Title: Geloof De Hype!
Editor/Writer: Rens Dietz
Year: 2024
Publisher: Selfreleased
Language: Dutch
Pages: 300
Size: A4
Cover: Softcover
Review:
A new book about punk! Ofcourse I first checked the website for the book and had to laugh when I read that Rondos have anarcho lyrics and use swastika’s. There’s more incorrect facts like Panic is the only Dutch punk band that played CBGB’s (https://geloofdehype.nl/10-iconische-nederlandse…/).
Well, if you’re into mainstream punk this might be an interesting book. It’s told from the perspective of 2 persons: a father from 1948 and a son from 1982. All information about the Netherlands/Dutch bands (and probably the rest as well) are taken from OOR, newspapers, websites, videos, magazines and books (there’s an extensive pages with sources). In the prologue he states that punk is mainly a cry for attention.
What we then get is numerous pages about the Beatles and a chapter about The Sex Pistols, all big English bands like The Stranglers, The Clash and the American Connection (like CBGB’s and The Ramones). There’s a piece about Dutch punk saying in 1977 and 1978 Dutch bands put out records on a daily base. Actually in 1977 were 6 records released (4 from The Flyin’ Spiderz) and in 1978 24. Here, Dutch punk didn’t sell. And mohawks came into punk in 1980 not the end of the 1970s. There’s some more facts to complain about but this is still fictional with true stories as said in the prologue.
Punk dies in 1980 and he continues with postpunk. Next is a chapter mainly about Joy Division but also about others like The Cure. He takes alot from the ‘Club Risiko’ and ‘Ultra’ books. Next is Sonic Youth and there’s pages of Joy Division again. We continue with grunge (Nirvana) and britpop (Oasis). After Nirvana was a punkrevival (Green Day). Here in NL everybody started to have tattoo’s and piercings and started to dress alternative. I was very glad because the local nazi’s couldn’t recognize the real punx and squatters anymore!
The next chapter has alot of The Strokes and the Arctic Monkeys. The last chapter, written especially for this third edition, is all about the new punk revival. We get about 12 pages Hang Youth (consistently written in capitals) who are the equivalent of Heideroosjes except their singer does a theatre tour and pops up in all kinds of TV programs. They have anti-government songs under 1 minute and sell out big venues within time.
I struggled through this book because I am not interested in the status of a band or how succesful they are. Underground has a completely different meaning for the writer than I have. Also it’s very suspect when someone writes ‘punker/s’ instead of ‘punk/x’. Anyway, like I said before, if you’re into corporate punk, this might be interesting for you. PPP **