No-holds-barred political strategist Warren Kinsella's colourful, no-holds-barred look at punk rock, and how it influenced him and millions of other kids to strive for nothing less than changing the world.
Playing bass for Calgary punk-rock quartet the Hot Nasties might seem a strange way for one of Canada's top political strategists to have spent his formative years, but in
Fury's Hour -- Warren Kinsella's exploration of punk's history and heroes, its factions, failures and triumphs -- he shares his unique view into a subculture that has long encouraged people to think big about the world.
From early meetings with icons Joey Ramone and Joe Strummer, Kinsella has gone on to interview a who's who of punk: Sex Pistols Johnny Rotten and Glen Matlock, Fugazi's Ian MacKaye, Billy Idol, DOA's Joey "Shithead" Keithly, Bad Religion's Brett Gurewitz, Blink 182, Good Charlotte and many more. Since he was a teenager, Kinsella has challenged his heroes to put into words the true value of the music. How, after decades of co-optation by the record industry, neo-Nazis and misdirected radicals, are new generations continuing what he calls punk's "search for the real"?
In
Fury's Hour, with the iconoclasm and passion that have marked his career in politics, Warren Kinsella searches for the soul of a sound that invigorated the way he and millions of others have grown up -- finding a way to turn anger into energy.
"I'm always fascinated by the musical creativity of youth. Just recently I was spinning some vinyl in Lisbon . . . Punk rock? Well, I'm still working on that one."
- Rt. Hon. Jean Chretien, former Canadian Prime Minister (and Warren's former boss)
"Once a punk, always a punk! Kinsella makes it clear that, in its origins, punk became a really fucking fun way to take on the establishment's bullshit, and he shows why rebelliousness is still alive and kicking. It's a bloody good thing that old punks never die, otherwise they would never write any cool books."
-Joey Shithead Keithley, DOA
"Make no mistake, a book about Punk is not Punk Rock. But in this aggressive and energetic book Kinsella successfully tackles the complexities of what it is that makes this misfit youth culture so potentially empowering." -Craig O'Hara, author of
The Philosophy of Punk
"An insightful look into the world of music and politics when most people would rather hear about Ashlee Simpson and FOX TV."
-Jim Lindberg, Pennywise
"Readable, angry and trenchant, Fury's Hour falls somewhere between memoir and critical exposition, ranging incisively over the history of the genre."
-Toronto Life "Discussing punk politics, the birth of the Sex Pistols and why anger is energy makes this an intelligent read for any rocker."
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Chart magazine
"He's very sharp and candid on the paradoxical appeal punk has always had with certain elements of the far right, and certain muddleheaded proponents of "anarchy." His belief in punk as a tool for social change reads like a tonic in an age of irony. He can convey the sheer heart-in-your-throat enthusiasm of the true fan with a verve that wouldn't shame his critic hero Lester Bangs."
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The Gazette (Montreal)
"His admiration for Joe Keithley, Joe Strummer, Today Vail and Joey Ramone is genuine, as is his enduring belief in the power of punk to change lives."
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Calgary Herald "The book-which combines a history of punk rock with a survey of punk's various sub-cultures, plus a sprinkling of memoir from the author's won punk salad days-celebrates the punk rock of his youth while still insisting on the relevance and vibrancy of the music today as a subversive, politically engaged movement."
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The Globe and Mail
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Fury's Hour succeeds because Kinsella combines a young person's idealistic love for punk with a boring old fart's perspective on the subculture's blemishes, contradictions, commercialization, history-and, yes, its future."
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The Globe and Mail "Kinsella, a product of southeast Calgary, emerges from an earlier age as an angst-ridden teenage bass player with the Hot Nasties. Which, more than any political pedigree, gives him the credibility to write an intensely personal account of the punk movement. And when he picks, as his best-ever punk singles,
Anarchy In The UK and
White Man in Hammersmith Palais, then it's obvious he actually knows what he's talking about.... To be in the crowd of the
White Riot tour, to sneak in to see the
Pistols play under another name because they were banned throughout England, to marvel at the ferocity of the
Damned, the ingenuity of the
Buzzcocks, and to wait for another issue of
Sniffin' Glue-those were strange, important days. To understand them so well from the other side of the Atlantic shows uncanny insight."
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The Calgary Sun "In seven concise chapters, filled to the brim with interviews, first-hand accounts, captivating stories and historical factoids, Kinsella not only writes what could be considered a fairly definitive short history of punk-both music and lifestyle-but also lays out a passionate argument in favour of the genre's continuing relevance... a great book and a worthwhile addition to the canon of punk literature (or literature on punk)."
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View (Hamilton)
Praise for Kicking Ass in Canadian Politics "Eminently readable. . . Truly entertaining. . . Turns the tables on the mean and nasty by being meaner and nastier."
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Calgary Herald "Interesting reading. Kinsella writes in a quick-paced, animated, highly accessible style. . . Kinsella is one smart dog."
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The Globe and Mail "A hard-nosed look at how to win political campaigns [by] Canada's version of James Carville."
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The Toronto Sun "A must-read for those who appreciate politics as a blood sport."
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eye Weekly (Toronto)
"Highly readable. . . As many see it, the Alliance's slide into oblivion hit the point of no return when the toe of Warren Kinsella's shoe made contact with Stockwell Day's rump."
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National Post
