Punk Spirit! An Oral History of Punk Rock, Spirituality, and Liberation by John Malkin
Big thanks to Bloomsbury Academic and NetGalley for
providing me with an advanced copy of John Malkin’s interesting and insightful
new book Punk Spirit! An Oral History of Punk Rock, Spirituality, and Liberation. I’m always interested in books about music, and especially
those that examine genres like punk rock. Punk Spirit! follows in the
tradition of some other great oral histories about punk like Please Kill Me,
American Hardcore, and Our Band Could be Your Life in that it
explores specific time periods in this music’s evolution through the words and
experiences of those who were integral in creating the music, styles, and
pushing its trajectory in different directions. John Malkin is a journalist and
radio host whose extensive experience interviewing punks from across the world
enables him to paint a colorful and diverse image of the varieties of punk
rock. Not only do readers gain a comprehensive understanding of how spirituality,
including both religion and social activism, has shaped punk rock over the past
50 years, but they will also see how Malkin and his subjects repeatedly push
back against the stereotype that punk is a nihilistic and agnostic trend.
Rather, Malkin’s subjects and his questions help to show how much of punk was
shaped by constant questioning, questing, and rebelling against the currents, trends,
standards, and norms that society often embraces, or in some cases, that the
state enforces. I found this to be interesting especially considering how a lot
of the 80s punk rock in America was rebelling against the Reagan republicans
and the religious right that emerged. However, the first half of the book
examines different aspects of spirituality and how the push for social justice
and equality, challenging inequities in society, created a different kind of
spiritual ethos in punk rock. Although this first half was a little less
focused than the second half of the book, it was still interesting to hear from
many punk luminaries and how their own views and ideas on spirituality
challenged the dominant view that punk music was either nihilistic without any
kind of hope or guidance for the future, or was completely individualistic and
hedonistic—I’m thinking about the Circle Jerks song “Live Fast Die Young” or
the sad examples of early deaths like Darby Crash, whose addiction seemed to
snuff out an interesting, bright light. Malkin includes considerable interviews
with Penelope Spheeris, whose Decline of the Western Civilization helped
to capture the contradictions and worldviews of Crash, and these interviews
present a different kind of side of Darby and the whole Germs movement. It was
interesting to think more about how much punk rock relies on the same kind of
community and fellowship as a church or religious movement, yet it isn’t always
viewed in that kind of perspective. This was one of the themes that emerged
from the first half of the book.
The second half of the book I liked a little more due to the
focus for each of the chapters. While I enjoyed reading the chapters in the
first half, I wish there was a little more contextualization or commentary from
Malkin where he might provide some explanation of how he planned to organize
these quotes and interviews. These earlier chapters did have titles and they
seemed focused, but the quotes and interviews weren’t always set up or
connected with other quotes, so it was a little hard to follow at times. The
second half of the book dealt more with specific scenes and movements within punk
rock. Beyond being more focused, I felt like I learned so much from these
chapters. Although these chapters get really into the weeds, Malkin does
provide more context and detail either from participants or scholars who
researched these movements. For example, Chapter 11 “Church from Below”
examined the East German Punks whose movement remained underground due to state
surveillance and repression from the Stassi. Since the state could not
prosecute religion, religious punk bands were able to play shows in churches and
evade the same kind of scrutiny that other secular or political bands might
face. Other chapters detailed the intersection of other religions and punk rock
including Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. It was cool to learn more
about Krishnacore and the whole 80s and 90s hardcore movement with Revelation
Records since I remember seeing a lot of these albums, but not really being
that into the music and really kind of questioning those Shelter album covers
that featured Hindu deities. Books like American Hardcore got into
earlier straight edge and vegetarian/Krishna bands like the Cro-Mags, but these
books didn’t get too into their beliefs and ideas or how they influenced the
later bands that emerged in the late 80s and 90s. It was interesting to learn
more about them, as well as other movements to involve more spiritual practices
in punk music like mediating and yoga. I also liked learning more about Michael
Muhammad Knight, an author I’ve always wanted to check out and someone who I
associated more with hip-hop than punk rock. It was interesting to learn more
about how he more or less invented a punk rock style/genre that some even
question whether it is real or not. Regardless, Chapter 23 details Haram and how
Muslims use their experiences as minorities in punk rock to question inequality,
racism, and racial profiling. Nader Haram’s own experience growing up Muslim in
NYC post-9/11 was both heartbreaking and inspiring to see how he used punk rock
as a means to challenge the kinds of inequality and Islamophobia he experienced.
Although I felt that the latter half of the book was more focused and provided
more context and explanation on the specific chapter’s focus, the earlier
chapters are still interesting since they are largely comprised of the words of
punk rock participants. Highly recommended!
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