The Wire Review (Issue 312, February 2010) by Byron Coley

You Weren’t There: A History of Chicago Punk 1977-1984

You Weren’t There is an entertaining history of the Chicago scene, from the opening of the first punk dance club (La Mere Vipere – on which the Mudd Club was modelled) to the beginning of the Ruthless Records era (Naked Raygun, Big Black, ect). It covers most of the key artists and people, and footage and talking head action.

Chicago was a third tier town in the scheme of American punk locales. Things got started a little late there, and the first groups didn’t have much luck getting recorded until the pre-dawn of the hardcore boom, so a lot of this info will be new to most people.

The basic narrative is standard - gay club starts punk night, all weirdos are welcome, everyone freaks out, some groups and zines start, then it becomes a media event and the suburban kids ruin everything – but the interviews are excellent, and the live footage is a gas. I’d forgotten how great the Effigies and End Result were, and the early documentation of Naked Raygun, Silver Abuse and Mentally Ill is revelatory.

Much of the last half is devoted to local turf warfare (Effigies versus Articles Of Faith; Steve Albiini versus Vic Bondi) and it’s pretty fun to realize this battle over nothing still rages 35-plus years down the line.  I have no idea who’s telling the real story in any of this, but I can verify that Bondi lies when he says the first AOF single was self-released. It was on Bon Moore’s Version Sound label. So fuck you Vic.

-Byron Coley



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