Other Books and Collected Editions by PSN Contributors

The Punk Scholars Network aims to develop the international and domestic profile of punk studies and provide a valuable academic resource for interdisciplinary critical enquiry across the arts and humanities, performance studies, events management, history, art and design, philosophy and the social and political sciences. Members of the Punk Scholars Network have published books, book chapters and edited themed collections with a range of international publishers. A selection of titles are featured on this page.

To date there has been no plotting of punk scholarship which speaks to ‘time’, yet there are some clear bodies of work pertaining to particular issues relevant to it, including ageing and/or the life course and punk, memory and/or nostalgia and punk, ‘punk history’, and archiving and punk. Punk, Ageing and Time is therefore a timely (pun intended) book.

What this edited collection does for the first time is bring together contemporary investigations and discussions specifically around punk and ageing and/or time, covering areas such as: punk and ageing; the relationship between temporality and particular concepts relevant to punk (such as authenticity, DIY, identity, resistance, spatiality, style); and punk memory, remembering and/or forgetting. Multidisciplinary in nature, this book considers areas which have received very little to no academic attention previously.

As a music scene, punk rock faces an unfortunate stereotype which often assumes an overwhelming presence of aggression and indifference. Using interviews and personal experience, Ellen M. Bernhard argues that contemporary punk scenes are more than just music and mohawks – they operate as sites of autonomous practice and networked communities where a tireless pursuit for social action is amplified by the platforms and forces that exist within the scene today. Contemporary Punk Rock Communities explores current trends within the punk rock community and concludes that today's scenes are spaces of autonomy and commitment where inclusiveness and diversity are prioritized. While self-sufficiency is preferred, scene-related practices are influenced and affected by the larger forces that exist within society today.

Punk Pedagogies: Music, Culture and Learning brings together a collection of international authors to explore the possibilities, practices and implications that emerge from the union of punk and pedagogy. The punk ethos – a notoriously evasive and multifaceted beast – offers unique applications in music education and beyond, and this volume presents a breadth of interdisciplinary perspectives to challenge current thinking on how, why and where the subculture influences teaching and learning. As (punk) educators and artists, contributing authors grapple with punk’s historicity, its pervasiveness, its (dis)functionality and its messiness, making Punk Pedagogies relevant and motivating to both instructors and students with proven pedagogical practices.

This book is the first in-depth, ethnographic study of the Dutch punk scene. It questions the artificial boundaries of subcultural research, calling for a critical analysis of the distinctions drawn between subcultural and everyday lives, and between localised and globalised subcultures. The everyday experiences of punk are framed within the mobile and connected global subculture of which they are a part. It traces its emergence in the 1970s and its development through to 2010, with chapters that map Dutch punk historically and spatially. Further chapters explore the meanings and practices attached to punk by its participants before focusing in particular on the political affiliations of punks. This book argues for an approach to social research that recognises the ‘messiness’ and the ‘connectedness’ of punk and of the social world.

This volume represents the first academic collection to draw upon postgraduate research in exploring the punk scene. Cutting-edge studies, spanning both local and global contexts, are covered with contributions from a range of academic disciplines, including art and design, sociology, cultural studies, English, and music. The chapters are loosely focused around three themes: scenes; gender, race and sexuality; and therapy and laughter. The collection builds upon, and diversifies, existing academic work in punk studies covering such topics as ‘whitestraightboy’ hegemony, straight-edge in France, CRT and the links between punk and the rave scene of the 1990s. The collection concludes with a brief afterword outlining the formation of the Punk Scholars Network.

For more than three decades, a punk underground has repeatedly insisted that 'anyone can do it'. This underground punk movement has evolved via several micro-traditions, each offering distinct and novel presentations of what punk is, isn't, or should be. Underlying all these punk micro-traditions is a politics of empowerment that claims to be anarchistic in character, in the sense that it is contingent upon a spontaneous will to liberty (anyone can do it – in theory). How valid, though, is punk's faith in anarchistic empowerment? Exploring theories from Derrida and Marx, Anyone Can Do It: Empowerment, Tradition and the Punk Underground examines the cultural history and politics of punk. In its political resistance, punk bears an ideological relationship to the folk movement, but punk's faith in novelty and spontaneous liberty distinguish it from folk: where punk's traditions, from the 1970s onwards, have tended to search for an anarchistic 'new-sense', folk singers have more often been socialist/Marxist traditionalists, especially during the 1950s and 60s. Detailed case studies show the continuities and differences between four micro-traditions of punk: anarcho-punk, cutie/'C86', riot grrrl and math rock, thus surveying UK and US punk-related scenes of the 1980s, 1990s and beyond.

The anarcho-punk movement helped to reignite a serious anarchist movement in the UK and inspired actions challenging the Thatcher-Reagan axis. The Aesthetic of our Anger explores the development of the anarcho-punk scene from the late 1970s, raising questions over the origins of the scene, its form, structure and cultural significance, examining how anarcho-punk moved away from using ‘anarchy’ as mere connotation and shock value towards an approach that served to make punk a threat again. Contributors include George McKay, David Soloman, Russ Bestley, Ana Raposo, Helen Reddington, Rich Cross, Matt Grimes, Pete Webb, Michael Murphy, Alistair Gordon, Mike Dines, Pete Dale, Steve Ignorant and The Free Association.

The book can be downloaded here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0rhcgq70akpqwdk/aestheticofouranger-web.pdf?dl=0

As religion has retreated from its position and role of being the glue that holds society together, something must take its place. Utilising a focused and detailed study of Straight Edge punk (a subset of punk in which adherents abstain from drugs, alcohol and casual sex) Punk Rock is My Religion argues that traditional modes of religious behaviours and affiliations are being rejected in favour of key ideals located within a variety of spaces and experiences, including popular culture. Engaging with questions of identity construction through concepts such as authenticity, community, symbolism and music, this book furthers the debate on what we mean by the concepts of ‘religion’ and ‘secular’. Provocatively exploring the notion of salvation, redemption, forgiveness and faith through a straight edge lens, it suggests that while the study of religion as an abstraction is doomed to a simplistic repetition of dominant paradigms, being willing to examine religion as a lived experience reveals the utility of a broader and more nuanced approach.

'No Feelings', 'No Fun', 'No Future'. The years 1976–84 saw punk emerge and evolve as a fashion, a musical form, an attitude and an aesthetic. Against a backdrop of social fragmentation, violence, high unemployment and socio-economic change, punk rejuvenated and re-energised British youth culture, inserting marginal voices and political ideas into pop. Fanzines and independent labels flourished; an emphasis on doing it yourself enabled provincial scenes to form beyond London's media glare. This was the period of Rock Against Racism and benefit gigs for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the striking miners. Matthew Worley charts the full spectrum of punk's cultural development from the Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks and Slits through the post-punk of Joy Division, the industrial culture of Throbbing Gristle and onto the 1980s diaspora of anarcho-punk, Oi! and goth. He recaptures punk's anarchic force as a medium through which the frustrated and the disaffected could reject, revolt and re-invent.

This comprehensive review of punk graphics celebrates a wide range of punk posters, flyers, album cover art, fanzines and fashion ephemera. Famous graphics for legendary bands like the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, the Damned and the Clash are included, along with less well-known examples from around the world, as punk designs from South America, behind the Iron Curtain and from even further afield are also featured. This ground-breaking collection includes no fewer than 900 illustrations from famous names, including Malcolm Garrett, Linder Sterling, Peter Saville, Barney Bubbles, Raymond Pettibon, Barry Jones, Jill Mumford, Winston Smith, Paul Henry and Chris Morton, as well as many anonymous and uncredited designs. Also featured are previously unpublished images by Arturo Vega (Ramones), Peter Gravelle (Sex Pistols/Damned) and Jamie Reid (Sex Pistols). Published by Omnibus Press (UK), Voyageur (North America), Hannibal Verlag Gmbh (Germany) and Hugo et Compagnie (France) in 2012.

Ripped, Torn and Cut offers a collection of original essays exploring the motivations behind – and the politics within – the multitude of fanzines that emerged in the wake of British punk from 1976. Sniffin' Glue (1976-77), Mark Perry's iconic punk fanzine, was but the first of many, paving the way for hundreds of home-made magazines to be cut and pasted in bedrooms across the UK. From these, glimpses into provincial cultures, teenage style wars and formative political ideas may be gleaned. An alternative history, away from the often-condescending glare of London's media and music industry, can be formulated, drawn from such titles as Ripped & Torn, Brass Lip, City Fun, Vague, Kill Your Pet Puppy, Toxic Grafity, Hungry Beat and Hard as Nails. The first book of its kind, this collection reveals the contested nature of punk's cultural politics by turning the pages of a vibrant underground press.

Fight Back examines the different ways punk – as a youth/subculture – may provide space for political expression and action. Bringing together scholars from a range of academic disciplines (history, sociology, cultural studies, politics, English, music), it showcases innovative research into the diverse ways in which punk may be used and interpreted. The essays are concerned with three main themes: identity, locality and communication. These, in turn, cover subjects relating to questions of class, age and gender; the relationship between punk, locality and socio-political context; and the ways in which punk's meaning has been expressed from within the subculture and reflected by the media. Jon Savage, the foremost commentator and curator of punk's cultural legacy, provides an afterword on punk's impact and dissemination from the 1970s to the present day.