In December 1976, a coach drove off down a London street. On board were the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Heartbreakers and their respective management, while The Damned, who were also on the bill, were travelling separately. The 'Anarchy in the UK Tour' should have been just another rock 'n' roll tour, and surely would have been, had it not been for the Sex Pistols' anarchic antics on the Today show two days earlier. What should have been an inconsequential three-minute interview to hopefully plug the new single, and the accompanying promotional tour, descended into farce when the show's host Bill Grundy goaded the Sex Pistols' guitarist Steve Jones into saying something outrageous? Author Mick O Shea has interviewed members of the band's involved, managers, roadies and audience members to tell the story of why this was such an important tour. Explains why many local councils banned the tour resulting in only seven out of a scheduled twenty gigs taking place. One London councilor stated: "Most of these groups would be vastly improved by sudden death" The book is also an examination of punk rock's impact on the nation in the Seventies. Illustrated throughout with rare photographs and memorabilia.

The last word on Sid Vicious - the world's most iconic punk figure. The old school register for Soho Parish Primary school has a note in the margin recording that five-year-old John Simon Ritchie turned up for his first day at school unaccompanied in September 1962. He'd walked from his mum's council flat near Drury Lane, across Covent Garden and several major road junctions to Gt Windmill Street alone. Somehow it's a fitting start to the wild and troubled life that would be Sid Vicious's. It's also a story that's indicative of the detailed research Alan Parker has put into this biography of Sid Vicious. He spent an evening discussing young Simon Ritchie's schooldays with the headmistress of Soho Parish, has interviewed the likes of fellow Sex Pistols Paul Cook and Glen Matlock at length, as well as numerous other punk luminaries. The basics of Sid Vicious's brief 21 years are well known: art school, junkie mother, life in a squat, a year in the Sex Pistols until their demise in 1978, Nancy Spungeon's death, Sid's arrest, followed by Sid's own fatal overdose on 2 February 1979. Parker brings a wealth of new detail to the story, much gained from the New York Police Department and extensive interviews with Anne Beverley (Sid's mother), prior to her own suicide in 1996. This enables him to come to dramatic conclusions about who killed Nancy Spungeon and how Sid himself died. This will be the definitive and final word on Sid Vicious, and the perfect tribute to a man who has become a true icon of the 21st century.

The Stranglers occupy a paradoxical position within the history of popular music. Although major artists within the punk and new-wave movements, their contribution to those genres has been effectively quarantined by subsequent critical and historical analyses. They are somehow "outside" the realm of what responsible accounts of the period consider to be worthy of chronicling. Why is this so? Certainly The Stranglers' seedy and intimidating demeanor, and well-deserved reputation for misogyny and violence, offer a superficial explanation for their cultural excommunication. However, this landmark work suggests that the unsettling aura that permeated the group and their music had much more profound origins; ones that continue to have disturbing implications even today. The Stranglers, it argues, continue to be marginalised because, whether by accident or design, they brought to the fore the underlying issues of identity, status and structure that must by necessity be hidden from society's conscious awareness. For this, they would not be forgiven.

The proximity of the East L.A. barrio to Hollywood is as close as a short drive on the 101 freeway, but the cultural divide is enormous. Born to Mexican-born and American-naturalized parents, Alicia Armendariz migrated a few miles west to participate in the free-range birth of the 1970s punk movement. Alicia adopted the punk name Alice Bag, and became lead singer for The Bags, early punk visionaries who starred in Penelope Spheeris' documentary "The Decline of Western Civilization."

Here is a life of many crossed boundaries, from East L.A.'s "musica ranchera" to Hollywood's punk rock; from a violent male-dominated family to female-dominated transgressive rock bands. Alice's feminist sympathies can be understood by the name of her satiric all-girl early Goth band Castration Squad.

"Violence Girl" takes us from a violent upbringing to an aggressive punk sensibility; this time a difficult coming-of-age memoir culminates with a satisfying conclusion, complete with a happy marriage and children. Nearly a hundred excellent photographs energize the text in remarkable ways.

Alice Bag's work and influence can be seen this year in the traveling Smithsonian exhibition "American Sabor: Latinos in U.S. Popular Music."

Live at the Safari Club: A People's History of HarDCore is the uncensored oral history of a notorious underground punk venue in the nation's capital, told by the bands, fans, zinesters, promoters, graffiti artists, scenesters, senators' kids and activists who made it happen. Over 200 exclusive interviews with and photos of members of Gorilla Biscuits, Bold, Sick of it All, Worlds Collide, Ignition, Swiz, Avail, Rancid, Nirvana, Danzig, Bad Religion, Tom Waits' band, Bad Brains, Hole, Hatebreed, Clutch, My Morning Jacket, and more.

Irish Independent Music Book of the Year Guardian Book of the Week After discovering a derelict record plant on the edge of a northern English city, and hearing that it was once visited by David Bowie, Karl Whitney embarks upon a journey to explore the industrial cities of British pop music. Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield, Hull, Glasgow, Belfast, Birmingham, Coventry, Bristol: at various points in the past these cities have all had distinctive and highly identifiable sounds. But how did this happen? What circumstances enabled those sounds to emerge? How did each particular city - its history, its physical form, its accent - influence its music? How were these cities and their music different from each other? And what did they have in common? Hit Factories tells the story of British pop through the cities that shaped it, tracking down the places where music was performed, recorded and sold, and the people - the performers, entrepreneurs, songwriters, producers and fans - who made it all happen. From the venues and recording studios that occupied disused cinemas, churches and abandoned factories to the terraced houses and back rooms of pubs where bands first rehearsed, the terrain of British pop can be retraced with a map in hand and a head filled with music and its many myths.

Glen Matlock is a founder member of the Sex Pistols. He was a major contributor to their songwriting from 1975 to 1977, and has played bass guitar on all their reformation tours since 1996. This is Matlock's personal memoir of the 'Filthy Lucre' world tour of 1996, including rare memorabilia and previously unseen personal photographs. Foreword by Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers. Published by Foruli Codex - music, photography and popular culture.

Twenty-eight years after its original release, the Clash's "London Calling "was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Route 19 Revisited is about the making of this iconic album, detailing the stories behind its songs and placing them in contexts personal, musical and socio-political.

"From the Hardcover edition."

They were the pioneers of American hardcore, forming in California in 1878 and splitting up 8 years later leaving behind them a trail of blood, carnage and brutal, brilliant music. Throughout the years they fought with the police, record industry and their own fans. This is the band's story from the inside, drawing upon exclusive interviews with the group's members, their contemporaries and the groups who were inspired by them. It's also the story of American hardcore music, from the perspective of the group who did more to take the sound to the clubs, squats and community halls in American than any other.

Popular music in the US and UK during the late 1970s and early 1980s was wildly eclectic and experimental. 'Post-punk', as it was retroactively labeled, is not an easily definable musical category. How do electro-pop melodies, distorted guitars, avant-garde industrial sounds, and reggae beats fit under the same categorical umbrella? What post-punk is not is as interesting a question as what it is. What Is Post-Punk? combines a close reading of the late-1970s music press discourse with musical analyses and theories of identity to unpack post-punk's status as a genre. Mimi Haddon traces the discursive foundations of post-punk across publications such as Sounds, ZigZag, Melody Maker, the Village Voice, and the NME, and presents case studies of bands including Wire, PiL, Joy Division, the Raincoats, and Pere Ubu. By positioning post-punk in relation to genres such as punk, new wave, dub, and disco, Haddon reveals post-punk as a community of tastes and predilections rather than a stylistically unified whole. Haddon diversifies the discourse around post-punk, exploring both its gender and racial dynamics and its proto-industrial aesthetics to restore the historical complexity surrounding the genre's terms and origins. A detailed exploration of an otherwise under-explored cultural phenomenon, What Is Post-Punk? is a significant addition to scholarship in popular music, of interest to scholars of genre theory and discourse analysis, including feminist and postcolonial discourse.

"Engrossing." --BEN GILL, "Mother Jones ""

""Passionate and detailed." --ROBERT CHRISTGAU, "The New York Times Book Review ""

""[An] epic, meticulously researched . . . biography." --ZAC CRAIN, "Esquire ""

""The most complete and honest account of Strummer's professional and personal life." --RON WYNN, "The Nashville City Paper ""

""There was a time when The Clash . . . was (quite properly) billed as 'The Only Band That Matters.' [This] biography about lead singer Joe Strummer explains why . . . Salewicz, a longtime Strummer associate and chronicler of the punk scene, quickly settles into his groove and stays there, his words as vivid as the lyrics to 'White Man in Hammersmith Palais' or 'London Calling.' Details abound, providing fresh glimpses into the Strummer persona, along with those that preceded it . . . [A] compelling tale of Strummer's too-short life." --LARRY MCSHANE, Associated Press

"Will likely go down as the definitive bio of Strummer and the Clash." --JEFF TAMARKIN, "Harp"

Nineteen seventy-seven. New York City. Dark. Dangerous. Thrilling. Punk Rock. Blondie. David Bowie. Drinking. Drugs. Happening at the speed of light.THSeventeen-year old Laura quaking within her skin while the bursting punk rock revolution explodes around her starts a band with her teenage friends called the Student Teachers. She's the drummer. They play legendary clubs a CBGB Max's Kansas City Hurrah a they rehearse madly write songs and tour the East Coast.THAll between final exams at school.THIn comes Jimmy Destri from Blondie. He thinks the Student Teachers are terrific! And then a he falls in love with Laura. He pulls her into the glamorous life of Blondie and introduces her to David Bowie. Bowie takes an interest in Laura's band attends their rehearsals and sets them up to open for Iggy Pop at the Palladium on Halloween 1979. It's exhilarating! It's the beginning of amazing success in rock 'n' roll!THUntil it all comes to a stunning stop.THAfter playing a show at Town Hall in 1980 Laura is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Does it all fall apart?THLater at a dinner with Bowie he whispers something to Laura. And it helps her save her life.THIn prose that flows like music Laura Davis-Chanin presents a rich work of narrative nonfiction that is not only deeply personal but also revealing of the punk rock heyday in New York City. Infused with rare photographs this book is a journey through a unique ephemeral life experience.

Combining unique access to Green Day with a journalist's nose for a great story, Mark Spitz tells the complete account of the band Green Day from their earliest days to their most recent explosion in popularity--achieved after many in the business had written the band off as old news. It??'s hard to believe that in early 2004, Green Day was considered pass??--a strictly 90s phenomenon. Since then, they have rewritten the rules of rock???namely the rule that says: no comebacks allowed. Sure, there are second acts in rock, but usually they???re embarrassing. ???American Idiot??? has sold 4 million copies in America???the biggest selling rock record of the year. It??'s currently at number 20 on the charts???57 weeks after debuting at number 1. The band was awarded a Grammy for rock album of the year and seven MTV video music awards including video of the year. NOBODY LIKES YOU is a story of friendship and the transporting power of playing very loud music. It is the story of how high school drop out Billy Jo Armstrong came to write song lyrics that inflamed the political conscience of fans in a way that two Yale graduates couldn???t. Green Day??'s story???from rise, to fall, to rise again--has never been fully told, and Spin journalist Mark Spitz has exclusive access.

SOON TO BE A LIMITED SERIES DIRECTED BY DANNY BOYLE _____________________ Foreword by Chrissie Hynde Without the Sex Pistols there would be no punk rock, and without Steve Jones there would be no Sex Pistols. It was Steve who formed Kutie Jones and his Sex Pistols, the band that eventually went on to become the Sex Pistols, with his schoolmate Paul Cook and who was its original leader. As the world celebrates the 40th anniversary of Punk - the influence and cultural significance of which is felt in music, fashion and the visual arts to this day - Steve tells his story for the very first time. Rising from the streets of Hammersmith, Steve Jones was once a lonely, neglected boy living off his wits and petty thievery. Given purpose by the glam art rock of David Bowie and Roxy Music, he became one of the first generation of punks taken under the wings of Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood. For the very first time Steve describes the neglect and abuse he suffered at the hands of his stepfather, and how his interest in music and fashion saved him from a potential life of crime. From the Kings Road of the early seventies, through the years of the Sex Pistols, Punk Rock and the recording of Never Mind the Bollocks (ranked number 41 in Rolling Stone magazine's Best Albums of All Time), to his self-imposed exile in New York and Los Angeles where he battled with alcohol, heroin and sex addiction - caught in a cycle of rehab and relapse - Lonely Boy, written with music journalist and author Ben Thompson, is the story of an unlikely guitar hero who, with the Sex Pistols, changed history.

England’s Dreaming is the ultimate book on punk, its progenitors, the Sex Pistols, and the moment they defined for music fans in England and the United States Savage brings to life the sensational story of the meteoric rise and rapid implosion of the Pistols through layers of rich detail, exclusive interviews, and rare photographs. This fully revised and updated edition of the book covers the legacy of punk twenty-five years later and provides an account of the Pistols' 1996 reunion as well as a freshly updated discography and a completely new introduction.

In this comprehensive look at the music and culture behind the hardcore legacy, Steven Blush blends his own first-hand experience of the scene with interviews, photographs and complete discographies. The Second Edition of the definitive work on one of rock's most important eras (Juxtapoz), has over 100 new pieces of artwork, hundreds of new band bios and a radically expanded discography. The first edition, which became the Sony Classics released documentary of the same name, was 328 pages; the new edition clocks in at 408 pages. According to the Los Angeles Times, American Hardcore is the definitive treatment of hardcore punk, changing the way we look at punk rock. And according to Paper magazine, American Hardcore sets the record straight about the last great American subculture.

'No Feelings', 'No Fun', 'No Future'. The years 1976-84 saw punk emerge and evolve as a fashion, a musical form, an attitude and an aesthetic. Against a backdrop of social fragmentation, violence, high unemployment and socio-economic change, punk rejuvenated and re-energised British youth culture, inserting marginal voices and political ideas into pop. Fanzines and independent labels flourished; an emphasis on doing it yourself enabled provincial scenes to form beyond London's media glare. This was the period of Rock Against Racism and benefit gigs for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the striking miners. Matthew Worley charts the full spectrum of punk's cultural development from the Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks and Slits through the post-punk of Joy Division, the industrial culture of Throbbing Gristle and onto the 1980s diaspora of anarcho-punk, Oi! and goth. He recaptures punk's anarchic force as a medium through which the frustrated and the disaffected could reject, revolt and re-invent.

Following hard on the explosion of British punk, in 1979 Gang of Four produced post-punk's smartest record, Entertainment! For the first time, a band wedded punk's angry energy to funk's propulsive beats-and used that music to put across lyrics that brought a heady mixture of Marxist theory and situationism to exposing the cultural politics of everyday life. But for an American college student from the suburbs-and, one expects, for many, many others, including British youth-Jon King's and Andy Gill's mumbled lyrics were often all but unintelligible. Political rock 'n' roll is always something of an oxymoron: rock audiences by and large don't tune in to be lectured to. But what can it mean that a band that made pop songs as political theory actively resisted making that theory legible? Coming to terms with the impact of Entertainment! requires us to take the mondegreen-the misunderstood lyric-seriously. The old joke has it that the title of R.E.M.'s debut album should have been not Murmur, but Mumble: true, so far as it goes. But that's the title, too, of rock 'n' roll's Greatest Hits compilation-and that strategic inarticulateness itself, which creates such an important role for the listener, has an important politics.