Turn it Around: The Story of East Bay Punk explores Northern California’s pivotal role in evolution of punk rock – the loud, intense and anti-authoritarian philosophy of music and politics that arose in the late 1970s. Early San Francisco Bay Area punk pioneers like Dead Kennedys, Avengers and Flipper as well as the Maximum Rocknroll fanzine helped take the punk underground global.

As the once-vibrant local scene became wrought with violence, corruption and racism, punks over the bridge in the East Bay responded by creating a fun and inclusive style of punk that also carried on the region’s tradition of radical thought. Banding together around Berkeley’s all-volunteer 924 Gilman Club, this diverse collective of misfits created a do-it-yourself, no-spectators petri dish for art & music that changed the Bay Area punk scene… and the world at large.

Today, we know about some of the bands who emerged from this scene, like Green Day and Rancid, but their success is just the tip of the iceberg; the roots of this inspiring story go deep into the underground. Narrated by Iggy Pop and executive produced by Green Day, Turn it Around: The Story of East Bay Punk is told by the people who were there. The story of East Bay punk rock unfolds from its unlikely beginnings, continues through its struggles, and triumphs with its raucous power continuing to be influential today.