1980s
1990s
7 Seconds
A01=Dawson Barrett
A01=Jonathan Wright
Against Me!
American Legion
artists
Author_Dawson Barrett
Author_Jonathan Wright
bands
Bible belt
Category=AVC
Category=AVLP
Category=NHK
Category=WQH
Caterpillar
Central Illinois
Christian rock
community
Cornerstone Festival
counterculture
Cursive
deindustrialization
DIY
do it yourself
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_music
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
Fugazi
G.G. Allin
hangouts
hardcore
history
Illinois
Minsk
music
Optimist International
Peoria
performers
Planes Mistaken For Stars
promoters
punk
punk bands
punk rock
punk rock scholarship
rebellion
record label
record shops
record stores
rock music
Ronald Reagan
Rust belt
scene
skateboard
skateboarding
straight edge
subculture
the Jesus Lizard
VFW
youth
Product details
- ISBN 9780252085796
- Weight: 426g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 15 Jun 2021
- Publisher: University of Illinois Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Punk rock culture in a preeminently average town
Synonymous with American mediocrity, Peoria was fertile ground for the boredom- and anger-fueled fury of punk rock. Jonathan Wright and Dawson Barrett explore the do-it-yourself scene built by Peoria punks, performers, and scenesters in the 1980s and 1990s. From fanzines to indie record shops to renting the VFW hall for an all-ages show, Peoria's punk culture reflected the movement elsewhere, but the city's conservatism and industrial decline offered a richer-than-usual target environment for rebellion. Eyewitness accounts take readers into hangouts and long-lost venues, while interviews with the people who were there trace the ever-changing scene and varied fortunes of local legends like Caustic Defiance, Dollface, and Planes Mistaken for Stars. What emerges is a sympathetic portrait of a youth culture in search of entertainment but just as hungry for community—the shared sense of otherness that, even for one night only, could unite outsiders and discontents under the banner of music.
Synonymous with American mediocrity, Peoria was fertile ground for the boredom- and anger-fueled fury of punk rock. Jonathan Wright and Dawson Barrett explore the do-it-yourself scene built by Peoria punks, performers, and scenesters in the 1980s and 1990s. From fanzines to indie record shops to renting the VFW hall for an all-ages show, Peoria's punk culture reflected the movement elsewhere, but the city's conservatism and industrial decline offered a richer-than-usual target environment for rebellion. Eyewitness accounts take readers into hangouts and long-lost venues, while interviews with the people who were there trace the ever-changing scene and varied fortunes of local legends like Caustic Defiance, Dollface, and Planes Mistaken for Stars. What emerges is a sympathetic portrait of a youth culture in search of entertainment but just as hungry for community—the shared sense of otherness that, even for one night only, could unite outsiders and discontents under the banner of music.
A raucous look at a small-city underground, Punks in Peoria takes readers off the beaten track to reveal the punk rock life as lived in Anytown, U.S.A.
Jonathan Wright is a writer, editor, musician, and longtime veteran of the Peoria music scene. He is editor in chief at Peoria Magazines. Dawson Barrett is an associate professor of history at Del Mar College. His books include The Defiant: Protest Movements in Post-Liberal America.
