mickmercer
Druid
Joined: 16 Apr 2004
Posts: 36
Location: Selsey, West Sussex
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 Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2004 12:28 am Post subject: BURNING BRIDGES - Fantastic Punk Book - review |
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BURNING BRITAIN: THE HISTORY OF UK PUNK 1980 – 1984
IAN GLASPER
Cherry Red Books £14.99
ISBN 1-901447-24-3
To put together a book covering the 80’s Punk activity, is an enormous task – leading to a book over 400 pages long, but Ian Glasper has done it easily, creating a book rich in detail, which brings back memories,
and I have learned more from this book alone about most of these bands than from any other sources. It’s also interesting, and quite touching, to hear so many of them reflecting on their past, as virtually none of them regret anything.
Ian divides the bands into geographical zones of the UK, which struck me as odd initially, but it’s as good a way as any of avoiding a strict A-Z format, and he’s dug deep, unearthing four from Wales, two obvious choices from Northern Ireland, nine from Scotland and seventy-seven (o-ho-ho!) from England.
ABH, Abrasive Wheels, Action Pact, Ad Nauseam, Angelic Upstarts, Anti Establishment, Anti Nowhere League, Anti-Pasti, Anti-Social, Attak, Barbed Wire, Bayonet Babies, Blitz, Blitzkrieg, Broken Bones, Butcher, Cadaverous Clan, Chaos UK, Chaotic Dischord, Chaotic Youth, Chron Gen, Cockney Rejects, Court Martial,
Criminal Justice, Cult Maniax, Dead Katts, Dead Man’s Shadow, Dead Wretched,
Demob, Discharge, Disorder, Distortion, Drongoes For Europe, Emergency, English Dogs, Erazerhead, External Menace, Foreign Legion, GBH, Instant Agony, Lunatic Fringe, Major Accident, Maus Maus, Mayhem, Newtown Neurotics, One Way System, Peter & Test Tube Babies, Picture Frame Seduction, Red Alert, Resistance 77, Riot Squad, Screaming Dead, Sensa Yuma, Septic Psychos, Skeptix, Soldier Dolls, Special Duties, The Adicts, The Dark, The Defects, The Destructors, The Ejected, The Enemy, The Expelled, The Exploited, The Fits, The Insane, The Outcasts, The Partisans, The Samples, The Skeptix, The Skroteez, The Stench, The Straps, The Underdogs, The Varukers, The Violators, The Wall, Threats, Total Chaos, Toy Dolls, Ugen Kampf, UK Dekay, UK Subs, Uproar, Vice Squad, and Xtract
A lof of the names will be very familiar to anyone who has a serious knowledge of Punk, and plenty you have never heard of. You get a resume, essentially, punctuated by lively quotes, a selective discography and notes of relevant re-releases, and a surprising amount of photos, considering most bands of the time were hopelessly disorganised in such matters.
You might notice some names are missing, and that’s because Ian is tackling the Anarcho scene in a separate book next, which is brilliant news. I hope he may also do a Post-Punk book, because he conveys his interest and details in a refreshingly open manner.
But that isn’t all, because Ian also talks with the men behind the labels that mainly made the popularising of Punk possible - No Future, Riot City, Captain Oi!, Clay, Beat The System and covers the Holidays In The Sun retro festivals.
It’s an exhausting experience as it deserves to be, and he has given these bands their ‘official’ recognition and literary due. For that he is to be applauded and anybody who has ever claimed to be interested in Punk needs a copy of this.
Not to get this would be Treason. It’s essential.
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