These bands could be your life

Our Band Could Be Your Life is in my top three favorite reads of all time. When I was at the zenith of musical self-righteousness, I discovered OBCBYL and devoured it. I was in my junior year of college and funny enough, I was taking a history of rock n roll class at the same time. So for 3 hours a week I was learning about the 12 bar blues in class and then falling deep down a rabbit hole of seminal punk, noise rock, and hardcore in my personal time. If you dig deep enough on this site you'll discover my initial reaction to reading it.

I was the stereotypical "only willing to learn the things I'm into" kid until just after discovering this tome, but at the time this book was like the Bible. A sacred text that drew a line in the musical sand saying "If you want it, this is the bar you need to pull yourself over." Turns out I didn't want it that badly. But of course, life lessons and stories of dedication don't just apply to one avenue of life.

In the 16-years since my first read, I've read OBCBYL cover-to-cover at least two times and gained something new. I've even lent out the book a handful of times to friends unaware of its existence. Then last month as I was flipping through Twitter I read a tweet about the audio book's release. The fire exploded once again and I waited rather impatiently for my chance to snatch it up.

Look, I'm not gonna lie and say I've always been into these groups (with the exception of The Replacements). Of course I knew of Fugazi and Mudhoney, but in high school I became enamored with the history of Black Flag and myth of Henry Rollins, and I attempted to listen to Sonic Youth and Butthole Surfers when they gained mainstream notoriety... actually enjoying some of their work wouldn't be the case until I was in my late 20s. Their stories on the other hand are like pirate adventures or tales of ancient Egypt, too good too resist. My personal favorite being the outlandish recounting of the Butthole Surfers just mind-melting existent in the 80s. Here's a taste from the audio book:



This snippet isn't anywhere near the real juicy parts. We're talking acid induced destruction, random cross country moves, circus concerts, gross out performances, and seizures induced from too much strobe light. What I wouldn't give to travel back to a specific show in Europe the book recounts where Gibby Haynes ran naked around a dutch concert venue causing mayhem, starting fires, and fighting random people.

I don't care who you are; you NEED to check this book out. The stories of dogmatic punk principles ruling these peoples lives is incredible. I may never have got into Mission of Burma or Big Black if it weren't for Azzerad's writing. And now that I can listen to it at will. I now have my go to audio book when I feel uninspired or have a longing for when music was the be-all, end-all.