The established order of the punk explosion of 1977 is hardly new ground, and numerous accounts – mythologies, even - already exist, but mostly the impression gained from these is of a London phenomenon masterminded by a svengali-like Malcolm McLaren. John Robb’s near-exhaustive book rightly includes plenty from the prime cast of the Pistols’ inner circle (Glen Matlock, Don Letts, John Lydon) but goes far further than most other accounts, and at last restores the myriad supporting cast, those that have for so long gone unrecorded from all except patches on the leather jackets of die-hard punks.
You can tell that isn’t the usual retread straight from the first chapter, the first three pages of which feature Crass’ Penny Rimbaud discussing the influence of Bill Haley and Elvis, UK Subs legend Charlie Harper recalling Chuck Berry, and Lemmy eulogising Little Richard. From there in the full panoply of punk’s rich experience is recounted. It’s a chronologically ordered book, and so thorough is it that 1977 isn’t reached until page 276, by which time the reader has been immersed in Mick Jones and Tony James’ almost implausibly influential London SS and the formative manoeuvrings of The Damned, Pistols, Clash etc.
The always reliable Captain Sensible, Lydon and a drily unimpressed Marco Pirroni perhaps take the honours for best quotes, but just as exciting for cognoscenti are the inclusion of the likes of Flux of Pink Indians, The Slits or The Business, finally officially restored to their places in the pantheon. Political correctness and established orders are ignored, with full attention devoted to The Stranglers - perennially overlooked in punk retrospectives - and even Gary Bushell, whose influence on the second wave of punk cannot be ignored (although it generally is).
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At times the contributors contradict each other or even themselves, but that’s to be expected from an account of such wild, personality-rich times, and it all adds up to a huge, inspiring adrenaline-rush of a read which makes you want to go out and crank up whichever particular piece of coloured vinyl soundtracked your adolescence.
If you were there, or just wanted to be, this book is indispensable.
(Published by EBURY PRESS: R.R.P: £14.99)
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