andreatoole's review
4.0
After being on my reading list for years, I finally got around to borrowing a digital copy from the library. It's a super interesting book! I took notes and Googled for supplemental information a lot. I sought out some of the bands mentioned and listened to the 2008 recording of Sic F*cks live at CBGB. (It's on Spotify and Google Music.) I'll seek out more.
I'd be interested in an update or a follow-up essay because it was published 14 years ago, and many of the musicians and others interviewed in the book are now dead. (And what an opportunity for Beeber to interview these legends before they died. I mean, everyone dies, but still.)
I'd be interested in an update or a follow-up essay because it was published 14 years ago, and many of the musicians and others interviewed in the book are now dead. (And what an opportunity for Beeber to interview these legends before they died. I mean, everyone dies, but still.)
mercenator's review
4.0
This star rating is for the content of the book rather than the book itself. I learned a lot by reading and got much deeper insights into this culture. But, my god, is the author smug as get out. It was torturous to read in places because he was so full of himself.
micaelabrody's review
3.0
I'll start by saying I loved reading this. It taught me a ton I didn't know about Jews in punk (obviously) as well as punk in general, a genre I like and have listened to a fair amount of but is a subject in which I'm not really educated at all. (For example, I was sure that the Sex Pistols formed before the Ramones, but that was wrong.) More than just knowledge though, it also gave me a fresh appreciation for the genre.
At some point in my life I knew Joey Ramone was Jewish, since I recently re-found a post on my blog that says I knew it, but I'd forgotten - as I'd forgotten the line "it's not kosher" in "Rock the Casbah" - so there was an element of rediscovering in this book, but most of the book was new. As a way of learning about punk history, this was definitely an interesting angle. And it's fun! It's not particularly propulsive, but being able to point to moments in the text and go "oh I know that song" or make a playlist of the songs that got mentioned is just a good time.
All that said, the only thing I have written in my notes (where I keep things I want to make sure I mention) is, "some things are a stretch." And they most definitely are.
Being a permanent diaspora is tough. Our culture(s) has/have disappeared or been decimated by genocide or by time. My theory is that the phenomenon of people trying to ascribe Jewishness to things that have nothing to do with it (Beeber is far from the first to do this!) is a kind of desperate search for a distinct new culture, in the absence of our own. Beeber does this, however, in spades.
I certainly think that as an ethos, the punk attitude of living outside a mainstream or on the periphery, rejecting authority, etc. certainly has an element of Jewishness about it, but saying any more than that requires a really good case to back it up, which I don't think Beeber accomplished. He puts the label of Jewish-ish onto bands and individuals who have no relationship with Judaism besides people they associate with or, somehow, the Nazi symbols they wear (I really don't think I have enough words to get into this bit), and he tries to make a case that not only does punk as a culture have a touch of Jewishness, potentially because of New York in general, but that it's somehow intrinsically Jewish. (He makes some bold comparisons with jazz, which I bristled at; jazz is a much more intrinsically Black art form and it's not an equivalent at all.)
I thought he also missed an opportunity when talking about Richard Hell, who rejected Judaism and objected to being involved in the book. Beeber insists he is Jewish in religion and personality anyway, forcing something on him that he has not only grown apart from but wholly rejected. I think there was a chance here to talk about how punk essentially became a new belief system, rather than just making the unoriginal point that Jewish people who no longer identify as Jews are, well, somehow still Jews against their will. (This is obviously a complicated and thorny issue; I'm not really taking a side, just pointing out that if Beeber was already slapping Judaism onto a lot of things somewhat willy-nilly this was a chance to actually explore the part of punk that not only wasn't Jewish but rejected Jewishness.)
I have two other gripes, but I will keep them short:
Considering it is a book about Jewish punk, the Nazi participation in punk was so glossed over. Not only did Beeber seem reluctant to admit that nothing about Johnny Ramone should be considered Jewish (since he was a raging antisemite!), but the fact - THE FACT - that Nazi skinheads were an unfortunate part of punk in the 80s (see, I know some things) was essentially ignored in favor of a fantasy that punk is an idyllic scene with no Nazis. Not true, and unfortunately, any account of Jewish history that ignores significant antisemitism will always be an incomplete one.
And finally, Beeber seems really, really reluctant to admit that a lot of the development of punk rock happened in England. In a book like this it's understandable to treat New York as the birthplace and breeding ground of punk, but the fact is that even if it wasn't born there, punk owes as much to British punk as New York punk. (This, in my opinion, is a product of insisting that every item in the book not only be related to the Jewish punks or Jewishness but be literally Jewish itself, which forces a narrow view.)
But anyway. All of this griping, and I still really liked it. How can I write a review more punk or more Jewish than that?
At some point in my life I knew Joey Ramone was Jewish, since I recently re-found a post on my blog that says I knew it, but I'd forgotten - as I'd forgotten the line "it's not kosher" in "Rock the Casbah" - so there was an element of rediscovering in this book, but most of the book was new. As a way of learning about punk history, this was definitely an interesting angle. And it's fun! It's not particularly propulsive, but being able to point to moments in the text and go "oh I know that song" or make a playlist of the songs that got mentioned is just a good time.
All that said, the only thing I have written in my notes (where I keep things I want to make sure I mention) is, "some things are a stretch." And they most definitely are.
Being a permanent diaspora is tough. Our culture(s) has/have disappeared or been decimated by genocide or by time. My theory is that the phenomenon of people trying to ascribe Jewishness to things that have nothing to do with it (Beeber is far from the first to do this!) is a kind of desperate search for a distinct new culture, in the absence of our own. Beeber does this, however, in spades.
I certainly think that as an ethos, the punk attitude of living outside a mainstream or on the periphery, rejecting authority, etc. certainly has an element of Jewishness about it, but saying any more than that requires a really good case to back it up, which I don't think Beeber accomplished. He puts the label of Jewish-ish onto bands and individuals who have no relationship with Judaism besides people they associate with or, somehow, the Nazi symbols they wear (I really don't think I have enough words to get into this bit), and he tries to make a case that not only does punk as a culture have a touch of Jewishness, potentially because of New York in general, but that it's somehow intrinsically Jewish. (He makes some bold comparisons with jazz, which I bristled at; jazz is a much more intrinsically Black art form and it's not an equivalent at all.)
I thought he also missed an opportunity when talking about Richard Hell, who rejected Judaism and objected to being involved in the book. Beeber insists he is Jewish in religion and personality anyway, forcing something on him that he has not only grown apart from but wholly rejected. I think there was a chance here to talk about how punk essentially became a new belief system, rather than just making the unoriginal point that Jewish people who no longer identify as Jews are, well, somehow still Jews against their will. (This is obviously a complicated and thorny issue; I'm not really taking a side, just pointing out that if Beeber was already slapping Judaism onto a lot of things somewhat willy-nilly this was a chance to actually explore the part of punk that not only wasn't Jewish but rejected Jewishness.)
I have two other gripes, but I will keep them short:
Considering it is a book about Jewish punk, the Nazi participation in punk was so glossed over. Not only did Beeber seem reluctant to admit that nothing about Johnny Ramone should be considered Jewish (since he was a raging antisemite!), but the fact - THE FACT - that Nazi skinheads were an unfortunate part of punk in the 80s (see, I know some things) was essentially ignored in favor of a fantasy that punk is an idyllic scene with no Nazis. Not true, and unfortunately, any account of Jewish history that ignores significant antisemitism will always be an incomplete one.
And finally, Beeber seems really, really reluctant to admit that a lot of the development of punk rock happened in England. In a book like this it's understandable to treat New York as the birthplace and breeding ground of punk, but the fact is that even if it wasn't born there, punk owes as much to British punk as New York punk. (This, in my opinion, is a product of insisting that every item in the book not only be related to the Jewish punks or Jewishness but be literally Jewish itself, which forces a narrow view.)
But anyway. All of this griping, and I still really liked it. How can I write a review more punk or more Jewish than that?
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