What was the sickest hardcore photography for my generation? It was MY RULES photozine, and now book! The mastermind and photographer behind this epic piece of history was Glen E. Friedman. OK, I will try to keep it brief about this dude, but I will say that he has had a tremendous impact on rebellious American youth culture for over 30 years. At the age of 14 in the early 70’s, he started documenting the rise of the Dog Town Z-Boyz in Venice Beach, California. Something major happened to all of the Venice locals in the late 70’s & early 80’s – we all discovered punk rock, and the rest was history. The interesting thing about Glen is that he never changed the way he dressed in order to fit in, because the important thing to him was taking photos. Sometimes I’m not even sure if he was a big fan of hardcore music, but he loved the energy that came through from the movement into his photos. With MY RULES the photozine he had this vision to document the rising hardcore scene from coast to coast. When he took photos, you never got the sense that these pictures were taken by an outsider. Glen captured some amazing moments in hardcore, hip-hop, skateboarding and alternative music history! MY RULES the book goes further than any other of his books to show the impact he has had on youth culture for decades!
Glen E. Friedman & Ian MacKaye discuss some of the photographs in MY RULES the book (2014) from Burning Flags Press on Vimeo.
Glen’s Skate Photos:
Glen’s Punk Photos:
Glen’s Hip Hop Photos:
