuggets like that. we all laughed our asses off for hours. also the audio book version is read by Rollins himself...which takes the awesomeness up about 20 notches. i don't even know why they bothered with a print version of this fucking thing. having Henry read is own journals is far more entertaining than anything the Rollins Band ever recorded.

anyways, if you ever find this…do yourself a favor and get it. it will make your mind implode. EPIC. fucking EPIC.