Legendary vitriolic broadside directed at all things punk, now derided by co-author Julie Burchill as “total speed damage.” Tracks the origins of punk rock music, both in the U.S. and U.K., including such seminal bands as the New York Dolls and the Runaways. Includes new pix and forward by guitarist Lenny Kaye. Gossipy, bitchy and quite possibly libelous, Julie and Tony go for the throat of the pop music world with a meth-tipped pen. MW

Publisher: Faber and Faber
Paperback: 95 pages
Illustrated

An insider’s survey of punk rock from its beginnings to the recent Riot Grrrl movement—from the Pistols to the Dead Boys to those jughead Oi! bands and beyond. True to the unsparing spirit of his subject, the author has something to say about every band that could possibly be construed as “punk” (from the infamous to the forgotten) with an assurance about as subtle as a wrecking ball. Petulant yet focused, condescending and generous, the most lingering appeal of Home’s observations is not so much their accuracy—aesthetic being opinion, after all—as the hubris that informs them. Though at times indulging in the intellectual obscurantism he claims to loathe (“Some readers may feel I come across as suspiciously anti-Bergsonian…” What??), Cranked Up Really High, with cogency and passion, exhaustingly delivers on its basic claim: LOUDER! FASTER! SHORTER! MDG

Publisher: Codex
Paperback: 128 pages
Illustrated

This is the sort of book that tempts one to drag out the thesaurus and start laying on the superlatives. It not only chronicles the events and conditions that led up to the advent of punk rock but it conveys the energy of the explosion. It is as if Savage had a front row seat and full perspective. The book is divided into five sections which explain how the momentum was built: from December l971through August 1975, and January 1978 through May 1979. At center stage is Malcolm McLaren and his many projects, which included the store Sex, the scene it spawned, and the Sex Pistols. Into this narrative is woven the many threads of trend and circumstance that effortlessly segue “the human history of architecture” into the evolution of rock ‘n’ roll culture, punctuated by quotes from Jung and lyrics from Pere Ubu.
What’s truly amazing about this hook is its scope. Without ever losing its focus, England’s Dreaming constantly manages to carry the reader along tangential, concurrent events showing direct cause and effect. This is by no means an easy feat given the geographical diversity of the parts which were collected to form the whole. And while the author’s choice of which facts to include creates a subjective narrative, great care and effort were used to solicit a wide variety of “versions of the story.” The sociology employed here is not of the shallow pop variety, but a measured consideration rife with insight. The book concludes with an encyclopedic discography of many of the most important bands of this period which is defined by not a regional geographic focus but an ideological one. SA

Publisher: St. Martin's
Paperback: 602 pages
Illustrated

In the late 1970s, Legs McNeil was the “resident punk” around the New York office of the seminal underground publication Punk magazine. In this volume, he and co-author McCain gather together reminiscences (presented verbatim as an “oral history” and without commentary) of the movers and shakers in that city’s punk rock and proto-punk scenes, from the Velvet Underground and MC5 to the Ramones, the Dead Boys and even those limey interlopers the Sex Pistols. Some may quibble with the authors’ assertions that New York was the solitary birthplace of punk rock, or that the scene died with the arrival of the Sex Pistols in the U.S. and their implosion soon after. But the book is crammed with sleaze and gossip aplenty as well as hair-raising tales of heavy drug usage and indiscriminate sexual activity which will keep readers turning pages far past their bedtimes. The sensitive of heart take note: not since Romeo and Juliet have so many major characters died in the last act. LP

Publisher: Grove
Hardback: 320 pages
Illustrated

A collection of the best material (1976-1981) from the seminal NYC-based zine Punk, including interviews, cartoons, collages and plenty of photos (some in color) of all your favorite punk rockers: Blondie, The Ramones, the Voidoids, Edith Massey(!), the Bay City Rollers(?), Patti Smith, The Clash, AC/DC(??), the Iggster and, of course (what self-respecting zine of the genre would be complete without?), the beloved Pistols. Contains a pictorial interview with Rotten (still sportin’ zits) in which the budding entertainer, with characteristic understatement, reflects on the importance of audience approval (“If they don’t like it they can fuck off”), as well as a poignant phone interview with a vulnerable Sid Vicious on the heels of the band’s collapse. What’s most striking about the collection is the utter absence of genuine mean-spiritedness and that its caustic edge is never without an equal dose of knuckleheaded, naughty good cheer (compliments of, among others, Lester Bangs and Legs McNeil). With a table of contents that includes a short commentary by Holmstrom for each entry, Punk: The Original is a joyful, comical and, yes, informative celebration of a musical movement at its short-lived first wave peak. A must-read for anyone interested in the glorious ragtag origins of punk. MDG

Publisher: Trans-High
Paperback: 136 pages
Illustrated

In the world of academia, the lengthiest arguments revolve around issues of authenticity, thoroughness of research and the way in which disparate facts are connected. In the world of rock writing these issues aren’t usually given the time of day. In recent years books on punk rock have become more and more common, ranging from the idiotic (Greil Marcus, various titles that started as college papers) to the entertaining (Please Kill Me, Rotten’s autobio) to the purely confused. This book belongs in the latter group since it is not only just about punk but is an attempt to, uh, explain rock in a bizarro-world version of Cutler’s File Under Pop.
Rock and the Pop Narcotic is a mishmash, and as such is difficult to completely dis or dismiss, or for that matter take seriously. Carducci is preoccupied with what in rock ‘n’ roll history does or does not “rock.” And how “pop” has watered down “rock” (a bunch of “fags” are to blame for this says the author). Saint Vitus “rock” and so does Black Sabbath and a lot of other bands Carducci likes. Bands he doesn’t like don’t “rock”. The Pet Shop Boys or New Order don’t “rock.” Pretty simple. This goes on for 500 pages.
Carducci spent his formative years in the SoCal hardcore scene (at SST Records) and is deciphering the world of rock ‘n’ roll music from his own point of view, which is interesting (in the same way as is any piece of historical or cultural writing attempting to explain a huge and complex subject from an extremely limited perspective). Carducci may come off as more sincere than Marsh or Marcus et al. but one should still remember that Rock and the Pop Narcotic is a rant book, by a rabid rock ’n’ roll fan who frequently stumbles over the line separating the fan from the kook. JK

Publisher: 2.13.61
Paperback: 532 pages
Illustrated

A history of the birth of punk according to the Mouth Almighty. The pissed-off spokesman for the movement he helped forge (only to later sneeringly disparage), Lydon is a born raconteur. Assisted by a wide array of contributors (including drummer Paul Cook, guitarist Steve Jones, Chrissie Hynde, Billy Idol and Julien Temple), Lydon, with ego, impatience and wit, recounts the saga of the rise and collapse of the band that launched a thousand others. Insightful, smug, hilarious and tender, Lydon illustrates how he was never one to suffer stupidity quietly—his own or anyone else’s. Whether his version of events consistently corresponds to fact isn’t the point; delivery is all. To learn about the roots of punk—British, American or otherwise—this is the book: source material from the mouth of its prime mover. Punctuated with great photos and containing the memorable line: “I never screamed as a youngster.” And Bollocks is still a brilliant pop album. MDG

Publisher: Picador
Paperback: 329 pages
Illustrated

During those glory days of early punk [1977-1979), Search & Destroy was widely considered to be one of the most eclectic and intelligent publications going. Based in San Francisco [a magnet, itself, for misfits), it covered not only the local scene, but those evolving in Los Angeles, New York, the British Isles and Paris. Whenever the magazine interviewed somebody the writer would frequently include a list of the subject’s favorite books and records or even interesting things that happened to be on the coffee table or desk. A reading of these issues, which have aged remarkably well, captures the sense that something new and exciting was happening. The staff of Search & Destroy knew how to guide an interview into intelligent subjects and would throw in a monkey wrench if an interview got too self-serving or rote. Many of the most interesting interviews are the ones with people who didn’t go on to become famous. So clear off a table and set the Way-Back Machine. SA

Publisher: V/Search
Paperback: 142 pages

During those glory days of early punk [1977-1979), Search & Destroy was widely considered to be one of the most eclectic and intelligent publications going. Based in San Francisco [a magnet, itself, for misfits), it covered not only the local scene, but those evolving in Los Angeles, New York, the British Isles and Paris. Whenever the magazine interviewed somebody the writer would frequently include a list of the subject’s favorite books and records or even interesting things that happened to be on the coffee table or desk. A reading of these issues, which have aged remarkably well, captures the sense that something new and exciting was happening. The staff of Search & Destroy knew how to guide an interview into intelligent subjects and would throw in a monkey wrench if an interview got too self-serving or rote. Many of the most interesting interviews are the ones with people who didn’t go on to become famous. So clear off a table and set the Way-Back Machine. SA

Publisher: V/Search
Paperback: 148 pages

From the jacket: “Touching From a Distance describes Ian Curtis’ life from his early teenage years to his premature death on the eve of Joy Division’s first American tour. It tells how, with a wife, child and impending international fame, he was seduced by the glory of an early grave. What were the reasons behind his fascination with death? Were his dark, brooding lyrics an artistic exorcism?” Who’s to say, especially since Deborah Curtis seems to have zero interest in her dead husband’s music, but this book certainly delivers as a classic rock-wife saga with a twist: Along with the usual obsessively rendered details of infidelity, betrayal and alcohol abuse, there are also descriptions of epileptic seizures, emotionally crippling bouts of morbidity, and suicide. Includes complete lists of recordings and gigs, as well as lyrics, both published and unpublished. MG

Publisher: Faber and Faber
Paperback: 213 pages
Illustrated