Gimme Something Better: The Profound, Progressive, and Occasionally Pointless History of Bay Area Punk From Dead Kennedys to Green Day

471 Pages·2009·5.55 MB·English

by  Jack Boulware

Table of Contents

Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
PREFACE
Introduction

PART I
Chapter 1 - I Gave My Punk Jacket to Rickie
Chapter 2 - Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue
Chapter 3 - Baby, You’re So Repulsive
Chapter 4 - Teenage Rebel
Chapter 5 - Giddyup Mutants
Chapter 6 - Holidays in the Sun
Chapter 7 - You Are One of Our Lesser Audiences
Chapter 8 - Kick Out the Jams
Chapter 9 - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
Chapter 10 - No One’s Listening
Chapter 11 - Ha Ha Ha
Chapter 12 - Beer-Drinking Brothers from Different Mothers
Chapter 13 - Thank You, Good Night, Get Out

PART II
Chapter 14 - We Are the Kings Now
Chapter 15 - Better Living Through Chemistry
Chapter 16 - Grandma Rule
Chapter 17 - Blitzkrieg Bop
Chapter 18 - Gimme Something Better
Chapter 19 - Berkeley Heathen Scum
Chapter 20 - Dan with the Mello Hair
Chapter 21 - Goddamn Motherfucking Son of a Bitch
Chapter 22 - High Priest(s) of Harmful Matter
Chapter 23 - Mommy, Can I Go Out and Kill Tonight?
Chapter 24 - Beers, Steers and Queers: The Texas Invasion
Chapter 25 - Welcome to Paradise
Chapter 26 - Island of Misfit Toys
Chapter 27 - Crossover
Chapter 28 - Let’s Lynch the Landlord
Chapter 29 - Fucked Up Ronnie

PART III
Chapter 30 - White Trash, Two Heebs and a Bean
Chapter 31 - A Chronology for Survival
Chapter 32 - Sleep, What’s That?
Chapter 33 - Journey to the End of the East Bay
Chapter 34 - 10 Seconds of Anarchy
Chapter 35 - Two Blocks Away
Chapter 36 - Ever Fallen in Love
Chapter 37 - You Put Your Chocolate in My Peanut Butter
Chapter 38 - Ripped from the Headlines
Chapter 39 - Rise Above
Chapter 40 - All I Know Is What I Don’t Know
Chapter 41 - Unity
Chapter 42 - White Picket Fence
Chapter 43 - Up the Punks!
Chapter 44 - Going to Pasalacqua
Chapter 45 - No Sleep ’Til Hammersmith
Chapter 46 - Runnin’ Riot
Chapter 47 - Outpunk
Chapter 48 - My Boyfriend’s a Pinhead
Chapter 49 - Shield Your Eyes
Chapter 50 - . . . And Out Come the Wolves
Chapter 51 - I Wanna Get a Mohawk (But My Mom Won’t Let Me Get One)
Chapter 52 - (I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone
Chapter 53 - Longview
Chapter 54 - He Who Laughs Last
Chapter 55 - Rock ’n’ Roll High School

WHO’S WHO
SOURCE INDEX
Acknowledgements
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
THE PROFOUND, PROGRESSIVE, AND
OCCASIONALLY POINTLES HISTORY OF BAY AREA
PUNK FROM DEAD KENNEDYS TO GREEN DAY
PENGUIN BOOKS

Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York
10014, U.S.A. Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL,
England Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)
Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of
Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park,
New Delhi - 110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New
Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee
Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices:
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

First published in Penguin Books 2009

Copyright © Jack Boulware and Silke Tudor, 2009
All rights reserved

eISBN : 978-1-10114500-5
CIP data available

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other
means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law.
Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate
in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.
Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

Penguin is committed to publishing works of quality and integrity.
In that spirit, we are proud to offer this book to our readers;
however, the story, the experiences, and the words
are the author’s alone.
http://us.penguingroup.com
Dedicated to those who died while we were
putting this book together: Bob Noxious,
Bruce Conner, Dirk Dirksen,
Johnithin Christ, Lance Hahn,
Mark “Junior” Hampton, Max Vomit,
Mikey Donaldson, Phil Chavez, Spike,
Virginia Fuckette,
and Wes Robinson.
PREFACE

From the beginning, this was an unrealistic project. We were given one year and
asked to deliver 300 pages; we took three and delivered 800. We could have
doubled the number and it would never have been enough. The history of Bay
Area punk is too rich and weird and horrible and wonderful, and it is by no
means over. Because of this, we have set up www.gimmesomethingbetter.com,
where chapters on Powell Street punks, Punk Side Story, Shred of Dignity, Sister
Spit, The List, Mad Punx, Incredibly Strange Wrestling, Circuss Redickuless,
PyratePunx, Geekfest, and countless other punk permutations may be explored
and extrapolated. Memory is all too ephemeral and much is lost through the lens
of media. We hope you will visit and add your own voice. We are deeply grateful
to everyone who shared their stories with us.

—Jack Boulware and Silke Tudor,
San Francisco and New York, 2009