Under the Big Black Sun

April 4, 2016
Doe, frontman for X, has gathered the testimonies of punk’s progenitors in L.A., a scene only rivaled by those of New York and London for fecundity and influence. Twenty-four chapters draw on the accounts of Mike Watt (the Minutemen), Jane Wiedlin (the Go-Gos), El Vez (aka Robert Lopez), and others to follow the genesis of punk beginning with glam, garage, and early punk abroad. Focused around the Masque club and the Canterbury Apartments, a few hundred outcasts exploited the low-rent environs of Hollywood and downtown L.A. to live in semi-communal squalor and make rock new again. The punk scene ultimately became fragmented by way of heroin, death, and migration to major labels, with the final blow coming from the brutal intrusion of Orange County musicians (“OC kids”) who didn’t share punk artists’ art-school inclinations or gender ambiguity but embraced their confrontational rage to create hardcore metal. Chapters by older artists and members of the East L.A. contingent demonstrate punk’s broad appeal. Even the despised OC kids get a say through Jack Grisham (TSOL), whose response to the original punks’ contempt for the newcomers, while self-aggrandizing, is both savage and eloquent. In an essay on photographers and other visual artists, Doe’s co-editor, talent scout DeSavia, traces an influence that transcended sound. L.A. punk’s unique aesthetic, heir to Raymond Chandler and Joan Didion, is filtered through “exhaust fumes, rumble, muscle and smoking tires” to reveal the darkness behind the sunglasses.

April 15, 2016

Doe (guitarist & bass player, X), fellow band members, and friends such as Doe's ex, Exene Cervenka and Henry Rollins, reminisce about the prime years of the Hollywood punk scene (1975-80) in this fascinating collection of essays. The punk movement was a subculture centered on art, creativity, rebellion, and anger. There were links to futurism, Dadaism, surrealism, and the influences of Arthur Rimbaud, Fats Domino, Jim Morrison, R&B, and rockabilly. Prior music experience was not a prerequisite to form a punk band. The genre was meant to be performed live, because radio play was scarce to nonexistent. Violence in the mosh pits added fuel to the excitement at the events publicized in various fanzines and fliers. Many of the musicians lived in rat-infested apartments, wore vintage and thrift-store clothing, drove late-model cars from the 1950s and 1960s and rechristened themselves with glam rock names. Heroin became the drug of choice and sadly, many of the original punks succumbed and died. VERDICT This book will appeal to fans who want an inside look at the history of the punk lifestyle. For further exploration, check out Slash: A History of the Legendary L.A. Punk Magazine: 1977-1980, edited by J.C. Gabel and Brian Roettinger.--Elizabeth D. Eisen, Appleton P.L., WI

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