Mystery cult (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} mysterycult) wrote,@ 2006-12-31 00:44:00 |
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Rip it up and start again
Simon Reynolds' Rip It Up & Start Again: PostPunk 1978-1984 has been universally lauded in the press, but despite that it's pretty good, giving the lowdown on a thousand arcane bands. Who knew that Dexy's Midnight Runners were originally deeply serious, fashion-conscious, and avant-garde? I admit there's the odd chapter full of total obscurities which I skimmed, but mostly it continues to intrigue even when discussing forgotten curiosities. The exploits of Malcolm Maclaren and Genesis P-Orridge have a particular grotesque fascination.
More than the music (much of which is, at least for me, "of historical interest" rather than directly gripping) the book is interesting because it conjures up a different world, one of inky fanzines and bands fighting Thatcher by writing songs about Jacques Derrida. It slags off the Sisters of Mercy as being "where goth went wrong", but I suppose no book can get everything right.
A recent Guardian review of a compilation by forgotten post-punk band Josef K provides a more savage take on the era. Read the whole thing, but this bit gives the flavour.
One thing post-punk bands loved was, to paraphrase an old Beyond the Fringe sketch, a big, futile gesture, designed to emphasise the disdain in which they held commercial success... Sadly denied the chance to show their contempt for the showbiz rigmarole of a Top of the Pops appearance because they weren't selling enough to warrant a Top of the Pops appearance in the first place, [Josef K] had to find other means of self-sabotage. Having announced they would release only one album, they somehow contrived to release the wrong one.
MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANY OF THAT, the Reynolds book made me realise that the Human League were pleasingly dark and heavy-sounding until they recruited the girls and it all went wrong.
Close inspection of the video will reveal that Phil Oakey is sporting the world's first emo haircut. Presumably he was been moved to this act of fashion self-harm by contemplating the terrible plight of the silkworm.
Listen to the voice of Buddha!
Saying stop your sericulture!
Simon Reynolds' Rip It Up & Start Again: PostPunk 1978-1984 has been universally lauded in the press, but despite that it's pretty good, giving the lowdown on a thousand arcane bands. Who knew that Dexy's Midnight Runners were originally deeply serious, fashion-conscious, and avant-garde? I admit there's the odd chapter full of total obscurities which I skimmed, but mostly it continues to intrigue even when discussing forgotten curiosities. The exploits of Malcolm Maclaren and Genesis P-Orridge have a particular grotesque fascination.
More than the music (much of which is, at least for me, "of historical interest" rather than directly gripping) the book is interesting because it conjures up a different world, one of inky fanzines and bands fighting Thatcher by writing songs about Jacques Derrida. It slags off the Sisters of Mercy as being "where goth went wrong", but I suppose no book can get everything right.
A recent Guardian review of a compilation by forgotten post-punk band Josef K provides a more savage take on the era. Read the whole thing, but this bit gives the flavour.
One thing post-punk bands loved was, to paraphrase an old Beyond the Fringe sketch, a big, futile gesture, designed to emphasise the disdain in which they held commercial success... Sadly denied the chance to show their contempt for the showbiz rigmarole of a Top of the Pops appearance because they weren't selling enough to warrant a Top of the Pops appearance in the first place, [Josef K] had to find other means of self-sabotage. Having announced they would release only one album, they somehow contrived to release the wrong one.
MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANY OF THAT, the Reynolds book made me realise that the Human League were pleasingly dark and heavy-sounding until they recruited the girls and it all went wrong.
Close inspection of the video will reveal that Phil Oakey is sporting the world's first emo haircut. Presumably he was been moved to this act of fashion self-harm by contemplating the terrible plight of the silkworm.
Listen to the voice of Buddha!
Saying stop your sericulture!
