Lexington Books
Pages: 190
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9
978-1-4985-9967-2 • Hardback • October 2019 • $90.00 • (£60.00)
978-1-4985-9968-9 • eBook • October 2019 • $85.50 • (£60.00)
Ellen M. Bernhard is lecturer in the Communication Department at Chestnut Hill College.
Chapter One: A Brief History of Contemporary Punk Rock and an Overview of the Theoretical Considerations on Subcultures
Chapter Two: A Community of Punks
Chapter Three: The Contemporary Punk Rock Identity: Early Introductions, Values, and a Dedication to the Scene
Chapter Four: DIY and Its Role in Today’s Scenes
Chapter Five: Support Your Local Scene: Participatory Culture, Consumption Practices, and Navigating Involvement in the Scene Today
Chapter Six: God Save the Scene: Concluding Thoughts and the Future of Contemporary Punk Scenes in America
Is punk dead? In this compelling book, Ellen Bernhard—a dedicated punk scholar who knows what it means to journey hours cross-country or pack into a poorly ventilated venue for a show—answers with a definite and defiant ‘No!’ Drawing on in-depth interviews with participants and the author’s own first-hand experiences within the scene, she provides a much-needed investigation into contemporary punk culture. She demonstrates that punk’s significance is limited to neither the 1970s or one’s own adolescence, but that its continuing relevance persists decades after its birth and long after each premature declaration of its supposed death. Painting a vivid picture of the contemporary scene, she shows how punk isn’t all just slam-dancing and PBR-swilling (although there is plenty of that too), but also a sincere and spirited fight for a better world. Along the way, she explores new, important topics such as the role of television, the use of social media, and the strange interaction of counterculture with popular culture in punk communities. Equal parts rigorous scholarly inquiry and impassioned love letter to the scene, this engagingly-written and informative work will resonate with anyone who has stood elbow-to-elbow in a dingy basement or smoky dive bar to catch a band no one has ever heard of. It will likewise fascinate anyone who hasn’t, but wants to know what all the madness is about. A must for the student of punk rock and a persuasive argument for why those who aren’t should be.
— Jeffrey S. Debies-Carl, University of New Haven, author of Punk Rock and the Politics of Place
Bernhard offers a more expansive and less ideologically centered view of punk than what we have seen in the past, and in doing so offers a corrective to common misconceptions about the culture. What emerges is a picture of contemporary punk as a thoroughly postmodern community in its fragmentation, plurality, and contradictions—simultaneously reverential to its origins and eager to abandon their shadow.
— William Ryan Force, Western New England University
Contemporary Punk Rock Communities reminds us that far from being relics of the past, punks continue to evolve and to thrive. Their route to punk music travels through Green Day and the Offspring rather than the Sex Pistols or the Clash. They care less about spiked leather jackets and sniffing glue than they do about making their scenes more inclusive, diverse spaces. In this compelling book, Bernhard shows us how punks’ desire to shock and offend has taken a back seat to forging welcoming communities—“no future” has given way to punks practicing, however imperfectly, the future they wish to see.
— Ross Haenfler, Grinnell College