Pretty Vacant: A History of UK Punk (Cappella Books) [Paperback]

Phil Strongman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2008 | Series: Cappella Books

London, early 1976. Oxford Street is a sea of long hair and flared jeans; prog rock prevails. But Ron Watts, the 100 Club’s “rock night” manager, has witnessed the impromptu and chaotic gigs at High Wycombe College of Art. He invites the Sex Pistols to start a residency in central London, and over the next eighteen months, everything changes.

            Unlike many writers, Phil Strongman was actually at the 100 Club punk festival in September 1976 and witnessed punk’s violent and dramatic rise. After tracing its underground roots in New York and Detroit, Strongman shows how the Sex Pistols and the Clash, along with their confreres, took rock ’n’ roll closer to the edge than any band before them. But after the outrage over the Pistols’ legendary outburst on Bill Grundy’s TV show catapulted the band into the center of a press feeding frenzy, it was swiftly eclipsed by the blossoming of a new movement in time for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee. Punk had traveled from the underground to the mainstream in the space of six months.

            Based on new interviews with Malcolm McLaren, Jah Wobble, Glen Matlock, Roadent, and many more, Strongman vividly re-creates the punk eruption and charts its spread across Britain and to the West Coast of the United States. Thirty years after its inception, UK punk has found its definitive account in Pretty Vacant.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The latest in a robust lineage of books about the early days of punk music, Strongman's history delivers a straightforward account of the rise of the Sex Pistols and the Clash in the U.K., as well as retelling the story of the New York scene that gave birth to the Ramones and Patti Smith, and the West Coast punk movement that spawned the Dead Kennedys and others. More than 30 years later, the characters that populate these stories continue to amuse and appall with equal ease: John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten) performing a bizarre mewling, puking, hunchback-cringing rendition of I'm Eighteen at his first audition for the Sex Pistols; Sid Vicious spiraling out of control in a violent, drug-fueled nightmare. The Pistols get most of the glory here, as indicated by the book's title from one of their earliest and most famous songs, but Strongman's narrative is notable for its inclusiveness of a diverse group of scenes and bands. While it breaks no new ground in redefining the accepted forefathers (the Velvet Underground) or heirs (Gang of Four, the Fall) of the most famous era of punk music, the book is undoubtedly valuable as a well-researched primer on the events and personalities that defined the records and culture of that world. (Apr.)
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Review

"Undoubtedly valuable."  —Publishers Weekly

"Shocking . . . outrageous."  —Austin Chronicle

"[Strongman] is a talented writer, and even those who have no interest in punk's style or substance will find themselves engrossed in Pretty Vacant storytelling."  —Pop Matters.com

"Entertaining."  —NUVO

"[Strongman is] a visceral storyteller."  —Skyscraper magazine

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Chicago Review Press (April 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556527527
• ISBN-13: 978-1556527524
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,566,463 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pretty Vacant: A History of UK Punk, April 27, 2008

By 

Lawrence R. Chaplan (Marstons Mills, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pretty Vacant: A History of UK Punk (Cappella Books) (Paperback)

Surprise...........This was book was refreshingly well researched and as a result, rather enlightening.

The bulk of the discussion in the book was new and fresh material, rather than the old hand me down stuff of the past. On top of that it was well written and quite readable.

I can recommend this book to anyone interested in some of the things that really happened in the New York and UK punk scenes.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pretty Vacant (Not), July 24, 2009

By 

Bloomsbury (melbourne australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pretty Vacant: A History of UK Punk (Cappella Books) (Paperback)

Phil Strongman has written a great book. Subtitled "A History of Punk", it's a great journey through the development of this exciting movement.

The author's engagement with his subject is infectious, his appreciation of the music obvious. He's also interviewed many of the seminal figures of punk & relates the emergence & development of the scene with verve & a rigorous adherence to detail & provable facts. He also includes many quotes from punk musicians & adherents that vividly evoke the era.

Strongman is able to set Punk within its historical context, both musically & culturally. About a third of the book is devoted to Punk outside the U.K. - mainly in the U.S.A, with coverage of bands both well known & less famous but equally important.

The tragic Sid Vicious (who took it all too seriously) is discussed with insightful sympathy, & the evil twins of Punk (the hangers on, the users, the dealers) are dealt with clearly. Strongman has the wonderful talent of describing a place & time so that you feel you've been there. His sections on the Chelsea Hotel & the 100 Club punk festival (where it all started in 1976) are practically a time machine to transport you there.

Strongman is no fan of Vivienne Westwood, seeming to believe Malcolm McLaren's claims that he was the creative genius of the pair. It's hard not to think that Westwood suffers the traditional fate of outspoken, "not nice" women when she's denigrated in this way, her own genius downplayed. McLaren, of course, is sublime as a self promoter.

This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the rise of Punk, the music itself or the cultural & social history of the era. I loved it, & will read it again.

1.0 out of 5 stars Rambling and Tough Reading, July 23, 2010

By 

Dickens "aidekeek" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pretty Vacant: A History of UK Punk (Cappella Books) (Paperback)

I found this so hard to get into.

I kept waiting for the clear story and chronology of 'A History of UK Punk', but it just didn't come. At the end, which I began to speed-read more and more, I felt I knew not much more about UK punk history than before I entered the confusion of this book.

It's not a cohesive telling of the story, but seems to jump about all over the place, with sometimes pages-long digressions about the lives and works of the influencers of the influencers of the prime punk movers.

Basically, I kept thinking, "C'mon, get on with it.", but it never did...