The notions of egalitarianism and accessibility to cultural production tools are central to the anarcho-punk ethos. A common punk mantra since the late 1970s, ‘Anyone can do it’, suggests an egalitarian culture in which anyone with or without talent can pick up a guitar and be in a punk band without judgment for lack of skill (p. 2). In Anyone Can Do It: Empowerment, Tradition and the Punk Underground, Dale sets out to consider the mantra by considering who ‘anyone’ is, if they can really do ‘it’, and determining what comprises ‘it’ in underground punk culture (p. 3). In the process, he considers the value of novelty in punk culture and how it is used to empower four punk microscenes. He suggests that these microscenes recoil from the recent, popular scene trends to generate novelty and a sense of newness. Although Dale seeks to analyse the idea of ‘Anyone can do it’, he adds discussion of Marxist and Derridean theory that muddles the tie between the theory and the stated goal.

Dale begins his four-part discussion by considering the commonalities between punk music and folk, another genre which ‘anyone can do it’. Discussing their accessibility, he notes folk's tenacious grip on ‘tradition’ and its focus on accessibility and recreating the past. On the other hand, punk roots accessibility in its tradition of novelty, which presumes that a novice is more likely to create something original than a professional (p. 34). Despite their differences, Dale suggests these two genres have common cause as opposition against modern, industrial capitalism in punk's promotion of amateurism and folk's traditionalism (p. 59). He suggests a split between the folk genre and what will later become punk, surprisingly, in Bob Dylan's notorious electric performance at the Newport Folk Festival. Contrasting many accounts of early punk's origins, Dale makes an interesting argument that Dylan's electric performance symbolically lashed out against the folk genre's socialist politics and traditionalist aesthetic in a symbolic presentation of anarchism, placing it as a beginning point of punk (pp. 66, 70). Dale highlights the power of novelty in Dylan's performance shocking the crowd as well as journalists describing Dylan as an ‘anarchist’, in a sense foreshadowing anarcho-punk (p. 66). Consequently, this rejection of the established way of performance is an early example of what Dale calls the ‘micromatic recoil’.

He then moves into a theoretical discussion regarding the tradition, novelty, politics and ‘micromatic recoil’. Dale argues that punk is avant-garde, in that it relies on the ‘shock of the new’ and a sense of ‘newness’ as its traditional driving force (p. 77). To this end, he suggests that punk uses novelty to empower its constituency and engage its political work (pp. 90–91). This leads to a discussion of ‘micromatic recoil’, a subcultural, inward rebellion against the dominant scene's musical and cultural behaviours (p. 122). This theoretical tool describes the movement of a microscene against either the rebellious nature of punk itself, to the end of popularity, or against structured power toward anarchistic, political goals (p. 123). Although this theory is useful and interesting for Derridean and Marxist theorists regarding novelty and tradition, the topic's relevance to punk gets lost in theoretical exploration of Marxist and Derridean philosophy. All the same, the ‘micromatic recoil’ is a useful theoretical tool when considering subcultures that intermittently meander towards and against commercial success. Although this theory is reminiscent of some other theories, its consideration of some microscenes' engagement with commercial success is useful.

Upon establishing his theoretical basis, Dale applies his approach towards four microscenes, anarcho-punk, cutie, riot grrrl and math rock, but in the process doesn't clearly identify its relationship to the premise of examining whether ‘Anyone can do it’ in punk culture. The first part of the two sections devoted to analysis of punk microscenes features the anarcho-punk and cutie punk scenes. Anarcho-punk, he suggests, created a sense of empowerment by engaging larger cultural politics. This created a sense of newness in an otherwise nihilist punk scene (pp. 138–9). As anarcho-punk became the standard in punk culture, the cutie scene recoiled against politics in favour of a broad appealing pop style. This new, more popular approach was novel compared to the politicised outrage of anarcho-punk and thus created a ‘newsense’ in punk (p. 152).

Part 4 moves into the underground punk scenes of the 1990s, focusing on riot grrrl and math rock. Like the anarcho-punk scene in Part 3, the riot grrrl finds empowerment through its engagement with gender politics. Just as how anarcho-punk simultaneously recoiled against earlier punk's nihilism, riot grrrl recoiled against male dominance in the punk scene. The second microscene in Part 4, math rock, doesn't clearly relate to riot grrrl as cutie did to anarcho-punk. The math rock scene, focused on atypical time signatures and difficulty, simply seems to recoil against the simplicity and accessibility that had been with the punk scene since the beginning. Nevertheless, the inclusion of this scene adds complication to the original subject of ‘anyone’ in ‘Anyone can do it’.

However, this complication seems somewhat lost and is left dangling. The text doesn't come to a clear conclusion about what ‘it’ is, who is doing it, and if they really can. Instead, the text seems to suggest that the ‘it’ is constantly evolving with ‘anyone’ not really being anyone. The exploration of the microscenes is interesting, but the thesis in this text often gets lost in the details of theory or history.

Despite being somewhat muddled, this text holds some useful information and tools, particularly for those interested in punk microscenes and rebellious subcultures. The histories of the microscenes are interesting, appropriately detailed and engaging. Dale's personal experiences as a scene participant results in some interesting anecdotes and perspectives on the microscenes presented. Further, his micromatic recoil theory is a useful one, particularly for those interested in Marxist and Derridean theory regarding art, novelty, and empowerment.