Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Makes you want to live through it all again , 23 Jan 2009
I was a bit too young( i was 14 in 1977) to fully embrace punk when it reached it,s zenith. The ideology passed me by , as it would seem it did for some of the participants, but i knew i loved the music and the look, though i was far too introverted and lacking in self confidence to ever embrace it myself. But there is little doubt that the punk explosion truly ignited my love affair with music( i can clearly remember reading the Daily Mirror "The Filth and the Fury" headline while doing my morning paper round) and that hearing Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols was a defining moment in my musical education.
That album still gives me an adrenalin rush and funnily enough reading John Robbs excellent Oral History of punk does pretty much the same thing. Taking the views of many of the main participants- John Lydon, Captain Sensible, Rat Scabies, Jake Burns,Howard Devoto, Mick Jones, Brian James,Charlie Harper, Polystyrene, Gaye Advert , Don Letts amongst many others- in a talking heads style the book blasts chronologically from the genesis of the punk movement right through to it,s decline and the legacy it left behind -which in many way is musically at least more impressive than the real thing.
Robb who clearly knows his stuff adds helpful footnotes to guide the less knowledgeable reader through( i include myself here) but only occasionally when recommending albums or very rarely to correct what he feels is a contentious statement ( John Lydons sniffy comments about the U.K. Subs a case in point) does he feel the need to comment on what has been said.
Perhaps more surprisingly the book is also useful in giving pointers to other musical genres. As is pointed out by several contributors there is a link between punk and reggae( a genre i hated for most of my adult life until i actually tried listening properly ) both musically and ideologically with The Clash covering "Police And Thieves" and Lydon,s love of the genre leading to the dub bass soundscapes of PiL .The book also points out how punk lead to the Two Tone Ska revival , a genre once gain linked by a shared ideology.
The book is also great if you just want an entertaining read . There is plenty of amusing anecdotal stuff and some of the opinions ventured are thought provoking and can vary wildly -especially when concerning a controversial figure like Sid Vicious ( Don Letts opinion on the murder of Nancy Spungen is very revealing ) Lydon is as forthright and scathing as ever but i would have liked to hear more from Billy Bragg and Keith Levene who are for me the most witty contributors.
Thats just me indulging in a bit of subjective carping though. This is a great book by any standards and while it slightly overplays on the legacy of punk if it,s intention was to get people checking out the genre again, or indeed for the first time, it worked in my case. As i type i,m listening to the Angelic Upstarts Teenage Warning album and the warming fire of classic punk is coursing through my veins.Makes me want to live through it all again
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
the definitive punk book!, 15 Feb 2006
Wow! Just finished reading this.
John Robb doesn't miss anything out in this oral history of punk rock- that's the history of punk rock told in quotes...everyone is in here from Johny Rotten to The CLash to Crass to The Ruts to the Slits to gaye Advert to Howard Devoto to the Cockney Rejects and a couple of hundred others...its exciting and passionate- just what you'd expect from people who lived it.
A great read, really like Robb's mini essays- whilst your at it you may as well check his band out Goldblade and their 'Rebel Songs' album- proof that punk rock is still alive and well...
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A brilliant slice of cultural history..., 11 April 2006
John Robb is one of the most passionate music journalists - a passion that overwhelmed any flaws in his book on '90s culture (though Oliver Craske's role as editor means less mis-spellings than Robb's 90s tome - we still get Eddie Cochrane rather than Cochran for some reason!)and one that is apparent in this book. Robb, through extensive researching, has collected the memories of many key figures of the punk scene - Howard Devoto, Budgie, John Lydon, Captain Sensible, Don Letts, Siouxsie Sioux etc/their fans (Billy Bragg, Ian Brown) and simply let them tell their story. The stories sometimes contradict each other and seem inaccurate or in the case of Marco Pirroni's criticism of Cabaret Voltaire, get a responding footnote from Robb. There are sections in italics that are similar to Robb's 1990s book - those who dislike or disagree with his opinions will probably think these short sections are about right, personally I'd like to have had more Robb, as he's always got something interesting to say whether I agree or not (there's a bit on The Stranglers' here that makes me want to check out 'The Meninblack'!).'Punk Rock: An Oral History' is punctuated with lots of great photographs, from Don Letts' looking like the coolest dude in front of his Beatles memorabilia, to the gorgeus Gaye Advert, to The Jam (who get a warranted criticism over some of their apsects) to those art-rock gods Wire. It's all great stuff and a brilliant slice of cultural history - one to file alongside Jon Savage's 'England's Dreaming' as you sit down to watch Don Letts' recent film 'Punk:Attitude.' I won't go on much longer as you really should enjoy it for yourself - I had a browse in a bookshop and found myself reading several pages this Saturday. I had to buy it. & then I sat down, sometimes with the music of the artists featured here, playing on my mp3 player and was just lost. Lost in great anecdotes and attitude and feeling that this and Simon Reynolds' 'Rip It Up & Start Again' have set a benchmark for music history literature. Interesting to note how often Can were mentioned - while Billy Bragg's line about Roxy Music fans is worth the price of entry alone. I hope Robb follows this up with a related work - his outro here suggests that the focus of punk is quite wide, so I'd like to see him get to grips with the work that followed in its wake post-1984. This book simply has to be read...NOW!!!!!!
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