It’s the Final Countdown

Di deh deh doo, di deh dit doot doo…

I won’t beat around the bush: we’re less than a week away from the publication of Corporate Rock Sucks: The Rise & Fall of SST Records and I’m getting excited. I’m also exhausted. After writing these words last night, I fell asleep at my keyboard ten minutes later. I really am genuinely excited, but also massively sleep-deprived.  

Last week it really hit me that the book is out there and being read. Several contributors to Corporate Rock Sucks received finished copies in the mail on the same day and posted about it on various social media platforms. This produced a flurry of comments that I wasn’t expecting and generally not accustomed to. I’m glad I was away from my desk (more on that in a minute) or else I might have spent the whole day scrolling, wondering what to do, wondering what to say.

I’ve been doing interviews and podcasts and radio segments and have developed a pretty good sense of what to say when people ask me about the book, I just didn’t expect it to happen two weeks before the book is due out.

I’m not a musician. I didn’t work for a record label. I’ve never written for a fancy music magazine. I wasn’t a part of SST’s inner circle and Corporate Rock Sucks is squarely in the category of an unauthorized biography. I expected backlash from those who felt I was moving in on turf that wasn’t mine, to use the parlance of TV shows I watched while growing up in the ‘70s, but so far that hasn’t happened. So far the response has been supportive and generous and all around amazing. I’m grateful for that.

When I sent off my newsletter last week, I had no idea that a few hours later I’d be driving up to Hermosa Beach to meet up with Evan Dando to work on our project for a couple days. Well, a couple days turned into several that included a visit to the Hermosa Beach Museum for the release party of Kevin Saulk’s photo book with Dez Cadena and Earl Liberty; a trip to San Pedro for the first annual D-Day celebration where I saw the Wrinkling Brothers, Toys That Kill, and Saccharine Trust and met Craig Ibarra, Jordan Schwartz, and Naomi Petersen’s brother Chris; a drive across the desert with Evan as my co-pilot for a Lemonheads show in Palm Springs; having all of my worlds collide at the HMS Bounty where I met LA musician and writer Kenny Lyon who has been a bandmate of Paul Roessler and a member of the Lemonheads (it’s also the place where I met my wife 17 years ago); and witnessing the Linda Lindas, the Lemonheads, and Jawbreaker at the Wiltern Theater for a truly unforgettable show.

That’s enough material for several newsletters but those stories will have to wait for another day, particularly those that are stull unfolding. I will say this: I loved being back in the South Bay, where I lived from the late 90s through 2006. I loved being back in San Pedro where I used to go see shows at Harold’s Place and the punk house behind the KFC. I loved ripping up and down Wilshire Boulevard on a motorized scooter. I loved the Linda Lindas.

Things that I didn’t love: Jawbreaker.

And I could fill a book about my weekend with Evan Dando, which is exactly what I’ll do, but I’m getting ahead of myself because we have business to attend to.

I’ve got five events to celebrate the release of Corporate Rock Sucks next week:

SAN DIEGO
April 12 at 7pm
Book Catapult
with Ray Farrell

LOS ANGELES
April 13 at 7pm
Book Soup

PORTLAND
April 14 at 7pm
Powells City of Books
with Joshua Mohr

CHULA VISTA
April 16 at 4pm
3 Punk Ales

That’s only four. The fifth event is a special Zoom call between me and Keith Morris, which is only available for those who preorder Corporate Rock Sucks. Last week it was Keith Morris Appreciation Week here at Message from the Underworld and it seems that some of you didn’t appreciate Keith enough because he caught COVID and is currently quarantining.

Oh look—here’s a little button you can click so you can preorder Corporate Rock Sucks and send Keith your healing vibes.

Seriously, get well soon Keith!

Also, I’m going to let you in on a secret. At each event I’ll be giving away one record, tape, or CD from my SST collection. It will take the form of an impromptu trivia question and the winner will walk away with an SST artifact. I’m totally serious about this.

Don’t see your name on the list? I have more events planned for LA, San Francisco, Brooklyn, and San Bernardino in the weeks ahead, and still more in the works. You can read all the details on the events page of my website. Want me to come to your bookstore, brewery, coffee shop, or den of iniquity? Let me know!

Also on my website, you’ll find all the blurbs I’ve received to date, which for some reason I haven’t shared, so let’s do that now.

“SST Records became a radiant supernova of creativity and possibility. A true and livable alternative to lame shit. And then, somehow, it fell apart when it was poised to create another universe. It became radioactive, a black hole. This book is that ‘somehow’—part archeology, part autopsy.”―Todd Taylor, Razorcake

“‘Get in the van,’ to borrow a phrase from another Black Flag book you may have heard of, has become something of a cliche, but it's no less true for punk bands in 2022 than it was in 1981. No matter how talented you are or how good your songs, you still, at long last, have to put in the work. The same applies to writers. For Corporate Rock Sucks, it's clear Jim has logged thousands and thousands of miles, talking to seemingly everyone who ever even heard of SST, digging up old record reviews and interviews and photos and zines no one has probably looked at for decades. It all adds up to an informative and fun read on a highly influential, and highly dysfunctional, record label.”―Luke O'Neil, author of Welcome to Hell World: Dispatches from the American Dystopia

“With Corporate Rock Sucks, Jim Ruland asserts his power as a leading chronicler of Southern California punk rock. His exhaustive research and incisive commentary form a detailed and dynamic work worthy of the gargantuan legacy of SST—one of America’s foremost independent record labels that gave rise to Black Flag, the Meat Puppets, Minutemen, Hüsker Dü, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., and many others. An essential read for those curious about the label’s serpentine path and pre-broadband DIY music culture.”―Erin Osmon, author of Jason Molina: Riding with the Ghost and John Prine

“The improbable rise and slow-motion implosion of SST Records is legendary, but nobody has painted a complete picture of the dark saga until now. Ruland combines his personal knowledge of the SoCal punk scene, in-depth research, and interviews with key players to tell the whole sordid tale. Corporate Rock Sucks is a must-read for fans of ‘80s/‘90s hardcore, punk, and alternative rock.”―S.W. Lauden, editor of Forbidden Beat: Perspectives on Punk Drumming

"When tracing the lineage of independent record labels in the American Punk scene during the 1980s, SST Records can definitely be cited as the vanguard to the whole shebang. With a history gnarled with legal issues, money issues, blown release dates, hard-living, and a devilish penchant for pushing against punk’s parameters, their tale is a tough one to wrangle, but Jim manages to cut through all the convolutions to deliver the straight dope on the influential imprint in a concise, informative and entertaining way."―Tony Rettman, author of Straight Edge: A Clear-Headed Hardcore Punk History and NYHC: New York Hardcore 1980-1990.

Thanks Todd, Luke, Eric, Steve, Tony, and Greg. Your checks are in the mail!

That’s it! By this time next week, Corporate Rock Sucks will be published and on its way to being yesterday’s news. That means this is your last chance to preorder the book and join the Zoom call with me and Keith next Sunday.

The books are ready.

The clock is ticking.