‘Tearing Down the Orange Curtain: How Punk Rock Brought Orange County to the World,’ Nate Jackson & Daniel Kohn

With No Doubt about to headline Sphere in Las Vegas next year and bring radio staples like “Don’t Speak” and “Just a Girl” to well-heeled ticket-buyers, it’s important to remember where the band came from: the DIY punk and ska incubator of Orange County, California. In their exhaustive history of the scene, authors Nate Jackson and Daniel Kohn trace the rise of the Orange County sound from house shows and dive bars to arenas and stadiums through interviews with its key players, including members of No Doubt, the Offspring, Sublime, the Adolescents, and the Vandals. Social Distortion, godfathers of gritty SoCal punk, figure prominently, including tattooed leader Mike Ness, who wrote the book’s foreword: “When I got into punk,” he said, “I finally found my voice and my place in the world.” With Tearing Down the Orange Curtain, Jackson and Kohn help that voice carry. —J.H.