Punk rock takes a razor blade to West Coast fashion in the photography of We're Desperate

New York City had more attitude, and London was more political; but for pure showmanship, the West Coast punk scene was unrivaled--especially if said showmanship was taking place on the hood of a vintage car. "We did not like poseurs, but we liked to pose for pictures," writes X's Exene Cervenka in We're Desperate: The Punk Rock Photography of Jim Jocoy, SF/LA 78-80 (PowerHouse Books).

Jocoy, a South Korean immigrant and novice photographer, took advantage of the movement's exhibitionist streak in documenting the most sartorially inventive denizens of the clubs, parking lots, alleys, and toilets of Los Angeles and San Francisco. "Most of us were just kind of scraping by, but everyone was going out every night," Jocoy recalls. "You were a fan one minute, and the next, you were onstage in your own band." With its garish full-body shots and lurid close-ups, We're Desperate is populated by a cast of wastoids, new-wavers, skinny-tied proto-Strokes, and slick rockabilly cats and kittens; in true punk spirit, "stars" like the Cramps, Darby Crash, and the Avengers are indistinguishable from the nobodies. "Each shoot took less than five minutes," says Jocoy. "I'd always take three pictures. In the first one, [the subject] would be formal; by the second one, they'd get more animated; and by the third, they'd have the snarling attitude. It was a dance, in a way."