Thoughtful, deeply personal memoir ... As compelling as it is astute...Graffin is passionate in his reminiscences of a time when punk rock was not distorted with the often deserved stereotype of violence and anger. Readers will discover a trove of insights into the music industry and living creatively.
A fascinating look ... Written with the nuanced detail for research of an academic, but balanced out with a punk rocker’s experience, Punk Paradox is a rock memoir unlike most ... Graffin knows how to tell a compelling story.
A well-crafted memoir and manifesto ... Unusually, Graffin expresses solidarity with the hippies who preceded (and were reviled by) the punks, and he even has sympathetic words for the hair metal bands of Sunset Strip, who never got beaten up by the LAPD as much as the punks did ... An entertaining, memorable look at 'the most intractable paradox of all: punk as a positive force in society.'
Scattershot memoir ... Graffin’s narrative is not the typical punk confessional ... Graffin’s long-winded ruminations on punk humanism can be stilted ... His prose comes alive only when describing the very excesses he deplores ... This account of punk’s evolution mutes the sound and fury of the scene.
