Someday All the Adults Will Die!: The Birth of Texas Punk

Music journalist Blashill (Texas Is the Reason) presents a riotous, freewheeling oral history of punk rock in Texas from the late 1970s to the 1990s. Drawing on interviews with fans and members of such bands as the Offenders and the Dicks, he traces punk’s expansion throughout the state, from the 1978 takeover of Tejano bar Raul’s in Austin by the scene’s first wave, through the proliferation of homemade underground fanzines and posters and the expansion of such bands as the Butthole Surfers beyond the state’s borders. Texan punk, Blashill argues, was deeply grounded within the state’s history and culture, giving rise to “cowpunk heartthrob” outfits like Rank and File and such songs as the Dicks’ “Saturday Night,” which critiqued “the hypocrisy of men who stay in the closet so they can pass in conservative Texas society.” The scene also served as a sanctuary for both LGBTQ+ people and women, with many bands featuring queer and female musicians—though the author doesn’t shy away from the subculture’s failings, including an inability to confront its own “privilege and white supremacy.” The narrative mixes rigorous musical analysis, fans’ affectionate musings, and such colorful anecdotes as the Huns’ lead singer kissing a cop during a raid and the Big Boys’ front man performing in a “suit made of bologna sandwiches.” It makes for a comprehensive portrait of a vibrant subculture. (Sept.)