Drawing on a decade’s worth of pioneering photography and journalism, Punk Perfect Awful is an irreverent love letter to music and the passion that makes it happen.

Known for shedding new light on legends of popular culture and championing revolutionary voices, BEAT magazine reflects the depth and breadth of a playlist—bringing together high with low, mainstream with the underground, and mixing genres and styles with a few surprises thrown in.


Structured around themes drawn from artists’ own insights—from the fortune of being in the right place at the right time to the hustle and passion required to make it—the book reflects the eclecticism of pop’s new generation, where indie heroes like Devonté Hynes and St Vincent sit alongside pop megastars such as Lil Nas X and Neneh Cherry, and icons such as Debbie Harry and Nick Cave rub shoulders with Mykki Blanco and Charli XCX. BEAT has always ensured that it focuses on music to feel excited about, whatever that sounds like. The magazine published both Lizzo’s and Grimes’s first photo shoots, and the last piece of press David Bowie ever did.


With a parallel narrative by Hanna Hanra on a lifelong relationship with music and the inspiration behind founding BEAT, the book supplements portraits and interviews from the magazine’s archives with unpublished images—including photography by Alasdair McLellan, Ryan McGinley, Tyrone Lebon, Rosie Marks, Jack Davison, Clare Shilland, and Sue Webster—that illuminate the power of pop and the importance of meeting your heroes.

About The Author

Hanna Hanra is a writer and brand consultant and the founding editor of Beat magazine. Her journalism appears regularly in publications including Vogue, New York Magazine and The Times.