This was an exhausting book to read, in part, because the author was so exhaustive in his research and, thus, the book is a thorough overview of British, and to a lesser extent, American post-punk rock. It's also a strangely intellectual book, and at times, it felt like I was reading a modern history textbook.Early on, Reynolds discusses the demise of punk and the (odd) opinion that The Sex Pistols' "Never Mind the Bollocks" actually signaled the end of punk -- not the height of its glory. He shows post-punk to be distinct from punk and New Wave, among others. The post-punk bands that followed punk wanted to continue the revolution that it began but failed to fulfill. There was a sense of existing to negate the corporate hit-making machinery and ideology of 70s-era prog and commercial rock, or at least until New Pop and New Wave came along and flailed against such post-punk rebellion by emulating the most listener-friendly pop forms. These early post-punk bands began exploring other forms of music, such as experimentation with art rock, electronics, dub, reggae, funk, and even disco. Some of these early post-punk bands wanted to make a wall of noise and often the bands were made up of a collective as opposed to trained musicians. Often, the traditional instruments (guitars, drums, etc.) were completely ignored for synths and tapes, as well as other assorted unknown instruments. If there were even concerts, film and theater often played large roles. Audience participation was often encouraged.The book is divided into two halves: one is pure post-punk and the second is "new pop and new rock." As a result, it read like two distinctly different books. The first chapter is about PIL (Public Image Limited), Johnny Rotten's band he formed after ditching the Sex Pistols. According to Reynolds, PIL was the start of the post-punk movement. However, numerous other bands formed and began playing, such as Joy Division, Cabaret Voltaire, Devo, Gang of Four, Wire, Pere Ubu, Throbbing Gristle, and tons of bands I've never heard of. The second half begins with The Specials, before moving on to ska and Bow Wow Wow, as well as the New Romantics, such as Adam Ant. The author goes further into groups like Gary Numan, Haircut 100, ABC, Duran Duran, and pretty much ties it all together with Madonna, of all people, at the end of the book. It's a very exhaustive look at hundreds of bands and many scenes throughout the UK and America. And that kind of presents a bit of a problem. The chronology of the book's chapters runs back and forth as different scenes and genres are covered, which was occasionally confusing. Everything was thrown into the mix together -- the bands, band missions, various genres, record stores, record labels, clubs, new types of technology -- everything. It was nearly overwhelming. One of the major problems of the book was its tendency of the chapters to follow a pattern that got a little old fairly soon. Reynolds first discusses a specific post-punk hot spot, often geographically (such as Manchester, Liverpool, NYC, San Francisco, etc.). He then discusses the best band, or several bands, from that scene before mentioning virtually every band possible from that same scene or hot spot. Like I said, it gets a little old....Another major problem I had with the book was its insistence that this second British invasion was the most important musical movement since the first, citing hundreds of bands, most of whom I've never even heard of, and I'd wager many other people never have either. Among the bands Reynolds discusses are The Pop Group, New Age Steppers, Delta 5, The Future, Teenage Jesus, This Heat, Tuxedomoon, Factrix, A Certain Ratio, and so many more. Many of these bands he discusses as so very relevant never even released an album, and those that did usually just released an EP or one debut album that sold something like 5,000 copies and they were never heard from again. I fail to understand why so many of these, frankly, unimportant bands were deemed worthy of inclusion.The book, and many of the bands in it, pay homage to some that came before them, such as Captain Beefheart, Roxy, Bowie, Eno, etc, and that's cool. It's really not a bad read and I learned a lot. I just think a lot of it was unnecessary and I question the author's intentions. Did he just want to expand the book's pages to charge more? I also could have done with a little less (band) name dropping and more detail on some of the more significant bands. However, it was good to see personal favs like Bauhaus, The Cure, Sisters of Mercy, and Skinny Puppy mentioned. I'd recommend this book for any 70s music fan and many music enthusiasts, but it's a bit of a cautious recommendation. I think you have to wade through a lot of crap to get to the good stuff, and that's a bit of a pity -- but it's ultimately worth it.
Update 2I've just finished reading my copy of the US edition which covers a lot of ground despite being 200 pages shorter than the original UK version. Simon Reynolds gives a detailed account of this time period and is enjoyably opinionated which made the text less dry than it could have been. Inevitably, I found some chapters more interesting than others, and felt that he gave some genres too much attention while overlooking others (although this may have been affected by the cuts to this edition.) I recall the 2 Tone/ska revival having a greater impact on the musical scene for example. It's subjective though, I suppose, since most of what I read about the US scene was new to me. I found YouTube videos to be a fun resource while reading this (and made up for the lack of photos in this edition.) It was interesting to read about early MTV and "new pop" (the second British Invasion) and the subsequent backlash with "the familiar Anglophobia/homophobia slippage that equated glamour and synths with effeminacy." I was glad to see the band Japan (my obsession for many years) given its dues even if just for a page. The chronology of the chapters chops back and forth a bit as different threads are covered, which was confusing at times. Bands, genres, missions, record labels, new technology all weaved in. In the afterword, Reynolds lists some of the contemporary post-punk influenced bands: Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, Bloc Party etc. Good stuff.Update 1I don't think I can wait until I've finished to start discussing this book! In Rip It Up and Start Again, music journalist Simon Reynolds examines the 6-year period after punk where bands such as Joy Division, Public Image Limited, Bauhaus, Scritti Politti and others emerged. In the US, they were apparently considered more "underground". In the UK, however, many of these bands could be heard blaring on mainstream radio stations and on the weekly Top of the Pops on BBC1. You were forced to listen to all kinds of music on TOTP while you were waiting for your favorite band to come on: progressive rock, R&B, country, appalling "novelty" songs. It could be maddening but it was a good education. (To give an example of how much of an institution the show was: even at the boarding school I was at for a while, where there was mandatory silent "prep time" after High Tea each night, we had special dispensation on Thursdays starting 7:20 PM.)In the prologue, the author discusses the demise of punk and the opinion that The Sex Pistols' "Never Mind the Bollocks" actually signaled the end of the movement not the height of its glory. The postpunk vanguard wanted to continue the revolution that punk began but never fulfilled. It began to experiment with electronics and dub reggae, even disco. I find it quite fascinating to read descriptions of music because I can never find the words myself when trying to explain a genre to someone! For example, regarding guitar, the "fat" sound versus "skinny" guitar. It's also interesting to read about the underlying political philosophies because I'd been too young to be aware of anything but the music. A lot of these groups were a backlash to the new era of right-wing Thatcher politics but eschewing the in-your-face aspect of punk.I've just finished the chapter on John Lydon (formerly Johnny Rotten) and the creation of Public Image Limited. The group was financed by the fledgling Virgin label - Richard Branson even sent him to Jamaica so he could get inspiration (rastafarianism provided an influence.)Until next time!
Do You like book Rip It Up And Start Again (2005)?
Technically this was a reread, but I don't have it in Goodreads, my first read was years ago and the UK edition instead of the US, and I _did_ read it this year, so I'm counting it for the reading challenge (so there). I'd probably give the UK edition with the three extra chapters and other missing material five stars, not because it's perfect and not because I agree with Reynolds on everything (and you can definitely spot the roots of some of his errors circa Retromania in the afterword), but it is an excellent historical overview of an era that doesn't get enough attention (or at least didn't until recently). Only some of his overarching themes and points land, but the ones that do are generally excellent, and there's a wealth of amazing music and interesting people/scenes detailed therein. Personally I was only 3 when the era this book covers ends, but the music from it and the influence of it still describes a good chunk of the music I love and the music I grew up on (both when they're the same thing and when they're not...).
—Ian Mathers
[Vague spoiler imminent !]Starting with the last dregs of spark in punk as it was mutating either towards generic dross or experimental genius, "Rip It Up..." is a superb compilation of tales of the exciting musical and cultural period of 1978-1984.One of the most interesting things about the post-punk movement is that it wasn't centred around just one or two cities - it happened in many places, and each city had its own unique scene. Each chapter documents different scenes within different respective cities, as well as wider parallels of inter-city tendencies and ideas; the proto-industrial electronics of Cabaret Voltaire and the early Human League in Sheffield; the inner-city ska of The Specials and The Selecter in Coventry; the neo-psychedelia of The Teardrop Explodes and Echo & the Bunnymen in Liverpool; the twee indie-pop of Orange Juice and Postcard Records in Edinburgh; the angsty postgraduate Marxism of Gang of Four and Scritti Politti in Leeds; the haunting grey gloom of Joy Division and the Factory Records scene in Manchester; the feminist reggae of the Slits in London . . . and the list goes on.The second half of the book is largely dedicated to the breakthrough into the mainstream of the alternative bands that sprung up either during or following punk, and concludes with a kind of decline and fall of many bands either into lucrative big-name record deals, or complete obscurity. One issue mentioned which I am glad was mentioned over several pages is the legacy of Malcolm McLaren. Shan't go into detail here as 1) it would be a spoiler and 2) it's actually quite sensitive material, but the section on some of his activities certainly debunked his status as a maverick legend, icon, etc., revealing instead a highly manipulative businessman whose legacy should be questioned.On the whole, "Rip It Up..." is a brilliant, thorough and charming tale of brilliant people who were in the right places at the right time. Reynolds has also published a companion of interviews with several musicians, as well as his own essays, entitled "Totally Wired: Post-Punk Interviews and Overviews", which is definitely worth a read if you found this one as enlightening as I did.
—Roxy
This is what happened: I bought the US edition of this book back when it was released, read it, loved it. Six months or so later, I learned that the original UK edition had been cut all to hell for its US release. Something like 200 pages had been removed in order to pare the US edition down to its 400 page final length. I was shocked and appalled, but never knew quite how to get myself a copy of the UK edition, short of doing an international order through Amazon UK, which I told myself would be prohibitively expensive. So that was all there was to it, for a long time.Then, a couple of months ago, I came into a large sum of money (four figures) with which I was free to purchase whatever I wanted. Well, in addition to paying off all of my past due utility bills and purchasing the laptop I'm currently typing this review on (a steal at $450), I went ahead and did the Amazon UK order to obtain the original, director's-cut edition of "Rip It Up And Start Again." Boy, am I glad I did. The 400 page edition that I originally read was thoroughly enjoyable, but it still couldn't compare to the author's original intention. With smaller print, the UK edition still came out to be 125 more pages than the US edition, and where the US edition included no pictures at all, the UK edition presented at least one image every half-dozen pages or so. I finally got to see the Scritti Politti EP cover depicting the squalor in which they lived, as well as photos from Throbbing Gristle and James Chance performances, amongst many other things. And the text was greatly expanded, not just in additional coverage for bands that had been unmentioned in the US text but also in additional sections, sometimes great portions of one chapter or another that were completely removed, which I was now reading for the first time. It was a revelation to me, especially since the sections that were removed often dealt with bands that I'd been far less likely to already know about than the bands that were left in the truncated manuscript.All of this is just a comparison between two editions, though. What's really important here is the work itself, and in reading this book, the first work I ever encountered by Simon Reynolds, I found myself going from barely aware of him to being a huge fan. That experience is only amplified by reading this new, expanded edition. Reynolds is one of the best music writers I've ever read, able to integrate literate, intensely rational analysis of the ideas behind particular groups and their recorded works, with far more emotionally-centered reactions to the feel and sound that those works ultimately emanated. Reynolds is more of a Greil Marcus than a Lester Bangs, but he's able to incorporate the strengths of both of these writers as well as those of many others, including British rock critics that I'm, again, less familiar with than I should be, into an ecumenical overall approach that leaves no stone unturned in its in-depth analysis of bands, scenes, movements, and overall periods in punk/rock history. I say "periods" because this book, despite its subtitular reference to postpunk, covers a great deal more than just that few years after the dissolution of the Sex Pistols in which Joy Division and Public Image Ltd. represented the cream of the creative crop. The book delves deeply into the New Wave/"New Pop" movements of the early 80s, probing the depths of synthpop and fey British "haircut bands" to find the serious ideas and important creative moments that were at the root of a great deal of the era. In so doing, Reynolds makes a persuasive case for the likes of the "Don't You Want Me" era Human League, Duran Duran, and even Culture Club. I almost find myself wanting to give certain era-defining synthpop albums another listen. Almost. Ultimately, that's the biggest tribute to the power of Reynolds's writing here. He not only makes me want to dig out records by groups I like that I haven't heard in quite a while, but also records by groups I've always hated. If his writing unearths a valuable truth or a worthwhile musical moment on the second Culture Club album or in Frankie Goes To Hollywood's "Relax," I feel like I should hear it again, even though I'd ordinarily tell you that I'd be happy if I never heard any of that garbage again. That's enough to tell me that this is a writer worth paying attention to. "Rip It Up And Start Again" may be the first Simon Reynolds book I've ever read, but it won't be the last.
—Andrew
