In The High Desert: black. punk. nowhere., James Spooner details growing up as a Black kid in Apple Valley, California, and being into punk rock. He details the liminality he felt, being seen as not Black enough by his Black classmates or as nonwhite by his white punk friends. When Spooner met Ty, a Black punk kid, at school, he fell in love with … Read More The Misappropriation of Anti-Racist Punk Classics
During college, I wouldn’t bat an eye at driving four to five hours one way for a concert then driving back home the same night. We’d drive to New Orleans or Little Rock to see bands like the Juliana Theory or to Lake Charles to see acts like Pop Unknown or Baton Rouge to see The Gloria Record. On a trip to Lake Charles, … Read More Mineral’s “The Power of Failing,” Birth, and Death
During the late 1990s, I was a undergrad in college and heavily involved in the “Christian” hardcore/punk scene. I started in this scene while in high school when I found out about Tooth and Nail Records during youth group events. The promotional material would compare bands on the label to “secular” bands, saying for example that if you like Smashing Pumpkins you’d probably like … Read More Christian Punk/Hardcore and Evangelicalism
Thirty years ago, I discovered Sunny Day Real Estate while watching MTV’s 120 Minutes late one Saturday night. I saw the video for “Seven” and immediately fell in love with the Seattle band, rushing out as soon as I could to pick up their debut album Diary on black cassette, the norm for Sub Pop at the time. Over the years, I’ve been able … Read More The “Psychic Colors” That Make Our Memories
My musical awakening came in 1994. A friend’s brother gave me a cassette tape on Nirvana’s In Utero, and I put the tape in my Walkman and rode my bike around the neighborhood, blaring “Scentless Apprentice” and “Radio Friendly Unit Shifter” as I careened down the road. I started listening to them a few weeks before Kurt Cobain died on April 5, 1994. As with … Read More Kurt Cobain and Bruce McCulloch’s “Vigil”
Interminable Rambling 