Punks in Peoria: Making a Scene in the American Heartland Volume 1 (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780252085796)

Punk rock culture in a preeminently average town

Synonymous with American mediocrity, Peoria was fertile ground for the boredom- and anger-fueled fury of punk rock. Jonathan Wright and Dawson Barrett explore the do-it-yourself scene built by Peoria punks, performers, and scenesters in the 1980s and 1990s. From fanzines to indie record shops to renting the VFW hall for an all-ages show, Peoria's punk culture reflected the movement elsewhere, but the city's conservatism and industrial decline offered a richer-than-usual target environment for rebellion. Eyewitness accounts take readers into hangouts and long-lost venues, while interviews with the people who were there trace the ever-changing scene and varied fortunes of local legends like Caustic Defiance, Dollface, and Planes Mistaken for Stars. What emerges is a sympathetic portrait of a youth culture in search of entertainment but just as hungry for community--the shared sense of otherness that, even for one night only, could unite outsiders and discontents under the banner of music.

A raucous look at a small-city underground, Punks in Peoria takes readers off the beaten track to reveal the punk rock life as lived in Anytown, U.S.A.

Author: Jonathan Wright, Dawson Barrett
ISBN-10: 0252085795
ISBN-13: 9780252085796
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Language: English
Published: 06/15/2021
Pages: 240
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.80d

Review Citation(s):
Foreword 06/26/2021