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1996

Drawn from the punk collections at UMD, these images illustrate the year in D.C. punk. Explore by category or click an image to find more.

Further Listening

Bluetip. Dischord № 101. Dischord Records, album.

Chisel. 8 AM All Day. Gern Blandsten Records, album.

Corm. Audio Flame Kit. Dischord Records/Shute Records, album.

The Crownhate Ruin. Until the Eagle Grins. Dischord Records, album.

Damnation AD. Misericordia. Jade Tree Records, EP.

Frodus. F Letter. Double Deuce Records, album.

Jawbox. Jawbox. Atlantic Records/TAG/DeSoto, album.

Jenhitt. Prototype Sound Series: Number One. Shute Records, 7-inch EP.

Jetlag/Tuscadero. Duchess Records, split single.

Phil Krauth. Silver Eyes. Teen-Beat Records, album.

My Life in Rain. The Carousel. 50% Records/Thought Balloon Records, single.

Norman Mayer Group. In Memory of Norman Mayer. Dischord Records, album.

The Others. Sweet Something/Electric Kesey. Duchess Records, single.

Regulator Watts. The Mercury EP. Dischord Records, 12-inch EP.

Smart Went Crazy. Now We’re Even. Dischord Records, album.

Sweetbelly Freakdown. The Long Haul. Jade Tree Records, single.

Velocity Girl. Gilded Stars and Zealous Hearts. Sub Pop Records, album.

The Warmers. The Warmers. Dischord Records, album.

FLIERS

Landscape oriented lavender flier with blocks of text at an angle over a grainy image of a kitten resting in a human hand.
Dismemberment Plan, Corm, Rainer Maria – Black Cat, Washington, D.C., January 8, 1996
Long narrow poster with Band names displayed in bold sans serif text above a large blue rectangle with an oblique white oval behind 'Blue TIP' with the stylized arcing text logo of the Black Cat at the bottom.
Bluetip, The Warmers, Delta 72 - Black Cat, Washington, D.C. - February 3, 1996
Black and white flier with band names and show information superimposed on a table of national flags and other information.
Chisel, Elliott Smith, and the Softies - Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. - February 25, 1996
Black and Yellow Flier with banner at top that reads 'Benefit for H.I.P.S.: Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive' above a large illustrated foot in a high heel and show information.
Bikini Kill, Team Dresch, Bloodroot, and Cold Cold Hearts - George Washington University, Washington, D.C., February 26, 1996
Black and white flier with band names in large capitalized oblique text above an illustration of a person in a suit and fedora with an eyeball for a head seemingly shocked.
Jawbox and The Dismemberment Plan – American University, Washington, D.C., March 1, 1996
A small black and white flier with a large illustration of a tri-jet plane with show information in small typewriter-like font.
The Crownhate Ruin, Kerosene 454, and Regulator Watts – Black Cat, Washington, D.C., March 7, 1996
black and white flier with an oblique white oval atop a black rectangle next to rough-hewn text; the shapes and text are repeated three times.
Bluetip - Black Cat, Washington, D.C., April 25, 1996
Mostly white flier with small profile photographs of members of the Warmers next to stylized text of band names, the venue, 'red' is printed in red spot-color.
The Warmers and Meltdown – Red, Washington, D.C., June 6, 1996
A long black and white flier surrouneded by a patterened outline with a round photograph of a child with greased hair and eyeshadow.
Anasarca, Julia, Spirit Assembly, The Divisionaries, and 400 Years - Happy Hardcore House, Washington, D.C., June 19, 1996
Small pink horizontal flier with oblique script text and a square shaded illustration of stars against a dark background.
Corm and Ex-Ignota – Happy Hardcore House, Washington, D.C., June 30, 1996
Yellow gold flier with an anotomical illustration of organs and circulatory system.
Trusty, Corm, and Grendel - Fort Reno Park, Washington, D.C., July 18, 1996
Black and white flier with bold capitalized text above a large illustrated dust cloud.
Norman Mayer Group, Kerosene 454, and The Dusters – Phantasmagoria, Wheaton, Maryland, August 17, 1996
Beige colored all text flier with Band names in large black text and show informaiton in an all-capitalized serif font.
Jawbox, Chisel, and Corm – University of Maryland Colony Ballroom, College Park, Maryland, September 28, 1996
Wide, short landscape-oriented flier with band names in stylized oblique text and abstract curves of brown and red behind.
Bluetip, Kerosene 454, and Boys Life - Black Cat, Washington, D.C., November 2, 1996
Hand-drawn and lettered black and white flier with a large illustration of a woman with bob cut looking in horror at her hand engulfed in flames.
The Dusters and The Most Secret Method - Go! Compact Discs, Arlington, Virginia, November 8, 1996
Wide landscape-oriented black and white flier with band names in white heavy-weight neo-grotesque typeface about a photograph of a hand throwing a baseball.
Branch Manager, Dismemberment Plan, Five State Drive - Phantasmagoria, Wheaton, Maryland, November 21, 1996
Black and red flier with illustration of a silhoutte of a sedan, a sedan to the left of the silhouette that would fit inside it, and a person with an eyebrow raised suspiciously.
Corm, Impossible Five, Tilden Shirtwaist Fire, and Epstein - House show, Annapolis, Maryland, November 29, 1996
Black and white flier with show information printed atop a political cartoon about capitalism with many layers of society such as religious figures, the military, and business owners all being held up by the working class.
The Crownhate Ruin, The Great Unraveling, and 400 Years – SEIU Hall, Washington, D.C., December 1, 1996
Hand-drawn and lettered black and white flier with a large illustration of a woman with bob cut holding a switchblade to the cheek of a man with short hair.
Frodus, The Most Secret Method, and Bughummer – Black Cat, Washington, D.C., December 29, 1996
All text flier with band names rendered in a stylized font reminiscent of art nouveau lettering.
Shift and Chamberlain – Happy Hardcore House, Washington, D.C., circa 1996

PHOTOS

Black and white photograph of three young men playing guitar, bass and drums in a small room.
The Crownhate Ruin, George Washington University, 1996
Black and white photograph of J Robbins playing guitar and Kim Coletta playing bass.
Jawbox, American University, 1996

EPHEMERA

Wide landscape-oriented poster made up of a large sepia-toned photograph of musicians playing guitar and electric bass onstage superimposed with a smaller phot of three men sitting indoors above information about a record release in small print.
Bluetip, Dischord No. 101 promotional poster, 1996
Poster with blod white type against a black background and five photographs arranged in a geometric pattern: an organ keyboard, tom-tom drums, the pickguard of an electrib bass, the headstock of a guitar, and a photo of members of the Delta 72, seated.
The Delta 72, The R&B Of Membership promotional poster, 1996
Long narrow black and white poster with a photograph of Amy Farina, Alec MacKaye, and Juan Luis Carrera walking down a driveway taking up the majority of the poster.
The Warmers promotional poster, 1996

About

Persistent Vision presents the University of Maryland's digitized special collections materials related to punk in the Washington, D.C. area. Most of these materials reside at Special Collections in Performing Arts (SCPA) in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library. These materials help to tell the story of a subculture and a community that has thrived since 1976.

Curators: John Davis, Ben Jackson
Design: Ben Jackson, Natalie Salive
Authors: Ben Jackson, John Davis, and Jessica Grimmer

With help from: Cindy Zhao, Jeremy Gottwig, Amanda Henderson, Gabby Cameron, Hayden Kramer

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Special Collections in Performing Arts is located in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library on University of Maryland’s College Park campus.

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