Rodrigo Lopes de Barros

In the book’s epilogue, Lopes de Barros writes that “[p]unk music functioned as a path for revolt: the initiator, the conductor, the basis, a point of orientation” (270; author’s emphasis). He more than proves this point for the Brazilian punks who were active in the bus protests.

“Distortion and Subversion” contributes to the areas of urban studies, geography, cultural studies, sociology, Latin American activism, mass mobilizations, among others. The book is an important contribution to the literature on student-led and youth-led movements as well as on punk counterculture and subculture.

Rodrigo Lopes de Barros provides a rich overview of youth demonstrations and protests against fare increases in cities such as Salvador, Florianópolis, São Paulo, and Belo Horizonte, examining the popular motivations behind the protests and how punk rock and hardcore bands influenced these motivations and engaged in politics.

CITIES ARE, BY THEIR ESSENCE, PLACES of movement. Even if in some cases this is not visually perceptible, they pulsate with the desire for change, typically expressed by the impetus of youth. In the case of Brazil, young people have been shaking up the official state structures and the musical scenes in cities of different regions…

It’s 2003, and my friends and I are cruising along the few paved streets of Jequié, in the interior of the state of Bahia, by skateboard. Our uncombed curly and afro hair hangs loose, and “gringo” rock band t-shirts flutter in the wind generated by the movement of our small wheels. Jequié has a population…