Back in the day-eighteen years ago to be exact-Kenter Canyon, West Los Angeles. A hot autumn day with screeching Santa Ana winds blasting furnace-like conditions. A group of teenage skateboard riders are aggressively recreationally-orienting over a suburban school's downhill banked asphalt playground. The 12-foot-high chain link fence enclosing the yard bears a sign which explicitly states "SKATEBOARDING PROHIBITED BY LAW." An L.A.P.D. patrol car arrives and the skate crew scatters into the neighborhood. A few are unlucky enough to be caught by the cops.
Welcome to the world of the ubiquitous Field Interrogation: a few quick reprimands, some 'routine' questions (which will later be entered in the L.A.P.D. 'Criminal Task Force' computer), perhaps some light physical abuse, then release. This scene is played out countless times daily. Regular players can log hundreds of F.I. reports; most people endure the indignities and forget about it. But today is different. A brash 12-year-old photographer is doggedly debating the finer points of constitutional law with the cops. He makes it clear that this 'unwarranted harassment and detainment' is illegal under both U.S. and international law. The kid moves with assuredness and pursues his points with tenacity. His camera is an equal weapon to the lawmen's guns. The cops are perplexed and respond by flinging the unrepentant youth onto the hood of their squad car. He is searched for weapons, the film removed from his camera. Meanwhile, the young photographer is unfazed as he recites the United Nations Bill of Rights for Youth: Youths are entitled to unimpeded recreation. Youths are entitled to unrestricted access to play areas. Youths are guaranteed the same legal rights as adults.
That was the first time we had ever seen Glen E. Friedman. All those present were impressed that he had never backed down. We resolved to check out his photos as soon as possible; I recommended Glen as a contributing photographer at SkateBoarder magazine. Warren Bolster, SkateBoarder's editor, asked me what Friedman's photos were like and I responded that I'd never seen them. Furthermore, I added, "You don't need to, either. The guy's got attitude." Glen got the job.
Over the years, G.E.F. has subsequently clicked thousands of magazine photos and shot over 100 album covers, all demonstrating his remarkable eye for raw reality and his artistic sensibility. In fact, Glen E. Friedman's work is best defined by what it's not. His work is the antithesis of social landscape documentation, glossy celebrity photography and editorial-driven magazine work. Others have tried to emulate the course of action that Friedman takes. But where those have come from a mass-media observational background, importing celebrity photographers, make-up artists, motor homes, lights and generators to photograph punks, skaters and rappers as models, G.E.F. travels alone, generally uses natural light and takes first-person point-of-view shots of peers involved in an activity or just hanging out in their own environment. He may be confrontational at times with his subjects, but only in order to create his vision of composition and character. (Ironically, the artifice of the outsiders' photo sessions served to underscore the transient ideals consistent with many commercially viable media endeavors; today's teen rebel hero is repackaged and remarketed as tomorrow's yuppie detox role model.)
Glen lives the activities he documents. Take skateboarding, for example. Friedman had skated for five years before taking his first photograph; he was involved with the design and marketing of products, and eventually became a top contributor to SkateBoarder, Action Now and Thrasher magazines. G.E.F. is a participatory chronicler, as he often requires immersion into the scene to perform his art. His photographs are point-of-view, taken from the invisible position that only a truly hooked-up type can achieve. Essentially simple and stripped of all extraneous matter, the directness of his approach is a result of his utter and complete dedication to the lifestyles he photographs. Ultimately, Friedman functions as a collaborator with the different groups he works with.
Stylistic and attitudinal neutrality are other important aspects of Glen's work. Having grown up in a split bi-coastal family, he moves effortlessly between the two coasts. At times, this ability helped him to inadvertently cross-pollinate seemingly diverse scenes; paradoxically, he is able to be down with diametrically opposed camps, even though the members of these disparate factions may be openly critical of each other. This participatory neutrality and open-minded documentation enables him to transcend mere reportage. If you doubt, who else but Friedman could travel with both warring skate factions during a bitter dispute, or could work unmolested on the bloody streets of South Central L.A. during government-mandated martial law, or could help produce one heavily New York-oriented rap group one day, then easily and effectively work with another conceptually diametrically-opposed Left Coast group twenty-four hours and 2,500 miles later?
In the mid-1970?s, the activities of the West L.A. skate set in which Glen moved, known as DogTown, garnered international attention. To a large extent, Friedman's documentation, which appeared in the international skate press, helped make this obscure group of youths into an identifiable influence. His shots of the unbridled D.T. skate life revealed the compelling aspects of these unique activities. The search, skate and destroy tactics of the DogTown elite contrasted strongly with the clean, organized 'Little League' sport orientation of the skate industry leaders of the era. Specifically, the no-holds-barred, aggro social stance depicted by many of Glen's subjects agitated the status quo. Governmental types at the time referred to these documentations as "irresponsible journalism which served as a blueprint for teenage civil disobedience." The DogTown cult became known far and wide, and millions of other kids were inspired by the aforementioned magazines to emulate not only the D.T. skate style, but also a perceived approach to authority and life.
Music was an integral part of the skate
scene. After the once-favored early heavy metal faded away, hardcore punk
tended to be the choice of most; the distilled, potent chaos of the
DogTown scene meshed perfectly with the unrestrained music of the punks.
At that point, both activities were decidedly non-commercial in a
mainstream societal sense, and were exclusively youth-generated.
Eventually Glen began to shoot the gigs which he and his friends were
attending. G.E.F.'s passionate loyalty to his subjects and merciless
devotion to getting them and their viewpoints exposure led to their
eventual widespread dissemination. For example, proto-punks such as Black
Flag (who Glen worked with very closely during their peak years) received
their first general documentation through Friedman's work in SkateBoarder
and Action Now. Many consider Glen's work pivotal in exposing American
suburban youth to the hardcore punk scene. He produced and managed
Suicidal Tendencies, the first crossover skate-gang-cult band. Their
multi-ethnic, urban-oriented outlook perfectly mirrored the DogTown
environs. Years before such aberrations as 'gang fashion' swept the mass
media, the Suicidals appealed to a large cult following. Their fans were
zealous devotees and S.T.'s musical style and manner of dress were widely
copied. Friedman also shot, art directed and, in 1982, published the
influential punk chronicle My Rules, one of the first comprehensive looks
at the American hardcore punk scene. He was also a columnist for the
magazine Maximum Rock 'N' Roll.
Plugged into the street life of
two coasts and constantly moving back and forth between them, Glen began
to integrate a lot of different elements into his work. His musical
involvement flourished and he became an early proponent of rap and
hip-hop; in particular, he identified with the work of then-developing
'second generation' rappers. Once again, the interchange between the surf,
skate, punk, street and B-boy factions was fertile ground for Friedman's
work. His early documentation of seminal rappers such as Run-DMC, Public
Enemy, Ice-T, L.L. Cool J and others was instrumental in advancing the
artists and exposing them to a wider audience. The style and manner of
these second-wave types helped revitalize a rap world that at the time was
generally stuck regurgitating existing musical modes. The implicitly
political, culturally outside perspective of the rappers Glen began
hanging with was essentially similar to the outlaw orientation and
disenfranchisement of the young skateboarders and punks.
Glen sympathized with these artists' profoundly political-and often revolutionary-bent, and worked with them to advance their views. Characteristically, while Friedman might not agree with the specifics of a given artist's views, he insists on the individual's right to be heard. G.E.F.'s own political views tend to be open-ended, although he can and often does lecture adroitly on such topics as eco-aware photography, the politics of vegetarianism, racism, censorship, the environment and discrimination against youth. In short, he's aware and active.
By 1985, Glen began grassroots street promotion for some early Run-DMC concerts, created singles covers and posters, then shot/edited/designed the group's first world tourbook, and eventually helped in some music production as well. He also became Russell Simmons' and Rick Rubin's first right-hand man and representative on the West Coast for their then-burgeoning Rush Productions and Def Jam Recordings, before eventually being asked to move back to New York permanently in 1987 to work even more closely with their companies. Later on, his still and video work with Public Enemy for "It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back" helped create a visual standard for politically concerned individuals to identify with.
In sum, the factors that unite G.E.F.'s apparently widely diverse subject matter are manifold. At the heart, all of his subjects tend to have a heads-up confrontational style, and possess absolute alternative viewpoints. They are advocates of extreme edge performance; their commitment is absolute. Oftentimes, they hail from a suburban background, perhaps mirroring the dynamism of the suburbs and their interaction with older, more established urban cultures. Most of Friedman's subjects are no strangers to unauthorized venues: from illegal skate sessions to garage band parties to street corner and outlaw club rap freestyle battles, G.E.F.'s subjects possess no licenses or permits, heed no warnings, offer no apologies. Glen himself eschews the tactics of excess and the ostensible values of status. He shoots every shot to count, to both capture the intensity of the moment and to save film in an eco-conservation tactic. (In fact, on many of his proof sheets, 36 out of 36 pictures will be unique, separate, distinctly different and print- worthy.) Glen favors budget pawn shop Pentaxes with superior Takumar optics rather than high-priced, pedigreed professional choice brands such as Nikon or Canon. His backgrounds and settings are as important as his foreground, so 99% of his work is done on location in the field, not in a photo studio.
So welcome to the world of Fuck You Heroes. It's Friedman's uncompromising view of the life and times of his friends. Some of them have changed the culture we live in; others are shrouded in the obscurity reserved for those who choose to dwell outside the system. All have paid the price for their commitments. View people who willingly cripple themselves in the pursuit of edge performance thrills. See stills taken during the severe anti-punk, anti-Black L.A.P.D. purge of Los Angeles before the 1984 Olympic Games. Feel what it's like to be rollin' flying colors in occupied territory, to be armed and considered dangerous-as a survival tactic. If you haven't experienced a crash unit 'anti-gang' sweep, an Aryan Brotherhood anti-straightedge bashing, a Jones Beach, NY, insurrection, a Venice, CA, riot, then you probably don't know. He's been shot at while on assignment and has borne witness to the severity of 'beat down' tactics as executed by both the police and the bangers.
. . .
Fuck You Heroes is intended to be taken in the classic 'con safos' manner. Although there is no literal translation for this Hispanic gang term, it loosely means 'Such is the nature of things; if you don't like it, fuck you.'
-C.R. Stecyk III, 1994
GLEN E. FRIEDMAN'S Press page
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BURNING FLAGS PRESS © 1994