Books we like ... and books we're not too fussed about
Dave Thompson
Chicago Review Press 2009
I’ve read a few books on the early days of punk rock, in particular Jon Savage’s masterly England’s Dreaming. Thompson’s is a bit different. Firstly he concentrates on just fourteen months (May 1976 – July 1977). Secondly, it’s a fairly personal account. Thompson himself was there: in a squat in Notting Hill. We learn a bit about things that happened to him, and a lot more from the mouths of largely B-list punk stars like the Radio Stars, TV Smith, Gene October, and Danny Kustow. Some, regrettably, are more D than B: the Maniacs, Rikki and the Last Days of Earth, and Masterswitch (who?). Chronology is a bit muddled at times: TRB fans are shown using the clenched fist stencil which came with Power in the Darkness a year or so before the album was released, and Phil Collins replaces Peter Gabriel in Genesis in 1977 rather than just taking over on vocal duties. Thompson’s thinking seems a bit muddled at times too: justified condemnation of racist violence but a rather gauche glorification of over-the-top thuggery from the other side; a lot of hogwash about some planned black magic response to the Silver Jubilee; no real awareness of the contradictions involved in apparently politically radical punk bands signing up to multinational record conglomerates. In addition, the description of the famously long hot summer of 1976 suffers from characteristically English hyperbole, and Thompson’s justification of his musical likes and dislikes doesn’t really convince. What is valuable about this book though is the account of the development of Rock Against Racism, and the way the movement shook up attitudes in general. In the end this is probably the most valuable and long-lasting legacy of punk. The American spellings (amazingly, this was written for an American audience: goodness knows what they will make of it) do jar a bit, however.
6 September 2010
http://www.davethompsonbooks.com/reviewsandlinks.html
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