thePULSEAs teenagers in 1981, David Markey and Jordan Schwartz photographed the fledgling hardcore punk music community in their native Los Angeles, capturing the origins of the L.A. punk bands that defined and popularized the hardcore genre worldwide. Their book WE GOT POWER!: Hardcore Punk Scenes from 1980s Southern California offers 400 photos of Henry Rollins-era Black Flag, the Minutemen, Social Distortion, Red Cross/Redd Kross, Suicidal Tendencies, the Descendents, White Flag, the Gun Club, Saccharine Trust and many others.
The book includes original essays by:
- Henry Rollins (Black Flag, Rollins Band)
- David Markey (Sin 34, Painted Willie, 1991: The Year Punk Broke)
- Jordan Schwartz (Rip City Skates, SST Records)
- Pat Fear (White Flag, Gasatanka Records)
- Jennifer Schwartz (Lovedolls)
- Chuck Dukowski (Black Flag, SST Records, Chuck Dukowski Sextet)
- Keith Morris (Black Flag, Circle Jerks, OFF!)
- Mike Watt (Minutemen, fIREHOSE, the Stooges)
- Dez Cadena (Black Flag, the Misfits)
- Jack Brewer (Saccharine Trust)
- Daniel “Shredder” Weizmann (Rag in Chains)
- Steve Humann (The Vandals)
- Eugene Tatu (The Cheifs)
- Louiche Mayorga (Suicidal Tendencies)
- Sean Wheeler (Throw Rag, Sun Trash)
- Tony Adolescent (The Adolescents)
- Janet Housden (Red Cross/Redd Kross, Lovedolls)
- Jula Bell (Nip Drivers)
- Jeff and Steven McDonald (Red Cross/Redd Kross, OFF!)
Markey and Schwartz’s amazing photographs present punks in their natural habitat: the dilapidated suburbs, abandoned storefronts and the dereliction of the early Reagan era ~ a rubble-strewn social apocalypse that demanded a youth uprising. Never before seen except in crude fanzine form (and six issues of We Got Power magazine, which are also reprinted here), these detailed and richly narrative photos are now collected in an intimate portrayal of a uniquely fertile creative moment.
WE GOT POWER! is on bookstore and music shop shelves everywhere. For more information, visit wegotpowerbook.com.
