Punk Love ─ A History of Hardcore

Celebrating friendships that have been bound together by music since 1979, Susie J. Horgan's largely unpublished images were taken as friend and participant on the music scene, rather than as a journalist, and are both an exceptional contribution to the history of punk as well as a true reflection of punk values. She captured iconic photographs of such hardcore legends as Minor Threat, S.O.A., Teen Idles, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, The Cramps, Untouchables, Youth Brigade, the Germs, and many others. Punk Love documents specifically the birth of the early Washington, D.C., punk movement in 1979. D.C. punk was a different kind of punk. It was hardcore. It was explosive. It was revolutionary. But people misread punk rock as being about hate and anger. It was spiritual. It was about self-respect and justice-basic morals and values. This is punk love.

Susie J. Horgan met Henry Rollins and Ian MacKaye at her ice cream-scooping job at Haagen-Dazs in Georgetown, where she was worked during her first year studying photography. She began to photograph her D.C. friends who played in hardcore punk bands and hasn’t stopped taking pictures since. A prolific photographer of the social conscience, she has documented life in Cuba and Haiti and takes pictures regularly for Shake-a-Leg Miami. She continues to photograph her friends and their bands and is currently working on a series of portraits of authors. She lives in Miami with her husband and son. Henry Rollins is a musician, writer, actor, and speaker. After playing in the bands S.O.A and Black Flag he formed the Rollins Band. He owns 2-13-61 Publications and has published several books of his own writing as well as the work of others. Ian MacKaye co-founded Dischord Records and played in The Teen Idles, Embrace, Minor Threat and Fugazi, all seminal bands of the D.C. punk scene. He now performs with Amy Farina in their band the Evens.