Jim Ruland – författare

A no-holds-barred narrative history of the iconic label that brought the world Black Flag, Hüsker Dü, Sonic Youth, Soundgarden, and more, by the co-author of Do What You Want and My Damage.Greg Ginn started SST Records in the sleepy beach town of Hermosa Beach, CA, to supply ham radio enthusiasts with tuners and transmitters. But when Ginn wanted to launch his band, Black Flag, no one was willing to take them on. Determined to bring his music to the masses, Ginn turned SST into a record label. On the back of Black Flag's relentless touring, guerilla marketing, and refusal to back down, SST became the sound of the underground.In Corporate Rock Sucks, music journalist Jim Ruland relays the unvarnished story of SST Records, from its remarkable rise in notoriety to its infamous downfall. With records by Black Flag, Minutemen, Hüsker Dü, Bad Brains, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, Screaming Trees, Soundgarden, and scores of obscure yet influential bands, SST was the most popular indie label by the mid-80s--until a tsunami of legal jeopardy, financial peril, and dysfunctional management brought the empire tumbling down. Throughout this investigative deep-dive, Ruland leads readers through SST's tumultuous history and epic catalog.Featuring never-before-seen interviews with the label's former employees, as well as musicians, managers, producers, photographers, video directors, and label heads, Corporate Rock Sucks presents a definitive narrative history of the '80s punk and alternative rock scenes, and shows how the music industry was changed forever.

DO WHAT YOU WANT: The Story of Bad Religion reveals the ups and downs of the band's 40-year career. From their beginnings as teenagers jamming in a San Fernando Valley garage dubbed "The Hell Hole" to headlining major music festivals around the world, DO WANT YOU WANT tells the whole story in irreverent style.While DO WHAT YOU WANT tracks down nearly all of Bad Religion's members past and present, the chief storytellers are the four voices that define Bad Religion: Greg Graffin, a Wisconsin kid who sang in the choir and became an L.A. punk rock icon while he was still a teenager; Brett Gurewitz, a high school dropout who founded the independent punk label Epitaph Records and went on to become a record mogul; Jay Bentley, a surfer and skater who gained recognition as much for his bass skills as for his onstage antics; and Brian Baker, a founding member of Minor Threat who joined the band in 1994 and brings a fresh perspective as an intimate outsider.With a unique blend of melodic hardcore and thought-provoking lyrics, Bad Religion paved the way for the punk rock explosion of the 1990s, opening the door for bands like NOFX, The Offspring, Rancid, Green Day, and Blink-182 to reach wider audiences. They showed the world what punk could be, and they continue to spread their message one song, one show, one tour at a time-with no signs of stopping.

Keith Morris is a true punk icon. No one else embodies the sound of Southern Californian hardcore the way he does. With his waist-length dreadlocks and snarling vocals, Morris is known the world over for his take-no-prisoners approach on the stage and his integrity off of it. Over the course of his forty-year career with Black Flag, the Circle Jerks, and OFF!, he's battled diabetes, drug and alcohol addiction, and the record industry...and he's still going strong.My Damage is more than a book about the highs and lows of a punk rock legend. It's a story from the perspective of someone who has shared the stage with just about every major figure in the music industry and has appeared in cult films like The Decline of Western Civilization and Repo Man. A true Hollywood tale from an L.A. native, My Damage reveals the story of Morris's streets, his scene, and his music--as only he can tell it.

Intelligentes Aufbegehren mit Bad Religion1980 gründeten vier Highschool-Freunde in Los Angeles die Band Bad Religion, um ihrem Frust über das herrschende System musikalisch freien Lauf zu lassen: Punk kam nicht nur aus New Yorkund London!Bei Bad Religion ging es dabei weniger hedonistisch zu als bei den Sex Pistols oder den New York Dolls, dafür verarbeiteten sie in ihrer Sozialkritik sogar literarische und philosophische Einflüsse. Und sie waren stets der Auffassung, dass die Revolution nicht nur laut und ruppig, sondern auch melodisch sein darf, ein Umstand, der ihnen in den USA, aber auch in Europa schnell eine große Fangemeinde einbrachte. Heute blicken Bad Religion auf 40 Jahre Bandgeschichte zurück und lassen sie in Die Bad Religion Story - Do What You Want noch einmal Revue passieren. Der Journalist Jim Ruland hat dazu ausführlich mit allen direkt oder indirekt Beteiligten gesprochen, die Chemie innerhalb der Gruppe auf lebendige Weise eingefangen und sich auch mit dem prägenden Einfluss auseinandergesetzt, den Bad Religion auf viele große Bands der Neunziger und Nullerjahre hatten: Ohne sie hätte es Weltstars wie Nirvana, Green Day oder auch Linkin Park wohl nicht gegeben."Ich spürte stets das Bedürfnis, Autoritäten in Frage zu stellen; das ist es, was mich innerlich antreibt. Aber ich tat das aus dem Wunsch heraus, die Dinge besser zu machen, und nicht, um nihilistische Sprüche zu klopfen."Greg Graffin, Bad Religion