Punking America.

• Author: Gillespie, Nick
• Position: Briefly Noted - Gimme Something Better - Brief article - Book review

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Punk music and fashion, once a grim specter threatening Western civilization, have gone mainstream now that punk's romance with skulls and pret-a-porter bondage pants is never farther away than your local mall's Hot Topic store. Gimme Something Better (Penguin), an oral history compiled by Jack Boulware and Silke Tudor, charts punk's passage from the margins to the center of pop culture.

Focusing on the San Francisco Bay area, the authors help explain how America has become a much looser, more individualized place since the '70s. Just the names of the various characters and bands...