- Paperback: 602 pages
- Publisher: St Martin's Press; 4th edition (20 Oct 1999)
- ISBN-10: 0312087748
- ISBN-13: 978-0312087746
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 16.3 x 3.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
1,548,646 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #46 in Books > Music, Stage & Screen > Music > Styles > Rock & Pop > Singers & Groups > Sex Pistols
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Product Description
Product Description
"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.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
There's a big difference between a book that is *exhaustive* and one that is *exhausting*. This one manages to be both. With much difficulty, Savage walks the line between a definitive written history of punk and a messy collection of pseudo-sociological essays (of the type John Lydon warns in his own collected reminiscings of the same period). For all of Savage's excrutiating attention to detail and accuracy, he completely misses the human story behind the punk movement. Yes, punk can be described with various hyphenated terms that scream "intellectual" ("Anglo-French deconstructionism," anyone?), but punk is also the story of four teenagers who wanted to be rock stars, drank too much, and could barely hold themselves together long enough to record a single studio album. By over-intellectualizing every moment of the Sex Pistols' existence, Savage turned the band members into puppets -- not of Malcolm McLaren, but of some imaginary, radical social force that somehow pulled all of their strings. Only when the book reaches the end of the Pistols' era, culminating in the death of Nancy Spungen, does Savage begin to write convincingly about the personal interactions between John, Sid, Paul, Steve, & Malcolm and how personalities -- not various groups of European malcontents -- drove the band off the cliff.
As a compendium of facts, this book has no peer. Use this book as an encyclopedia, however, not a story book. There's a real story out there about punk, and this isn't it.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Bondage for the masses, filth, fury, situationist codswallop and testimony from witnesses and victims, villians and a hero or two. It's all 'ere, my son, step inside and let yer old uncle Jon tell yer abaht the times 'e 'ad in the year of 'er majesty's jubilee.
This is the real thing - don't kid yourself, you weren't there and neither was I but this is as close as we can hope to come. 430 Kings Road might have well been on Pluto, but you and I are living in a world very much influenced by Malcolm McLaren's little shop of perverts, thieves and dandies.
At no place or time since has music, style or attitude mattered as much as it did in London in 1976. Why not is apparent on reading this book's description of the society in which the likes of Rotten, Jones and McLaren created the Sex Pistols.
As an examination of the background to the movement, this is exhaustive. As a record of events it is almost perfect. Unfortunately it is also all we are likely to have regarding the real history and motives of the players. Rotten has told his tale, Matlock even chipped in a few pages, Jones and Cook have kept mum and McLaren .... even if he did write a book would we believe it? The truth is probably somewhere between the stories of all five of them and for now, Savage must be the authoritative source.
And Sid's there too.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
My favorite band is the Sex Pistols, so I took a general liking to this book. I really loved it. At first I got it just because I thought it was about the Sex Pistols, but it wasn't. It was about the whole punk scene it's self. It really shed some light on all the negative myths about everyone involved what was going on. By: Lauren Brown
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Accurate
In a world full of rockbooks written by people who have never met their subjects, and weren't present at the events they describe, "England's Dreaming" stands out with... Read more
Published on 22 Nov 1998
One of the best Punk Books
I read this book cover to cover it was a gerat book a must for fans of old-school punk.
Published on 8 Jun 1998
In-depth doesn't even begin to describe this book
Without prior knowledge of the Punk movement in Britain in the 1970's, Jon Savage's "Englang's Dreaming" was informative, engrossing, and an inspiring piece of historical... Read more
Published on 16 Mar 1998
The sometimes funny and sad, informative punk book
So many photos, so many interviews, its a long book, but also
the best book you will ever read. Its open minded, so punk
fans can love it, or people who hate those U.K. Read more
the best book you will ever read. Its open minded, so punk
fans can love it, or people who hate those U.K. Read more
Published on 17 Jun 1996
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