
Hardcore Punk in the Age of Reagan
The Lyrical Lashing of an American Presidency
- 256 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
Few politicians produced the musical reaction that Ronald Reagan did. His California-branded conservatism inspired countless young people to pick up guitars and thrash out their political angst. Punk bands across the United States took aim at the man, his presidency, and the idea of America he was selling to voters nationwide. Small yet vibrant scenes across the country emerged to challenge the communal norms and social values projected on them by the popular media and consumer culture. Punk enthusiast Robert Fitzgerald argues that these songs' lyrics aren’t just catchy and fun to scream along with; they also reveal the thoughts and feelings of artists reacting to their political environment in real, forthright, and uncensored time.
In candid detail, Fitzgerald shows how these lyrics illustrated what young adults felt and how they reacted to one of the most influential and divisive leaders of the era. Punk lyrics are seemingly simple, the author argues, but they sketch out a complex, musically inspired countermovement that is as canonical in the American songbook as the folk and rock protest music that came before.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- Introduction
- Chapter One. Reagan’s In
- Chapter Two. Only in America
- Chapter Three. Fuck Armageddon … This Is Hell
- Chapter Four. Religious Vomit
- Photo Gallery
- Chapter Five. War Is Bad
- Chapter Six. Police Story
- Chapter Seven. Guilty of Being White
- Outro
- Acknowledgments
- Appendix
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index