Beat Punks

The “poet laureate of the New York underground scene” chronicles three decades of electrifying artistic expression Once dominated by Beat Generation writers like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, by the 1970s and ’80s, New York City’s creative scene had given way to a punk rock–era defined by figures like Debbie Harry and Richard Hell. While the aesthetics of these two movements seem different on the surface, author and prolific interviewer Victor Bockris—who witnessed it all—argues that the punks borrowed from the ideology and style of the beats, and that the beats were reenergized by the emergence of punk.   In intimate conversation, Bockris’s close friends—including celebrities from both periods, such as William Burroughs, Andy Warhol, Joey Ramone, and Patti Smith—reveal more about themselves and their art to him than to any other interviewer. Along with dozens of rare photos, Bockris’s interviews and essays capture the energy of this unique time.    

The “poet laureate of the New York underground scene” chronicles three decades of electrifying artistic expression Once dominated by Beat Generation writers like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, by the 1970s and ’80s, New York City’s creative scene had given way to a punk rock–era defined by figures like Debbie Harry and Richard Hell. While the aesthetics of these two movements seem different on the surface, author and prolific interviewer Victor Bockris—who witnessed it all—argues that the punks borrowed from the ideology and style of the beats, and that the beats were reenergized by the emergence of punk.   In intimate conversation, Bockris’s close friends—including celebrities from both periods, such as William Burroughs, Andy Warhol, Joey Ramone, and Patti Smith—reveal more about themselves and their art to him than to any other interviewer. Along with dozens of rare photos, Bockris’s interviews and essays capture the energy of this unique time.