Old enough to have been involved in the early Detroit/Ann Arbor punk and hardcore scene. Even though I read about punk in skateboard mags like Skateboarder, it was by accident that i got to see it up close an personal. First show was Negative Approach/Meatmen/Necros at endless summer skatepark in Roseville MI. I was fucking blown away and was immediately a "punk". I already had torn clothes from skateboarding - I convinced my mom to roughly chop my hair and got a pair of engineer boots for my birthday. a few of my friends were older and as soon as the got their drivers licenses, we were off and running to every punk show we could find out about, usually from flyers at records stores.

Some of the first real shows i went to were at the Freezer theater in Detroit. this was like THE punk and hardcore clubhouse in a shitty neighborhood on Cass ave. Saw so many cool shows there including Minor Threat plus all the Michigan bands like NA, Metamen, Youth Patrol, the McDonalds, Bored Youth etc. After that closed down there was other regular spaces like the Hungry Brain, City Club and the Graystone Hall. I was even lucky enough to be at the Why Be Something That You Are Not shows in Dearborn MI at a weird local access cable studio. It was put together by the goofballs that did Back Porch video, a local access cable punk show. The Misfits played as well as the Crucifucks, the Necros and almost all the bands listed above. See the shot of 15 year old me during the Negative Approach taping.

Around 1985, I started my own band. We played a ton of shows at the Graystone, Traxx, Blondies and other shithole clubs around Detroit. I've been active in bands up until recently. Once I was bitten by this crazy shit in 1981...I've never looked back.

NA 1982 (resized).png

So much great stuff posted in this thread -

I'll throw in my 2 cents and include a list of killer punk/hardcore documentaries:

BOOM - a film about the Sonics
MC5: a true testimonial
Gimme Danger: the Stooges
Blank Generation:Birth of Punk- Early NY Punk
End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones
Punk Britannia - U.K. 1976-78 BBC doc
Don't You Wish That We Were Dead: THE DAMNED:
It's Everything and Then It's Gone: Early Akron OH (Devo etc.)
Descent Into the Maelstrom: Radio Birdman
STRANDED: The Saints
Great Australian Albums: The Saints '(I'm) Stranded
Distorted: Reflections on early Sydney Australia punk
There Is No Authority But Yourself - Crass
You Weren't There: Early Chicago Punk
Decline of Western Civilization: Early LA punk
The Unheard Music - X (LA)
Urban Struggle - documentary about the Cuckoo's Nest (SoCal punk/hardcore)
Clockwork Orange County: Early SoCal Punk
Another State Of Mind: Early SoCal Tour Doc (Social D/Youth Brigade)
Why Be Something That You Are Not: Michigan Hardcore (live, w/Misfits too)
My Career As A Jerk: Circle Jerks
We Jam Econo: Minutemen
Fresh Fruit For Rotting Eyeballs: Dead Kennedys
Salad Days: A Decade Of Punk In Washington, DC (1980-90)
ITALIAN PUNK HARDCORE 1980-1989
Filmage: Descendent/All
You Can Color Outside the Lines: Big Boys
All AGES - Boston Hardcore 1981-84

There are a MILLION more I'm sure I've missed, feel free to add to the list

Very cool!

GODDAMIT - I hate spotify but.......I added a bunch of stuff to the playlist. Regional stuff (from shitifys limited selection) including early hardcore bands from Michigan, DC, Boston, NY, Chicago.

HA- that DYS LP is an old fave... a little on the meathead side-but what early Boston hardcore wasn't. My old band got to play 3 shows on Dave Smalley's next band, Dag Nasty tour in 1986-ish

I'm an old dog and don't use a ton of modern tech/streaming sites for music- I've found Youtube has almost EVERYTHING i've every looked for. Thats saying a lot since I've collected records for 38 years....

@gryszzz - here's an abbreviated Indiana punk history lesson of some lesser know stuff.

Essential listening from the late 90's

https://eternalblizzard.bandcamp.com/album/eternal-blizzard-lp

3 bands I got to be friends with and see live a bunch of times

Should've posted this in the death metal thread... long standing thrashers that are still kicking. Check out their new stuff https://cianide.bandcamp.com/
Going to see them in March w/Autopsy in Chicago

Yeah- not as much a lesson for you as it was for the peeps checking out this thread. Midwest punk/HC pretty much rules!

Japanese bands FUCKING RULED!!! while most were not all that original, they were great at taking something that existed and supercharging the fuck out of it and making it their own (and ultimately better). I started buying records from Japan around 1985 and was able to really get in on some great stuff that still holds up today. These were some of my faves but by not even the tip of the iceberg for all of the AMAZING stuff that came out of Japan

Cleveland was always a smoldering pit of bad attitudes and loud guitars. Electric Eels, Dead Boys, Pagans, Pere Ubu were some of the earliest punks. My favorite era was the late 80's into the mid 90's. This era brought back some real danger. Not only the music being put out but that scene in general was as scary as it was fun. I got to go to a lot of shows and be friends with a ton of nutballs there. These were some of my faves-

Most definitely!!! If not, you coming to Clay's VFW event in April?

Hahahaha.... My friend lives in Asheville, her name is Ashley - I always say "what sup ASS-ley, Hows ASS-ville treating you"

Ps: I've been to Asheville and am probably a midwest goon