Sunday Edition: Tonight We're Going To Give It 35%

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Here's your question and answer of the week from the Punknews Formspring:

Q: Please tell us about your reading habits. Have you any books in particular to recommend for your faithful readers, as punks and more generally as human beings?

A: There are actually a lot of really good non-fiction punk rock books, most of the them autobiographies. I've read American Hardcore, and I suppose as an "intro course" it is pretty good, but I didn't really learn too much from reading it, and honestly, it seemed to over-simplify events that happened. Ditto for Our Band Could Be Your Life.

A lot of books written about people that weren't actually at the time and place of punk rock history books get a lot of flak from people that were there. Honestly, most of those books are probably pretty inaccurate. People's memories can really twist what actually happened- on purpose and just by human nature- so any book that was collected by someone that wasn't actually there, gong off interviews and third hand accounts, can be fun reads, but are often sensationalized and inaccurate.

But, the irony is that people that were there usually don't want to write those kinds of books because they were there, so it's boring and focuses on living in the past. So, I suppose books like American Hardcore are necessary evils, if you will.

I really do like punk rock autobiographies. Those can be inaccurate too, but at least since it is an auto, it's assumed that the "facts" presented are purely the author's point of view.

Penny Rimbaud of Crass' autobiography Shibboleth is great. Then, Steve Ignorant's The Rest is Propaganda is a great, contrasting viewpoint to Rimbaud's perspective. John Lydon's autobiography is great. Nick Blinko of Rudimentary Peni's semi-fictional autobiography The Primal Screamer is great if you already know the RP/Crass background, as the book plays and purposefully twists history. Also, I think it shows that Blinko might not be as crazy as everyone thinks, because he seems to be "tactically crazy" in his passages if you will. He gets crazy, but no so crazy as though the rest of us can't understand his angle. Also, George Berger's The Story of Crass seems to be pretty good and I think the majority of the band have given it the OK.

On the American side, all of Legs McNeil's interviews are great and are highly recommended. Rollins' Get in the Van is a fun read, but sometimes becomes a little cartoonish, especially compared to the dissenting views that have arisen since that book came out.

But, still, my second favorite autobiography is Keith Richards' Life. Informative, hilarious, and so obviously biased. One of the greatest page turners I've ever read. The best memoir? Mark Twain's Roughing It. Mark Twain travels across the country being hilarious along the way, insulting stuffy people, saluting the common man, and winds up in Hawaii just so he can hit on chicks. CLASSIC.

-John G

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