We Got the Neutron Bomb

Posted on 15 November 2017 by Brendan Mullen

Taking us back to late 70s and early 80s Hollywood pre crack, pre AIDS, pre Reagan We Got the Neutron Bomb re creates word for word the rage, intensity, and anarchic glory of the Los Angeles punk scene, straight from the mouths of the scenesters, zinesters, groupies, filmmakers, and musicians who were there California was wide open sex no condoms, no birth control, no morality, no guilt Kim Fowley The Runaways were rebels, all of us were And a lot of people looked up to us It helped a lot of kids who had very mediocre, uneventful, unhappy lives It gave them something to hold on to Cherie Currie The objective was to create something for our own personal satisfaction, because everything in our youthful and limited opinion sucked, and we knew better John Doe The Masque was like Heaven and Hell all rolled into one It was a bomb shelter, a basement It was so amazing, such a dive but it was our dive Hellin Killer At least fifty punks were living at the Canterbury You d walk into the courtyard and there d be a dozen different punk songs all playing at the same time It was an incredible environment Belinda CarlisleAssembled from exhaustive interviews, We Got the Neutron Bomb tells the authentically gritty stories of bands like the Runaways, the Germs, X, the Screamers, Black Flag, and the Circle Jerks their rise, their fall, and their undeniable influence on the rock n roll of today. New Download We Got the Neutron Bomb author Brendan Mullen For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr This list emerges when I play California punk rock word association Black Flag SST records X Flipper The Dead Kennedys Some other bands The Decline of Western Civilization The Minutemen I don t mean to be all name droppy I ve learned my musical knowledge, of which I m pathetically and unreasonably proud, is incomplete to the point of embarrassment I was too young yay for most of the classic punk years and have spent decades hearing grandma and granpa scenesters five or six years older than This list emerges when I play California punk rock word association Black Flag SST records X Flipper The Dead Kennedys Some other bands The Decline of Western Civilization The Minutemen I don t mean to be all name droppy I ve learned my musical knowledge, of which I m pathetically and unreasonably proud, is incomplete to the point of embarrassment I was too young yay for most of the c...This is so hard to rate because on one hand, this book was incredibly fun to read, and on the other hand I don t actually know how well it was done how much of it I should be taking seriously It is an oral history by way of snippets of past interviews pasted together to almost seem like a cohesive story and conversation That alone makes you wonder how much is cut out and edited to just make the story flow better ...Since I m all over this book I m not going to review it other than the five stars , however I just want to comment that some reviewers have gone into a New York vs Los Angeles punk debate That wasn t Brendan Mullen s intention he simply wanted to document a brief period of time when the Hollywood punk scene was a strange, underground phenomenon.I think Brendan should have put a time period in the title 1977 1980 as it would have been less disappointing for readers expecting SST and Orange Since I m all over this book I m not going to review it other than the five stars , however I just want to comment that some reviewers have gon...The subtitle of this book is, The Untold Story of LA Punk It is an oral history of the LA punk movement in the 70 s and 80 s a parallel to the NY book Please Kill Me If you have seen the movie, The Mayor Sunset Strip, about Rodney Bingenheimer you will be famili...It kind of makes sense to me in terms of music to make the 70s actually something like 1972 to 10 years later, and this book tells the story of LA punk over pretty much that timescale, from early beginnings in an underground yet open and accessible hard partying, glitter rock alternative to thesedate singer songwriter and country rock mainstream of the day, through to around the point at which the differing agenda of suburban kids eventually attracted to punk turns it towards what then b It kind of makes sense to me in terms of music to make the 70s actually something like 1972 to 10 years later, and this book tells the story of LA punk over pretty much that timescale, from early beginnings in an underground yet open and accessible hard partying, glitter rock alternative to thesedate singer songwriter and country rock mainstream of the day, through to around the point at which the differing agenda of suburban kids eventually attracted to punk turns it towards what then becomes 80s American hardcore It s inclusive, talking about the successful and the unsuccessful, the bands but also the club m...One of three great oral histories of punk I ve read This one focuses on the L.A scene, which is usually downplayed, if not completely disregarded altogether in punk histories Overall, it supports the broad characterization of the NYC scene as artsy intellectual Patti Smith Television , the London scene as political The Clash , and the L.A scene as fun The Weirdos The really interesting thing about this book is that it reveals how the L.A punk scene emerged from the glam or glitter One of three great oral histories of punk I ve read This one focuses on the L.A scene, which is usually downplayed, if not completely disregarded altogether in punk histories Overall, it supports the broad characterization of the NYC scene as artsy intellectual Patti Smith Television , the London scene as political The Clash , and the L.A scene as fun The Weirdos The really interesting thing about this book is that it reveals how the L.A punk scene emerged from the glam or glitter scene Glam was the major countercultural music current, given that L.A in the 70s was centered around blues rock, country rock, or prog rock Imported British stuff like Roxy Music, David Bowie, and Mott the Hoople offered a counterculture for the later to be Punks when they were teenagers They were beaten up for wearing glitter, make up, and cross dressing By the time they formed bands, glam was all but over, and Raw Power era...As an oral history, this could have been meatier It s chopped up into small, focused chapters of a few pages each For such a diverse and interesting scene, this book could definitely have been longer But I don t want to look a gift horse in the mouth The early LA punk scene wasopen to women and queers than other punk scenes, and for better or worse it kinda arose in a vacuum unto itself And then hardcore came around and white dudes from Orange County decided that they would vent their As an oral history, this could have been...This book is a great primer for the west coast punk scene Written in a similar style to pleas kill me , it s an excellent introduction to the characters that litter the scene It focuses mostly on the pre hardcore era, but discusses its effect on the sce...As a huge fan of LA Punk Rock this book is full of fun vignettes detailing the rise and fall of some of my favorite bands like X, Black Flag, Blasters, Germs and manySo many thoughts and views from those who lived it And as a side note, if you haven t wat...The book covered one of my favorite music scenes and goes in depth on X, Germs, Black Flag the Go Go s It s no Please Kill Me , but a solid oral history nonetheless.

English
15 November 2017

Brendan Mullen