Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981-1991 is a book by Michael Azerrad .

The book chronicles the careers of several underground rock groups who, while finding little or no mainstream success, were hugely influential in establishing American alternative and indie rock, mostly through nearly-constant touring and records released on small, regional record labels.

The title comes from the opening line of an autobiograpical song written by Mike Watt of The Minutemen, one of the groups featured in the book. The song, "History Lesson, Pt II" is on Double Nickles on the Dime and details Watt's working class origins and populist sentiments: "Punk rock changed our lives."

The bands featured in the book are:

• Black Flag
• The Minutemen
• Mission of Burma
• Minor Threat
• Hüsker Dü
• The Replacements
• Sonic Youth
• The Butthole Surfers
• Big Black
• Dinosaur Jr
• Fugazi
• Mudhoney
• Beat Happening

Response

Our Band Could Be Your Life has sold well, and has earned mostly positive reviews; one notes that "one of the best books yet on punk, college, or indie rock and the roots of the alt-rock juggernaut." [1];

Another writer states that "As music history, this book is important. None of these bands got much coverage in mainstream rock magazines while they were doing their most innovative and vital work, and Azerrad has done a great job of gathering ex-bandmembers up for revealing interviews ... However, the book collapses under the weight of its own in-crowd cool." [2]

" If you feel personally insulted by the cynical recording industry, MTV or the endless stream of Britney-Aguilera-Timberlake pop-crap wannabes, this book is well worth a read." [3]