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Books > Arts & Architecture > Music > Contemporary popular music > Rock & pop > Indie
'To see The Clash on the White Riot tour was like discovering how
to be a rock star: you just did it yourself. You didn't wait for
someone to come and discover you. That was the most important thing
that came out of punk... We came home and we cut our hair and
bought skinny trousers. It was year zero. That was the moment for
me' Billy Bragg Punk Rock is a book like no other. It is an oral
history of a radical movement which exploded in Seventies Britain.
With its own clothes, hair, artwork, fanzines and radical politics,
Punk boasted a DIY ethos that meant anyone could take part. The
scene was uniquely vibrant and energetic, leaving an extraordinary
legacy of notorious events, charismatic characters and
inspirational music. John Robb has spent over a year interviewing
more than 100 contributors including Glen Matlock, Mick Jones, Don
Letts, Slash, Billy Bragg, Hugh Cornwell and Captain Sensible. Now,
for the first time, they give the inside view on events such as The
Sex Pistols' swearing live on the Bill Grundy TV show and staging
their anti-Jubilee riverboat party on the Thames, famous gigs at
The Roxy and 100 Club, and the groundbreaking records by The
Pistols, The Clash, The Damned and others. From the widely debated
roots of punk in the late-Sixties through to the fallout of the
post-punk period in 1984, and the ongoing influence on today's
bands, Punk Rock is the definitive oral history of an inimitable
and exciting movement.
In Punk and Revolution Shane Greene radically uproots punk from its
iconic place in First World urban culture, Anglo popular music, and
the Euro-American avant-garde, situating it instead as a crucial
element in Peru's culture of subversive militancy and political
violence. Inspired by Jose Carlos Mariategui's Seven Interpretive
Essays on Peruvian Reality, Greene explores punk's political
aspirations and subcultural possibilities while complicating the
dominant narratives of the war between the Shining Path and the
Peruvian state. In these seven essays, Greene experiments with
style and content, bends the ethnographic genre, and juxtaposes the
textual and visual. He theorizes punk in Lima as a mode of
aesthetic and material underproduction, rants at canonical cultural
studies for its failure to acknowledge punk's potential for
generating revolutionary politics, and uncovers the intersections
of gender, ethnicity, class, and authenticity in the Lima punk
scene. Following the theoretical interventions of Debord, Benjamin,
and Bakhtin, Greene fundamentally redefines how we might think
about the creative contours of punk subculture and the politics of
anarchist praxis.
The explosive story of the Sex Pistols is now so familiar that the
essence of what they represented has been lost in a fog of
nostalgia and rock'n'roll cliche. In 1976 the rise of the Sex
Pistols was regarded in apocalyptic terms, and the punks as
visitors from an unwanted future bringing chaos and confusion. John
Scanlan considers the Sex Pistols as the first successful art
project of their manager, Malcolm McLaren, a vision born out of
radical politics, boredom and his deep and unrelenting talent for
perverse opportunism. McLaren deliberately set a collision course
with establishments, both conservative and counter-cultural, and
succeeded beyond his highest expectations. Scanlan tells the story
of how McLaren's project - designed, in any case to fail -
foundered on the development of the Pistols into a great rock band
and the inconvenient artistic emergence of John Lydon. Moving
between London and New York, and with a fascinating cast of
delinquents, petty criminals and misfits, Sex Pistols: Poison in
the Machine is not just a book about a band. It is about the times,
the ideas, the coincidences and the characters that made punk, that
ended with the Sex Pistols - beaten, bloody and overdosed -
sensationally self-destructing on stage in San Francisco in January
1978, and that transformed popular culture throughout the world.
Global Punk examines the global phenomenon of DIY (do-it-yourself)
punk, arguing that it provides a powerful tool for political
resistance and personal self-empowerment. Drawing examples from
across the evolution of punk - from the streets of 1976 London to
the alleys of contemporary Jakarta - Global Punk is both
historically rich and global in scope. Looking beyond the music to
explore DIY punk as a lived experience, Global Punk examines the
ways in which punk contributes to the process of disalienation and
political engagement. The book critically examines the impact that
DIY punk has had on both individuals and communities, and offers
chapter-length investigations of two important aspects of DIY punk
culture: independent record labels and self-published zines.
Grounded in scholarly theories, but written in a highly accessible
style, Global Punk shows why DIY punk remains a vital cultural form
for hundreds of thousands of people across the globe today.
Batard irrespectueux du Rockabilly et du Punk, le Psychobilly est
le genre musical qui refuse de mourir, bien qu'ignore de
l'establishment musical depuis plus de trois decennies. D'abord
confinee a quelques clubs anglais, l'epidemie en est a sa troisieme
vague et s'etend desormais du Bresil au Japon en passant par les
Etats-Unis et l'Europe. LET'S WRECK est l'histoire du voyage d'un
homme a travers le Psychobilly britannique, de l'adolescent
boutonneux du debut des annees 80, arborant fierement sa premiere
flat-top, au rocker chauve et bedonnant d'aujourd'hui. De Glasgow
aux festivals Big Rumble, en passant par le Klub Foot, le Trash et
les longues virees du scooterisme... Craig Brackenridge, auteur
freelance et createur des fanzines "The Encyclopedia of Psychobilly
& Trash," "The Encyclopedia of Cinematic Trash," a aussi ecrit
sur la musique et les films cultes pour de nombreux magazines. Il
offre sur ce phenomene musical une perspective unique, toujours "on
the road" avec plusieurs des groupes situes tout en bas de la
hierarchie de la legende du Psychobilly..."
Fan, musician and writer Roland Link has compiled a wealth of
images of the legendary Belfast band through the 1970s and 80s. It
includes many previously unseen photographs of the members on the
road, on stage, in candid moments and in promotional out-takes.
These are supported by a myriad of contemporary memorabilia (tour
posters, tickets, passes and badges) and accompanied by comments
from band members and a number of the photographers. The book also
contains a Rare Vinyl Guide covering the band's original singles
and albums. "When people ask me about Stiff Little Fingers I'm
going to point them towards two books; Kicking Up A Racket and What
You See Is What You Get ...job done." Jim Reilly
From the Clash to Los Crudos, skinheads to afro-punks, the punk
rock movement has been obsessed by race. And yet the connections
have never been traced in a comprehensive way. White Riot is a
definitive study of the subject, collecting first-person writing,
lyrics, letters to zines, and analyses of punk history from across
the globe. This book brings together writing from leading critics
such as Greil Marcus and Dick Hebdige, personal reflections from
punk pioneers such as Jimmy Pursey, Darryl Jenifer and Mimi Nguyen,
and reports on punk scenes from Toronto to Jakarta.
I have no time for lies and fantasy, and neither should you. Enjoy
or die.--John Lydon
Punk has been romanticized and embalmed in various media. It has
been portrayed as an English class revolt and a reckless diversion
that became a marketing dream. But there is no disputing its
starting point. Every story of punk starts with its idols, the Sex
Pistols, and its sneering hero was Johnny Rotten.
In Rotten, Lydon looks back at himself, the Sex Pistols, and the no
future disaffection of the time. Much more than just a music book,
Rotten is an oral history of punk: angry, witty, honest, poignant,
and crackling with energy.
This book describes the emergence of DIY punk record labels in the
early 1980s. Based on interviews with sixty-one labels, including
four in Spain and four in Canada, it describes the social
background of those who run these labels. Especially interesting
are those operated by dropouts from the middle class. Other
respected older labels are often run by people with upper
middle-class backgrounds. A third group of labels are operated by
working-class and lower middle-class punks who take a serious
attitude to the work. Using the ideas of French sociologist Pierre
Bourdieu, this book shows how the field of record labels operates.
The choice of independent or corporate distribution is a major
dilemma. Other tensions are about signing contracts with bands,
expecting extensive touring, and using professional promotion.
There are often rivalries between big and small labels over bands
that have become popular and have to decide whether to move to a
more commercial record label. Unlike approaches to punk that
consider it as subcultural style, this book breaks new ground by
describing punk as a social activity. One of the surprising
findings is how many parents actually support their children's
participation in the scene. Rather than attempting to define punk
as resistance or as commercial culture, this book shows the
dilemmas that actual punks struggle with as they attempt to live up
to what the scene means for them.
Both more and less than a band, Pussy Riot is continually
misunderstood by the Western media. This book sets the record
straight. After their scandalous performance of an anti-Putin
protest song in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the
imprisonment of two of its members, the punk feminist art
collective known as Pussy Riot became an international phenomenon.
But, what, exactly, is Pussy Riot, and what are they trying to
achieve? The award-winning author Eliot Borenstein explores the
movement's explosive history and takes you beyond the hype.
They had just a few hundred pounds, one band missing a drummer, a
sock drawer for an office, more dreams than sense and not a clue
between them how to run a record company. But when Alan Horne and
Edwyn Collins decided to start their own label from a shabby
Glasgow flat in 1979, nobody was going to stand in their way.
Postcard Records was the mad, makeshift and quite preposterous
result. Launching the careers of Orange Juice, Aztec Camera and
cult heroes Josef K, the self-styled 'Sound of Young Scotland'
stuck it to the London music biz and, quite by accident,
kickstarted the 1980s indie music revolution. Simon Goddard has
interviewed everyone involved in the making of the Postcard legend
to tell this thrilling rock'n'roll story of punk audacity,
knickerbocker glories, broken windscreens, raccoon-fur hats,
comedy, violence and creating something beautiful from nothing,
against all the odds.
Rock 'n' Roll Movies presents an eclectic look at the many
manifestations of rock in motion pictures, from teen-oriented
B-movies to Hollywood blockbusters to avant-garde meditations to
reverent biopics to animated shorts to performance documentaries.
Acclaimed film critic David Sterritt considers the diverse ways
that filmmakers have regarded rock 'n' roll, some cynically cashing
in on its popularity and others responding to the music as sincere
fans, some depicting rock as harmless fun and others representing
it as an open challenge to mainstream norms.
**MOJO MAGAZINE'S BOOK OF THE YEAR** The Hollywood Brats are the
greatest band you've never heard of. Recording one near-perfect
punk album in 1974, they were tragically ahead of their time. With
only a guitar, a tatty copy of the Melody Maker and his template
for the perfect band, Andrew Matheson set out, in 1971, to make
musical history. His band, The Hollywood Brats, were pre-punk
prophets - uncompromising, ultra-thin, wild, untameable and
outrageous. But thrown into the crazy world of the 1970s London
music scene, the Brats ultimately fell foul of the crooks and
heavies that ran it and an industry that just wasn't ready for
them. Directly inspiring the London SS, the Clash, Malcolm McLaren
and the Sex Pistols, The Hollywood Brats imploded too soon to share
the glory. Punk's answer to Withnail and I, Sick On You is a
startling, funny and brilliantly entertaining period memoir about
never quite achieving success, despite flying so close to
greatness.
A stunningly candid portrait of the Seattle grunge scene of the
'90s and a memoir of an addict during the last great era of rock
'n' roll excess, by Hole drummer Patty Schemel Patty Schemel's
story begins with a childhood surrounded by the AA meetings her
parents hosted in the family living room. Their divorce triggered
her first forays into drinking at age twelve and dovetailed with
her passion for punk rock and playing the drums. Patty's struggles
with her sexuality further drove her notoriously hard playing, and
by the late '80s she had focused that anger, confusion, and drive
into regular gigs with well-regarded bands in Tacoma, Seattle, and
Olympia, Washington. She met a pre-Nirvana Kurt Cobain at a Melvins
show, and less than five years later, was living with him and his
wife, Hole front-woman Courtney Love, at the height of his fame and
on the cusp of hers. As the platinum-selling band's new drummer,
Schemel contributed memorable, driving beats to hits like Beautiful
Son, Violet, Doll Parts, and Miss World. But the band was plagued
by tragedy and heroin addiction, and by the time Hole went on tour
in support of their ironically titled and critically-acclaimed
album Live Through This in 1994, both Cobain and Hole bassist
Kristen Pfaff had died at the age of 27 With surprising candor and
wit, Schemel intimately documents the events surrounding her
dramatic exit from the band in 1998 that led to a dark descent into
a life of homelessness and crime on the streets of Los Angeles, and
the difficult but rewarding path to lasting sobriety after more
than twenty serious attempts to get clean. Hit So Hard is a
testament not only to the enduring power of the music Schemel
helped create but an important document of the drug culture that
threatened to destroy it.
In the tradition of John Green's The Fault in Our Stars and Me and
Earl and the Dying Girl, this incredibly moving and harrowing true
story of a teenager diagnosed with cancer is "a resounding
affirmation of how music can lift one's spirits beyond gray skies
and bad news (Kirkus Reviews)." Punk's not dead in rural West
Virginia. In fact, it blares constantly from the basement of Rob
and Nat Rufus--identical twin brothers with spiked hair, black
leather jackets, and the most kick-ass record collection in
Appalachia. To them, school (and pretty much everything else)
sucks. But what can you expect when you're the only punks in town?
When the brothers start their own band, their lives begin to
change: they meet friends, they attract girls, and they finally get
invited to join a national tour and get out of their rat box little
town. But their plans are cut short when Rob is diagnosed with a
rare form of cancer that has already progressed to Stage Four. Not
only are his dreams of punk rock stardom completely shredded, there
is a very real threat that this is one battle that can't be won.
While Rob suffers through nightmarish treatments and debilitating
surgery, Nat continues on their band's road to success alone. But
as Rob's life diverges from his brother's, he learns to find
strength within himself and through his music. Die Young with Me is
a "raw, honest picture of the weirdness of growing up" (Marky
Ramone) and the story of a brave teen's battle with cancer and the
many ways music helped him cope through his recovery.
Global Punk examines the global phenomenon of DIY (do-it-yourself)
punk, arguing that it provides a powerful tool for political
resistance and personal self-empowerment. Drawing examples from
across the evolution of punk - from the streets of 1976 London to
the alleys of contemporary Jakarta - Global Punk is both
historically rich and global in scope. Looking beyond the music to
explore DIY punk as a lived experience, Global Punk examines the
ways in which punk contributes to the process of disalienation and
political engagement. The book critically examines the impact that
DIY punk has had on both individuals and communities, and offers
chapter-length investigations of two important aspects of DIY punk
culture: independent record labels and self-published zines.
Grounded in scholarly theories, but written in a highly accessible
style, Global Punk shows why DIY punk remains a vital cultural form
for hundreds of thousands of people across the globe today.
To wander the streets of a bankrupt, often lawless, New York City
in the early 1970s wearing a T-shirt with PLEASE KILL ME written on
it was an act of determined nihilism, and one often recounted in
the first reports of Richard Hell filtering into the pre-punk UK.
Pete Astor, an archly nihilistic teenager himself at the time, was
most impressed. The fact that it emerged (after many years) that
Hell himself had not worn the T-shirt but had convinced junior band
member Richard Lloyd to do so, actually fitted very well with
Astor's older, wiser self looking back at Blank Generation. Richard
Hell was an artist who could not only embody but also frame the
punk urge; having seeded and developed the essential look and
character of punk since his arrival in New York in the late 1960s,
he had just what was needed to make one of the defining records of
the era. This study combines objective, academic perspectives along
with culturally centred subjectivities to understand the meanings
and resonances of Richard Hell and the Voidoids' Blank Generation.
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