Full Description
A deep dive into the early days of punk in Austin, Texas, this oral history immerses readers in a diverse and influential music scene.
Texas has always teemed with music and counterculture. When punk came to the state in 1978, it flourished in San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, and, especially, Austin. Punk and post-punk musicians, including nationally acclaimed bands like the Butthole Surfers, the Big Boys, the Dicks, and Daniel Johnston influenced local culture before slashing into the American musical psyche. (See Kurt Cobain sporting Johnston's "Hi, How are you?" T-shirt.) Someday All the Adults Will Die! is an oral history of punk in Texas, from its rise in the late 1970s, through its strong anti-racist, feminist, and queer peak, to its dissolution in the late 1980s.
Now a seasoned music journalist, Blashill experienced the zenith of Texas punk as a teenager, and he captures its intensity in words and pictures. Someday All the Adults Will Die! is rife with electrifying images and firsthand tales of what made this scene such a storm of pleasures and terrors, uncompromising artists, and wild performances. This dynamic portrait of an untamed, all-out musical era is a must-read for fans of punk music, counterculture, and live music.
Contents
Prologue: The Kids, the Huns, and Texas Drag
1. The First Wave
Pink Cowboys at the Mall • Sex Pistols in San Antonio • Raul's Club • Joe "King" Carrasco • The Violators • Standing Waves • Clair and Sarita • The Next • The RTF Crowd • The Huns • Terminal Mind
2. Pink Flamingos
Big Boys • The Dicks • Bricks from Stonewall • Meat Joy • Bad Brains in Austin
3. Front and Center
The 1040 Form Poster and the Feds • Battle Photography • Bill Daniel • Sluggo! • The Western Roundup • Idle Time • Buttlikker Comix
4. Ladies and Gentlemen
Ralph the Girl • Gender and Texas Punk • The Skunks' "Cheap Girl" • Meet the Band! • The Texas Blondes • mydolls • Violence
5. White Rage?
"The Eyes of Texas" • "The Dicks Hate the Police" • Joe "King" Carrasco • The White Noise Supremacists • Fearless Iranians from Hell • Heather Leather • The KKK Comes to the Capitol • The Greek Problem • The Boys from Vidor • Big Boys' Last Stand
6. "I Hate Myself"
The Offenders • Really Red • MDC • DRI and Crotch Rot
7. Freethinkers
Radio Free Europe • Scratch Acid • Glass Eye • Stick Men with Ray Guns
8. Cinderella Story
Butthole Surfers
9. "Out on the Streets"
Texas Skate Punk Apocalypse • Inner Sanctum Records • The Colony • Shenanigans • The OAF House
10. Radical Primitives
Reversible Cords • Buffalo Gals • Culturcide • Daniel Johnston
11. The Revisionists
Rank and File • Hickoids • Poison 13 • Doctors' Mob
Epilogue: Aftermath and Aftershocks
Woodshock • Austin 2023 • SXSW • Someday All the Adults Will Die!
Acknowledgments
Cast of Characters
Index
