Teenage Wasteland: Suburbia's Dead End Kids

by Donna Gaines

Teenage Wasteland provides memorable portraits of "rock and roll kids" and shrewd analyses of their interests in heavy metal music and Satanism. A powerful indictment of the often manipulative media coverage of youth crises and so-called alternative programs designed to help "troubled" teens, Teenage Wasteland draws new conclusions and presents solid reasons to admire the resilience of suburbia's dead end kids.

"A powerful book."—Samuel G. Freedman, New York Times Book Review

"[Gaines] sheds light on a poorly understood world and raises compelling questions about what society might do to help this alienated group of young people."—Ann Grimes, Washington Post Book World

"There is no comparable study of teenage suburban culture . . . and very few ethnographic inquiries written with anything like Gaines's native gusto or her luminous eye for detail."—Andrew Ross, Transition

"An outstanding case study. . . . Gaines shows how teens engage in cultural production and how such social agency is affected by economic transformations and institutional interventions."—Richard Lachman, Contemporary Sociology

"The best book on contemporary youth culture."— Rolling Stone

Genres: Nonfiction, Music, Sociology, History, Education, Anthropology

282 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Donna Gaines has written for Rolling Stone, MS, the Village Voice, Spin, Newsday and Salon. Her work has been published in fanzines, trade and scholarly collections, journals and textbooks. A sociologist, journalist and New York State Licensed Master Social Worker, Dr. Gaines taught sociology at Barnard College of Columbia University and the Graduate Faculty of New School University. She also works as an Usui Reiki Master Healer/Teacher with a special interest in recovery.

Reviews

[Lilah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book fifteen years ago and liked what the author had to say...I just finished my second reading today and it's still good, a snapshot of what metal and punk were like before Green Day, Hot Topic, and "alternative" radio ruined everything. And right before goth burst onto the masses.

The story starts with the Bergenfield teen suicide pact of 1987, where the bodies of four kids were found in a garage, dead from carbon monoxide poisoning. The media storm so typical of 80's DRUGS! SATAN! METAL! hysteria, complete with jackass reporters, clueless "experts," and subjects' words being twisted against them, packed the tragedy into yet another bunch of soundbites about "disaffected youth," aka losers, burnouts, dirtbags...the metalheads.

Deciding the truth would be better sussed from the kids themselves, since nobody else was giving them a chance to speak, Donna Gaines spends the book in Bergenfield hanging out with a bunch of teenagers. It's a narrative that shifts between academic analysis, memoirs of her own 60's youth, Bergenfield's geography and social background, chatting with Billy Milano of SOD, subcultural history, and just letting the kids talk. It makes for some weird jumps in diction, but also for a very multi-dimensional study - she really breaks it down, not just in how these different scenes came to be, but also very perceptive in all the possible ways that the "troublemakers" were actually disempowered, marginalized, and silenced by adults - really, it was all about control. Here's the era of conformity, laid out in all its grim glory.

Gaines has gotten some flack for supposedly sensationalizing her entry into these kids' lives for her own gain, but I disagree. There was so much insight and empathy into the way the kids were pushed around, a point of view you never heard in the media back then. (Really, do you ever?) She comes off to me as someone genuinely wanting to help her own subculture's descendants, offering up solutions, and giving the kids their own platform to speak, instead of yet another telltale condescending tome of blame and punishment and dismissal. I couldn't help but remember my own Jersey metal youth as I was reading it - Anton LaVey on Geraldo Rivera, RIP magazine, flannel shirts, Metallica before MTV. And nobody understanding - or even trying to. It was a time and a place pretty quick with the condemnation, which seems almost inconceivable now when "vintage" Motley Crue shirts go for $200 on eBay and Bret Michaels keeps embarrassing himself on reality television.

While the book is not without flaw - Sisters of Mercy is not a death metal band - it's a good read on multiple levels, as a detailed slice of life from the late 80's subcultural crossroads, and a possible recommendation to those who enjoy Chuck Klosterman.

\m/

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Insightful and personal, but not revolutionary. Also, someone should have told the author that she could not, in fact, go back and become one of Surburbia's Dead End Kids, no matter how hard she tried. I find it very hard to believe that they opened up completely to an adult sociologist in their midst.

[Petty Lisbon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book didn't really capture teenage suicide/burnout culture that well, but it painted an excellent portrait of the exact kind of lower middle class town during the late 80's. She has a knack for writing about the sociology of the town, not unlike Jeffrey Eugenides. Although I vehemently disagree with the white supremacist musician they talked about in the "Music is Religion" chapter (literally, where do the "minorities get free stuff without asking for it!!!!!" people come from? Would it really kill the flow of the chapter to interrupt them and ask for specific examples of legislation? Do minority teens not deserve the same representation as the white burnouts Gaines covers?), I guess learning about the music scene before blogs was unique (did none of the kids like Sonic Youth, though?). I liked the positive note it ended on, even if I realize most of it just got worse.
-Also, I hated all the casual use of the R word. Sure, it was from the 80's, but I would hope even a social worker back then would think twice about it. Do those kids not count?

[Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fucking cringe. Can't even finish.

[Ava · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for my Youth and Society class. A definitely challenging topic to read about teenage suicide in 1980s white suburban America. But I am glad that I had the experience to get to know this generation a bit more through the lens of Gaines, a member of the Baby Boomer generation herself.

I enjoyed reading about such a successful ethnographic study, and found that many of the techniques she used are relevant to the sociological methods I have found in my Sociological Analysis course. Accessible reading, captures attention and a vibe of the Burnouts of the '80s, so if that sounds interesting to you (which honestly, it sort of should, this was a really cool book) I would recommend it!

[Claryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was intrigued by the first chapter of this book. Donna Gaines' ability to identify with the subculture she wrote about was both a boon (in her ability to penetrate the circle of kids and lend credit to their perspective) and a handicap (there was some pretty jarring and unnecessary racist language that seemed to have been intended to lend street cred). I also found her writing on the hardcore scene too broad at best and rather inaccurate at worst. Maybe I'm just too punk for this book.

[Benoit Lelièvre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, Teenage Wasteland is irreparably dated because the events depicted in the book are from a generation ago and dead end kids are now adults and (more or less running the show). With more nuance and empathy than boomers did, I might add.

I come from a small town myself and am very familiar with the rigid frame of society described by Donna Gaines in her book. School officials who challenge kids to either follow the rules or get dropped, social engineering in order to facilitates thin and not solve problems. Gaines said very insightfully that dead end kids have "nothing to do and nowhere to exist" since they live in a home that buys into a system they reject and I can relate to that 1000% A lot of critics of this book claim that it wasn't like that in Bergenfield, but it's not every kid's drama that becomes town-wide news. Many of these occurrences are kept under wraps because it doesn't look good.

Of course, everything changed with the internet and the customization of everything for everybody. People celebrate difference because you can't hide it anymore. But Teenage Wasteland explained in a great way how youthful anger was turned into a culture that spawned a music that became only more and more extreme over time. The kids that didn't kill themselves or just faded away into drone-like normalcy found their outlet there.

[Daniel Driscoll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learned about this book while reading the Nirvana book from 94. A nuanced look at teen life in the late 80s that resonates so much in modern day. Social media and smart phones has exacerbated teen anxiety by 1000% but the other underlying issues laid out here is just as important- 'teens being miserable' is timeless!

[Marissa Lauren · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author got stuck saying the same things over and over, it was too long for what she had to say

[Miri · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm about in the middle of this book (which I have to read for a sociology class) and I really don't like it. It sounds like the author never got past her own teenage issues and is basically now writing them into a book.

Here's a passage from page 135: "Kids are silent because they fear getting sent to "retard" school (stigma worse than death)."

Um, seriously? Worse than DEATH? I think that's a bit of an exaggeration...

[Brianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book resonated with me on many levels. I recommend it to anyone who wants to try to understand teen culture or wants to put words to their experiences during the teen years. Even though this book is about teen in surburban NJ during the 1980's, what the author says can be carried over to this day and age, and to different settings. The author is extremely insightful, completely believable, and understands teen culture thoroughly.

[Kendall · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not only is the book poorly written, but entirely inaccurate, giving insight only to a small sub-section of Bergenfield. As someone who grew up in the town and lived there for the majority of my life, I can safely say that this woman's conclusions are entirely off the mark. All this book did was piss me off and give a distorted view of Bergenfield. It comes across as bad journalism. Don't waste your time with this tripe.

[Heather Downs · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book that discusses teen alientation and anomie. Gaines has a lot of empathy for misunderstood teens. Her investigation of a teen suicide pact is interesting. Areas of her analysis could have been stronger. Sadly, it seems like teen alientation has not changed much since her research in the 1980s. She provides some interesting evidence for the "does music cause suicide?" debate.

[Daniel]

I was very surprised how close Gaines became to her objects. She didnt achieve total insider status due to age, but it was interesting to see how, anthropologically, she did really insert herself into that subculture and give us a nice picture of it.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I believe this book is responsible for the transition from sociology/psychology major into youth ministry.

[Blyth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was the base for my senior thesis.

[Flora · Rating 3 out of 5]

A classic in pop-sociology, but the author's attempts to establish street-cred with her subjects -- and us -- is distracting and undermining. Worth reading, though, for the field work she does do.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An important but somewhat disturbing book.
Favorite quote: "When I held you in my arms at your baptism, I wanted it to be a fresh start, for you to be more complete than we had ever been ourselves."

[Kerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

great journalism. amazing portait of how teenagers are misunderstood + misrepresented + the consequences that come out of that.

[Debra Cooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was wonderful, captivating. Many of the sociological themes noted in this book can still be observed in modern society, in various regions. I highly recommend it.