Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk, 1978-1984

by Simon Reynolds

Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk, 1978-1984

book data

422 ratings, 4.09 average rating, 94 reviews (more data...)

edit

published

February 2nd 2006 by Faber and Faber

binding

Paperback, 624 pages

isbn

057121570X (isbn13: 9780571215706)

find at: Amazon | Half.com | Barnes & Noble | Abebooks | compare prices…

Sign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of this book.

new topic
discuss this book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

friend reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

lists with this book

This book is currently not featured on any Listopia lists. Add this book to your favorite list »

other reviews (showing 1-20 of 609)

All ratings | 5 stars (135) | 4 stars (191) | 3 stars (69) | 2 stars (11) | 1 star (4) | avg 4.09

all | this edition

Andrew

Andrew rated it:

(review of isbn 0571215696)

06/26/08

bookshelves: pop-music

Read in June, 2008

A thorough and intellectual (sometimes a little too thorough and intellectual) overview of British and American post-punk art rock and pop. The first half of the book explains the lofty intellectual and musical ideals the drove bands such as Public Image Ltd., Pere Ubu, Joy Division, Gang of Four, and the Pop Group, while the more fractured second half explains how this post-punk movement spawned goth, neo-psychedelia, synth pop, 2-tone, the new romantic scene, and finally the New Rock and New ...more

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

add a comment

David

David rated it:

(review of isbn 0571215696)

06/24/08

Read in January, 2006

The standard narrative of the pop music history of the late 70’s and early 80’s has the bracing musical revolution of punk quickly degenerating into the more commercial and co-optable form of New Wave. Punk is the honest, authentic voice of political and aesthetic revolution, while New Wave is the watered down, corrupted, commercialized version of that impulse. Now there’s a grain of truth to this interpretation, but it misses a few things about punk that were quickly to drive it into an a...more The standard narrative of the pop music history of the late 70’s and early 80’s has the bracing musical revolution of punk quickly degenerating into the more commercial and co-optable form of New Wave. Punk is the honest, authentic voice of political and aesthetic revolution, while New Wave is the watered down, corrupted, commercialized version of that impulse. Now there’s a grain of truth to this interpretation, but it misses a few things about punk that were quickly to drive it into an aesthetic dead-end, and it downplays the real virtues of much of the music that followed in its wake. Musically, punk wasn’t anything other than good old guitar-driven rock and roll played louder and faster and with a more aggressive, anti-social, overtly political attitude. Basically it layered a new set of attitudes and fashion statements over an already well-established musical form. Not only that, in a lot of ways it was simply updating and recycling traditional rock poses—macho cock rockers, the rock musician as revolutionary, with the model for revolution being the armed guerilla or street fighter. And punk’s politics—its populism and fetishization of authenticity—worked against musical innovation. One aspect of the founding myth of punk was that it was a cleansing force, washing away the excesses of the bloated, decadent, self-important pop music establishment of the 70’s. Consequently musical innovation and experimentation were suspect.

Reynolds takes postpunk out of the shadow of punk rock and presents it as a genre in its own right, distinct it from both punk and New Wave. He shows how little postpunk owed to punk, and how much it owed to other genres (the art rock and experimental music of the 70’s, Reggae and dub, funk) and other cultural and intellectual influences (post-60’s collectivist and communal values, postmodern social and aesthetic theory of the late 70’s and early 80’s). Postpunk was a much less ideologically hidebound, much more sonically adventurous musical form than the punk rock that preceded it. About all it inherited from punk was attitude and energy.

Reynolds dates postpunk from 1978-1984, and the book is divided into two parts. The first part, from roughly 78-80ish, recounts the emergence of postpunk, and focuses on the dour, arty, experimental, socially conscious bands that most music nerds associate with postpunk—Gang of Four, The Fall, early Scritti Politti, PIL, Cabaret Voltaire, Pere Ubu etc. The second half, on new pop and new rock, follows the evolution of postpunk into the mid-eighties and focuses on the more accessible, commercial, radio-and-dancefloor-friendly turn the genre took in the early 80’s. Some bands make appearances in both sections, most notably Scritti Politti, who were one of the more uncompromising bands of postpunk’s early years, but who later made a conscious decision to record more listener-friendly stuff in order to infiltrate the mainstream. Other bands covered in the second half include: the Specials and other two-tone and ska revival bands, Malcolm McLaren projects like Bow Wow Wow and Adam and the Antz, arty synthpoppers like Gary Numan and Ultravox, NYC Mutant Disco groups, Progressive Punk bands like Black Flag, The Minutemen, and Mission of Burma etc.

Reynolds does a fine job of connecting the music to the larger cultural, intellectual and political contexts from which it emerged. Postpunk was born along with Thatcherism in the UK. It also coincided with the rise of postmodernism and critical theory in the universities. It likewise coexisted, in the UK, with a strong tradition of communist and socialist-friendly left-wing politics. There was a bit of this in the US as well, especially in the Reagan 80’s, with bands like The Minutemen proselytizing for the Central American solidarity movement (D. Boon often worked the crowd for CISPES after many Minutemen shows). And, there were certainly strong residues of 60’s and 70’s collectivist, counter-culture politics within postpunk—Factory Records and Rough Trade most notably. And while most pop artists certainly try to manage their careers, and think hard about their self-presentation, the art school refugees and brainy autodidacts who made up the first wave of postpunk were a particularly self-reflective bunch. It would be wrong to describe the music as un-commercial, or to portray the musicians and artists as completely unconcerned with popularity or commercial success, but there was a definite sense of existing to negate the corporate hit-making machinery and the ideology of 70’s corporate rock and pop, at least until New Pop came along and rebelled against postpunk rebellion by emulating the most listener-friendly, anti-rockist pop forms.

There’s always a danger in any social-intellectual history of the pop arts of inflating the art form’s significance simply by virtue of placing it within a well-developed reconstruction of the cultural milieu in which it emerged (on the other hand, the mistake many highbrow critics make—are there any of them left?—is to avoid looking beyond the shiny surfaces to the more serious elements embedded in pop art forms). There may be some pop songs, genres, movements about which there really isn’t much of interest to say—bands and scenes that don’t merit more than a glib one-paragraph squib in a music magazine, and that don’t connect to larger trends and issues or ideas in any kind of interesting way. But as Reynolds shows this is certainly not the case with postpunk. One could argue that Reynolds is too much of a fan, and that he overpraises much of the music—as the Vanity Fair critic tapped to review the book for the New York Times did, though it’s hard to take such criticism seriously from someone who writes for what’s essentially a middlebrow version of People—but to me he gets it absolutely right 95% of the time. He convincingly makes the case that, despite the preeminent place punk has occupied in rock-crit mythology, postpunk was by far a more interesting and influential movement—sonically, intellectually and politically.

Reynolds comes to praise, rather than bury, postpunk, but his fanboy’s enthusiasm is balanced by a 40-year-old’s sense of how sophomoric much of the politics were and how crappy, ultimately, a lot of the music was, in traditional musical terms. But this is balanced by an admiration for the creativity and idealism of the various scenes, the sense of mission, willingness to experiment, and to bend musical tastes to the bands‘ will rather than simply playing what was popular in order to be rock stars, that characterized much of postpunk. And while he spends almost 600 pages lovingly reconstructing the scene and it’s influences and musical products, he doesn’t make much of an argument for its larger significance outside of the world of pop music. He never loses sight of the fact that the end product, even of the more uncompromising or abrasive variants—like Gang of Four, Throbbing Gristle, Crass, The Minutemen etc.—was one form or another of pop music. I’m not sure how to say this exactly, but the idea, the concept of pop—as something youth-oriented, playful, ephemeral, disposable, commercial, popular, relatively undemanding, not meant to last—is the reality check that keeps Reynolds from overpraising the music. Reynolds, shows how the world shaped the music, but thankfully stops short of arguing that the music changed the world....less

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

Stevphen

Stevphen rated it:

(review of isbn 0571215696)

11/16/08

Read in July, 2008

This is a marvelous book. I had never thought about or realized the connections and relations between all the different tendrils of post-punk, avant-garde experimentation, and new pop (although with the latter the connections are a bit disconcerting to find out). Reynolds does a great job tracing out the evolution of the different bands emerging in the wake of the 'implosion' of the first wave of punk. For me one of the most interesting aspects is finding a way to keep open and maintain the kind...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Wes

Wes rated it:

(review of isbn 0571215696)

12/03/08

Read in November, 2008

Book divided between the underground and mainstream bands of the post-punk era/ethos. Most of 'em are British. I once saw a Yardbirds' documentary where former 'birds guitarist Eric Clapton said, "I just don't think you can start a band on a drawing board." Here is 400 pages of bands that did; highly conceptual bands, all of which seem to have wandered in through the doors punk opened, none of which seem to sound like Eric Clapton. If punk was the Year Zero (author maintains it's not)...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Leslie

Leslie rated it:

(review of isbn 0143036726)

06/24/08

Read in June, 2008

Simon Reynolds says, "The thing about living through a Golden Age is that you think it will never end." _Rip It Up and Start Again_ covers what has always seemed to be Generation X's Golden Age of music: post-punk. This general term covers everything from ska to new wave, from Goth to conceptual, from dance to trance.

The book covers the period from 1978 to 1984, and catalogues the most innovative bands of each genre. Based on interviews done over a period of 4 years, Simon Reynold...more Simon Reynolds says, "The thing about living through a Golden Age is that you think it will never end." _Rip It Up and Start Again_ covers what has always seemed to be Generation X's Golden Age of music: post-punk. This general term covers everything from ska to new wave, from Goth to conceptual, from dance to trance.

The book covers the period from 1978 to 1984, and catalogues the most innovative bands of each genre. Based on interviews done over a period of 4 years, Simon Reynolds talked to some of the great mainstream post-punk acts (like the members of the Human League, Scritti Politti, and Devo) as well as some of the lesser played, but no less influential, bands (like Art of Noise, The Specials, and Cabaret Voltaire).

But, the book does more than just talk about important bands and their rise and fall. The book takes a historical approach to considering the rise and fall of the independent (as opposed to indie) record labels, e.g. Rough Trade, ZTT, et. al.; it tracks the rise of MTV; follows the move of the British bands from the UK to their success in America; and examines the cultural zeitgeist which led to post-punk and all its young progeny.

Whole genres are reviewed. (Finally, a good thumbnail history of Goth, for instance!) Entire scenes are described in bite-size components sure to spark further exploration by the reader. (Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds) And, a comprehensive review of the various influences and adaptations from punk are all covered. (Everything from Madness to Grace Jones.)

While the book is an enjoyable read for anyone interested in late 70s and early 80s pop, it is just as important for what it contributes to the academic literature on pop music. When writing a thesis on punk rock lyrics a few years ago, books like this on the punk era were hard to come by, because most books about music tend to either be fanzine-type hype or tributes to the artists that shy from genuine music criticism and accurate history. Reynolds' book is a wonderful first foray into critical writing about the post-punk period, and it will surely stand as a prototype for the more in-depth books that will naturally follow its lead.

Beyond that, it is an incredibly pleasurable read, with moving language that captures the essence of music journalism and criticism, while maintaining the excitement that each band, genre, and scene generated in its music.

For what my view is worth, this is one of the most important books on pop music to be written in a long while, and even post-punk naysayers should check it out, if only to enjoy its critical reviews of the period. ...less

Like this review? yes

1 comment

Eric

Eric rated it:

(review of isbn 0571215696)

03/06/08

Read in February, 2008

recommends it for: Music Lovers (particularly English music lovers)

Okay, I was the kid who ate, drank and dreamed music. Music was always around from the Red Hot Chili Peppers in a small club, being the the midst of FEAR riot in downtown L.A., watching Grand Master Flash at the Palace, to catching Love and Rockets on their first tour in the U.S.

Yeah, I was that guy who was suspended for sneaking out of class to go stand in the line to get tickets for The Who (with the Clash opening) and swore he would never wash his cheek after Suzanne Hoffs (from the Ba...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Karen

Karen added it (review of isbn 0143036726)

07/09/08

A review more of my own shortcomings and less of this book:

This book goes on the "read" shelf with a huge caveat--I'm not going to finish it. I'm not going to rate it, either. Maybe it's a really good book. I started this book months ago, and I am still just 60 pages in. Here's a sentence from page 60, and maybe you can see why I won't finish it: "Behind the director-provocateur and the agit-funk group lay a common source, Bertolt Brecht's antinaturalistic, unabashedly didacti...more A review more of my own shortcomings and less of this book:

This book goes on the "read" shelf with a huge caveat--I'm not going to finish it. I'm not going to rate it, either. Maybe it's a really good book. I started this book months ago, and I am still just 60 pages in. Here's a sentence from page 60, and maybe you can see why I won't finish it: "Behind the director-provocateur and the agit-funk group lay a common source, Bertolt Brecht's antinaturalistic, unabashedly didactic theater." At first glance, yes, I AM the audience for this book. I know what agitprop is, so I can guess at agit-funk. I like Brecht. He makes me laugh. But can you guess which band the author is talking about here? He IS talking about a band, I promise.

I acknowledge that music--ANY kind of music--deserves the same kind of academic and rigorous attention as any other artistic pursuit, but this book lays it on so thick I can't tell what I'm reading about. After every chapter I did finish, I felt kind of dumb. Now, I am the first to say that law school is making me stupid, and that my patience for scholarship is waning, but that doesn't mean I don't like a good book, or a good record, or a well-done tv show. I have just started to think about things in a much different way than I did five years ago--I am selfish, and if I like something, I will keep reading, watching, or listening. I'm not looking for meaning anymore, or to situate things in socio-political contexts. I am looking simply for raw enjoyment.

It is my own fault that I have lost interest in the kind of writing this book offers. Undoubtedly I would have ate it up five years ago. Today, I am not gratified by the author's descriptions of how the music sounds to him. I would rather listen to the music.

The book offers a wonderful discography you can find online, or simply read the whole book to discover the contexts in which the sounds you are looking for arose. Even though I'm not going to finish it, I do recommend this book for anyone interested in the post-punk scene--I learned quite a bit about it in 60 pages. I'm just feeling a little too mentally primitive to finish. ...less

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Autumn

Autumn rated it:

(review of isbn 0571215696)

01/01/08

bookshelves: anglophilia

Read in December, 2007

recommends it for: Americans who listen to BBC6, teenagers who like Bloc Party

This incredibly detailed, but very readable, history of the late 70s/early 80s British music scene is a revelation. Simon Reynolds covers all the important (and obscure) postpunk bands and creates a coherent narrative from it. Do you want to know about the leftist roots of Scritti Politti? Does it delight you to know that Echo and the Bunnymen were incredibly scornful of U2 because they were both trying to attract bereft Joy Division fans? Do you want to know exactly how industrial music was inv...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Dale

Dale rated it:

(review of isbn 0571215696)

07/24/08

bookshelves: history

Read in July, 2008

I used to have a certain amount of disdain toward music criticism - I really enjoy reading reviews, analysis and everything in between for movies and books, but what's that old line about writing about music and it being comparable to dancing about architecture? But I've been getting more and more into it lately, realizing that part of what I originally found offputting was that I lacked the technical vocabulary, something that has been improved over time. And I also realized that music analys...more I used to have a certain amount of disdain toward music criticism - I really enjoy reading reviews, analysis and everything in between for movies and books, but what's that old line about writing about music and it being comparable to dancing about architecture? But I've been getting more and more into it lately, realizing that part of what I originally found offputting was that I lacked the technical vocabulary, something that has been improved over time. And I also realized that music analysis can be really subjective, but that's all right when all you want is something to think about, not some gospel truth to cling to.

So combine all of that with the fact that I love punk music and am fascinated by the social conditions that brought it about, and the fact that I became aware of this well-received book which looked at the period that came after and out of punk (a period which overlaps more with my conscious, pop-culture-consuming life than punk itself) and it really became inevitable that I would pick this book up.

It's a well-written study, sometimes almost too much so, as the author tries visibly to make his words as musical as his subject matter - I guess that's an occupational hazard for music critics. But it was also highly informative, which is what I primarily want when I set down to read a non-fiction book and learn a little something. I appreciated the fact that each chapter examined a particular trend or movement in the postpunk music world, and therefore developed a mini-narrative, a throughline that had a beginning, middle and end. Some of the stories were more compelling than others, but all of them were interesting examinations of both art and industry, as well as culture and politics of the late 70s and early 80s. Now I have a whole list of bands and songs that I need to download, some I had heard of before but never known the context of, and some which are brand new to me but, at least on paper, pretty intriguing. Perhaps I will add to this review once I do some critical listening of my own, to see if the "writing about music" in question managed to bridge the gap....less

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Nathaniel

Nathaniel added it (review of isbn 0143036726)

11/14/07

bookshelves: nonfiction

Read in October, 2007

Covers basically every British rock band formed in the late 70s and early 80s, along with some influential American groups. The best part of the book is the first few chapters, which deal with the do-it-yourself movement and the political motivations of groups like the Gang of Four, the Pop Group, and Scritti Politti. It really captures the excitement and the exhaustion of any revolutionary movement, political or artistic: there's the thrill of bucking the system and doing something new, followe...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Erica

Erica rated it:

(review of isbn 0143036726)

09/09/07

Read in September, 2007

I started this book because I both like a lot of bands that came out of the 80s and also wanted to learn more about the music of the era I was born in. The flourishing of independent music, the funky-kooky art school kids playing with tapes and synths, the mish-mash of styles all lead to a really diverse landscape that Reynolds believes is much richer than the punk that came before it.

Rising up out of the deluge of musicians and producers Reynolds rattles off are some memorable characters...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Chris

Chris rated it:

(review of isbn 0571215696)

12/16/07

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in October, 2007

recommends it for: musicheads/anthropologists

You don't need to know about music, or even care about it, to enjoy this book. The way in which the author describes the music and the people involved with it is absolutely engrossing - his similies and metaphors are pure genius. For example: "Over an adrenaline-pumping bass pummel, swashbuckling guitars flash like the the scimitars of jihad cavalry charging an infidel city." OK, out of context it might not sound so terrific, but this guy comes up with the most out-there descriptors....more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Nick

Nick rated it:

(review of isbn 0143036726)

03/12/08

recommends it for: amy rose, joseph o'leary, culture vultures

the unofficial sequel to PLEASE KILL ME, complete with matching cover design. Although not an oral history, the first three quarters of the book propelled me through some surprisingly interesting post-punk crevices with writerly panache; as noted elsewhere, this guy manages cultural history that borders on the literary. i got a little bored the last two chapters or so, as i imagine the author did: the swan song of vitality and passion is a slow drain.

but if you're into everything from lo-fi ...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Todd

Todd rated it:

11/15/07

Read in February, 2007

this is the british edition which has a few more chapters than the american edition. hold out for the british edition if you can. i bought this for my daughter's first grade teacher because he likes ny punk as much as i do. my favorite chapter was the cleveland chapter covering pere ubu and devo. who knew that virgin records tried to get johnny rotten to be the singer for devo? a great chapter about heaven 17 and their start as more of a political collective than a band. they decided to have ...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Jasonmathis1130

Jasonmathis1130 rated it:

(review of isbn 0143036726)

07/12/08

Read in July, 2008

This book is incredible. If you've ever wondered about what happened in music after punk and before american indie/hardcore, this is the book you should read. It covers some incredible bands, that I've listened to as a result ( most notably Gang of Four, Throbbing Gristle, and the Human League). It's really interesting to read about the birth of New Pop in the early 80s, which is the music that generally is thought of as "80's" music (stuff like the synth pop of Soft Cell, Depeche Mode...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Seth

Seth rated it:

(review of isbn 0143036726)

09/07/07

Read in September, 2007

This book would be more appropriately titled Post-Punk and Beyond. The usual post-punk bands are covered, but they also include Pere Ubu and Devo, which were arguable less post-punk than art rock in their own right. After all, both bands preceded the punk explosion and evolved somewhat outside it.

The second half of the book deals mostly with Goth and New Pop - bands like Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy, Killing Joke, and ABC, Flock of Seagulls, and Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Post-post-punk, I gues...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Bobby

Bobby rated it:

(review of isbn 0143036726)

10/16/07

Read in October, 2007

Highly readable account of the (mostly British) post-punk music scene from 78-84. He does a great job of putting the music in context of the social/political climate of the time (the backlash of punk, Thatcher and Reagan's rise to power, the return of the right wing) and exploring the different sub-sects of post-punk. From arty (Talking Heads, Gang of Four) to No Wave (Suicide, Teenage Jesus & The Jerks) to industrial (Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire) to new wave (Devo, etc) to gothic ...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

David

David rated it:

(review of isbn 0571215696)

07/26/07

bookshelves: musicrelated

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in June, 2007

Better than Reynolds articles because for the most he keeps himself out of it. It's also more coherent than his blog.

I learned about a lot of interesting bands from the late 70s San Fransisco industrial synth pop scene like Factrix, Nervous Gender, Tuxedo Moon and Savage Republic that I got into. I new the story of most of the major bands like Fall, Joy Division, and Wire but got a lot of funny, crazy anecdotes that put what they were doing in perspective. And I never knew that Throbbi...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Michael

Michael rated it:

(review of isbn 0143036726)

09/11/07

So crammed full of information that it makes my head swim, not to mention reminding me that I need CDs by A Certain Ratio, The Passage, Crispy Ambulance, Caberet Voltaire, Pylon, and Delta 5. Not to mention wondering if that Desperate Bicycles LP will ever be re-issued. Not to mention...well, you can see why I've been reading it so long without finishing. Distractions, distractions. It was overdue at the libray, so I'll need to buy this one if I'm to have any hope of ever finishing it, cover to ...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

Molly

Molly rated it:

(review of isbn 0571215696)

05/25/07

this is the best peice of music journalism i ever read. sentence-by-sentence, its clever and wry and occasionly brilliant. as a whole, it brings in london (or manchester, or cleveland, etc.) history and sociology into the history of post- punk and new wave without being overly grandious or obnoxious. v. entertaining. it compiles legendary and esoteric information about all the artists featured in it (for example: who knew that malcolm mclaren wanted to make a promotional movie of The Slits ...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 30 31 next »

recent status updates | recommend it | blog it

combine
other editions (4)