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American Hardcore: A Tribal History
American Hardcore: A Tribal History (Paperback)
by Steven Blush (Author), George Petros (Editor)

Product Details

  • Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Feral House (November 9, 2001)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0922915717
  • ISBN-13: 978-0922915712
  • Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.1 x 0.7 inches
  • Average Customer Review: 3 1/2 Stars

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Culling quotes from numerous interviews conducted over a five-year period, Blush presents an oral history of the first generation of American hardcore music (1980-86) what he deems its golden age. Charting the rise of bands such as Black Flag and the Misfits, as well as more famous hardcore alumni like the Beastie Boys and Moby, the book is divided into chapters based on different regional scenes. Rather than having a chronological narrative, then, the book bounces back and forth in time, from chapter to chapter, which will possibly confuse readers unfamiliar with the people and bands discussed. The author's tone also veers between that of a jaded ex-hardcore kid and a sentimental old-timer, but his account is nonetheless fascinating and rings with experience (he promoted hardcore shows and tours in the 1980s). It should also be noted that American Hardcore is the first book to document hardcore on a national level; books such as Cynthia Connolly's Banned in D.C. (1988) and Bri Hurley's Making a Scene (o.p.) have regional focuses. Blush also includes an extensive discography (just on vinyl and cassette, however) that lists noteworthy as well as forgettable releases. Recommended for academic libraries and ones with extensive music collections. Vincent Au, New York
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From "a reader":
Steven Blush, American Hardcore: A Tribal History (Feral House, 2001)

First off, in answer to some of the reviewers who were more general in their comments about the quality of the book (and, specifically, Blush's writing): this is, pure and simple, a nostalgia trip. With the exception of a few specific incidents, where the objective air comes from Blush reporting conflicting viewpoints on certain events, this book seems to have no pretence whatsoever to objectivity. Of course it's inflammatory and opinionated. So was hardcore.

I hate to fall into the trap of "if you weren't there, you wouldn't understand," but I have to. (Actually, I took half a star off my review because that sort of thing bugs me.) It seems ot me that this book's target audience is those who were actually part of the scene (even those of us on the fringes, in towns where there were maybe twenty of us listening to a couple of local bands and the odd Black Flag album that happened to surface-- come to think of it, maybe we're especially the target audience) and want to relive those days. It never struck me, while reading, as the kind of book I could give to someone not alive during that time with the statement "if you want to understand my teenage years, read this." That's the book's major flaw, of course; somewhere along the line, someone will write an objective history of hardcore. This book is not it.

For the most part, Blush gets out of the way and simply reports snippets of interviews he conducted with hundreds of people, mostly those who were in bands, writing zines, producing records. This tendency of Blush's to try and be unobtrusive does go they way of the great auk about two-thirds of the way through the book, when Blush starts talking about smaller town scenes and relating his personal experiences in those towns; this can be justified by the fact that there simply wasn't much in those scenes to talk about otherwise. (The town where I first discovered hardcore, in fact, isn't even mentioned. Not surprising, as I never actually saw a hardcore show until I moved to Pittsburgh; my memories of the town gibe quite well with Blush's reporting, though he does neglect to mention Pgh's best hardcore band, Battered Citizens.) Because of the book's interview-centric format, things tend to be a little more disjointed than one might expect. Again, however, "disjointed" is probably the best way to approach any sort of history of hardcore; as Blush rightly states, the idea of a "unified scene" was pretty much a joke in most places.

This is a fun book

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