Title: Punk Als Verzet(je)?: Een Rondje Nederpunk In De Jaren Tachtig Van De Twintigste Eeuw
Editor/Writer: Johan van Leeuwen
Year: 2002
Publisher: Selfreleased
Language: Dutch
Pages: 108
Size: A5
Cover: Softcover
Source & Scan: Rutger van Leeuwen
Review:
During the presentation of the Het Gejuich Was Massaal book from 1996 that covers Dutch punk in 1976-1982, the idea came of making a follow-up book. The title is a Dutch wordplay. Punk as resistance or punk as entertainment? Punk after 1982 was very busy organizing the worldwide DIY network. When Nirvana got big in the early 90’s, punk became mainstream and the underground DIY scene with its many collectives, venues and bands flourished. Together with the coming of internet, this is probably the best period for punk but all of this was thanx to the 1976-1982 and 1983-1989 periods where the foundation was made.  

Johan van Leeuwen started doing Koekrand fanzine in 1979 and renamed it Nieuwe Koekrand in late 1981. He stopped in 1990 but revived the zine in 1997 until his death in February 2003. In the meantime he wrote Johan Was Punk And He Knows It in 1997 with very amusing punk anekdotes from his life. Punk Als Verzet(je?) is a book with interviews done in the summer of 1999, information from all Dutch reports in the Maximum Rock’n’Roll fanzine from the USA, from the Nieuwe Koekrand, from other zines and from his memory. It’s an inventarisation of bands, venues and zines. Since he was ill when writing and this was selfreleased, there’s unfortunately ALOT of writing and style mistakes. It starts with 19 pages of what happened in Amsterdam. Next come all the provinces with its bands, venues and zines. It’s a pretty good listing but rather annoying because of the many writing mistakes. Also the piece on Groningen contains one long string of serious (info) mistakes. Makes you wonder about the other provinces. It ends with an extensive discography but also have non-punkbands with yet again alot of mistakes. I’d definitely not use this as a reference guide. It’s time for a new and more up-to-date book about this very interesting period! PPPPP ***