From Publishers Weekly
Art and music come together in this oral account of Manhattan's mid-1970s No Wave music scene. Moore, a founding member of the band Sonic Youth, and Coley, a music writer and editor, identify the likes of Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, DNA, Contortions and Mars as the "core bands" that built No Wave. Shedding light on the personal relationships of these close-knit bands, the surprisingly reserved volume-graced with exquisite black-and-white photos with occasional splashes of poster-art color-also looks at how the devastated state of the city influenced their sound and performances: "As everything's collapsing... the music became the rebellion," says Teenage Jesus's Lydia Lunch in her scowling, astute foreword. Music sometimes described as "a car crash" gets heartfelt and intelligent commentary from the likes of DNA's Ikue Mori: "it wasn't about technique; it was more about new ideas and inspiration." The authors' personal interviews with the movement's other pioneers elicit raw, honest hindsight; along with revealing photographs, this volume takes readers straight into the heart of this zeitgeist.
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Product Description
No Wave is the first book to visually chronicle the collision of art and punk in the New York underground of 1976 to 1980. This in depth look at punk rock, new wave, experimental music, and the avant-garde art movement of the 70s and 80s focuses on the true architects of No Wave from James Chance to Lydia Lunch to Glenn Branca, as well as the luminaries that intersected the scene, such as David Byrne, Debbie Harry, Brian Eno, Iggy Pop, and Richard Hell.
This rarely documented scene was the creative stomping ground of young artists and filmmakers from Jean-Michel Basquiat to Jim Jarmusch as well as the musical genesis for the post-punk explosions of Sonic Youth and is here revealed for a new generation of fans and collectors.
Thurston Moore and Byron Coley have selected 150 unforgettable images, most of which have never been published previously, and compiled hundreds of hours of personal interviews to create an oral history of the movement, providing a never-seen-before exploration and celebration of No Wave.
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