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We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L.A. Punk

by Marc Spitz

An oral history of Los Angeles punk’s formative years

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Paperback New English

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AlbakiReads Editorial

An oral history of Los Angeles punk’s formative years

Built from interviews with musicians and other figures around the scene, this book maps Los Angeles punk from late-1970s Hollywood into the early 1980s. Its oral-history approach foregrounds firsthand accounts of the clubs, communal spaces, DIY culture, and conflict surrounding bands including the Runaways, the Germs, X, the Screamers, Black Flag, and the Circle Jerks. Alongside individual groups’ rises and declines, the book situates punk within a particular pre-Reagan Los Angeles and traces the scene’s stated influence on later rock music.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Fans of Los Angeles punk and its key bands
  • Music-history readers interested in firsthand cultural accounts
  • Readers interested in DIY scenes, clubs, and underground music communities

Themes

Los Angeles punkOral historyDIY cultureHollywood in the late 1970s and early 1980sRock-music influence

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Book overview

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 Carlisle

Assembled 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.
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