We can’t thank our good friend Michael Azerrad enough. His keynote speech at this years conference was inspiring to say the least. Probably the most talked-about, after the succesfull conference. Now you can watch it as well. In our best Ted.tv fashion, here’s Michael Azerrad. Don’t forget to buy his book!

(NB: We apologize for the small audio hiccup between 8:00 and 10:30 minutes)

Michael Azerrad is an American music journalist and author of the books Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana and Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991. He also was a contributing editor of Rolling Stone and a writer for a.o. The New Yorker, Mojo and Spin.

Azerrad thought someone should tell that story about the influential community called punkrock. In true DIY spirit, he decided to write the book himself, coming up with Our Band Could Be Your Life. The book was issued ten years ago, and was named one of the 50 best music books by The Guardian.

In the book, Azerrad writes about thirteen American underground bands that, while finding relatively little mainstream success, did have an establishing role in American alternative and indie rock. He describes the story of (amongst others) bands like Black Flag, Minutemen, Mission of Burma, Minor Threat, Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr.

At the Incubate DIY Conference, Michael shared the insights he gained while interviewing the bands and writing the book. The Incubate DIY Conference took place at Midi Theater Tilburg, September 16, 2011. For more info check: incubate.org