Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Rip It Up


The punks didn't last very long (thank God?), and Simon Reynolds describes what came after the spitting hordes in "Rip It Up And Start Again. Postpunk 1978-1984" (Faber and Faber 2006, my paperback 2007). We talk about bands like PiL, Devo, The Fall, The Slits, Wire, Talking Heads, Pere Ubu, Joy Division and Cabaret Voltaire, and lots of others. Robert Wyatt is in here too, in the chapters on Scritti Politti and Raincoats.
This is great reading, also the part of the book on "New Pop and New Rock" (the wildest ones: Frankie Goes To Holywood). See also Totally Wired, and hear this sampler, whith Robert Wyatt's "Grass" (Ivor Cutler).

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