Johnny Rotten had it easy in England. Try being an East German punk with the Stasi looking over your shoulder.
Tim Mohr, Berlin-based DJ, translator and music scholar, has written a history of the underground punk scene in East Germany just before the fall of the Berlin Wall, called Burning Down the Haus: Punk Rock, Revolution, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
Punk rock didn't come close to sinking capitalism in the West. But it played a major role in bringing down the East German regime, says Mohr.
The oppression punk rockers felt from the East German government says a lot about why the Berlin Wall came down. The author visits with the story.