Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
Extraordinary everday lives in 1970s Britain, 28 Oct 2005
Chris Brown provides a unique account of the adrenalin rush culture of following a football club home and away in the 1970s. His story shows the attraction and excitement and also the brutal side of the violence but also the brutality of 1970s Britain. Mixed in with this social history of the time you get a real sense of the characters that inhabited these worlds - often contradictory but always honest. Brown has a perfect insight into the music and fashion of the time as Harrington jackets, pegs and tonics, fly away collar shirts, oxford bags and jelly sandals all make an appearance dancing to the skatalites, symarip, maceo parker, manu dibango, bootsy collins and fred wesley. The diversity and dynamsim of the 1970s music scene is recounted by someone who was there and honest enough to portray a reality that kids growing up in major cities and their satellite towns and suburbs knew and in some respects loved. Being a Bristol City fan I could have avoided this book, I'm glad I didn't. Go and buy a copy of this fantastic account of extraordinary everyday lives in the 1970s - and learn a bit about the people, music and culture of the time.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Hooligan, hero or a Bristol kiddie having a good time?, 7 April 2001
By A Customer
Before the fences and police intelligence there were the 'bovver' boys who ruled the football league grounds of England. A passionate, humorous account of a working class teenager in the turbulent 70's. Football, fashion, sex, alcohol, music and violence, what more can a young man want? There are some fantastically funny annecdotes - how can anyone accidentally steal a police car?? An excellent read from page 1 to the end. Go get it now and find out that there was more to the 70's than ABBA and disco.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Extraordinary everday life and culture in 1970s Britain, 28 Oct 2005
Chris Brown provides a fantastic social and cultural history of Bristol and the UK in the 70s. What runs through this book is a well thought out account of not just the appeal and excitement but also the brutality of football violence and the lifestyle of following a football team, mixed with an accurate account of the brutality and social upheaval of the Britain of the time. Woven into the account of growing up as a young man attracted to football violence is a brilliant and accurate account of the fashion and music scene of the 70s. Through music Brown and his mates show how multifaceted, intelligent and contradictory as characters they are which gives the reader plenty of food for thought about their own character. His discussion of favourite tracks of the time ranging from Manu Dibango, Bootsy Collins, Maceo Parker, Toot and the Maytals and Symarip shows the diverse nature and openness of the music scene in the 70s. Brown also has a keen eye on the fashion and how it changed and mutated. Monkey boots, jelly sandals, harrington jackets, oxford bags, shirts with fly away collars all make an appearance. Only someone who lived through the period and is as honest as Brown is could have written as sharp an account of the period as this. Being a Bristol City fan I could have ignored this, I'm glad I didn't.
Anyone who thinks this book is cashing in on the trend for football hooligan books should think again - its honest, accurrate, thoughtful and direct and speaks volumes about the characters and time period it describes. Go and buy a copy.
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