The story of post-punk indie rock in America, and the bands whose do-it-yourself ethic paved the way for the grunge phenomenon of the 1990s.

The definitive chronicle of underground music in the 1980s tells the stories of Black Flag, Sonic Youth, The Replacements, and other seminal bands whose DIY revolution changed American music forever.

Our Band Could Be Your Life is the never-before-told story of the musical revolution that happened right under the nose of the Reagan Eighties -- when a small but sprawling network of bands, labels, fanzines, radio stations, and other subversives re-energized American rock with punk's do-it-yourself credo and created music that was deeply personal, often brilliant, always challenging, and immensely influential. This sweeping chronicle of music, politics, drugs, fear, loathing, and faith is an indie rock classic in its own right.

The bands profiled include:

- Sonic Youth
- Black Flag
- The Replacements
- Minutemen
- Husker Du
- Minor Threat
- Mission of Burma
- Butthole Surfers
- Big Black
- Fugazi
- Mudhoney
- Beat Happening
- Dinosaur Jr.

"Azerrad has done so much interviewing that the material will be fresh even for those whose lives these bands were. - Village Voice" - A timely reminder that Cobain and company were merely a key regiment in the motley al-rock army…. OUR BAND COULD BE YOUR LIFE narrates, down to the homemade posters and tour van repairs, how these bands gradually built up an audience large enough to make