Punk Spreads

Austin, Texas

This photograph and the accompanying two flyers document Austin’s thriving early 1980s punk scene. They are on loan from Gretchen Phillips, founder of the seminal Austin punk band Meat Joy, which combined punk’s raw musical energy with humor and sexual politics. Phillips would later found two additional groups, the all-girl bands Girls in the Nose and Two Nice Girls.

Gretchen recalls: “Meat Joy was extremely excited to get to play with The Meat Puppets because they were 1/3 of the inspiration for our band name.” The other 2/3rds were Joy Division, and Carolee Schneemann’s 1964 performance piece “Meat Joy.”

Previous Section | Next Section