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Why Be Something That You're Not

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 May 12 2010 at 02:29:58 AM



Time for a shameless plug. Many readers might not be aware that my full-time gig is that of a graphic designer. In fact, 99% of all the layouts seen here on LHP were done by myself. Why this is being stated is because I recently had the pleasure of working with an old friend, Tony Rettman, laying out a book he wrote and compiled based on Detroit hardcore/punk circa 1979-1985 titled: Why Be Something That You're Not. Tony's credentials include Arthur, Swindle, The Village Voice, Blastitude and many other print and web publications.

The book is 256 pages and contains interviews with the movers and shakers of the Detroit hardcore/punk scene supported with never before seen images. It's the first book of it's kind in respect to covering solely Detroit hardcore/punk and as I type this it's already ranked #1 for punk books on Amazon.

Why Be Something That You're Not is slated to drop July 6th via Revelation Records and pre-orders are being taken now at Revelation and Amazon. To celebrate the release of the book, a slew of shows have been and are in the process of being planned for NY, NJ, OH, Philly, Chicago and (obviously) Detroit. All of the shows, except the NJ show, will act as dual release shows for Why Be Something That You're Not and the Touch And Go: The Complete Hardcore Punk Zine ‘79–’83 book being released by Bazillion Points. The NJ show is slated for June 18th in Asbury Park and if things work as planned, there should be books for sale at the show. For up-to-minute info on all the shows and book related news, I implore you to follow either Tony's blog, our Twitter account or the WBSTYN Facebook page.

I plan on attending some of the shows so if you wanna stop by and say "hi", I'm game. So without further delay, here's a blurb about the book provided by Rev as well as some layouts (which up until this point have never been seen).

In the early seventies, Detroit was the musical hub of America. Everything from the chart topping sounds of Motown records to the vicious proto-punk of The Stooges was being brewed out there and it seemed like there was no end in sight. But by the early eighties, the city was both a physical and cultural wasteland due to major label buyouts of the artists as well as the crippling drug habits of some of the others. Detroit's most known musical export at the time was the vapid sounds of New Wave heartthrobs The Romantics; this wasn't good. It took a gaggle of suburban skateboarders, a grade school teacher and a census bureau clerk to wake this city up from its slumber and start one
of the first hardcore punk scenes in America.

"Why Be Something That You're Not" chronicles the first wave of Detroit hardcore from its origins in the late seventies to its demise in the mid-eighties. Through a combination of oral history and extensive imagery, the book proves that even though the Southern California beach towns might have created the look and style of hardcore punk, it was the Detroit scene - along with a handful of other cities across the country - that cultivated the music's grassroots aesthetic before most cultural hot spots around the globe even knew what the music was about.

The book includes interviews with members of The Fix, Violent Apathy, Negative Approach, Necros, Pagans, Bored Youth, and L-Seven along with other people who had a hand in the early hardcore scene like Ian MacKaye, Tesco Vee and Dave Stimson.









[-c]
type: news    keywords: hardcore, books, punk, lhp038, detroit,   

Comments (4)

  • 32 comments
    Invisible Oranges
    3:16 AM on May 12, 2010 // reply »
    HELL YES. This, combined with the Touch and Go book , should make for the definitive hardcore reading of the decade.
  • 35 comments
    -c
    8:20 AM on May 12, 2010 // reply »
    i believe it was unintentional having both books come out around the same time. despite being completely different in their own way, they will compliment each other nicely. it's in my opinion that one shouldn't be without the other.
  • 24 comments
    Dennis Dread
    10:42 PM on May 12, 2010 // reply »
    "READY TO FIGHT! READY TO FIGHT! READY TO FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" I'm drooling for this book already...
  • 30 comments
    David
    2:51 PM on May 14, 2010 // reply »
    Hey Man...don't be blaming California for things like Town and Country and those ridiculously baggy surfer shorts. That's, like, totally not our fault.

    Dude...
 

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