All Ages: The Rise and Fall of Portland Punk 1977-1981

by Mark Sten

Comprehensive account of Portland's punk rock history.

Genres: Music

316 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2015

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved all of the minutiae in this book. Basically, the author started a kind of anarchist-style collective in Portland during the titular years, and the book contains all kinds of interesting info like meeting minutes, budgets, etc., that provide the kind of granular detail that most punk history books don't. Those parts are great, but basically whenever the author starts talking in generalities I start to hate this book. He has a habit of lapsing into casual sexism and homophobia (a product of his times, I guess) and ranting about incredibly abstract, mostly irrelevant topics for pages on end. The worst was his capsule history / critique of anarchist theory at the very end of the book. Fortunately the book is organized into small sections so if you smell something fishy you can just skip those parts, and even if the writing were completely abysmal (it's not) there's a wealth of primary source info here that's just fascinating. There are a lot of books about the history of punk I'd recommend before this one, but if you want to read everything about this topic (and I do) you'll certainly learn a lot.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started to get into local music a few years after the period covered here and it was fascinating to get an in depth look at the origin of Portland's punk/new wave scene. This book was a trip down memory lane and a history lesson all in one. ALL AGES details the birth of the Wipers, Neo Boys, the Rats, and Sado-Nation, along with myriad other local bands. Sten did an incredible job. The music info is comprehensive and captivating. There might be a few tangential digressions, but the book is, overall, a painstaking account of a wonderfully creative, earnest, and idealistic group of people and the way they shaped Portland's music history.

[MJPDX · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very time/place/group specific book about what was going on in the Portland punk and new wave scene, written by a central figure in that scene, Mark Sten. And at 300+ pages, there's a lot of documentation about what was happening, at least from the author's point of view. Sometimes bogged down in detail, often taking a self congratulating tone, Sten still manages to convey the feel of what Portland was like in those gritty days before the city became gentrified. I stuck with it to the bitter end and was rewarded by a better understanding of what that very special time was like. Many details about the bands, notably The Neo Boys, The Wipers, The Rats, Dead Moon, Poison Idea, Smegma, SadoNation and many others in what was a small circle of artists, fans and scenesters.

Anyone interested in Greg Sage and The Wipers will be treated to a lot of interesting info about how he came up in the music scene as an artist and producer, over a decade before he was credited as a central influence for Kurt Cobain's songwriting and the fame that followed.

[Mike Shirley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can only speak about the part of the book that mentions me. Not how it happened. Not an accurate recording of my short history with nothing but bullshit.
History should be written objectively.
But, the author was probably buzzed on opioids while writing it.