Punk Rock Writing

In the 80s in Waltham, I could count on two hands the number of kids who liked punk rock and hardcore music. Three of the kids were friends of mine and the other half dozen or so were older kids who worked at Waltham Hospital and hung out at Lena's Pizza. They wore punk rock garb and one of them had orange hair. They seemed more into the Sex Pistols classic punk than the hardcore revolution that was emerging in Boston on the heels of 'This Is Boston Not LA'. This revolution did not extend to Waltham and my friends and I had to go into the city for the music we liked best to places like Newbury Comics and then sneak the forbidden fruit back into Waltham. I would say 99% of the citizens who were into music listened to album rock or disco and both groups belittled me for listening to punk and hardcore. While I liked some metal and hard rock like Aerosmith and AC/DC at the time, I hated pop music, top 40, and disco. KISS 108 was popular with the jocks and student coun...

In the early 80s, I discovered a vault of unchartered music via college radio on the side left of the dial.    On Friday nights in Waltham from the perch of my bedroom, I listened to Boston College radio WZBC and The Hardcore Hour with Dave Smalley and Curtis Casella. They played all the latest songs from established and new punk rock bands. I had to keep the music very low because my Dad deplored punk rock and would kick the door open if I ever blasted it. Once I had made the tape, I would crank it up in my headphones or car stereo. The weekly radio show was my passport to music and discovery of countless bands like The Necros, Husker Du, and all the Boston bands like SSD, DYS, F.U.s, and Jerry's Kids. I recorded each show on a TDK cassette and sent or sometimes hand delivered them to my cousin Johnny D in Newport, RI. Johnny then shared the latest and greatest hardcore stylings with his friends. Sometimes a crowd would be waiting at the Davis house for me or the t...