Forming: The Early Days of L.A. Punk

Forming: The Early Days of L.A. Punk brings to life the unprecedented musical and artistic energy of the Los Angeles punk scene from 1976 to 1982.

Fueled by ambivalence to the prevailing cultural climate epitomized by the rise of Ronald Reagan, musicians, artists, writers, photographers, and a diverse audience joined together to produce a flourishing punk community.

Originally compiled as the catalog to an eponymous exhibit at Track 16 Gallery, this book includes many images by photographers of the scene, as well as reproductions of flyers, magazines, 45s, albums, posters, and other ephemera. Documenting the edgy angst of the local performance art scene are photographs of Johanna Went, the Kipper Kids, and a legendary 1978 performance by Viennese Actionist Herman Nitsch.

Also included are texts by Slash magazine editor Claude Bessy; a conversation with Exene Cervenka and John Doe of the band X; and a timeline that juxtaposes the highlights of punk with the low points of popular culture and news of the day. Designed by Steve Samiof, the original publisher and designer of Slash magazine.

It must've been hard being a P-U-N-K in Californ-I-A. Bands like X and the Germs had to scream above the mythic surf and thundering sales of Fleetwood Mac's soft-rock opus Rumours to be heard by major record companies. This catalog to an exhibit of the same name in Santa Monica succeeds at giving an overview of the small but fierce punk scenes of L.A. and East L.A., with excerpts from Slash magazine, three essays, black-and-white photos of its noirish and often bleeding instigators, color reproductions of seminal album/single covers, and a time line. The most insightful commentary comes from a brief Q&A with X's John Doe and Exene Cervenka, who cite the mutual aims of the hippie and punk movements despite their different tactics. Says Cervenka, "It didn't even have anything to do with bands, it was about people being bohemian even though they didn't know what bohemian meant. It was pure." Those in search of a more encompassing history can look to Make the Music Go Bang: The Early L.A. Punk Scene (St. Martin's, 1997), but this is a good crash course.AHeather McCormack, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.