A Cultural Dictionary of Punk: 1974-1982

I have signed myself up to receive notifications from google.com whenever the word "punk" comes up in the news. So far, there have been several articles ranging from Pete Wentz "gobbing" at a photographer at the Bellagio-apparently "gobbing" is a punk term, there's a wrestler named CM Punk who keeps coming up, and there's a chick named Ann Sui in Singapore who has designed clothes aimed at "punk rock chicks." Nothing anybody in this scene REALLY care about.

And then I came accross this Los Angelos Times interview with author Nicholas Rombes about his new book "A Cultural Dictionary of Punk: 1974-1982."

My first reaction was honestly to sigh and wonder why someone was exploiting their personal experience with The Ramones or Black Flag or The Sex Pistols for money again, and why I should care.

But then I read about how much research this guy did for his book. As a journalist, I am thrilled at how much he immersed himself into anything from that time that he could find.

According to the interview, this includes records, fanzines, articles from newspaper archives, interviews with people, and anything else he could get his hands on through EBay.

The book is written in encyclopedic fashion. Each topic is in alphabetical order. Topics range from adolescents to The Zeros, with anything like MTV and minimalism in between. (View the full Table of Contents here.)

I was particularly interested in hearing Rombes' view on where punk stands today and whether he sees an opportunity for a punk revival. Or, in other words, his view on the age-old debate: Is punk dead?

He says in response, "No, I don�t think so. Because I think ultimately punk is about destroying the past. Punk was about destroying the 1960s. Just like the Ramones destroyed the long concept albums into these short, fast songs about nothing.

And then California hardcore stripped down the Ramones by taking out the fun.

It would have to disavow punk. It would have to be something else. A true punk revival would spit on punk."

While I don't share his attitude that punk was completely founded on nihilism, it is an interesting and well-thought-out researched opinion.

The book can be bought through Continuum for a total of around $30.00 right now, or pre-ordered through Amazon.com for a total of around $20.00.