Jim Ruland - Corporate Rock Sucks (The Rise & Fall of SST Records)
When it comes to the vast area Los Angeles covers geographically speaking than punk rock historians as well as many old timers from Lala land love talking or writing about the early Hollywood punk scene. What is so fascinating about the greater Los Angeles area is that different scenes sprung up in different areas roughly around the same time, and I am being somewhat generous with that statement for the sake of my argument. My argument is that the punk rock history of the South Bay of Los Angeles is in many ways far more interesting than the one of the fairly short lived Hollywood scene, at least that's my take. A long while ago I already reviewed Craig Ibarra's "A Wailing of a Town" book which focuses a lot on the Minutemen and befriended bands from San Pedro. At some point in the future I shall review Keith Morris' "My Damage" as well but I recently bought and instantly read Jim Ruland's Corporate Rock Sucks and came away with a wealth of knowledge not just about SST Records, but the South Bay Area hardcore punk scene in general. First and foremost the book is divided into fourteen chapters with each one SST squaring against a different entity. Chapter one is called SST vs. Bomp! and Chapter fourteen is titled SST vs. History. Inbetween SST takes on the world so to speak, a statement which pretty much sums up the book in many ways as Greg Ginn seems to have a very combative personality and an admirable hunger for success. The author has truly done a great job at researching this book as it is filled with many important anecdotes from the humble beginnings of SST Electronics all the way up to the downfall of the once so influential indie label. The many legal battles SST fought alone would be worth another book in my opinion as it becomes clear that legally speaking SST mistreated quite a few bands by hurting them not just financially but in their overall development. I think what really saddened me to a degree is the fact that at some point the record label was run almost like a major where the personal interaction between the owners and the employees became less important and money ever so more important. To be fair though SST was not alone in the sense that they became the victims of their own success. And yes, of course Black Flag are a big part of the story in the book as well, but I wanted to focus on the label. I can't say that I own too many records from the vast catalogue of SST but I will make an attempt to dig deeper into some releases in the future. In the meantime do yourself a favor and pick up this book or visit your local library as you will not regret it. Corporate Rock Sucks indeed.
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