The Spitboy Rule: Tales of a Xicana in a Female Punk Band by Michelle Cruz Gonzales

The Spitboy Rule: Tales of a Xicana in a Female Punk Band Reviews

• 
  Michelle P

  Michelle Cruz Gonzales’s memoir is a collection of stories about her time in the feminist anarcho-punk band Spitboy. While recounting these memories, Michelle articulates the classism and racism she experienced being the only Xicana in an otherwise all-white band. Like in the story “Race, Class, and Spitboy”, about the tense time her bandmates met her grandma, she highlights the discomfort that her own punk friends had in being around racial and economic difference. Many people in the SF scene were from backgrounds of white and middle class privilege and, while being able to speak about social issues in an abstract sense, weren’t talking about the realities of racism in their own community. In the preface by Mimi Thi Nguyen, of Slander zines, she writes “Reading these collected pieces, I was reminded of what I also fought as a young woman of color in the same scene - where racist cool provided camouflage for the same-old discourse of white supremacy in flimsy disguise; where racism (if discussed at all) was understood as something that the state or neo-Nazis committed, rather than something that was also with us; and where antiracism too often meant colorblindness.”
  
  In another story, “My Body is Mine”, Michelle talks about wanting to incorporate her Xicana identity into her life and music. She starts taking Spanish classes and Spitboy names their next album “Mi Cuerpo Es Mio” - which a riot grrrl, a white woman, deems as culturally appropriative. Gonzales writes, “I was hurt, I was hurt because people didn’t really see me and that I had let it happen. People in the scene did not see me...at shows, I didn’t register as a Xicana. I was just the drummer of Spitboy, and for some reason I couldn’t be both.”
  
  While at the same time highlighting the erasure of her Xicana identity, she includes stories about how the band supported each other in a misogynistic scene. It was also great to hear more about her relationship with Los Crudos because I love the split LP Vivendo Asperamente! I found this to be really inspiring and down-to-earth and would recommend to Spitboy fans or punk fans in general.
  
• 
  Georgia

  I read The Spitboy Rule in one day and found it a thoroughly satisfying memoir of a slice of Todd/Michelle Cruz Gonzales' years in a feminist punk band. Her struggle to come to terms with her many identities (Xicana, punk rock drummer, born poor in a shitty little town) is interlaced with anecdotes from tour and bits of her romantic life. Gonzales looks back on that time fondly, and with clear eyes regarding how her inner struggle manifested itself in introversion and anger. Rad photos documenting her life as a Spitwoman fill out this brief, intense document of 90s Bay Area punk rock.
  
  I was 12 when Green Day's Dookie came out, and I spent most of my youth listening to major label punk rock. I didn't really have anybody who could steer me far beyond that, and by the time I had spending money from a grocery store job, I had moved on to tracking down early Sonic Youth and R.E.M. records. I only heard Crass' stunning feminist record Penis Envy last year. I often feel too old, or like too much of a newbie, to be going to DIY punk shows. And as a musician approaching 35, who feels like she's just getting started, I appreciate Gonzales' talk of "punk points", her revelation that even she felt uncertain about her place in the punk scene. It feels like a rare glimpse into the insecurity that (probably) many musicians face about whether they fit, both in the wider world and in their chosen scene.
• 
  Sarah Pearce

  Michelle's intelligent, sincere and passionate writing certainly makes this book worth reading. Plus, it is about an era of music that has seen the different and often sad paths that artists took. Michelle, obviously, went in a positive direction. My favorite part is when she brings the band to see her grandmother. A window onto her soul, she describes the visit with restrained but wonderful insight. Her observation that she was raised in an environment in which creativity was embraced [be it, sewing, crafting, cooking, gardening] is a powerful message to hold closely. Art is essential no matter what it is or how it is taught. This book made me aware of my role as a parent to keep the message of art alive and significant. My son, a professional drummer, was captivated by the story. Not because of the music parts but because Michelle didn't hold back about "the road" and its foibles.
• 
  Bill

  Having grown up in the SF Bay area punk scene myself, I'd mainly bought this book for a walk down memory lane, and to learn more about both the author and Spitboy, who for the most part, I only know from having seen t-shirts and stickers back in the 90s.
  
  Much to my surprise, I ended up enjoying the sections about her struggles with identity even more than I did the fun stories from the road. Overall I really enjoyed it, but I agree with a few folks in the comments who've said that they would like to learn more about some of the outcomes of the realizations, and how some of the experiences informed her life after the band broke up.
  
  Either way, it was a quick, attention-holding read that anyone with a passing interest in the intersection of punk, gender, and ethnic identity will definitely love.
• 
  Ryan Mishap

  As I read through this memoir where each section isn't arranged chronologically and no narrative flow emerges, I slowly recognized that this is actually deftly put together in order to highlight certain experiences, feelings, and ideas. Taken all together, they form a mosaic of a time, place, scene, and people, sure, but, more importantly, of the author as she found herself.
  
  Highly recommended.
• 
  Rachel Becerra

  It was ok. I liked the pocohantas part. The rest was a bit too serious for me and some parts I gave the side eye.
• 
  David O.

  As much as i love spitboy, starting this book had been a chore for me, I haven't had much time to myself recently , and I hadn't been thinking about reading anything until this summer.
  
  That was until I had come across a video on youtube, of Michelle herself , telling a story, and I had found myself hooked, she was an entertaining, serious, yet funny story teller and I found myself wanting more. and so, one day on a school night, right before I fell asleep, I came across the ~40 page preview that google provided, and so I decided to just check it out for a bit, at 2 am.
  
  I didn't fall asleep until 3 am as I finished reading the preview, and spent a good amount of time searching for the full version somewhere online, and I decided to keep reading it, I finished it within 3 days, reading it whenever I had the opportunity, all during school.
  
  As far as the actual book goes, Michelle does an amazing job tackling her thoughts on how race , her background, and her family clashed , with the rest of the spitwomen , and how, despite being as close as can be with them, things such as the story of the whole band meeting her grandma , made her aware of how different she was, and how there had been many times, where by accident, the band and the people with them , had made it a point that she was different. Despite this, the book also has some very lighthearted moments, and really gives you a first person view on how day to day life for them was, going into detail about the many sexist encounters they faced at shows , and the way they dealt with them, to things such as one of their friends in japan comparing them to his grandma and her friends with the way they all laughed with each other and played board games and such. With him even desciribng them as a sweet, silly, and relaxing break, from the punk/hardcore scene as a whole. With this being said however, they were also notoriously serious, verbally chewing out, and calling out not only sexism as a whole, but also the toxicity in the whole riot grrrl movement. Where, despite the positivity and support of the movement, they demanded being something seperate, not because they didn't agree with the movement, but because it didn't tailor to them. They weren't feminist, they were anti-sexism, and had wanted to let everyone know that.
  
  Overall even if you know the story of the band , or have even a slight interest in the book, despite not knowing a thing about the band, I most definitely recommend that you read this, although I may be a bit biased, writing this review at 3 am.... after finishing bootlegging my own spitboy patch...
• 
  sara

  i’ve always been a huge fan of rock/punk/hardcore/anything loud and heavy but have never really seen anyone else who looks like or comes from the same background as me, so reading this memoir by michelle gonzales was so NICE. in a scene that’s so dominated by whiteness, it’s hard finding anyone to relate to when it comes to feeling like an outsider or “other” in a scene that you might find comfort in and reading about michelle’s experience with this was really refreshing. especially as a latina who’s from a small town in california, doesn’t speak fluent spanish and always feels “passable” this was such a relatable book to read, seeing as anytime i walk into a show i immediately get reminded of how “othered” i can sometimes feel even in today’s music world.
  
  aside from the relatability of michelle’s experience in the punk scene, just READING about what it was like to be a woman (in an all female + feminist punk band at that) in the 90s hardcore/punk scene was so cool to read about. we’ve all heard what it was like to be a man during this time of punk music but seeing a woman’s experience? this is what i’ve been looking for!!!!! it’s not a perfect memoir, but it’s honest and straightforward and i think that’s all you can ask for in such a short book. if you’re a music fan looking for a memoir with xicana rep + written by a female drummer of an all female band, get into this one quiiiiiiiick!!!!
• 
  Ryn Baginski

  Michelle “Todd” Cruz Gonzales is one of my new favorite people now. This is such a good and interesting memoir. She discusses identity and the compartmentalization of identity super well. I love reading books about the thriving punk scene in the 80s and 90s, plus this one is about an awesome woman of color, which just makes this story so much better. Highly recommend this book!
• 
  Paula

  I took my time reading this, reading one or several stories at night after listening to a people's history all day
  These stories were a great break from a heavy, dense, history book. It was a literal result of American history, policies, terror and violence.
  This is the first book I've annotated.
  While I'm used to a European writing style and I wanted to rearrange the stories, I wanted to form them into what I was used to and make myself more comfortable.
  By the end I was strongly reminded about Leslie Marmon Silkos essay about native American story telling and how they weave a web.
  I related strongly to her anger.
  I had those difficult conversations about race with my friends in the 90s bay area punk scene and avoiding them was probably easier. I walked away from many conversations thinking, whelp I'm never talking to that person again. Many pointless arguments, I a lone voice against a mostly white male hoard. It was hard to gather allies as even woman who shared my skin color would end up skateboarding away from me yelling "Sig heil" ( don't care about the spelling).
  At first I was frustrated by this book but, by the end I was transported back to a time in my life. I hated the bay area 90s punk scene, for real, there was a standard of beauty that didn't exist for me in the world at large and I didn't fit it, I was short, brown and round and I favored androgyny over girly, even tough girly punk symbols. I'm sure my huge breast gave me away but, I wanted to be Bowie not the punk version of Betty Paige with a whip.
  I remember seeing Michelle and she was so beautiful and confident, talented. I remember speaking to her once and being in aww, I wish I had really spoken to her, heart to heart. In my mind she was what making it in the scene looked like, to me it looked like people accepted all of her and she had found a way to survive and thrive.
  She's not wrong about the spitwomen they always had a smile and an encouraging word.
  I for one am grateful she wrote this, it's a ally for women of color, messy, angry, tough, and fun.
  I'm actually bummed they didn't have a documentary film crew with them, this would have made a great movie.
  The photos are great too, I annotated the he'll out of photo of her and Aaron cometbus in her kitchen. I loved the juxtaposition of her looking masculine and tough with this very fem looking person behind her. It was amazing.
  Very few people understand what seeing your life reflected back to you through white, privileged eyes feel like and her grandma story was the hardest for me.
  Loved this book, I would recommend.
• 
  Jennifer

  3.5 stars
  
  This isn't a regular memoir; Gonzales really does just stick to anecdotes from her band's history. I didn't learn a whole lot about her life after Spitboy, her personal life, or any in-depth information about the other band members. I enjoyed reading it because as someone who spent a lot of time in the East LA punk scene, identity politics is inextricable from the music. Her stories resonated as I think about my own friends and experiences.
  
  I thought the differences between the feminist punk/riot grrrl movement in the early 1990s were interesting, especially after reading Sara Marcus' book
  Girls to the Front. Debates over intersectional politics and the ownership of movements are still raging for good reason.
• 
  Jim

  Knowing very little about the SF punk scene during the '90s, I really enjoyed getting to know Spitboy in this intimate book about what it was like to be the only person of color in an all-female band in a male dominated scene. A bit more context regarding the formation of the band, which comes at the very end of the book, would have been useful. Otherwise, my only complaint is that it was too brief. Highly recommended.
• 
  James Tracy

  An interview with Michelle in Red Wedge:
  http://www.redwedgemagazine.com/onlin...
• 
  Rachel Sarah

  Great, accessible read which provided a lot of context behind an awesome band!
• 
  D

  The Spitboy Rule is more a series of essays than a linear memoir, a bit like a freewheeling conversation about a friend's vivid experiences. I found it hard to put down; details of touring life that could easily seem familiar are rendered in a strong, unique voice from a perspective outside the standard punk narrative. Gonzales grapples throughout with the intersectionality of being Xicana in a the white male dominated Bay Area punk scene; the band emerges as a unit very clear and tightly focused on their objectives. The EP from one of Michelle Cruz Gonzales's earlier bands, Kamala & the Karnivores was just reissued, so maybe someone will re-release the Spitboy catalog (which has aged very well in my opinion, a bit reminiscent to my ears of Killtaker/Steady Diet-era Fugazi).
• 
  James

  Great book from the former drummer of Spitboy, Michelle "Todd" Cruz Gonzales. She talks about the politics of Spitboy, of staying united as women in a male dominated subculture, coming to terms with her identity as a xicana in punk, splits with riot grrl, and the angst of being a young person with totally different ways of viewing the world than the dominat culture. Filled with great stories of playing shows and being on tour with a fast and entertaining writing style, Cruz's work should be read by fans of punk and scholars of women's history and latinx studies.
  
  Also, Spitboy was such a great band.
• 
  Frederic

  This is a great account, told through vignettes, of the feminist hardcore band Spitboy. It touches on a lot of issues around music, performance, and the punk scene involving class, gender, and ethnicity -- so much so that I'm teaching it in my class on "Cultural diversity and contemporary issues". I was on the margins of the scene in the mid-'80s to early '90s (although I never saw Spitboy) and the stories told here brought back memories and felt like they captured the moment effectively. It's also quite readable, so I'm hoping my students will also get into it!
• 
  Laurie

  Short but detailed vignettes that discuss what Spitboy was all about and their touring experiences through the eyes of the drummer. It's not a sex, drugs, and rock n' roll story. It's not a political manifesto. It very simply describes what happened, and what it was like. The author weaves in perspectives from later years about realizing how much of the uncomfortable moments in her experience stemmed from being one of the few minorities in a white middle class dominant scene.
• 
  Jeffrey Bumiller

  This is a great memoir about a very important band. If you're interested in 90's DIY punk rock and especially it's intersection with feminism this is the book for you. The Spitboy Rule at times reminded me, stylistically, of Jay Farrar's excellent memoir Falling Cars & Junkyard Dogs because both Farrar & Gonzales has this loose vignette style of story telling. It's a quick read, but you won't soon forget it.
• 
  Ryan

  One of my favorite bands. They felt slightly before my time, even though I saw them once when I was 16. So it was cool to learn more about them.
  
  I enjoyed seeing the photos (and the fliers), hearing the references to other bands that I've never heard of but should probably check out, and, of course, learning more about Spitboy!
• 
  Randi

  A glimpse into a specific moment towards the end of the punk rock movement. A young Latina drummer plays in several all-girl bands, and talks about the other band members and life on the road. A major theme is her growing realization, that no matter how edgy they seem, the other women are still basically white and middle-class, and there is a vast gulf between their worldview and hers.
• 
  Juliette

  I was a Riot Grrrl in the '90s, and I really liked Spitboy (not Riot Grrrl band.) I was excited to see Michelle Cruz Gonzales had written a memoir about her time as the drummer in Spitboy, as well exploring as her own journey as a Xicana. Her memoir reads a bit like short stories or blog posts, detaling the usual routines of life in a touring punk band... long road trips, being pulled over, sleeping on floors, dealing with sexism, road romances, boredom, Scrabble games, and sight-seeing. It's too bad her worst audience member ever was in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but I'm glad that other ABQ punks were able to support Spitboy after Gonzales called out his misogny. If you enjoy memoirs by women in punk bands, I'd also recommend Michelle Leon's I Live Inside, the original bass player from Babes in Toyland.
• 
  Stacey Falls

  this made me nostalgic for my punk rock days, and i appreciate her earnestness. i think in some cases she gave short shrift to topics that could have been explored in more detail, but i still appreciate her candor in dealing with tough topics.
• 
  Portlyn

  3 1/2 stars. Everything hit like a punch, especially as someone who grew up Indigenous in the punk scene. Writing style wasn't my favorite, but the story and what Gonzales was saying was more important.
• 
  Carolee Wheeler

  Bad. Ass.
• 
  Gretchen

  A short but deep band memoir discussing issues of race, class, sexism and more. Thoroughly satisfying.
• 
  Laura

  I love Todd's voice! Honest, Raw and thought-provoking, like her music.