Rip It Up and Start Again Postpunk 197884

FromThe QuietusPeak twoscore All-time Music Books:

"Published at the tail end of the post-punk revival,Rip Information technology Up And Start Once again takes an encyclopaedic look at post-punk and every tangentially-related genre of the late 70s and early 80s. Simon Reynolds looks into not just the developments of bands and sub-genres, simply labels, zines, and local scenes to give a complete picture of the patchwork of the industry in a pre-digital era.

The book is an increasingly valuable artefact; included in the over 100 interviews are legends such as Tony Wilson and Ari Up who have passed since its publication, too as an interview with John Peel.

Rip It Up… makes encouraging reading just now. Many interviewed addressed how their work responded to despair about the rises of Thatcher and/or Reagan, taking their tactics not just from Bowie and Iggy but too Dada, Burroughs, and other outsider art. Today'south artists are bound to find inspiration from these stories, and they may not be musicians." - Amanda Farah

fromPitchfork's Words and Music: Our 60 Favorite Music Books

"For all its filth and fury, punk music-- at least the back-to-nuts rock 'n' ringlet the Sex Pistols dished out on Never Mind the Bollocks-- wasn't terribly far removed from Air-conditioning/DC. The weird stuff happened later. WithRip it Up and Start Again, Simon Reynolds provides the definitive history of what came after punk's initial explosion-- when kids in far-flung cities and suburbs took the movement's troublemaking ideals and ran with them. This book is for, and about, the people who weren't there at the right time and identify (in punk'south instance, London and New York circa 1976), but who nonetheless refused to believe it was all over and washed with earlier they joined in," writes Reynolds in the book's intro. And a lot of people wanted to bring together in. Rip Information technology Up runs over with heady analysis and tape-nerd esoterica as Reynolds finds a narrative thread in the exploits of characters who reinvented themselves throughout the period like former Sex Pistol John Lydon and Scritti Politti frontman Dark-green Gartside. He revels in the funny, awkward moments that often human action as precursors to innovation-- Phil Oakey passing his Human League audition by singing lyrics virtually slaughtering silkworms, Genesis P-Orridge's stomach-churning gigs with the performance art collective COUM Transmissions. Punk's initial scope was narrow, but, ultimately, open to interpretation. Rip It Up and Starting time Again shows simply how limitless the possibilities were." --Aaron Leitko

fromNME's 20 Essential Music Books

"Reynolds traces the history of the post-punk era in this loftier-minded account."

fromBillboard's 100 Greatest Music Books

"For British music critic Reynolds, punk was the musically regressive forerunner to the existent revolution plant in the music that followed in its wake. Postpunk served upwards catnip to critics, with its arty provocations, political theory and Top 40 subversions; Reynolds particularly delights in big thinkers similar Gang of Four and Scritti Politti. Inevitably diffuse, Rip Information technology Up coheres effectually its embrace of music with limitless possibility." [nautical chart position #61]

fromPremiere's Les 12 meilleurs livres jamais publiés sur la musique

Parce qu'il fut élevé à l'école visionnaire et futuriste du mail-punk, Simon Reynolds (voir ici notre entretien) fait parti de ces critiques musicales qui ont toujours devancé les tendances. Collaborateur de longue date au Melody Maker ou chez Wire, pionnier des journalistes électro, fifty'anglais est toujours à la pointe, et ce depuis le début. Au beginning des années 90, il s'investit totalement en tant que rédacteur freelance dans la scène house, techno et jungle. Une passion jamais démentie qui prend sa source dans les expérimentations postal service-punk et disco-punk justement, des années 1978-1984 qui, de Cabaret Voltaire à Throbbing Gristle en passant par Suicide, Gang of 4, Telex ou la synth-pop, préfiguraient largement ce qu'allait devenir la musique électronique telle que nous la connaissons aujourd'hui. La parution chez Allia en 2007 de son livre Rip information technology Upwards and Start Over again fut un véritable événement, ainsi qu'un retour aux sources de ce qui fait de Reynolds un journaliste unique. En explorant la production foisonnante de ces années mail service-punk sous l'angle de la musique mais aussi de la politique et de la philosophie, Reynolds initie un journalisme musical à tendance sociologique et lui donne une nouvelle dimension. Incontournable"

[more hype below]

"An early contender for all-time rock book of 2006"--Rolling Stone

"The 2 books of cultural criticism that accept provided the virtually insight, stimulation, and reading excitement for me this year areRip Information technology Upwardlyby Simon Reynolds, which does for post-punk (PiL, Talking Heads, Wire, Bow Wow Wow) what Roger Shattuck'south The Banquet Years did for the pre-WWI French advanced, and Roger Copeland'due southMerce Cunningham: The Modernizing of Modernistic Dance,"--James Wolcott,Wolcott.com

"During the last few years... by far the most impressive music book has beenRip Information technology Up and Start Again.... A work of music history both forensic and enthusiastic, its mixture of intelligence and brio is perfectly matched to the genre whose story it tells: so-called "post-punk", which drew to a close sometime in the mid-1980s. It had the same addictive consequence on me asLipstick Traces, and brought home a realisation: that though serious music writing was born well away from the bookshelf, that'southward exactly where its hereafter may lie"--John Harris,The Guardian

"The next night, I volition be back on the air live on KCRW and I have a really not bad show that I hope you become a hazard to cheque out. The whole show is based around the book Rip It Upwardly And Kickoff Over again by Simon Reynolds. I think it's 1 of the nigh interesting sets I have e'er put together. I can't really take whatsoever credit for information technology as the prove is based on this very cool book but I did take all the records already, so peradventure that counts for something"-- Henry Rollins, Dispatches blog, 04-xix-09

"Reynolds emerges every bit that rarity amongst British music writers, an author capable of putting the music into a political and social context… Not just a slap-up study of a remarkable musical era, just i of the beginning of import historical studies of the Eighties.' Tom Lappin,The Scotsman

'An exhaustive, liberating argument that this stuff matters – non merely the neglected music itself, but the act of writing about music … Information technology is rare to find a piece of music writing so sustained and so eloquent"-- Andy Miller,The Daily Telegraph

"Reynolds has shed dazzling low-cal on a neglected era of music... The definitive word on the subject"--Adam Sweeting,The Sunday Times(London)

Number thirteen in MOG'due south The Tiptop 20 Music Books of All Time
"So you recollect you know everything almost post-punk? Are you lot certain? In this seminal text, music critic and writer Reynolds documents the history of punk'southward artier child, shedding new light on bands we've never heard of, and on those nosotros think we've heard of only may never read anything else about. His exhaustive account tells us everything we need to know about postal service-punk, before examining the intertwining popular and rock era that followed the early-'80s explosion. Reynolds makes the case for the intellectual side of the music, puts information technology into context of fourth dimension and place in history, and demonstrates just how much of a manner of life information technology was. The book is absolutely perfect for the music nerd in you. And it'southward as well painfully perfect for those of us who where born some years likewise belatedly to experience weirdo rock's about exciting era." (Anna Zerkidou)

"[Epitome Daily 5 Books Virtually Music]i.Rip It Upwards And Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984 by Simon Reynolds Simon Reynolds eats and breathes music as well as writing information technology - and his indelible beloved for the small details and gossipy minutiae of post-punk music as well as the tunes themselves are blindingly evident inRip It Up And Start Again. Postpunk is the genre that shaped not only what we listen to but how we listen to it today. Told in chapters exploring the history and impact of bands in Europe and North America, it's incredibly compelling - and much more informal than the championship would exit you lot to believe"- Sarah Waldron, Paradigm Daily.

"Rip Information technology Up And Get-go Over again, Simon Reynolds' exhaustive report of the British and American post-punk scene betwixt 1978 and 1984, has very few serious rivals as the greatest music book of this decade. Even those whose musical tastes wouldn't stretch to accommodate near of the bands featured in its pages are urged to pick upward a re-create, as it manages to exist both an astonishing feat of enquiry and a breathtakingly illuminating piece of writing."-- Lord's day Business Post (Ireland).

Called as Book of the Twelvemonth--New Musical Limitedannual critics poll 2005; "Mind opening."

#2 music book of the Twelvemonth,Observer Music Monthly; "the definitive business relationship of the post-punk era and the music of that time…."

Editors'southward Choice--New York Times

"Exhilarating... a perfect abracadabra of lightly worn erudition and focused enthusiasm"--Village Voice

"Not merely a terrific rock book, but a really satisfying social history"--Newsday

"Reynolds' prose is clear-eyed, agile and just evidently fun to read"--Time Out New York

"Reynolds masterfully captures the excitement of this menses, when every week seemed to bring a new musical advancement"--The Tampa Tribune

""Rip It Up and Start Again" strikes just the right residuum between history and criticism, between serious sociology and coincidental opinion-slinging…Whether yous agree with everything he says or not, Reynolds is also-informed a guide to this distressingly obscure era every bit you could hope to detect. Score: 10/10"--Arizona Mutiny

#6 inAmusement Weekly'sThe Must List: "Devo, Joy Division, and other oftentimes-neglected post-punk trailblazers get a fresh wait in this passionate, insightful history of early-80s rock on the cusp of MTV"

Selected as i ofTime Out(London)'south Best Books of the Year (fiction and non-fiction); "The last of a dying breed of music journalists who know what they're talking near, Reynolds celebrates post-punk from The Autumn to the new pop of Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Read it and cry for a time when popular music had political assurance and intellectual content."

#2 Book of the Year (Non-Fiction and Fiction) --Uncut magazine

Selected as 1 of the best Popular Books of 2005 --Sunday Times; "…delightfully knowledgeable survey of a period of British pop that rivaled the 1960s for creativity (synth pop, white reggae and 'industrial music' were simply iii of its coinages) every bit well equally producing some of its greatest characters, including John Lydon, Mark E Smith of The Autumn and Bono"--Robert Sandall

Selected equally one of the best Music Books of the Year--The Times (London); "a passionate account of Post Punk — not a movement exactly, but a gleefully chaotic menstruation from 1978 to 1982 in which dub, funk, industrial and German language electronic music meshed. Gang of Four, Joy Segmentation, Scritti Politti and the Specials jumped into the void. For fans of Jon Savage's punk album England's Dreaming, this is a natural companion."--Bob Stanley

Chosen as Book of the Year by DJ Taylor in theTimes Literary Supplement;
"Every bit someone whose boyish evenings were spent in the visitor of the late John Peel, I relished Simon Reynolds's companion volume Rip It Up And Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984 (Faber), an urgent acceleration from that cursory menstruation in pop musical history when the mainstream was colonized by the experimental and weird time-signatures and off-kilter attitudes could be found in the Top 30."

# three inBlender magazine's top books of 2005; "focusing on nevertheless-revered, genre-busting bands like Talking Heads, Devo and Gang of Iv, this import traces how large-brained art-school renegades bridged the gap between ragged '70s punk and made-for-MTV pop."

"Illuminating… Although it's the outset volume to deal with postpunk, this book stands as a peer amongst substantive punk histories like Jon Fell'southward England'due south Dreaming: Chaos, Sex Pistols, Punk Rock, and Beyond and Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain's Delight Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk. Warmly recommended for all libraries."--Library Journal

"We got a copy of the U.S. version of Simon Reynolds'Rip it Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984this weekend. Nosotros're at nigh the midway point and are already convinced that it'south the all-time music book we'll read this year. The writing is informative and accessible, so even if you know cypher about some of the bands he mentions, you lot're still able to follow forth"--The Minor Elevator, the Major Fall.

"Much like Sugariness Soul Music, Peter Guralnick'southward history of rhythm and dejection, Rip It Up is a dazzling, rich, definitive work, and I am certain that it will serve as both encyclopedia and bible on the subject for many years to come"--William Pym,Artforum

"Postpunk stands as "a fair lucifer for the Sixties," argues Reynolds, both in terms of the amount of great music created as well every bit the music's connection to the "social and political turbulence" of its era (the early 1980s). Seeking to address a gap in music and pop culture history, Reynolds (Generation Ecstasy) has penned an ambitious, cognitive effort to establish a high place in rock history for bands such as Joy Division, Devo, Talking Heads, Mission of Burma and, of course, Public Image Express (PiL), fronted by former Sex Pistols singer John Lydon (Johnny Rotten). Reynolds, an energetic writer, peculiarly captures the postpunk ethic in telling the story of PiL's brusque journey from record visitor darlings to utter oblivion…. Reynolds succeeds in depicting the icons and the richness of an era that conspicuously manifests itself as a master influence amid a new generation of musicians." --Publisher'southward Weekly

"A fantastic tribute to an amazingly creative musical menses. It is an instant pop classic, worthy of a place on your shelves beside the handful of music books that really matter"----John McTernan,Scotland on Dominicus

'Reynolds makes his case with expansive intelligence, pristine prose and occasional bleary wit. Anyone who claims to have read five ameliorate books nigh pop is mad, or a liar"-- Andrew Mueller,The Guide (Guardian).

"This is a monumental book, something of a labor of love for Reynolds... His success is to produce a guide that'due south never dry, but is instead both highly personal and administrative--a new addition to the handful of essential pop books"--Robert Yates,GQ.

"As monumentally entertaining an edifice of nifty quotes, fine critical judgments, painstaking research and elegantly traced aesthetic bloodlines as could possibly take been hoped for"--Ben Thompson,The Independent on Sunday(London)

'A compelling reminder of a time when clever, mischievous, artistic people formed bands--and wrote about them. Rip it up and Start Once again is his near attainable book... Much of it is taken up by a detailed chronicle of the myriad bands and scenes of the late Seventies and early on Eighties, the catamenia of ideas channeled along by traditional narrative and some magnificent research"-- Kitty Empire,The Observer(London)

"A radiant stroll through the underground music scene of 1978 to 1984, elements of which have inspired today's wave of angular pop. Simon Reynolds rightly describes the menstruation as a gold age, thrilling in its optimism and radical verve .. It's enthralling, but the book's real triumph is in its exposition of the concealed plumbing and wiring of these moments in time, the ideas and undercurrents that fuelled the postal service-punk dream: Marxism, postmodernism, futurism, and all the other isms debated incessantly and passionately in the 1980s squats, collectives and art colleges. Reynolds makes the connections and fixes the era in all its richness, squalor and splendour"---Richard Cabut,The Daily Telegraph

'A wonderfully rich treatise on what might be termed "The brusk eighties" – stretching from 1978 to 1984 … he sounds an increasingly rare voice in pop writing, grappling with music's subtext and subconscious agendas, constantly noting that the all-time records ooze intellectual substance"--John Harris,The Times(London)

"Reynolds'south enthusiasm and seemingly infinite knowledge of the music scene provide the gum for his thesis. He masterfully covers the shifting political context and the ascent of independent labels like Rough Trade, Factory and Mute. He fifty-fifty finds space for "cassette bands" that scorned vinyl, similar God & the Turds and the Scrotum Poles. Glorious"--Ian Pindar,The Guardian Review

"As an act of cultural archaeology, Simon Reynolds's wonderful new compendium
takes some chirapsia. Taking the post-punk and new wave bands of the late
Seventies and early on Eighties as his discipline, Reynolds delivers a musical
encyclopedia in which Cabaret Voltaire jostle for space aslope Public Epitome
Ltd, Throbbing Gristle and Soft Jail cell. Drawn naturally to the overlooked,
neglected and just plain offbeat, Reynolds makes his opinions evidently without e'er
descending into insult. A fascinating treasure trove of a time when brains and beats worked in glorious - and occasionally hilarious - harmony."--Robert Colvile,Observer(Review)

"Rip Information technology Up and Showtime Again... is proof that reading about music can be as good as listening to information technology. His knowledge of the post-punk scene is remarkable and his disquisitional ear every bit impressive as his writing."--Davide Ferrauto, Personal Book Favorites of
2005,The Guardian