This weekend I finished reading the new book Taking Punk To The Masses: From Nowhere To Nevermind by Jacob McMurray. I then headed down to Georgetown to get my copy signed by photographer Charles Peterson who provided the books iconic cover photo of Northwest kids in full disarray at a 1983 Replacements show. Dana Collins of the The Accused, Sergio Avenia of Deranged Diction, Heather Lewis of Beat Happening, Mark Arm of Mudhoney, and Ed Fotheringham of Thrown-Ups can all be seen as teenagers moshing in this photo in the days before their music would help define the Seattle scene.

If you were here in Seattle in the early 90’s you probably remember the WTF feeling of suddenly having the world’s eyes on a town that was once considered a cultural backwater. Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit seemed to rocket out of nowhere while local bands like Alice In Chains, Sound Garden, and Pearl Jam were getting picked up by major labels. Kids in Los Angeles were suddenly wearing wool caps and flannel shirts in 90 degree weather. Taking Punk To The Masses charts a visual history of how this moment in time came to be, as well as this time period’s influence on more current music.

When I picked up the book it was all for and only for the pretty pictures. The book is designed by former Fantagraphics art director Jacob Covey and is filled with Lance Mercer photographs of rock and roll artifacts from Seattle’s Experience Music Project. The shame about a book as beautiful as this one is that often it will only be purchased to be looked at and never read. In Taking Punk’s case, this would truly be a mistake. I started reading the book on a sleepless night shortly after buying it. EMP curator Jacob McMurray does an amazing job of tying all of the book’s images together with a narrative not just set squarely in the Northwest Music scene, but pulling from images and stories rooted in scene’s all over the United States. McMurray outlines a clear case for how the so called Seattle Sound did not just come out of the blue, but was built upon a lineage of musical roots and developed into a scene far more diverse than how it’s been documented in the past.

Saturday’s party at the Fantagraphic’s bookstore and gallery included an exhibition of several more photographs by Peterson. The place had also been transformed with old records, flyers, and memorabilia into as curator Larry Reid put it, “A mom-and-pop punk rock emporium circa 1988 Seattle.”

The festivities led right into a show next door at The Mix (renamed Buddy & Jay’s Scrap Metal Emporium for the night) with bands Can You Imagine? featuring cartoonist Peter Bagge and record producer Steve Fisk, the return of The Capillaries with illustrator Matt Southworth, and the New Jersey band Wormburner.

You can buy ‘Taking Punk To The Masses: From Nowhere To Never Mind’ from Fantagraphics here.

Okay… enough with all the talking… pictures below.

Soundtrack: Head Over Heels by The Cute Lepers (iTunes)

Georgetown, WA.