In an age of on-demand everything, it’s hard to remember that not so long ago, you couldn’t buy a Ramones T-shirt at your local big box chain store.
If you weren’t into mainstream pop culture, discovering a new band that spoke to you and people you could relate to in real life was an even more daunting task than it is today — even with networking websites and text messages. When was the last time you cared enough about a record that you would take hours at a time to hunt it down across state lines?
In the introduction to My First Time: An Anthology of First Punk Show Stories, Chris Duncan raises the question “How often can we pinpoint the exact moment, when you know deep down in your guts, that things can never ever be the same again?”
From Gillman Street in Berkley to the 9:30 Club in DC and everywhere in between, Duncan has illuminated a subject that most people know and care nothing about. But for those who do, the memory is as permanent as a homemade tattoo.
Contributors such as Joe Queer, Jack Rabid, Michelle Tea, and Blag Dahlia use imagery that makes you see, hear, and almost smell the bands, the audiences, and explosive teenage angst. Although some stories are more engaging than others, even the chapters that read like Grandpa’s “when I was your age” stories are relatable and entertaining.
Whether the writer was small town or big city, straight-edged or drug fueled, boy or girl, or hit puberty in ’77, ‘82 or ’92, the commonalities between them prove that punk really is a “community of misfits,” and that’s okay. As much testimonial as love letter, My First Time captures both a time and place in music history and each individual’s life.
– Jamie Ludwig
MY FIRST TIME: A COLLECTION OF FIRST PUNK SHOW STORIES
Edited by Chris Duncan
190 pages, paperback
$15.95, AK Press
AK Press: www.akpress.org