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Glasper, I. (2023). Silence Is No Reaction: Fort Years of Subhumans. East Sussex, UK: Earth Island Books.
Abstract: << [This is the] definitive history of one of the best punk bands of all time. It's been a long time in the making but with over 640 packed pages it's well worth it and you can order this great book now!
Formed in Wiltshire, England, in 1980, the Subhumans are rightly held in high regard as one of the best punk rock bands to ever hail from the UK. Over the course of five timeless studio albums and just as many classic EPs, not to mention well over 1000 gigs around the world, they have blended serious anarcho punk with a demented sense of humour and genuinely memorable tunes to create something quite unique and utterly compelling.
For the first time ever, here’s their whole story, straight from the recollections of every band member past and present, and a dizzying array of their closest friends and peers, with not a single stone left unturned. Bolstered with hundreds of flyers and exclusive photos, the complete discography, a full gigography, and more, this book is the definitive account of a much-loved band.
Ian Glasper is the critically acclaimed author of several best-selling books on the underground UK punk scene, not least of all Burning Britain: The History of UK Punk 1980-1984 and The Day the Country Died: A History of Anarcho Punk 1980-1984. But this is the first book he’s ever written about just one band. And there isn’t another band he would rather have written about more. >>
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McLaughlin, A. R. (2015). Navigating Gender Inequality in Musical Subgenres. Ann Arbor: East Tennessee State University.
Abstract: This study looks at female musicians performing in subcultural rock genres commonly considered non-gender-conforming, such as punk rock, heavy metal, noise, and experimental. Twenty-four interviews were conducted with female musicians who reflected on their experiences as musicians. Themes emerged on women’s patterns of entry into music, barriers they negotiated while playing, and forces that may push them out of the music scene. Once women gained a musician identity, their gender functioned as a master status. They negotiated sexism when people questioned their abilities, assumed men played better, expected them to fail, held them to conventional gender roles, and sexually objectified them. Normative expectations of women as primary caregivers for children, internalization of criticism, and high personal expectations are considered as factors that contribute to women’s exit from musical careers. This research closes with suggestions for how more women and girls can be socialized into rock music.
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Roby, D. A. (2021). Crust Punk: An Anarchist Political Epistemology. Ph.D. thesis, University of California, Davis, Ann Arbor.
Abstract: The Sex Pistols’ 1976 anthem, “Anarchy in the UK,” memorialized an ongoing relationship between anarchism and punk rock music. Although scholars of punk music have long documented the relationship between leftist or progressive politics in punk music scenes, they have not interrogated the content and sources of anarchist politics, often taking for granted the relationship between anarchism and punk. This dissertation examines the anarchist politics of a particular genre of punk, called “crust punk,” which is a blend of punk and heavy metal. Like most music subcultures, the crust punk scene is much more than musical sounds; it is associated with a particular lifestyle as well. Crust punks’ choices to drop out of society and live in squats or on the streets, I argue, are political. This dissertation combines ethnomusicological methods with a field of study called “political epistemology” from political science that seeks to understand the origins and composition of political ideas. I combine these two approaches to examine crust punk political ideas: where they come from, how they are shared within the scene, and in what ways they can be considered “anarchist.” I conclude that crust punk represents a form of what I theorize as “vernacular anarchism” that arises from precarious forms of existence, is formulated in everyday life experiences, and is given substance through affective and emotional responses to the poetics of crust punk song texts.
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