book data
150 ratings,
3.71
average rating, 16 reviews
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published
January 1994
by Penguin Books
(first published 1993)
details
Hardcover, 438 pages
isbn
0140149406
(isbn13: 9780140149401)
description
Was punk just another moment in music history, a flash in time when a group of young rebels exploded in a fury of raw sound, outrageous styles, and in…more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 225)
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avg 3.71
editions: all | this edition
editions: all | this edition
Read in January, 2010
A fine collection of Marcus' writings that revolve around punk and postpunk music for the likes of Rolling Stone, Artforum, and other publications. It's a reminder of how intelligent and thoughtful criticism of music and pop culture has suffered a bit in the internet era. I'm sure great stuff is still out there (Tell me!—Where?), but Marcus is unique in how he mixes highbrow assertions with what could be construed as lowbrow subject matter, and then goes deep, sometimes in the course of just 2...more
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Read in November, 2008
I hoped this would be a worthy companion to the ultra-enjoyable Please Kill Me but unfortunately it's bloated and pompous for the most part, and in that annoying self-absorbed critic way, more about Greil Marcus and how in-the-know he is than about the music. But there are a few decent pieces in this collection. I liked one that looked at the Sex Pistols and the work of Margaret Drabble to try to understand something about English culture at the time, and a pretty terrific excoriation of "W...more
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8 comments
It took me a while to get through this whole book, but I'm glad I did. Lately I've been less interested in music than I used to be and I decided to read some of the legendary Greil Marcus' musings as a way of getting myself interested again. I'm not sure if it did that as much as I had hoped, but it was good to read someone gushing about all the post-punk bands that I love, especially the feminist ones. If nothing else, it makes me feel like I should Gang of Four a second chance. Admittedly, som...more
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Read in September, 2008
recommends it for:
those who like to rock out to Roland Barthes
While it is true that Mr. Marcus is occasionally given to disappearing into a semiotic fog, on the whole this collection is pretty entertaining. He does a good, I would guess serendipitous, job of chronicling the arcs (I can't say careers) of acts (not to say artists) such as Gang of Four, the Mekons, the Clash, Elvis Costello, and Bruce Springsteen. Standout articles include cogent reviews of LET IT BLEED and ARMED FORCES, and a remarkably perceptive account of the dissoluton of the Clash. My f...more
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2 comments
First read this when I was a stupid kid; it probably left me a little less stupid (as a "punk," I was mystified by the near-constant references to and raptures on Springsteen).
Reading it again now leaves me a great deal less stupid. This book is proof of the power of just this sort of criticism. The impassioned and informed critique of popular culture is not just another manifestation of that culture, but, at least potentially, a far more powerful account of the times in w...more
Reading it again now leaves me a great deal less stupid. This book is proof of the power of just this sort of criticism. The impassioned and informed critique of popular culture is not just another manifestation of that culture, but, at least potentially, a far more powerful account of the times in w...more
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Read in April, 1996
recommends it for:
everyone
This is probably the book that had the largest influence on me. I read it at least once a year, and have done so every year since I first found it in a bargain bin in Western Connecticut. It's a collection of reviews and articles Marcus wrote between 1977 and 1992, loosely organized around punk rock. As a jaded 18-year-old punk, I was exposed to all kinds of new things by reading this. If it weren't for this book, I might never have heard the invigoratin, life-affirming music of Elvis Costello, ...more
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Read in June, 2008
I like Greil Marcus' work collected in this volume, but a little goes a long way -- this is something to just dip in to. In aggregate, it's a little much. This is less music criticism as an exploration of aesthetics and more as an exploration of politics. The Mekons, Gang of Four, the Clash, Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello all make multiple appearances. The twin spectres of Reagan and Thatcher loom over everything. There is some interesting exploration of gender and punk/post-punk.
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Read in September, 1996
So a lot of it may have been lost on my very young self, but for an angry teenager with blue hair, it was a nice validation to know that other people cared about punk in earnestness as well.
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This would be a lot better if one out of every two articles wasn't about Gang of Four.
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Very formative, or it could've been - I read this in high school and made a list of all the rad bands mentioned therein, the better to track them down at Cellophane Square. Alas for me, they were all bands like Kleenex (impossible to find until the turn of the millennium; name changed at the behest of Colgate-Palmolive) (insert Slits drummer joke here) and Delta 5 (who would wait for their reissue til 2006). I coulda been the raddest freshman at the college radio station.
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Read in August, 2007
This is a collection of reviews and articles that Greil wrote with a focus on punk. As the subtitle to the book explains, this is a about punk in pop music, not necessarily about punk rock. The collection is tied together by pop musicians that have had a punk asthetic. It is an interesting read for anyone who is interested in the "outside" musicians in mainstream culture.
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Used to be called Ranters & Crowd Pleasers but was republished under a new name... I think just to confuse people into buying it twice. Not his best, but very interesting one-offs and some fiction. In the fiction he tries for (I think) Burroughs mixed with Gibson in a kind of punk stew and does pretty well.
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Read in January, 2008
Liz gave me this for Christmas, and I dove into the little mag articles from the end of the seventies. Punk Rock Show reviews and extended political analysis all in 700 word nugs.
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Like taking a graduate course in punk - I should get 4 credits at Leeds University for reading this.
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