Now Is the Time to Invent!

by Katherine Spielmann (Editor), Steve Connell (Editor), J Neo Marvin (Editor), Jay Ruttenberg (Editor)

Overview

Now Is the Time to Invent offers a definitive portrait of the vibrant indie-rock scene that flourished in the mid-1980s and reached its creative peak in the 1990s. More than 60 profiles and interviews, taken from the pages of the acclaimed independent music magazine Puncture and illustrated with many rare photographs, cover all the major contributors to a lastingly influential musical movement.

It’s impossible to determine a single starting point for indie rock, but here it is found in the scintillating psychodramas Kristin Hersch conjured up for Throwing Muses and the deadpan, genre-busting, proto-slacker anthems of Camper Van Beethoven, and followed through to the critical triumphs of Sleater-Kinney and Neutral Milk Hotel more than a decade later. Along the way, it takes in such pioneering artists as P.J. Harvey, Sonic Youth, the Pixies, Bikini Kill, Nick Cave, Beck, Cat Power, Fugazi, Mekons, Pavement, Belle & Sebastian, Meat Puppets, My Bloody Valentine, Sebadoh, the Breeders, Jeff Buckley, Guided by Voices, Will Oldham, Hole, Flaming Lips, the Magnetic Fields, and many more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781891241673
Publisher:	Verse Chorus Press
Publication date:	09/15/2020
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	14 Years

About the Author

Katherine Spielmann founded Puncture in 1982, together with Patty Stirling, and she was the magazine's editor and publisher during its 18-year history. Steve Connell was the managing editor of Puncture from 1984 to 2000. Musician and writer J Neo Marvin was Puncture's most consistent contributor throughout its history. Jay Ruttenberg was a frequent contributor to Puncture for many years and was the magazine's music editor from 1997 to 2000.

Table of Contents

Foreword Steve Connell 5

In the Beginning: Introduction J Neo Marvin 8

And at the End: Introduction Jay Ruttenberg 9

Throwing Muses 12

Camper Van Beethoven 16

63 Days on the Road: A Camper Van Beethoven Tour Diary 19

The Mekons 23

Lester Bangs 31

Women in Rock An Open Letter 34

Scrawl 41

The Pixies 45

Fugazi 49

Women, Sex, and Rock 'n' roll 52

Meat Puppets 55

Beat Happening 61

The Breeders 69

The Go-Betweens 74

46 Days in a Coke Van An X-tal Tour Diary 81

Throwing Muses 93

Hole 98

International Pop Underground Convention 101

The Mekons 108

Nick Cave 112

My Bloody Valentine 118

Cracker 123

Sebadoh 127

Violent Femmes 131

The Breeders 136

PJ Harvey 140

Guided by Voices 144

Jeff Buckley 146

Greil Marcus 148

Indie Rock Dying Breed or Dead Issue 152

Jonathan Richman 157

The Magnetic Fields 163

PJ Harvey 166

The Mountain Goats 174

Thurston Moore 178

The Clean 183

Sleater-Kinney 187

Neutral Milk Hotel 191

Guided by Voices 193

Palace 198

Cat Power 202

Beck 208

The Grifters 213

Throwing Muses 216

Smog 220

Pavement 224

Elephant 6 229

Vic Chesnutt 234

The Pastels 238

Will Oldham 240

Belle and Sebastian 248

The Mekons 257

Neutral Milk Hotel 266

Royal Trux 275

Kathleen Hanna Julie Ruin 284

The Magnetic Fields 290

The Flaming Lips 297

Robert Forster/The Go-Betweens 305

Sleater-Kinney 312

Credits 318

Editorial Reviews

Now Is the Time to Invent! collects writing from Puncture, a little magazine that covered the indie scene of the late ‘80s and ‘90s with authority, scope, generosity, and a lovingly critical eye. Founded in 1982 as a San Francisco punk zine, Puncture continuously grew, publishing engaging profiles of the indie rock biggies—Pavement, Hole, Beck, Sleater-Kinney, Belle & Sebastian, the Flaming Lips, Cat Power, the Pixies, Nick Cave, Neutral Milk Hotel, the Magnetic Fields, Jeff Buckley, Fugazi, My Bloody Valentine, Guided By Voices, and many more—alongside culture essays, reviews and coverage of film, art, and literature. Like the bands it wrote about, it was informal, yet tastefully made . . . The writing was smart and engaging, enthusiastic but never fawning, concerned with the health of the music scene even when assessing its progress meant calling out its insularity or lack of energy. Along with its sensitivity to indie-rock’s often unbalanced gender dynamics, Puncture backed the right aesthetic horse by celebrating the homespun, literary, warmly opaque, self-consciously arty, and vulnerable—bands like Camper Van Beethoven, the Mekons, Sebadoh, Palace, and the Mountain Goats. - Rolling Stone Recommends

Rolling Stone - Jon Dolan

Now Is the Time to Invent! collects writing from Puncture, a little magazine that covered the indie scene of the late ‘80s and ‘90s with authority, scope, generosity, and a lovingly critical eye.

Founded in 1982 as a San Francisco punk zine, Puncture continuously grew, publishing engaging profiles of the indie rock biggies—Pavement, Hole, Beck, Sleater-Kinney, Belle & Sebastian, the Flaming Lips, Cat Power, the Pixies, Nick Cave, Neutral Milk Hotel, the Magnetic Fields, Jeff Buckley, Fugazi, My Bloody Valentine, Guided By Voices, and many more—alongside culture essays, reviews and coverage of film, art, and literature.

Like the bands it wrote about, it was informal, yet tastefully made . . . The writing was smart and engaging, enthusiastic but never fawning, concerned with the health of the music scene even when assessing its progress meant calling out its insularity or lack of energy. Along with its sensitivity to indie-rock’s often unbalanced gender dynamics, Puncture backed the right aesthetic horse by celebrating the homespun, literary, warmly opaque, self-consciously arty, and vulnerable—bands like Camper Van Beethoven, the Mekons, Sebadoh, Palace, and the Mountain Goats.

From the Publisher