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Spoke: Images and Stories from the 1980s Washington, DC Punk Scene
"The pictures, which include some posed portraits but are mostly concert shots, are the chief attraction. They freeze moments of adolescent release, vein-bulging intensity and sweaty communion that fuses performer and audience...Vivid and evocative."
-- Washington Post
"Scott Crawford, the man behind the acclaimed documentary Salad Days , has given us another taste of the best-kept secret of 80s in his new book Spoke : Washington DC’s hardcore punk scene."
-- Dazed
"With music by Minor Threat, Void, Rites of Spring, Government Issue, and many others propelling the story of hardscrabble, Reagan-era D.C. as the hotbed for a new artistic outlet in Salad Days , Crawford saw the book as a way to scoop up important narrative from the cutting-room floor and find a new home for it."
-- Fast Company
"Pockmarked with burned-out buildings and boarded-over storefronts, Northwest DC was once home to a vibrant and sometimes violent punk movement beginning in the early 1980s. For geeky 12-year-old Scott Crawford, that changed He chucked comic books for punk rock and self-published a music zine from his mother’s kitchen table in Silver Spring. This month, Crawford releases a book about those days, Spoke --a companion to his 2014 documentary, Salad Days --featuring stories from local players such as Dave Grohl, Henry Rollins, and Ian MacKaye."
-- Washingtonian Magazine
" Spoke ...adroitly uses both photographs and oral histories to capture the importance of what can best be described as a cultural revolution within the nation’s capital."
-- Shepherd Express
"This coffee table version of the documentary [ Salad Days ] follows the D.C. scene’s often politically-charged brand of punk rock, from Bad Brains to Jawbox, and of course the legendary Fugazi. And there’s even the near-forgotten SOA, whose frontman Henry Rollins took his D.C. energy to L.A. where he stepped in as the singer for Black Flag."
-- Yellow Scene Magazine
"A must-have for any rock historian or pop-culture buff...The perfect punk coffee table book."
-- Shockwave Magazine
"Highly recommended...A must read for punk fans."
-- Chorus.fm/HiFiNoise
"A worthy addition to the growing amount of literature on the American hardcore/punk scene, Spoke will look great on any aging punks’ coffee table as a document to a vital, electric time."
-- Ink19.com
"A forthright testament to a kaleidoscopic community. This is a rounded collection, with surprises on every page...It’s collection that rocks."
-- Shelf Awareness for Readers
The Washington, DC punk music scene of the 1980s gave birth to influential bands like Bad Brains, Minor Threat, and Fugazi. Here that era is portrayed in its purest an oral history by the creators themselves, including nearly two hundred photographs capturing the power and spirit of this politically progressive corner of American underground music. This stunning and intimate collection features rare images from Jim Saah, Cynthia Connolly, Bert Queiroz, and many others who documented this vibrant community. Compiled by Scott Crawford—whose critically acclaimed film Salad Days provided an unprecedented exploration into the 1980s DC punk scene— Spoke delves deeper into one of the most dynamic movements in US music history.
BAD BRAINS, THE TEEN IDLES, BLACK MARKET BABY, SOA, MINOR THREAT, GOVERNMENT ISSUE, VOID, IRON CROSS, THE FAITH, SCREAM, MARGINAL MAN, GRAY MATTER, BEEFEATER, KING FACE, RITES OF SPRING, DAG NASTY, EMBRACE, SOULSIDE, FIRE PARTY, SHUDDER TO THINK, IGNITION, FUGAZI, SWIZ, THE NATION OF ULYSSES, and JAWBOX.
-- Washington Post
"Scott Crawford, the man behind the acclaimed documentary Salad Days , has given us another taste of the best-kept secret of 80s in his new book Spoke : Washington DC’s hardcore punk scene."
-- Dazed
"With music by Minor Threat, Void, Rites of Spring, Government Issue, and many others propelling the story of hardscrabble, Reagan-era D.C. as the hotbed for a new artistic outlet in Salad Days , Crawford saw the book as a way to scoop up important narrative from the cutting-room floor and find a new home for it."
-- Fast Company
"Pockmarked with burned-out buildings and boarded-over storefronts, Northwest DC was once home to a vibrant and sometimes violent punk movement beginning in the early 1980s. For geeky 12-year-old Scott Crawford, that changed He chucked comic books for punk rock and self-published a music zine from his mother’s kitchen table in Silver Spring. This month, Crawford releases a book about those days, Spoke --a companion to his 2014 documentary, Salad Days --featuring stories from local players such as Dave Grohl, Henry Rollins, and Ian MacKaye."
-- Washingtonian Magazine
" Spoke ...adroitly uses both photographs and oral histories to capture the importance of what can best be described as a cultural revolution within the nation’s capital."
-- Shepherd Express
"This coffee table version of the documentary [ Salad Days ] follows the D.C. scene’s often politically-charged brand of punk rock, from Bad Brains to Jawbox, and of course the legendary Fugazi. And there’s even the near-forgotten SOA, whose frontman Henry Rollins took his D.C. energy to L.A. where he stepped in as the singer for Black Flag."
-- Yellow Scene Magazine
"A must-have for any rock historian or pop-culture buff...The perfect punk coffee table book."
-- Shockwave Magazine
"Highly recommended...A must read for punk fans."
-- Chorus.fm/HiFiNoise
"A worthy addition to the growing amount of literature on the American hardcore/punk scene, Spoke will look great on any aging punks’ coffee table as a document to a vital, electric time."
-- Ink19.com
"A forthright testament to a kaleidoscopic community. This is a rounded collection, with surprises on every page...It’s collection that rocks."
-- Shelf Awareness for Readers
The Washington, DC punk music scene of the 1980s gave birth to influential bands like Bad Brains, Minor Threat, and Fugazi. Here that era is portrayed in its purest an oral history by the creators themselves, including nearly two hundred photographs capturing the power and spirit of this politically progressive corner of American underground music. This stunning and intimate collection features rare images from Jim Saah, Cynthia Connolly, Bert Queiroz, and many others who documented this vibrant community. Compiled by Scott Crawford—whose critically acclaimed film Salad Days provided an unprecedented exploration into the 1980s DC punk scene— Spoke delves deeper into one of the most dynamic movements in US music history.
BAD BRAINS, THE TEEN IDLES, BLACK MARKET BABY, SOA, MINOR THREAT, GOVERNMENT ISSUE, VOID, IRON CROSS, THE FAITH, SCREAM, MARGINAL MAN, GRAY MATTER, BEEFEATER, KING FACE, RITES OF SPRING, DAG NASTY, EMBRACE, SOULSIDE, FIRE PARTY, SHUDDER TO THINK, IGNITION, FUGAZI, SWIZ, THE NATION OF ULYSSES, and JAWBOX.
- GenresMusicNonfiction
128 pages, Hardcover
Published February 7, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 24, 2017
A great introduction to the DC punk and hardcore scene from the early 80s to the early 90s. Granted, I'm somewhat sentimental about this scene as it coincides with my college years in Virginia, but there's a great deal to admire here with gorgeous photos and cogent oral histories. My only complaint is that I wish it was longer, especially for lesser known (but no less important) bands on the Dischord catalog like Soulside. However, it's intended as a companion piece to Crawford's documentary Salad Days and not a comprehensive study on the scene. Highly recommended nonetheless.
January 28, 2022
I haven't seen the film "Salad Days" so I'm reviewing the book and only the book. I read the Kindle edition. 25 bands with one chapter for each. 90 interviewees. Many good black & white photos. Each chapter features a brief summary of the band followed by photos and fragments of interviews with band members and other people who knew the band or went to their shows. The interview fragments are structured in a focussed, logical way, like a conversation, with many related or referring to previous ones. Many of the interviewees appear in several bands or several chapters and know many of the others. You get a feel for the community the book describes. The chapters are brief and the material is engaging. Often the chapters seem to end abruptly. Most of the bands have music available on streaming and it is fun to build a playlist and listen to the music while reading the book, I only knew a few of them so I learned a lot. I am now enjoying listening to the playlist in random order and seeing if I can guess the bands based on my reading of the book. I really enjoyed this book, and highly recommend it.
March 21, 2017
A marvelous all too brief overview of the DC Punk scene of the 1990's and a selection of some of the major bands involved in that scene.
The entries are short, in the oral history style, and give some insights to what was going on and the attempts by these bands to make their voices heard beyond DC.
My only gripe is that I wish sections on some bands were longer and more detailed. Some bands deserve books of their own!
The entries are short, in the oral history style, and give some insights to what was going on and the attempts by these bands to make their voices heard beyond DC.
My only gripe is that I wish sections on some bands were longer and more detailed. Some bands deserve books of their own!
June 24, 2017
Great book on the history of Punk. I'm leaving this one on my coffee table for others to discover and enjoy.
October 3, 2019
Imprescindible para mi biblioteca punk
February 7, 2017
The punk scene in the DC area was at its zenith in the 80s, and Scott Crawford was there. "Spoke" is his well-documented account of that time, bursting with details about the bands who fronted the scene (and even some who didn't). The info comes from the musicians themselves, as well as fans who saw the shows, and the book is amply laced with photos. Scott Crawford has done an excellent job with "Spoke," and anyone remembering this scene (or anyone wanting to know about it) should put this book high on their to-read list. It's a companion piece to the film documentary "Salad Days | A Decade of Punk in Washington, DC (1980-90)."
January 20, 2017
I loved Scott Crawford's film Salad Days and I LOVED this book!!!
April 21, 2017
Scott focuses on a time and place, and coveys what it was like. I saw the first era of bands profiled in Spoke, and I played in one of them: Government Issue. I left the D.C. area in 1983, a year before Scott started going to shows as a 12-year-old, and so I appreciate reading about how the scene evolved. Some people say that the book does not fully cover the music scene in and around Washington, D.C. The same has been said about Scott's documentary, Salad Days. But that misses the point: Scott set out to make a film and a book that's a labor of Scott's love. So there's no point in asking why so-and-so's band was not included. Spoke is well produced, and contains incredible photos, band histories and anecdotes. If you took part in the scene, or just loved the music that came out of it, get this book. I believe you'll value owning it.
May 2, 2017
I am late to the East Coast punk scene and really enjoyed reading the history of the DC bands. I will be viewing the documentary as soon as possible as I would love to hear more of the music.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews