Aaron Leatherbarrow
I was 14. I found a cassette tape called Pokinatcha by MXPX in a Christian book store in Cincinnati, OH. I found hope that day. I was constantly oppressed by religion, right wings, and suburbia.…
Tag: punkrockoriginstories
Mark Bishop
The first records I remember are Millie Small’s 1964 hit “My Boy Lollipop” and Paul Revere and the Raiders’ “Just Like Me” (from a collection called “The Best of ‘66”). They were castoffs from my…
Ziggy/Linda D
My Punk Rock story is not always a ‘pretty one’. It is a miracle I am alive. I was homeless on the street at 14, very out of my mind, traumatized, mentally ill, drugged up,…
Edward “EJ” Giles
I was 15 years old, and living in Long Island City, Queens with my parents, and “Punk Rock” was breaking in the US. There was a television news highlight on “punk” and I thought it…
Bob Lee
I remember getting really into Patti Smith in summer of 78, friends of my mom had Radio Ethiopia, and I’d get real into playing it. My first experience with punk up close was the band…
Jeffrey Vallance
Punk Scene and Solid Eye Punk Scene From the late 1970s to the early 1980s, there was a unique relationship between the art world and the punk rock scene in Los Angeles. I hung out…
Jim Ruland
When I was 15 my mom took me and my younger brother to see the Ramones at the Wax Museum. It wasn’t just my first punk rock show, but the first rock concert I attended.…
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…
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…