Customer Reviews

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

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4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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...

Strongman first heard of Malcolm McLaren and his new band in December 1975, he explains in the preface which briefly covers some of the names that would create the most dramatic upheaval in rock. Punk encompassed fashion, design, writing, independent record companies and other aspects of culture that do not easily fit into a straightforward chronology. As he points out, this manic outburst benefited various performers only distantly related to the genre as well as women in rock.

The story begins at a Pistols gig at the 100 Club in 1976 then takes a detour to NYC and the Velvet Underground past, Iggy, the MC5, The Modern Lovers, New York Dolls, Ramones, Patti Smith et al. In Britain, Pub Rock preceded punk whilst the States had the Max's Kansas City/CBGBs scene where the likes of Richard Hell, Television and Blondie were emerging. For his efforts as connecting factor the late Malcolm gets a thorough mini-biography. Bowie and Glamrock receive their dues too. Strongman investigates the backgrounds of key individuals such as members & managers of the Clash and Pistols and designer Vivienne Westwood in some detail and explains the role of the UK national press and music weeklies like Sounds, Melody Maker and NME. Surprisingly there was much initial resistance and even hostility at the latter two with the largest circulations.

The author captures the energy & excitement of the early gigs and the Bill Grundy debacle and its aftermath with flair and insight. The headlines of outrage are much more amusing in hindsight. Suddenly, bands like The Buzzcocks, Stranglers, Banshees, Jam & Damned hit the spotlight and some of them the charts. The Pistols enjoyed a giddy turnover of record companies while others were waiting and the stage was set for the proliferation of independent labels. Everything the Pistols touched throughout 1977 achieved instant notoriety, from the Jubilee Boat incident to the God Save The Queen single. That same year The Boomtown Rats descended on London whilst new talent was stirring in Manchester & Birmingham. By now artists like Elvis Costello and various New York groups were making the British charts. The Pistols' debut album entered at number one in November but the US tour meant the end of the band in San Francisco in January 1978.

The careers of Siouxsie & The Banshees, PIL, Joy Division, The Fall and Wire are examined as well as the roots & the rise of West Coast Punk like The Dead Kennedys. The penultimate part is devoted to the fall and demise of Sid Vicious and the Clash's triumphant 1981 shows in Manhattan, whilst the last looks at the legacy, the reunions from the 1990s onward, and the legions of dead. The book concludes with a bibliography, filmography and index. Sixteen pages of plates bring the legends to life in black & white photographs. Strongman's most important observation concerns the Bill Grundy spectacle. All the fuss and notoriety attracted what became the Oi!otics: a slew of dumb bands playing stagnant 3-chord rock which became the face of punk in the UK. Innovative artists moved on, the New Wave label took over and the 1980s became the Synthpop Era. Oi!

I also recommend Boy Looked At Johnny by the formidable Julie Burchill for a closer look at British punk, From the Velvets to the Voidoids by Clinton Heylin for American pre-punk & New York punk, and In the Fascist Bathroom by Greil Marcus for a wide embrace of the spirit of punk from 1977 to 1992. Being petty & vacuous, my criticism of Pretty Vacant cannot be justified but must be aired. I love the obscure and the One Hit Wonder so would have preferred to learn more of bands like Poly Styrene & X-Ray Spex plus assorted oddities like Jilted John, Plastic Bertrand and Wreckless Eric. Otherwise, a great read.