Punk Archives for the Present from CBGB to Gilman and Beyond

We’re Having Much More Fun: Punk Archives for the Present from CBGB to Gilman and Beyond by Judith A. Peraino and Tom McEnaney (Cornell University Press)

Published: 15 March 2026

ISBN: 9781501780325 | 384 pages | 420 colour halftone images

An enjoyable, accessible dive into the punk archives of Cornell University is accompanied by witness statements from scene participants and very little academic theory. For punks of both a scholarly and non-scholarly persuasion, says Nathan Brown.

Despite the university connection, this book, taking its name from an X song, is not an academic text with an argument to prove and littered with references to theory. What this 203 × 254 mm (8 x 10 in old money) book is loaded with is fascinating images from the punk archives at Cornell. If you ever got access to the archive, alongside the actual bibliography, they have provided the archive box and piece numbers listed in the rear of the book.

While We’re Having Much More Fun inevitably covers some of the more famous names from New York, LA and the Bay Area’s punk scenes, it often captures them in their early years, imagery that is less familiar. More importantly, the narrative and images are mostly drawn from participants whose voices might not normally bubble to the surface alongside more famous folk. Outsiders within an outsider scene. People like Suzanne Onodera (flyer designer in 80s SF and Bay Area), for whom “Punk’s open door to everyone who didn’t fit or who consciously rejected standardised categories of race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality proved liberating”. Jayne County looks back on the formative punk years in a 2021 interview. Sylvia Reed talks about her and Anya Phillips’ involvement in the early NYC punk scene as women of colour. The diversity inherent in punk is evident throughout.

There are flyers from bands that only deep diving punk explorers may have heard of, and covers of zines only locals would have known. There are chapters on bands with cult status who deserve more attention than other punk histories may have given them. For example, The Screamers from LA get a whole section of the book. 84 pages provide their history with photos and flyers aplenty, plus tributes from hardcore luminaries Ian Mackaye (Minor Threat, Fugazi, Dischord Records, etc.) and Martín Sorrondeguy (Limpwrist, Los Crudos, N/N). There is an interview with Martín later in the book about challenging a hardcore scene that had over time, forgotten its diverse roots and become viewed by some as a white, straight and Anglo-centric phenomenon.

A short history of the Bay Area is titled Peace Or Annihilation, but although a Crucifix song gives this chapter its title, there are only a few images associated with them so don’t get over-excited. This anarcho band, who crossed the divide between Discharge and Crass, remain many people’s favourites, but so much else was happening across the Bay Area (including the “big names”: Dead Kennedys, Green Day and Operation Ivy, of course). Extended essays from Aaron (Cometbus zine) and Anna Joy Springer (Blatz) attest to this. There’s a considerable chunk of gig flyers and photos from the punk operated Gilman Street venue alongside membership cards and construction photos.

The last word goes to Victoria Ruiz, who describes punk as a “rogue planet” and focuses on women, non-binary people and people of colour in the punk scene.  She brings us full circle back to punk pioneers Alice Bag and Poly Styrene.

While punk scholars will undoubtedly pore over this volume, this is a book for the people. I can think of a few dyed-in-the-wool punk fanatics who devour everything about punk they can lay their hands on, but who get really turned off by more academic texts, and friends in the Punk Scholars Network have been trying to tread the razor wire between academia and accessibility. We’re Having Much More Fun has none of the academic barriers that put less scholarly punk enthusiasts off. Without wanting to evoke elitism, it’s got plenty of pictures in it! But also, the text flows easily, and much of it is in interview format. As a picture famously tells a thousand words, the sheer volume of images makes this collection chock full of historical evidence, leaving the reader to be the historian and interpret it – or ask questions of it – according to their own philosophies and theories.  If it wasn’t for the efforts of the academics at Cornell, much of this history could conceivably have been lost. I shudder to think of the amazing zines, magazines, flyers, etc. that I personally lost along the way to house moves, lack of space, police raids or (suspected) theft.

Back to this book…there are some really great artefacts herein, and while every single one has a story to tell, I did have a few favourites. There is a warning flyer created by Tim Yohannan of MRR – complete with a photo of someone with the nickname Blockhead (comical when you see the picture) – “banned from the scene” for stealing from DIY volunteer run punk shop Epicenter in SF. There is a suitably off the wall invite to Jello Biafra’s wedding. A cheque from Offspring made out to Aaron Cometbus for 250 million bounced. Meanwhile, a previously unpublished 2 page comic strip by Bobby Madness about a road trip from Ithaca to see Stiff Little Fingers in New York City speaks to many punk orthodoxies and cliches.  The grotesque cartoons of Sid Vicious and Elvis Presley on a flyer for a Public Animalz gig that caught my eye was coincidentally on my birthday.

The thing is, every time I open this, I notice something else. There is just too damned much to give you a full overview. You can lose yourself for several hours in the images alone before coming back to read the well researched and curated essays and interviews – or vice versa. Where others have failed, this volume has managed to retain the excitement of the punk scenes of which it provides a snapshot.  In addition, the overriding message I got was one of encouragement: Everything in this book was done by people without waiting for permission.  Punk is a community. It is diverse and open to anyone who wants to give it a try.

Available from Mare Nostrum Group

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Words by Nathan Brown. You can read more from Nathan on his Louder Than War archive over here.