God Bless the Xerox Machine

How do you publish a history of the punk scene without employing its most reviled concepts, nostalgia and commodification? Well, ya can‘t, but Fucked Up + Photocopied comes close: Without simplifying or idealizing punk’s turbulent history, this collection of fliers, photos, rants and reminiscences celebrates the last youth movement that wasn‘t promptly co-opted and turned into a Gap commercial. City by city -- from NoCal to SoCal, Boston to D.C. and beyond -- this visual assault (re)acquaints you with legendary and local punk bands, whose knack for turning cartoons and stick drawings into scathing social commentary matches their ability to mutilate six-strings and abuse the audience (which loves it).

Infrequent ramblings by scenesters like Jello Biafra and Brendan Mullen bristle with the energy and anger that incited the movement more than 20 years ago; fans’ wild tales recall 105-degree, blood-and-sweat-drenched free-for-alls at legendary haunts like San Francisco‘s Mabuhay Gardens. But it’s the 1,500 fliers that tell the story best: Xeroxed montages of disfigured icons, leather-clad skeletons with Magic Marker Mohawks, Reagan as Satan, Reagan as Hitler, Reagan as gun-totin‘ psycho. Made without the benefit of Photoshop or your dad’s home-office copier, these raw photomontages were smacked on telephone poles and snagged for wallpaper by disaffected youth everywhere. So if you‘re still kicking yourself for tossing out those Weirdos and X fliers along with your spiked collar, give your steel-toe boot a rest and be glad that some folks were sick enough to save ’em.

Bryan Ray Turcotte and Christopher T. Miller will sign copies of the book on Thursday, November 4, 6 to 8 p.m., at MOCA, 250 S. Grand Ave., downtown; (213) 621-1710.