Punk rock. What is it? What the hell is it, besides loud music played by disaffected youth who scream and curse much better than they play their guitars. What is it! An alternative to the saccharine pop and neutered rock-n-roll played on the radio? White boys' Rap music? A conscientious parent's bane and burden to bear?

And, maybe, a better question is, why should most of us even care?

In his book, Born To Rock, debut author, Todd Taylor doesn't give these questions easy answers. According to Taylor, it's impossible for one book to make a definitive statement about punk rock: "There are far too many bands, far too many contributors, far too much going on." What he does do is combine a narrative account of his own journey toward and, eventually, front-and-center onto the punk rock scene with 17 interviews he's conducted with bands and individuals during his decade-long stint as a journalist for two Los Angeles-based punk rock zines.

The book's excellent introductory essay chronicles Taylor's all American upbringing in small-town Nevada; and how flying head first through the windshield of a '67 Buick on the way home from camp -- an accident that killed the driver -- and the subsequent legal battle with the Boy Scouts of America made him seriously question those wholesome, all American ideals.

"On one hand, the Boy Scouts were espousing duty to god and country, to 'help other people at all times,' to be trustworthy and loyal. Yet, they did their best to wipe their hands clean of the blood of Pat's death and my severe injuries. They wanted to act like neither of us had ever existed."

Summarily, his dad's collection of Kingston Trio albums didn't cut it for Taylor anymore, and when he chanced across a Las Vegas radio station's 'punk rock hour,' he discovered the music that would become his vocation. "It [punk rock] felt more real, more legitimate. Even amongst all that anger, it seemed so fair. I liked the music a lot because it counterbalanced what I was learning in school. It made me start a line of questioning that is still in use today."

The interviews that encompass the bulk of Born To Rock introduce us to bands and individuals currently active in the punk rock scene. There are the sophomoric and oftentimes criminal pranks of the band Pennywise's guitarist, Fletcher, that seem almost to be self-consciously perpetrated to bolster all the worst punk rock stereotypes: drunkenness, anti-social behavior and general mayhem. For instance, one of Fletcher's favorite tricks is inducing his gag reflex and vomiting on whoever is in the line of fire. Countering this puerile incivility is the hard scrabble story of Duane Peters, who, although just as criminal and dangerous as Fletcher, if not more so, doesn't at all seem to do anything solely for effect. In fact, the Duane Peter's interview is so gritty and real and compelling that it elicits the reader's sympathy, whereas Fletcher's mostly just engenders disgust.

There are interviews with bands that are barely making it and bands that are reaping the benefits of success. There are interviews with bands that subscribe to a hard left wing agenda and one interview in particular with children's rights advocate Andrew Vachss wherein he states, "If you scratch an extreme enough liberal, you'll always see a fascist." There are interviews with screwballs like Rev. Norb and interviews with serious thinkers such as the aforementioned Vachss. There are interviews with punk rockers who have been professional clowns and some who have Ph'Ds. In short, taken as a whole, the interviews in Born To Rock give a broad overview of the contemporary punk rock scene: a subculture that is just as diverse, divided, and seemingly contradictory of itself as the broader culture against which it rebels.

The difference between the punk rock ethos and that of the prevailing culture, suggests Taylor, is corporate sponsorship and media exposure. In his excellent essay Aging Punks vs. The Land Speed Record, Taylor tells the story of Art Arfon's, a mechanical savant with the dream of breaking the land speed record, who went about making his dream reality without fanfare or much outside help, from concept to finished car.

By telling Arfon's story, Taylor insinuates he is telling punk rock's story, too. A story that is not much different, really, from those inspirational tales of groups and individuals who have blazed their own trails regardless of the obstacles and pitfalls set before them. In the end, Taylor's message is an inspirational one. Whether it's jet engine-propelled cars or Marshall amplifiers and duct-taped guitars, do what you're passionate about with single-minded zeal because you weren't born to sit on sidelines, you were born to rock.

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Born To Rock hits stores June 15, 2004. However, copies can be ordered now at www.gorskypress.com.

Steve Hansen interviews Todd Taylor. read more...