| Acknowledgements | ||
| Preface: Credit Where It's Due - the Appropriation of Punk History | ||
| Precursors | ||
| 1 | Happiness is a Warm Drone (1961-5) | 3 |
| 2 | All the Needles are on Red! (1965-70) | 14 |
| 3 | Energy Freak-Out Freeform (1968-71) | 32 |
| 4 | This is the Modern World (1970-73) | 44 |
| 5 | The Underground Jukeboxes (1972-4) | 50 |
| 6 | Suicide is Painless (1970-73) | 65 |
| 7 | Trash! (1971-5) | 72 |
| The First Wave | ||
| 8 | From Horizontal Arsonists to Neon Boys (1967-73) | 93 |
| 9 | Jesus Died for Somebody's Sins... (1966-73) | 103 |
| 10 | The Neon Boys Turn On New York (1973-4) | 115 |
| 11 | The Cadillac Pulls Out of the Graveyard (1974-5) | 128 |
| 12 | Look Out Cleveland! (1974-5) | 142 |
| 13 | In the Flesh (1973-5) | 155 |
| 14 | Gabba Gabba Hey! (1974-5) | 166 |
| The Second Wave | ||
| 15 | Down at the Rock & Roll Club (1974-6) | 181 |
| 16 | This is Radio Ethiopia (1976) | 190 |
| 17 | Living on Chinese Rocks (1975-6) | 199 |
| 18 | The Artistics Come to Town (1975-6) | 206 |
| 19 | Looking into the Heart of Darkness (1975-6) | 216 |
| 20 | Fuck Art, Let's Rock! (1972-7) | 228 |
| 21 | A Punk-Rocker Parade (1978-6) | 239 |
| No Wave - Goodbye! | ||
| 22 | Instant Sires from Private Stock (1976) | 249 |
| 23 | The Last Adventure (1977-8) | 269 |
| 24 | The Final Wave (1977-9) | 275 |
| 25 | Into the Void (1977-9) | 282 |
| 26 | Doing the Modern Dance (1977-9) | 293 |
| 27 | Touched by the Presence (1977-80) | 308 |
| 28 | Thrashing at the Waves (1978-80) | 317 |
| Epilogue: The Third Wave | 323 | |
| Appendix 1: A CBGBs Chronology | 327 | |
| Appendix 2: Bibliography | 331 | |
| Appendix 3: Dramatis Personae | 338 | |
| Appendix 4: Discography | 346 | |
| Index | 367 |
