No comments about Make The Music Go Bang!: The Early L.A. Punk Scene.

3 comments about Harmony In My Head: The Original Buzzcock Steve Diggle's Rock n' Roll Odyssey.

1. This book is an insight into the mind of pop punk geniuses. Steve Diggle does an excellent job telling the story of the mighty Buzzcocks. This book is very funny and there's plenty of inside info on other bands and fellow members. I highly recommend this to anyone who can read and/or digs the Buzzcocks.



2. Short, sweet, and to the point, much like the Buzzcocks songs (and the Buzzcocks, version 1) themselves. Sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll the way it seems to always play out, with some level of enlightenment coming along the way. Diggle opens up in this book with lots of honest stories, some funny and some painful. I particularly appreciated his honesty; Diggle has some very pointed comments about his bandmates and music (there's no love for 80s schlock here).
   
   The book revealed a number of things I was unaware of, such as his companionships with Ian Curtis and Kurt Cobain, and the unfortunate inspiration for Fast Cars. Diggle also talks about the severe injury to his wrist a few years ago, something that threatened to kill his ability to play guitar.
   
   I got to see the Buzzcocks not too long ago. It was very evident that Diggle loves what he is able to still do. That lust for life quality is very evident in the book.
   
   Harmony in My Head definitely left me wanting more; it is very short at 150 pages. I'd also be curious to read Pete Shelley's "side" of things.



3. i thought this book was very to the point!!
   i loved every word,line,phrase diggle used.You can tell that he is very serious about his work but also loves every second of his job.i beg all of you who read this to buy this book for two reasons.Firstly the book rocks!!!!!!Secondly,the money you use to buy this book goes to diggle and the buzzcocks,which means your supporting them. If we raise enough money they may make a new album(im not saying they need more money)But even if they dont need more money or even if they do either way. buying this book is your way of saying keep at it buzzcocks,and diggle keep writing~~eric

No comments about Fear Of Music: The 261 Greatest Albums Since Punk and Disco.

5 comments about Vacant: A Diary of the Punk Years 1976-1979.

1. This is a thoroughly enjoyable romp through the formative years of punk in the UK, courtesy of Nils' journal entries, and more importantly, through excellent photographs. In many ways this book makes the whole original punk scene/moment look not only incredibly avant garde, but also very disturbingly beautiful and innocent (in a deranged way of course--excluding the junkie tendencies of many of the characters...). My only complaint is that I wish the book were a bit meatier text-wise. The photos compensate for this slightness in text--candid, unstaged photos of Johnny Rotten, Siouxsie et.al. in all their shock glamor splendor.



2. Wow what a book. I once had a scary pet rock that had a mohawk. It brought me back two decades.



3. A nice addition to the recent explosion of books on punk. With the loverly image of young Sue Catwoman gracing the cover (a cool parody of "Vogue" magazine), you know the publishers are appealing to those already in the know about UK punk. Brothers Nils and Ray Stevenson were chroniclers of this demi-monde, now over twenty years old, and in their words and pictures capture the era.

   Color and b/w photos abound, with glorious portraits of all the guilty parties, from the usual suspects like Johnny R, Sid, Siouxsie, & Poly Styrene, to the fringe characters like Debbie Wilson, Linda the dominatrix and Helen Wellington-Lloyd. Nils' diary entries start February 1976 and close August '80 (hanging out with the Banshees on a California beach). In between comes all the mayhem, the excitement, and the wonderful creative, anarchic energy that is true punk rock.

   Look how young they all are! Sigh. It's amazing that these kids were between 16 and 20 years old and changed pop music so drastically. It's fun to read the contemporary handwritten comments written about those days by the folks involved. You just know that their lives were forever altered by these couple years.

   There's a good intro that traces the roots of punk, from the mods and rockers of the sixties to the teddy boys of the early seventies to Malcolm's shop Sex. This book will go nicely on the shelf with "England's Dreaming," "Rotten," and "Blank Generation." It's not for the casual fan of punk, but for the true fan.




4. This book is a great one if your into the '77 sound of the early british punk scene. It's a great companion to the Punk magazine book and "Please Kill Me." It seems to be a bit more honest than "Please Kill Me" and less pretenious also (though I still enjoy "Please Kill Me"). The photographs that accompany the text of the diary are great and really show the shoot from the hip attitude that punk music and art had at the time. I would recommend this book for young kids first getting into punk as a primer on the who's who, and also to old timers to get a glipse at their long loved heroes.



5. This book is an excellent photo journal of the early Britpunk era. As the writer was the early manager of Siouxsie and the Banshees, he has included many pics of Siouxsie, along with all the major people during the scene back then. I think this book is a good companion not to "Please Kill Me" (as a previous reviewer mentioned) but to Jon Savage's "England's Dreaming". I say this because Savage's book is all about the British punk scene during the late 70's and he talks about all of the people who appear in photo form (and write their own little notes) in "Vacant"; "Please Kill Me" is really about the American punk scene which was totally different. I agree that Nils Stevenson's journal entries are a little disjointed and don't always connect with the photos being shown, but it doesn't seem to matter all that much because many of the people he mentions are pictured more than once in the book anyway. The quality of the photos, even the live concert shots, are exquisite. The still shots are crisp, with detail that makes them look like they were taken just yesterday. I definitely recommend this book for people interested in the early British punk scene; the photos alone are well-worth the price of the book!

No comments about Wish You Were Here: An Essential Guide to Your Favorite Music Scenes-from Punk to Indie and Everything in Between.

3 comments about Popular Music, Gender and Postmodernism: Anger Is an Energy.

1. Nehring takes to task the postmodernists who dismiss anger and strong emotion in rock music.These critics see rock as being simply a packaged consumer product, whereas Nehring would like to think angry rock has some sort of significance.He never explains exactly what are the positive things this anger can achieve.He shows a lack of knowledge of psychology and true initiation when he criticises Michael Ventura, and Robert Bly (author of The Sibling Society), who have written with insight about the predicament of modern youth.This book has hardly anything to say about actual music.It is mostly negative, being a shallow critique of "postmodernist" views on rock music.



2. This book is horrible. it should be burned at the stake. dont buy it unless you like wasting money on books that resemble poo poo. thank you, good fight and good night.



3. Amazing. A riot-grrl fan, postmodern-sceptic and feminism enthusiast has actually managed to write the dullest, most fatuous piece of study (although it hardly merits the title) I've read in a long time. The author wastes practically half of the book trying to impress us all with his vast knowledge of philosophical theories through the ages, to finally astound us with the revelation that...postmodernism is derivative of modernist theories. yaaaaaaaawn. Any discussion of the actual music on which the arguments are ostensibly based is sparse and pretty shaky, as there's barely any attempt at musical analysis. Still, he can have a star for good intentions...

5 comments about Shibboleth: My Revolting Life.

1. As an avid fan of Crass' politics and art, I found Shibboleth to be an engrossing read. Penny's adolescent and adult life span a volatile, unexplored time in art and subculture, yet eventually drearily stagnant time in Britain's political scene. The scope of the story is large,and anyone familiar with Crass Records or the band themselves will find this history of the first anarcho-punk movement (as through Ratter/Rimbauds eyes) very interesting. Shining through in a somewhat different light in Penny's autobiography than in their songwork, Crass' anarcho-pacifist beliefs stem from the idea that "people are basically good, and that it was social conditions and social conditioning that produced the aberration of anti-social behavior." I reccomend this book for anyone interested in the smart side of punk.



2. There is something depressingly familiar in the resigned assent to violence that Rimbuad closes his book with when he refers to the attempted assassination of Margaret Thatcher by the IRA. As the catalyst for a generation of young punk rockers to begin challenging the System, Rimbuad lead the band Crass on a raucous assault on the British establishment and it's icons. The banners then were anarchy, freedom and peace... Today, if I read Rimbuad correctly, they could well be that tried and failed cliche the worker's revolution and the attendant socialist fantasies that go along with it. This book is only truly coherent to those that followed Crass and absorbed the band's Rimbuad penned lyrics; Shibboleth is that personal. Still if you want an insight into one of the premier leaders and motivators of the British punk scene, and a major thorn in the side of the Thatcher era State read this book.



3. So much of the punk ideals that surged through the youth in the 70's has given way to the poppish punk of the 90's and plain idiocy. Penny Rimbaud and Crass represented the real anarchists of the day. This great book delves into Penny's life and the life of "Wally Hope". "The Last of the Hippies" (the last part of the book) scared me to death, because it reminded me just what the government can do to people. Rimbaud is an excellent writer whose brilliant style will take on a journey through his revolting life. A must read for anyone who considers themselves an anarchist.



4. Shibboleth recounts the origins of punk (as we know it), by finding early punk in the late 1960s and recording its evolution through the 1970s and 1980s. I've never heard Rimbaud's band Crass, and loved this book all the same. Rimbaud sets up an interesting double story line: that of his own life and that of Wally--a flower child. In a sense, the collapse of Wally's dreams, his ruination at the hands of the English mental health system, and the right-wing onslaught of Thatcher serve to explain punk. As hippie dreams failed, and as socialist alternatives proved barbaric, punk birthed new autonomous languages to own meanings apart from states, corporations, and utopias. Rimbaud is a creative writer--at times beautiful in his freedoms, while on other pages his disorder is inneffectual and tedious. But so it goes with punk, in which one makes one's own rules and one's own discoveries of beauty. Others can take your ideas or leave them. If others share the vision, so much the better. As always, Rimbaud's vision appeals to many of us across the decades and on either side of oceans.



5. I was a big fan of Crass in the early days ('78 to '84); the ultimate punk band in my opinion. And not just musically; they were self-sufficient in every way, meaning every last word they wrote in their lyrics. So I was excited to finally pick up a copy of this book. There are some strange meanderings in here, to be sure, including a description of a violent murder (no, not the bit about Wally Hope, but the opening piece), plus a rather detailed description of what sounds like an act of urban terrorism, which is never really fully explained. That aside this is a truly vivid inside glimpse into the life of someone who is clearly more of an influence on the past few decades of culture than he perhaps would be comfortable with or even realises? Reading books like this make one realise just how little real impact the rest of us really have on life and history. The truth is, some of us are just not brave enough to truly challenge the way things are, well certainly not in the direct manner that Penny and those of a similar ilk have done and continue to do. The poetic genius should not be underestimated neither.
   
   Further book, film and music reviews, plus general shenanigans can be found at: www.mindcrash.co.uk and http://blog.myspace.com/mindcrash

3 comments about Unwelcomed Songs.

1. The irony of a punk rock coffee-table book is thick, but who better to do one than Henry Rollins. I don't really think it was meant as a coffee-table book, but damn, it looks great resting on one. There are some artists who intrigue me with their lyrics and there are some who don't... Rollins does. The book contains all of his lyrics from the first half of his career as well as some interesting back stories. This is a really beautiful book with a great collection of photographs. I am very happy with this purchase. A must for any Rollins/Black Flag fan... even good for someone with a passing interest.



2. This book, a compilation of sorts of notes, writings, clips, lyrics, photos, flyers and what not is an excellent compendium for the Rollins, and more importantly, Black Flag fan. Truly long-lost photos are presented here, as are notes about songs and little insights that are contained nowhere else. As the other lone reviewer here pointed out, this is a large-sized book as well (much like the size of the "Get in the Van" book, though not as thick), and very well put together. Not only does it present well aesthetically, but it reads well too.
   
   Definitely get this book. It's very much worth it.



3. Having read through "Black Coffee Blues" and "Smile You're Traveling" and loved them, I anxiously bought this book in '03 and really looked forward to it. Man, was I disappointed! I've tried, several times since then, to pick it up again and have had no luck in doing so.
   
   For newer Rollins fans, know that there are two Henry's: 1.) funny, articulate, insightful Henry of "Smile You're Traveling" and his spoken word albums; 2.) the angry-at-everything, combative punk rocker who screams cliched lyrics over generic hard rock music. This book showcases Henry #2. Fans of Henry #1 should look elsewhere. Believe me, the two are as different as night and day.
   
   I've never been able to get into Rollins' music, either with Black Flag or the Rollins Band. But I respect the fact that many people love this stuff, and those are the people who will enjoy this book of lyrics.
   
   Me? I'll just go read "Broken Summers" again.

1 comments about Vicious: Too Fast to Live: The Authorised Biography Of Sid Vicious.

1. I thought the book would be less of a picture book and more of a bio. It wasn't bad but it wasn't what i expected it to be. Great pictures but i had to return it because the binding broke and many of the pages fell out. it might have been just my copy.

5 comments about All Yesterdays' Parties: The Velvet Underground in Print, 1966-1971.

1. this is not a biograpy on the band, the first couple of sections suck because they're nothing but babble about warhol. don't get this book!



2. Instead of giving a book a bad rating because you can't figure out what it is BY THE TITLE, why don't you just not post?
   
   This isn't a biography, it is a bunch of clippings written about TVU when they were still around, making music.
   
   Is it flawless? No. But fans will dig it.
   
   That's all there is to it ... check it out, fans!



3. all yesterday's papers _ clinton heylin
   
   what more can be said about the velvet underground, that has not been already been written? Well, since my own point of view, very little or nothing, unless lou, john or mo decide to publish their own memoirs on the matter, which seems quite improbable. So meanwhile, here comes clinton heylin & decides to recompile most of what was written about them during their heydays. Long before they became a myth, at a time when they really stood for what they were, a simple n.y. city rock & roll band. So take a trip in time, be able to read & try to feel how it was first time around, when the velvet underground were pushing boundaries that most of the today bands have their backs to.
   By clinton heylin i strongly recommend -bootleg! the rise & fall of the secret industry & from the velvets to the void-oids (the book that inspired please kill me)



4. I felt compelled to write this review after reading some of the negative reviews about this compilation. There are better books on the Velvets available (e.g., Uptight!), yet this volume is indispensable to anyone seriously interested in the Velvets and how they were perceived by their contemporaries. They are now, and forever will be, well known as cutting-edge, avant-garde artists who helped shape a unique sound in the rock and roll arena. But when the Velvets first hit the scene, not everyone "got it." And that is what this book documents. This is an exhaustive reprint of almost all the known writings about the VU, in chronological order, from '65 - '71. Peppered throughout are photos of concert posters, press releases, etc., as well as a well-researched discography of all known songs from the period (though such lists are always subject to debate among fanatics), and a handy index. Heylin is a fantastic writer, particularly his stuff on Dylan and Reed/Velvets. He plays the role as the editor of this book -- not the author -- and in this role contributes an interesting and enjoyable introduction. If you are looking for the definitive biography of the band, check out Uptight! If you already know and love the Velvets, check out this volume and see what the press were saying about them at the time. It's amazing what time does to perceptions.



5. This book is a thorough collection of press releases during the time of The Velvet Underground's years with Lou Reed. It's interesting to see the style and progress of rock journalism over that period. Not a lot of new information for Velvet fans, but interesting reading.