Dying Scene Book Club: “NOFX: Forty Years of Problematic Punk Provocations” edited by Ellen Bernhard, Stefano Morello, and David Pearson

For forty years, NOFX helped define punk rock. Love them or hate them, the indelible mark left by the band will be discussed for decades to come, in what light remains to be seen. While conversations had been made throughout the band’s career, these actions and thoughts are analyzed in a book of essays, NOFX: Forty Years of “Problematic” Punk Provocations, written by a slew of authors and edited by Ellen Bernhard, Stefano Morello, and David Pearson. 

The introduction posits the question: Is NOFX provoking us to get us thinking, or are they just offensive? The arguments for this are broken up into four different parts: Punk Humor and Satire, Politics and Futurities, Identity and Representation, and Being and Sounding Punk. As with a lot of these academic books, there are arguments for both sides. Starting with the band’s use of wit, sarcasm, and jokes, essays like “They’ve Only Gotten Smarter” present a case for the band’s wit, comparing Fat Mike’s sense of humor to that of Fear’s Lee Ving and Tesco Vee of the Meatmen, but with the satirical absurdity of Jonathan Swift. While humor in punk rock isn’t always PC or appropriate, it is honest. Sometimes the truth hurts. 

There are some great deep dives into some of the band’s most popular tracks. Jose M. Garza Jr.’s take in his essay, “Music Speaks Louder Than Words or Maybe About The Same,” boasts well-thought-out sections that explain the music theory behind their song structures, going as far as to show portions of the sheet music of songs like “Bath of Least Resistance,” but even Garza wonders if these were accidental experiments or done on purpose. There’s even a chapter on Fat Mike’s musical, “Home Sweet Home.” While the chapter does go into spoiler territory, it did pique my interest enough to see a performance if the opportunity arose.

My complaint is that most of the book is Fat Mike-based, which makes sense given that he is the mouthpiece of the band on and off the stage. Something brought up ad nauseam is Mike’s comments about the Route 91 Country Music Festival shooting a lot in these first couple of sections, but eventually they taper off to other issues. A chapter is dedicated to his time as a political activist with PunkVoter and his stint as Cokey the Clown. There is a good portion of the book that analyzes Fat Mike’s persona, which makes sense as he is the public face of the band. We don’t really get a lot of analysis of the rest of the members outside of their musical ability and contributions to the songs. 

I’ve never been the biggest NOFX fan, but I find them interesting. They’re a cornerstone of punk rock whether you or they want them to be or not. In the past, I have read academic books like this about subjects I was deeply invested in, mostly books using pop culture to juxtapose the teachings of philosophy. They usually piss me off to no end. Earlier this year I read Ian Ellis’s analysis of punk rock, “Punk Beyond The Music: Tracing Mutation and Manifestation of the Punk Virus.” His broad assessment of the genre, attitude, and aesthetic felt incomplete despite how comprehensive his examples were. This book succeeds by contrasting and analyzing punk rock with a band who pushed the genre to the edge and often jumped off the cliff without a care. It was good to read about something I was only somewhat knowledgeable on. You can purchase NOFX: Forty Years of “Problematic” Punk Provocations, from Bloomsbury Press.