- Paperback: 656 pages
- Publisher: Faber and Faber; 2nd Revised edition edition (4 Jun 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0571207448
- ISBN-13: 978-0571207442
- Product Dimensions: 21.2 x 13.6 x 4.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
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- #30 in Books > Music, Stage & Screen > Music > Styles > Rock & Pop > Singers & Groups > Sex Pistols
England's Dreaming: The "Sex Pistols" and Punk Rock
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Product Description
Review
"'A monumental survey of punk... a good claim to be the definitive work on the definitive work on the subject.' The Times"
Product Description
Fully revised and updated, Jon Savage's award-winning England's Dreaming is the ultimate book on punk, its progenitors, the Sex Pistols, and their time: the late 1970s. Full of new research, exclusive interviews and rare photographs, it tells the sensational story of the meteoric rise and rapid decline of the last great rock 'n' roll band and the cultural moment they came to define.
The critical reputation of England's Dreaming has grown over the past decade. This new edition includes an introduction focusing on the legacy of punk twenty-five years on, an account of the Sex Pistols 1996 reunion, and a comprehensively updated discography.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
38 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If, like me, you missed the first wave of punk (hey, I was only born in 1973!), but fell in love with the music later, you gotta read this book.
Savage tells the tale of English punk (with some reference to what was happening in the USA, but as the title says, this is _England's_ Dreaming), starting from the backgrounds of those involved, through to the end of the 70's, after the collapse of the Sex Pistols and the death of Sid Vicious.
As you might guess from the title (which is of course from a line in the Sex Pistols' "God Save The Queen"), it is the Sex Pistols that are the primary focus of all this. But there's plenty here about The Clash, The Damned, The Buzzcocks, and plenty of less famous but essential bands, like The Slits, X-Ray Spex, Siouxsie & The Banshees, etc. And I should add that there is an extensive index with discographies of many, many groups.
I'm not sure exactly what Jon Savage was doing at this time, but he was certainly there and involved. He even appears in one of the photos in the book (police herding punks off the boat after the infamous Jubilee cruise down the Thames, if I recall rightly). His recollections and interviews are interspersed with snippets from his diary from the time. This really is a vivid account, and one that made me curse all the more loudly that I missed the action.
One warning - I thought there was far, far too much about Malcolm McLaren's pre-Pistols activities at the start of the book. This was boring. But fight through it, or skip ahead, you'll really miss out if you get bored and quit in the first couple of chapters.
Also, after reading this book, try to check out Julien Temple's film "The Filth And The Fury" - you'll see footage of a lot of the events described herein.
23 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
'England's Dreaming - Sex Pistols and Punk Rock' by Jon Savage is first and foremost a story about the formation of the Sex Pistols. The book starts with a young and ambitious Malcolm Mclaren - inspired by the Parisian student revolts of 1968 - and Vivienne Westwood who, together with Mclaren, created the 'Sex' shop which provided the backdrop to the formation of the Sex Pistols and delivered the aesthetic which symbolised and communicated most directly what punk stood for. A story which, in this case, ends in effect with the predictable demise of Sid Vicious, who in the end came to symbolise more than anything else what Punk Rock meant in the eyes of the mainstream (and to paraphrase Shakespeare) 'a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.'
The greatness of this book is that while ostensibly this is a book about the Sex Pistols (and it is) it is much more than that. As someone born in 1980 it is easy to forget that Britain in the 1970s was such a Politicised place, today apathy rules ok, but thirty years ago things were different. The Post War consensus was crumbling, the age of Thatcherism was dawning, the promise of full employment was exposed as a lie as unemployment figures grew, the once proud ruler of most of the worlds surface had to go with begging bowl to the IMF for a loan, union power was rampant, strikes ubiqutious, the far right increasingly evident and, in the words of Savage 'political and social (even behavioural) extremism seemed very attractive as a way out of this impasse.' In other words the time was ripe for Punk.
The history of the Sex Pistols in the 1970s is the history of the U.K in the 1970s, this is what Savage conveys, Punk grew in fertile soil. The word most used in this book is NIHILISM. Nihilism is a philosophical position which argues that that the world and espiecally human existence is without objective meaning, purpose or comprehensible truth or essential value. The nihilism of punk was a reaction to the idealism of the hippies who had preceded them and to many proved frightening, but while the life of Sid Vicious showed one obvious consequence of nihilism, Savage manages to convey the less obvious flip side: only by negating what has gone before can one create afresh. The concequence of the Sex Pistols was that in this country, musically, things were never the same again.
The greatness of this book is that while ostensibly this is a book about the Sex Pistols (and it is) it is much more than that. As someone born in 1980 it is easy to forget that Britain in the 1970s was such a Politicised place, today apathy rules ok, but thirty years ago things were different. The Post War consensus was crumbling, the age of Thatcherism was dawning, the promise of full employment was exposed as a lie as unemployment figures grew, the once proud ruler of most of the worlds surface had to go with begging bowl to the IMF for a loan, union power was rampant, strikes ubiqutious, the far right increasingly evident and, in the words of Savage 'political and social (even behavioural) extremism seemed very attractive as a way out of this impasse.' In other words the time was ripe for Punk.
The history of the Sex Pistols in the 1970s is the history of the U.K in the 1970s, this is what Savage conveys, Punk grew in fertile soil. The word most used in this book is NIHILISM. Nihilism is a philosophical position which argues that that the world and espiecally human existence is without objective meaning, purpose or comprehensible truth or essential value. The nihilism of punk was a reaction to the idealism of the hippies who had preceded them and to many proved frightening, but while the life of Sid Vicious showed one obvious consequence of nihilism, Savage manages to convey the less obvious flip side: only by negating what has gone before can one create afresh. The concequence of the Sex Pistols was that in this country, musically, things were never the same again.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The most erudite account of the rise and fall of punk ever written. Gives the phenomenon its just place in 20th century pop culture--and underpins why punk music attracted more than just the young, drunk and stupid.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
informative and a great read
very informative book that i used to write my dissertation, i found out more things about the sex pistols and punk than i have from any other book.
Published 4 months ago by helz89
Not even half a story
This is Jon Savage's own recollection of the period and rather feels like he is trying to rewrite the genre based on his views and experience. Read more
Published 7 months ago by FabianBom
Punk grows up
John Savage wrote his brilliant revisionist tale of punk in the early 1990s. The dust had truly settled on punk by this point, the participants were all now in early middle age and... Read more
Published 12 months ago by FlyingAspidistra
This is the Bible of English Punk Rock
This book deserves every one of the accolades it was awarded at the time. It is a meticulously researched and lucidly written account of the genesis, development and ultimate... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Neil Kernohan
The essential read if you're interested in punk history
Jon Savage's book is the most erudite and best researched history of the pre-punk and early UK punk scene. Read more
Published on 10 April 2010 by MrB
Foundational Myths made translucent
The funda-mental problem with the histories of punk is akin to the men and women parading with medals, attending reunions and other services whose conduct was not remembered at the... Read more
Published on 8 April 2010 by Dr. Delvis Memphistopheles
Punk Heaven
I purchased this book for a friend who is deeply interested in all types of music and is very knowledgeable, not just from a collection point of view. Read more
Published on 1 Jan 2010 by J. Gould
A very, very good informative read.
This book must be at the top of the pile when it comes to the history of punk, and the Sex Pistols. There is a wealth of information here - and details of the socioeconomic... Read more
Published on 22 April 2006 by Mr. D. W. Mcconnell
bible of punk
this,along with lydons autobiography are the most essential books about punk.england's dreaming places the punk phenomenon in a socio-historical context but is not over-academic... Read more
Published on 4 Feb 2001
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