I, Shithead: A Life in Punk - Softcover

Keithley, Joey

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1551521482 ISBN 13: 9781551521480

Publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2004

Synopsis

Joey Keithley, AKA Joey Shithead, founded legendary punk pioneers D.O.A. in 1978 - punk kings who spread punk counterculture around the world and have been cited as influences by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day, Rancid, The Offspring, and others.
But punk is more than a style of music: it's a state of mind. D.O.A. has always had a social conscience, and has performed in support of Greenpeace, rape relief, prisoner rights, and anti-nuke and anti-globalization organizations.
Twenty-five years later D.O.A. has played with bands including The Clash, The Ramones, The Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Nirvana, PiL, Minor Threat, and many others. They are also the subject of two tribute albums.
I, Shithead is Joey's recollections of a life in punk, starting with a bunch of kinds in Vancouver transfixed with the burgeoning punk movement, and traversing a generation disillusioned with the status quo - stories of riots, travelling, playing, and conquering all manner of obstacles through sheer determination. And through it all, Joey reveals that the D.O.A. slogan, TALK - ACTION = 0, is, for him, more than a soundbyte.
With an introduction by Jack Rabid, publisher of seminal New York music magazine The Big Takeover.

About this title

About the Author

Joe Keithley, Canada?s godfather of punk has long been an activist, including as a candidate for the Green Party, and is the founder of Sudden Death Records. He lives in Vancouver with his wife and their three children. Jack Rabid is a music producer and publisher of seminal New York music magazine Big Takeover.

Reviews

Punker Keithley, aka Joey Shithead, recounts life in the seminal punk band D.O.A. Having outlived such more famous punkers as the Ramones, the Clash, and Black Flag, D.O.A. has seen other acts issue tribute albums--very unpunkishly reverential but underscoring not only appreciation for D.O.A.'s stuff but also how punk music, like everything the punkers originally hated, has wormed its way into the pop canon. Not that Mr. Shithead would appreciate that sort of thing; he would prefer hewing to D.O.A.'s slogan talk-action=0 (i.e., talk minus action equals zero), a strange credo for an autobiographer, perhaps, but then nobody said punk history would be easier to digest than the punk lifestyle. Although less iconic than, say, Henry Rollins or Joey Ramone, Keithley-Shithead was an important influence on such big-hit bands as the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Nirvana. Think of the Velvet Underground phenomenon of influence well beyond album sales to fully appreciate the D.O.A. saga. Good stuff about an underappreciated, anarchistic act. Mike Tribby
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Edition details

• Publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1551521482
• ISBN 13: 9781551521480
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256