I Was a Punk Before You Were a Punk

Fantastic portrayal of the germination of Winnipeg's punk-rock scene in the late-seventies and early eighties. Vividly conveys the attitudes, craziness, perhaps, dare-I-say-it, naivite, of the young originators from the center-of-the-action perspective of fan, friend, wannabe performer and, at the time, budding punk-rock journalist Chris Walter. Most rock biographies, and books about rock music in general, come from performer or quasi-intellectual analyst and are about some atmosphere, often no more interesting than surface promotional exaggeration, Thus you may as well be reading about the adventures of a marketing and advertising agency. Not the case with this nor any or Chris Walter's books for that matter. Chris's books are about show more the humanity of people, good and bad, in the face of harsh realities. As in so many of his books, the events are at many times harrowing, but handled with often-charming dark humour and, yes, warmth.

This book is or was one of his most well-known. It is more young in feel, less world-weary, though, at times, more choppy in narrative than the other books . It is evokes the ideals of punk in its depiction of the excitement of youngsters at-once finding themselves part of and source of the generation of a new genre. As the book progresses a more difficult and darker side becomes apparent and deepens as hardcore punk develops fully, becomes influential if not well known (though almost flatly rejected by rejected and misunderstood) and inevitable forces take their toll.

I feel I have come away from this book seeing punk rock in a new light. I see in the youthful enthusiasm at the outset a germ perhaps of what all rock music should or should’ve been about. I like the fuck-it-we’re-going-to-have-fun philosophy and see it, still to this day, in my late-middle-age, as maybe an essential ingredient to life.

There is the other side of this story, not such an easy one. It is about conflict with those in society who would not allow self-expression, who would prefer their own pretensions to dominate others. I did not know that punk was a hard lifestyle. Back in the day I saw it as filtered through the media to myself and others as being akin to new wave and/or as being may one of: a) a pretentious style b) perhaps perverse or c) an incompetent slur, in other words a sham. I merely had the suspicion that it in fact had a very serious side. The suspicion became more plausible as hardcore became prevalent, but remained a suspicion because the closest you could get to it in mainstream media was the Sex Pistols, Clash or the various supposedly alternative stylistic adaptations created by the British music press, including “post-punk”. I did not know that punk was a lifestyle fuelled by hard-drinking and with violence integral . I doubt I would’ve been able to handle this environment if I’d known.

As in his books based in Winnipeg, I recognize many of the places and band-names referred to and, though I was not involved in the scene at time, I well-remember on the periphery of my former middle-class landlocked inner-city vision, the many strangely attired characters drinking at house parties and posters everywhere. I hung out with many people who were messed-up, was somewhat messed-up myself (suffered from mental illness) and recognize them as well in many of his real-life characters.

I picture punkers fighting with rednecks and jock-rockers, hauling their equipment around the country, persevering for years as a “niche” form of entertainment and view it, whether conscious-or-not, as a battle for self-expression amidst indifference, a political battle. Though I would not want to emulate that lifestyle then or now I see the importance and significance and admire Chris for bringing it to us now from his vantage point. show less