The book White Riot looks at the politics of race within punk music. This interesting topic has not been addressed in a collected volume previously and this book attempts to bridge the span of racial studies with those of the ever-growing field of music scholarship. It adds a much-needed piece to music surveys in general and punk studies in particular, which has generally taken the ‘cross-racial solidarity’ (p. 6, emphasis in original) aspect without much analysis. The book both challenges and reconfirms the idea that all those who listened to punk music are the same, despite (or because of) racial differences. Attempting to provide a history of punk music by using race as the quantifier, the book explores how race, especially whiteness, both divided and brought its audience together. Compiled from a wide variety of sources including BBC interviews, academic journal excerpts and punk magazine (zines) articles, White Riot provides a diverse selection within the scene. This is both its greatest strength and its chief weakness. Those readers looking for an introduction to overall punk history will be disappointed, while those searching for a deeper understanding of the DIY ethos embodied in punk will be rewarded.
Divided into eight nominally related chapters (the first of which is the editors introducing their own history in the punk scene), the book surveys seven distinct (to the editors, at least) aspects of race within punk music. Almost as if they are trying to convince themselves of the idea, the editors state that, while punk itself does have continued political failings, ‘the punk scene has engaged in extensive, lively, and contentious debates surrounding issues of racial identity’ (p. 16, emphasis in original). The biggest problem is that these debates occur at the fringe areas of the music, not within the central adherents. Thus, while punk stalwarts and leaders like the Clash, The Sex Pistols and Ramones and modern bands such as Green Day are mentioned in passing (and included in one excerpt with Clash bassist Paul Simonon), the book does not use their thoughts in any meaningful way. Instead, it focuses on the writings and interviews with the less well-known (at least to me) artists and writers within the scene, not all of which will be addressed here.
While each chapter has its strengths and weaknesses within it, Roger Sabin's article is one of the strongest overall. He recognises that ‘the need to create a myth that punk was somehow anti-racist was understandable, and the process began almost as soon as the movement itself did’ (p. 59). Sabin admits that the music did borrow from black reggae and actively participated in Rock Against Racism (RAR) and the Anti-Nazi League (ANL), but also points out that it used swastika imagery, had working ties with the National Front and used openly racist lyrics in many songs, ranging from tongue-in-cheek ‘White Riot’ by the Clash and ‘Puerto Rican’ by Adam and the Ants to openly hostile like the Vibrators' ‘Nazi Baby’ and the Spitfire Boys' ‘Mein Kampf’ or band names like London SS or Stormtrooper. What Sabin found most fascinating about this bevy of racist evidence was ‘how much of it has been “edited out” of history over the years’ (p. 67). Yet noted critic Lester Bangs wrote that many outsiders ‘think punk is fascist, but that's only because they can't see beyond certain buzzwords, symbols, and pieces of regalia’ (p. 108, emphasis in original). So too are there other acknowledgments of punk's inherent racism, especially in the chapter entitled ‘Race riot’, compiled mostly from zine articles by non-white punk fans. Mimi Nguyen exhorts readers to ‘be aware of how you talk about race, gender, sexuality’ (p. 268, emphasis in original), while Tasha Fierce challenges general white assumptions in another article by saying she has met white people who ‘didn't even know a black person could like punk’ (p. 282).
Furthermore, the editors have compiled other articles about non-white punk groups into their own chapter. Skeeter Thompson of Scream said that he felt ‘hesitation … pressure … a block … [and] a wall’ (p. 221) in dealing with whites in the punk scene because he is black. Los Crudos formed ‘a band that would sing in Spanish, a hardcore band’ (p. 242) and almost by default became a political band because of their singing. So too are ‘Taqwacore’ bands, so-called ‘Muslim punk’ (p. 239) groups political, because of its investigation of Islam, even if many of the poets, musicians and other artists are not themselves Muslim.
This book has problems, however. While White Riot gives punk's racial minorities ample room to express not only their love of the music and dissatisfaction with their role within the culture, it focuses too narrowly on that one aspect. Many of the articles themselves touch upon other aspects of solidarity and rebellion including homosexuality, gender roles and class structures – punk being a working- or middle- class white movement for the most part. In this respect instead of focusing on race the book could have discussed punk and politics more holistically.
Additionally, the editors' organisation of the chapters itself is somewhat confusing. Each of the seven (not including the introductory first chapter) is supposed to have a theme about race in punk, yet the articles that make up the chapters seem to have no connection to each other. How that theme becomes apparent is beyond me. For example, half of the articles in the chapter dealing with non-white artists discuss reggae more than punk and could have easily fit into the previous chapter that dealt with reggae and the black roots of punk. Similarly, Michelle Habell-Pallán's article about the Chicana punk singers Alicia Armendariz Velasquez, Teresa Covarrubias and Angel Vogel deals more with their gender than their race, let alone their ‘punk-ness’. It is an article about female Latina singers who, coincidentally, sing punk music.
Despite these shortcomings, the book does provide an introduction to examining punk music from a racial perspective. It offers a glimpse into the depth of punk fandom and racial diversity within the subculture, and opens the discussion for further study.
