You either loved hardcore as a kid, or you didn’t. If you did, buy this book the day it comes out (October 7). If you didn’t…well, I have to say you missed out. Sorry. Not only are the photographs in Radio Silence great, but there are all sorts of intimate, first-person anecdotes from luminaries of the scene: Ian McKaye, Glenn Danzig, Mike Gitter, Walter Schreifels. There’s also all kinds of random other stuff, like handwritten notes and lyric sheets, letters to and from fans, hand-drawn flyers, typeset album covers, homemade fashion items (magic markered boots, screen pressed t-shirts, elaborately decorated leather jackets, etc), just chock full o’ dope shit.

But the coolest thing about the book is how amped up it gets you, reading just how DIY this scene was straight from the people you worshipped. Fuck Photoshop, imagine creating album covers with Letraset and a silkscreen? Now that shit is gangster. I never truly realized just how lazy I really am (which is very). Reading this book makes you wanna quit your meaningless career and start a record label outta your garage.

Plenty more pics and out-takes after the Jump

EXHIBIT A: a 1985 handwritten letter of encouragement from Suicidal Tendencies’ Mike Muir to a young Pat Dubar of Uniform Choice, where he tells Pat: “Don’t go out looking for trouble, but when trouble comes to you make it fucking regret it…” Great shit. This letter could be in the Smithsonian, if hardcore was ever embraced as the Great American Art Form that it is…

The book covers everybody, from Minor Threat and Misfits all the way to Quicksand and the Revelation Records roster (pretty much until 1994). Even if you don’t care for hardcore, this is a great book — an amazing look into a long-gone era where music had a message, integrity and soul, and wasn’t made simply to lace an iPod or Scion commercial to. Plus, the fashion shots alone will give you inspiration for daze…

A handmade, anti-Huntington Beach Police sticker…fucking great!!!

Hand-colored by Glenn Danzig himself as thanks to photographer Cynthia Connelly for letting the Misfits use her photo in the liner of the Walk Among Us 12″…

…and just for giggles, a little Quicksand for old times sake…