Overview
From the precursors of punk, through the famous Bill Grundy show when punk first hit the nation's consciousness to the modern-day heirs, such as Green Day, punk has evolved and taken over so many aspects of life that even banks now use punk lettering to appeal to their markets. In this brilliant account of punk, the author has interviewed all the major figures to build a complete portrait of a remarkable era of change in music and youth culture. The story features Richard Branson, Malcolm McLaren, Vivienne Westwood, Tony Parsons and many more who took their early steps to fame and fortune around this time. Band members of The Clash, Stranglers, Sex Pistols and many others recall what happened, bringing their story to life with vivid anecdotes and telling detail.
Full Product Details
Author: Phil Strongman ,
Alan Parker
Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
Imprint: Orion (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd )
Dimensions:
Width: 16.30cm
, Height: 2.60cm
, Length: 23.50cm
Weight: 0.426kg
ISBN: 9780752882413
ISBN 10: 0752882414
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 22 November 2007
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Reviews
Powerfully narrated and phenomenally well-informed, Strongman's book is less about punk as a street-level cultural movement than an epic account of its leading figures Sunday Times An accessible and entertaining account of a period that changed British culture Choice
Music journalist Strongman (Metal Box: Stories from John Lydon's Public Image Limited, 2007, etc.) recasts the history of British punk as the story of two bands and a bunch of also-rans.Actually, the Clash don't get that much ink either; Strongman spends the majority of his time making the case that the Sex Pistols and their marketing Svengali Malcolm McLaren were punk's be-all and end-all, and therein lies the rub. Had the book been subtitled something along the lines of The Sex Pistols and UK Punk, it would have been far more legit. Granted, John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten), Sid Vicious and the rest of the Pistols kicked it all off in 1976 at London's legendary 100 Club or did they? Maybe it was the Clash who started things reeling on the other side of town that very same year. Maybe it was the Ramones or Television or the New York Dolls at CBGB in New York City. Or maybe it was well, according to Strongman, it was all Pistols, all the time. But music historians tend to disagree, which means his book has a major, insurmountable credibility problem. If Strongman had been more inclusive, and if he'd used Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain's classic Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk as a template, he might have had something. As it is, this feels like a 300-plus-page magazine article.Sex Pistols fans will appreciate this one, but those looking for a comprehensive history of the era and its sounds should look elsewhere. (Kirkus Reviews)
Author Information
Phil Strongman was at the 100 Club in 1976 when the Sex Pistols first performed there, was an extra in The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle and has known many of punk's greatest figures for many years. He is a journalist and author.
