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…
Category: Punk Rock Origin Stories
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…