Cheap Shots: A Photographic Look at Underground Bands Through the 80s and Beyond

by Chris Barrows, Ben Weasel (Foreword by)

Overview

Featuring never-before-seen photographs of U2 on their first US Tour, Bad Brains, Black Flag, Danzig, The Descendants, Fugazi, The Damned, The U.K. Subs, and many, many more

Since 1981, Chris Barrows has taken pictures of bands at their concerts, backstage, and behind the scenes. From U2 during their first tour in 1982 to Captain Sensible of The Damned on his knees in an alley licking a dominatrix’s thigh high vinyl boots, or Lee Ving standing on railroad tracks at night, Barrows' intimate and stirring portraits of bands stripped down and unguarded will be a wonderful addition to any music fan's collection.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781644280294
Publisher:	Rare Bird Books
Publication date:	06/09/2020
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 10.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Chris Barrows was born in 1958 in Wichita,Kansas. He is the former singer for the punk bands Pink Lincolns, the Spears, and the Jackie Papers. He now resides in St Petersburg, Florida.

Preface

If you’ve picked this book up and glanced through it, presumably you’re in a holding cell or a bus station bathroom and have time for the many questions racing through your head, the preeminent one being “Why?” As in “Why would anybody bother taking photos of a bunch of ugly, stupid-looking people, much less collect them in book form?” It might help to understand if you realize punk has always been primarily about two things:

1. Talentless bands trying to make up for not being the Rolling Stones or the Kinks by pushing the idea that being bad at music is cooler and those grapes are sour anyway

and

2. Unattractive people having sex with each other and trying to convince everyone else it’s hot.

As silly as it might seem, plenty of money has exchanged hands on the basis of these two ideas, so if you’re Chris Barrows and you’ve been skulking around crappy dives snapping pics for forty-odd years, at some point you might start wondering why the hell you oughtn’t package ‘em up and sell ‘em to a bunch of people nostalgic for a time they’re way too young to remember. After all, the hip surgery ain’t gonna pay for itself.

So here it is, punk in all its shameless, miserable glory. Just be thankful it’s not a scratch-n-sniff!

Ben Weasel

Editorial Reviews

"Cheap Shots isn't just a killer punk rock photo book. It's also a vital rock 'n' roll history document."
—Razorcake

"Sadly, there is a lot of American music history that will be forgotten in the mists of time, simply because no one thought to document these instances. Thankfully, this is not always the case. Chris Barrows captured many nights, now decades old, with his camera. His work is not only good but allows us to see what was happening way back then. Chris is one of the only people I am aware of who took their camera into the backstage environs of a Black Flag show. It’s not that we were engaging in conduct less than becoming, we didn’t have the budget, it’s just that no one cared. But Chris did and so, through his lens and to our great benefit, the past is still with us."
—Henry Rollins, frontman of Black Flag and author of The Portable Henry Rollins among many more

"Cheap Shots is a taste ov what Florida Punk Rokk veteran Chris Barrows (Pink Lincolns, Jackie Papers, The Spears) witnessed at shows. These cheap shots are the quintessential photojournal for the quintessential punkrokker. I am honored to be included within these pages ov brilliant photos shot and assembled by my good friend and fellow vetpunk!"
—Rikk Agnew, Universal Punkgoth Rock n' Roll Superstar Guitar God, Living Legend

"In those halcyon days of punk rock pits of yore an element of danger was omnipresent along with a wafting mist of blood sweat testosterone and pussy juice and thank Satan shutterbug warriors like Chris Barrows risked their necks and were there to capture this historical aggro in warts and all full blown Eastman black and white. The brick you hold in your fetid urine mitts contains a slice of this never before seen punk rock piece of history. Stunning remembrances of an outsider musical movement chronicled thru the lens of one who sensed the importance of the moment."
—Tesco Vee, co-founder of Touch and Go Records

"...these pictures they remind me that I was alive back then. Though they don't make me remember some things, they do make me remember something. The one thing I want to remember most of all—we were there to play for our friends."
—Jack Brewer, frontman of Saccharine Trust

From the Publisher