Big Pete Markowicz
I was a lost kid that did not fit in with the guidos surrounding me in the suburbs of Clifton, New Jersey. I was about 12 years old and was in the boy scouts. I…
John Colle Rogers
Back in 1984 I was a metalhead in North Dakota, a musical wasteland in many ways where we were tasked with finding alternatives on our own if we wanted to stray from the clutches of…
Peter Landau
My childhood was idyllic until my family was part of the middle-class exodus from New York City in the early 1970s. I was eight years old and would have been able to walk across the…
Lawson Desrochers (aka Lawson Jealous)
Like everyone, I had heard about the Sex Pistols and the Clash, even dug some of their tunes early on, but punk truly came to my world in 1981 via the older kids in Santa…
The Discontent of Girls
As a woman “of a certain age” (as I refer to myself,) one might view me as simply a woman in nondescript clothing with a nondescript haircut leading a normal life. However inside my head…
Billy Lorance
Full-blown hippie life was before me as a child. Our house had waterbeds, water pillows, water couches, and water pipes. Psychedelic colored bean bag chairs adorned the living room floor and coffee colored beads hung…
Joe Mendelson
My overwhelming passion for rock music began in 3rd grade, although I have a very distinct memory of being completely mesmerized by The Who’s I can see for miles that I heard on my sister’s…
Johnny Stingray
I guess it was ‘75 or so, I was working at an appliance store in Burbank, CA and living in Santa Monica with Kidd Spike (then known as Jeff Austin) and his sister, Gaye. Gaye…
Tim Tracy
My PUNK STORY: My Punk story starts way, way before PUNK. My dad (or DA, as we say with our family voice in Ireland) introduced me to “HardCore” Dixieland via record albums when I was…
Jennifer Schwartz
This first time I heard the two words, “punk rock,” was around 1977. My mom, brother and I had just moved to Beverly Hills. That place sucks. Anyway, one day, a girl from my 8th…
Robert Hecker
I grew up in Hermosa Beach, California, and there was definitely a something-in-the-water thing going on in our sleepy little beach town. There was a decommissioned church that I knew as the arts & crafts…
Jay Heycock
I grew up an alien in a small suburban PA town. Never fit in with the locals & always felt like something was missing. Then I discovered the Clash & Dead Kennedys. It was what…
ChrisO’
My story began when I came back from living on Oahu the summer of 1979. On the North Shore where I had lived since 1976, I was sheltered from all the music that was happening…
Deathany
I guess it’s all Jeremy Freeze’s fault. He was my little brother’s best friend who lived down the street. He came over after school one day with a mixed tape of Dead Kennedys, Black Flag,…
Kip-Xool
“TURN THAT BLOODY RACKET DOWN!! HOW CAN YOU CALL THAT MUSIC??!” Perhaps not the best psychological approach to curb a teenager’s new-found calling, but it also signalled a sense that I was in the right…
Todd Castor
My punk rock origin story is probably shared (at least in part) by quite a few others – not only in the area where I live, but other cities and regions as well. I grew…
Mr. Lee
I grew up in Brooklyn and in the early ’80s. I was into the usual classic-rock, the Grateful Dead, Dylan, jazz (through my parents), some metal (mostly Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Celtic Frost), and…
Today’s random musings
If you see me randomly walking down the street you might think I was just some middle aged woman in nondescript clothing with a generic haircut and a canvas tote bag. Inside of my head…
Dave Naz
I went to El Rodeo Elementary school from kindergarten through 8th grade. I always had friends in school, I played sports and did all the other things kids do. I had a love for music…