When Punk Rock took on the establishment in the late 1970s it was about more than just the music. Fashion, culture, attitude, all went hand in hand with what the likes of The Sex Pistols, The Damned and The Clash gave the youth of the day. This visual biography charts all of that with fabulous photography of the bands, the fans and the day-to-day happenings. Re-live your youth or if you weren't around at the time, immerse yourself in the youth culture of the late seventies and early eighties.

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.

Formed by Howard Devoto in late 1977 and brought together some of the finest and most innovative musicians of the era in the core line-up of Devoto, John McGeoch, Barry Adamson, Dave Formula and John Doyle. Independent of prevailing popular styles, Magazine had its roots in punk but had a greater emphasis on lyrical content whilst combining elements of avant-garde pop, funk and rock. 'This book sets Magazine in the context of the post-punk music and arts scene in Manchester in the late 1970s. It discusses the prevailing climate of the decentralisation of the music industry, growth of independent labels and the DIY attitude born of arrogance combined with a good record collection' - Tony Wilson. With unique access to the band members past and present, and interviews with many other people including managers, record company executives, producers and contemporary musicians, Helen Chase presents a fascinating insights into one of the most important bands to emerge from the ashes of punk rock. Biographical details of individual band members, along with their influences, are discussed. The chronology of the band between 1977-1981 is charted and the dynamics and creative process at work are explored. The book also details the activities of key members since the band's demise in 1981 and follows their subsequent reunion. The band's iconic artwork is examined with contributions from artist Linder Sterling and designer Malcolm Garrett. Including lyrics by Howard Devoto and exclusive and unseen photographs taken by band members and friends it provides a valuable source of reference about the influential group.

What was I fighting for? Even now I'm not sure. Something so old and so deep, it has no words, no shape, no logic.

Viv Albertine has always been obsessed with the truth: the truth about family, power, and her identity as a rebel and outsider. But at what cost? In this brutally honest memoir she relentlessly exposes human dysfunctionality: the impossibility of intimacy, and the damage wrought upon us by secrets and revelations, siblings and parents. Written with Albertine's unique vulnerability and intelligence, To Throw Away Unopened is a startling self-portrait and a testament to rebuilding oneself and facing the world again.

When it comes to New York City hardcore, its community proudly boasts Lou and Pete Koller-brothers who have dominated the scene worldwide since 1986 with the aurally devastating Sick of It All as their vehicle. "One the best books ever written about hardcore, period..." -Decibel Magazine For Flushing, Queens natives Lou and Pete Koller, hardcore has become a lifestyle as well as an unlikely career. From the moment these siblings began applying their abilities to punk's angrier, grimier sub-genre, they quickly became fifty percent of one of the most intense and compelling quartets to ever claim the movement-the legendary New York hardcore band, Sick of it All. Contrary to popular belief, Lou and Pete are proof positive that you don't need to have lived a street life, or come from a fractured, chaotic home in order to produce world-class hardcore. If Agnostic Front are the godfathers of New York hardcore, then vocalist Lou and guitarist Pete are its grand masters. The Blood and the Sweat is the no-holds-barred autobiography of two brothers who have never wavered, as well as an unrelenting depiction of the American dream, and the drive and determination required to live it-regardless of whatever obstacles appear before you. Featuring commentary from family, friends, bandmates past and present, and their peers, including Gary Holt (Exodus, Slayer), Kurt Brecht (D.R.I.), Barney Greenway (Napalm Death), and more...

Examining the multigenerational impact of punk rock music, this international survey of the political-punk straight edge movement--which has persisted as a drug-free, hardcore subculture for more than 25 years--traces its history from 1980s Washington, DC, to today. Asserting that drugs are not necessarily rebellious and that not all rebels do them, the record also defies common conceptions of straight edge's political legacy as being associated with self-righteous, macho posturing and conservative Puritanism. On the contrary, the movement has been linked to radical thought and action by the countless individuals, bands, and entire scenes profiled throughout the discussion. Lively and exhaustive, this dynamic overview includes contributions from famed straight edge punk rockers Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat and Fugazi, Dennis Lyxzen of Refused and the International Noise Conspiracy, and Andy Hurley of Fall Out Boy; legendary bands ManLiftingBanner and Point of No Return; radical collectives such as CrimethInc. and Alpine Anarchist Productions; and numerous other artists and activists dedicated as much to sober living as to the fight for a better world.

Two decades after the Sex Pistols and the Ramones birthed punk music into the world, their artistic heirs burst onto the scene and changed the genre forever. While the punk originators remained underground favorites and were slow burns commercially, their heirs shattered commercial expectations for the genre. In 1994, Green Day and The Offspring each released their third albums, and the results were astounding. Green Day's Dookie went on to sell more than 15 million copies and The Offspring's Smash remains the all-time bestselling album released on an independent label. The times had changed, and so had the music.While many books, articles, and documentaries focus on the rise of punk in the '70s, few spend any substantial time on its resurgence in the '90s. Smash! will be the first to do so, detailing the circumstances surrounding the shift in '90s music culture away from grunge and legitimizing what many first-generation punks regard as post-punk, new wave, and generally anything but true punk music. With astounding access to all the key players of the time, including members of Green Day, The Offspring, NOFX, Rancid, Bad Religion, Social Distortion, and many others, renowned music writer Ian Winwood will at last give this significant, substantive, and compelling story its due. Punk rock bands were never truly successful or indeed truly famous, and that was that--until it wasn't. Smash! is the story of how the underdogs finally won and forever altered the landscape of mainstream music.

At the dawn of the 1990s, as the United States celebrated its victory in the Cold War and sole superpower status by waging war on Iraq and proclaiming democratic capitalism as the best possible society, the 1990s underground punk renaissance transformed the punk scene into a site of radical opposition to American empire. Nazi skinheads were ejected from the punk scene; apathetic attitudes were challenged; women, Latino, and LGBTQ participants asserted their identities and perspectives within punk; the scene debated the virtues of maintaining DIY purity versus venturing into the musical mainstream; and punks participated in protest movements from animal rights to stopping the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal to shutting down the 1999 WTO meeting. Punk lyrics offered strident critiques of American empire, from its exploitation of the Third World to its warped social relations. Numerous subgenres of punk proliferated to deliver this critique, such as the blazing hardcore punk of bands like Los Crudos, propagandistic crust-punk/dis-core, grindcore and power violence with tempos over 800 beats per minute, and So-Cal punk with its combination of melody and hardcore. Musical analysis of each of these styles and the expressive efficacy of numerous bands reveals that punk is not merely simplistic three-chord rock music, but a genre that is constantly revolutionizing itself in which nuances of guitar riffs, vocal timbres, drum beats, and song structures are deeply meaningful to its audience, as corroborated by the robust discourse in punk zines.

Michael Bradley joined his school friend's group in Derry, Northern Ireland in the summer of 1974. They had two guitars and no singer. Four years later the Undertones recorded 'Teenage Kicks', John Peel's favourite record, and became one of the most fondly remembered UK bands of the post punk era. Sticking to their punk rock principles, they signed terrible deals, made great records and had a wonderful time. They broke up in 1983 when they realised there was no pot of gold at the end of the rock and roll rainbow. His story is a bitter-sweet, heart-warming and occasionally droll tale of unlikely success, petty feuding and playful mischief during five years of growing up in the music industry. Wiser but not much richer, Michael became a bicycle courier in Soho after the Undertones split. "Sixty miles a day, fresh air, no responsibilities," he writes. "Sometimes I think it was the best job I ever had. It wasn't, of course."

Raised in Queens, where he worked as a plumber while honing his guitar skills, Johnny Ramone eventually became a founding member of The Ramones, one of the most influential rock bands of all time. Often called the first punk rock outfit, their status is now legendary. But despite becoming an international star when he was alive, Johnny never really strayed from his blue-collar roots and attitude. His bouts of delinquency as a kid might have given way to true discipline when it came to keeping the band in line, but he was truly imbued with the angr y-young-man spirit that would characterise his persona on and off stage. Johnny was the driving force behind the Ramones, sometimes referred to as a drill sergeant, bringing order and regiment to the band. This was evident in the speed, accuracy and intensity of their music. Johnny kept the band focused and moving forward, ultimately securing their place in rock history. The Ram ones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002 and two years later, Johnny dies of cancer, outliving the other two founding members and getting the last and complete word. Brutally honest, revealing and touching, this is Johnny Ramones's story and the story of the Ramones from start to finish, told in his own words and on his own terms. In addition to his story, the book will contain Johnny's annotated and graded assessment of the Ramones' albums, a number of eccentric Top Ten Lists; favourite Elvis films, favourite Republicans [Johnny was actually pretty conservative], favourite horror films, pages from his legendary "black books" with notes on concerts, inspirations, anecdotes and scores of black and white and colour photos, many of which have not been published before.

Guy Pratt came of age just as playing bass became sexy. In spurning the guitar solo, punk put the low-end on more of an equal footing--or maybe it was just that Paul Simonon and Bruce Foxton were pretty cool. Either way, people were trying out the basslines of "White Man in Hammersmith Palais" or "Peaches." Having dallied with Funkapolitan, Pratt suddenly found himself on "Top of the Pops" and supporting David Bowie with the smooth Australian outfit Icehouse. At a ludicrously young age he became a sought-after bass player to the stars, finding himself crawling from studios to bars and from hotels to stadiums with the likes of Robert Palmer, Womack & Womack, Bernard Edwards, Bryan Ferry, and David Crosby. The 1980s were in their prime, and with a number of Crolla-suited appearances in windswept videos behind him, he was invited to join Pink Floyd for a series of stadium extravaganzas to make Bono & Co. look fairly modest. He was in The Smiths for a week, has traveled through customs in a wheelchair after a flight with Jimmy Page, spent time in the studio with Michael Jackson, and has lived to tell all. This autobiographical account emerges from the successful stand-up tour of the same name, charting his journey from a Mod band to playing with Roxy Music at Live 8.

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."

In this book, Wilson Neate gets beneath the surface of a punk band with a difference. In contrast with many of their punk peers, Wire were enigmatic and cerebral, always keeping a distance from the crowd. Although Pink Flag appeared before the end of 1977, it was already a meta-commentary on the punk scene and was far more revolutionary musically than the rest of the competition. Few punk bands moved beyond pared-down rock 'n' roll and garage rock, football-terrace sing-alongs or shambolic pub rock and, if we're honest, only a handful of punk records hold up today as anything other than increasingly quaint period pieces.While the majority of their peers flogged one idea to death and paid only lip service to punk's Year Zero credo, Wire took a genuinely radical approach, deconstructing song conventions, exploring new possibilities and consistently reinventing their sound. This is a chord. This is another. This is a third. Now form a band, proclaimed the caption to the famous diagram in a UK fanzine in 1976 and countless punk acts embodied that do-it-yourself spirit. Wire, however, showed more interesting ways of doing it once you'd formed that band and they found more compelling uses for those three mythical chords."33 1/3" is a series of short books about a wide variety of albums, by artists ranging from James Brown to the Beastie Boys. Launched in September 2003, the series now contains over 50 titles and is acclaimed and loved by fans, musicians and scholars alike.

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.

By June 1993, when Washington, D.C.'s Fugazi released their third full-length album In on the Kill Taker, the quartet was reaching a thunderous peak in popularity and influence. With two EPs (combined into the classic CD 13 songs) and two albums (1990's genre-defining Repeater and 1991's impressionistic follow-up Steady Diet of Nothing) inside of five years, Fugazi was on creative roll, astounding increasingly large audiences as they toured, blasting fist-pumping anthems and jammy noise-workouts that roared into every open underground heart. When the album debuted on the now-SoundScan-driven charts, Fugazi had never been more in the public eye. Few knew how difficult it had been to make this popular breakthrough. Disappointed with the sound of the self-produced Steady Diet, the band recorded with legendary engineer Steve Albini, only to scrap the sessions and record at home in D.C. with Ted Niceley, their brilliant, under-known producer. Inadvertently, Fugazi chose an unsure moment to make In on the Kill Taker: as Nirvana and Sonic Youth were yanking the American rock underground into the media glare, and "breaking" punk in every possible meaning of the word. Despite all of this, Kill Taker became an alt-rock classic in spite of itself, even as its defiant, muscular sound stood in stark contrast to everything represented by the mainstreaming of a culture and worldview they held dear. This book features new interviews with all four members of Fugazi and members of their creative community.

Black Flag were the pioneers of American Hardcore, and this is their blood-spattered story. Formed in Hermosa Beach, California, in 1978, they made and played brilliant, ugly, no-holds-barred music for eight brutal years on a self-appointed touring circuit of America's clubs, squats, and community halls. They fought with everybody--the police, the record industry, and even their own fans--and they toured overseas on pennies a day in beat-up trucks and vans. This history tells Black Flag's story from the inside, drawing on exclusive interviews with the group's members, their contemporaries, and the bands they inspired. It depicts the rise of Henry Rollins, the iconic front man, and Greg Ginn, who turned his electronics company into one of the world's most influential independent record labels while leading Black Flag from punk's three-chord frenzy into heavy metal and free jazz.

In 1979, from the basement of a London squat, the Raincoats reinvented what punk could be. They had a violin player. They came from Portugal, Spain, and England. Their anarchy was poetic. Working with the iconic Rough Trade Records at its radical beginnings, they were the first group of punk women to actively call themselves feminists. In this short book - the first on the Raincoats - author Jenn Pelly tells the story of the group's audacious debut album, which Kurt Cobain once called "wonderfully classic scripture." Pelly builds on rare archival materials and extensive interviews with members of the Raincoats, Sleater-Kinney, Bikini Kill, Hole, Scritti Politti, Gang of Four, and more. She draws formal inspiration from the collage-like The Raincoats itself to explore this album's magic, vulnerability, and strength.

The Damned are forever in the history books as the first UK punk band to get an album out. Damned Damned Damned was a flamethrower of a record, led by the incendiary violence of "New Rose" (first UK punk single as well) and "Neat Neat Neat," two shocking punk anthems that defined the golden era of the new wave more purely pogo-mad than anything outta The Clash or the Sex Pistols. And the mayhem never let up, with the band already breaking up and reforming (another first!) by 1979 for one of the greatest punk albums of all time, Machine Gun Etiquette (by the way, The Damned were also the first UK punk band to tour America). More punch-ups and gratuitous vandalism ensued as the band expanded its palette through the years. Popoff has wanted to write Lively Arts: The Damned Deconstructed for decades, and now that it's finished, he's been all over video and radio calling it his favourite and best book he's ever done. For in it, Popoff got to analyse monastically - headphones and repeat button at the ready - every damned Damned song across all the albums and every EP and single. This herculean task represented a joy of an exercise from a penmanship point of view, but it was most satisfying in a proselytizing sense - Martin wants everybody joining him in poring over The Damned catalogue in minute detail. Let this long-suffering band of scrapping, scratching cats in a sack know how important and beloved they are before they're all dead!

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.