Opening appropriately with the August 1970 release of the second LP by the Stooges (from whom sprang Iggy Pop), Gimarc’s chronicle of the punk era is a day-by-day accounting of the formation (and often demise) of dozens of punk rock bands, their recordings and performances, and their many highlights (and lowlights, so to speak). The volatile reaction to the stale state of most 1970s rock, punk was a do-it-yourself movement that gave voices to a disenfranchised population of young rebels and nihilists. Although he does take a few important U.S. acts (the New York Dolls, Patti Smith, the Ramones, etc.) into account, Gimarc emphasizes UK punk, placing the most infamous punkers of all, the Sex Pistols featuring Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious, at the center of his coverage–while also entertainingly, informatively treating the likes of the Clash, the Damned, XTC, Elvis Costello, the Cure, the Jam, and the Mekons. An excellent companion to Savage’s England’s Dreaming (1992). A CD of conversations with some of its subjects comes with the book – (Benjamin Segedin)
Punk Diary, 1970-1979: The Ultimate Complete Day-By-Day Reference Guide to Punk (written by George Gimarc)
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Ben
Exiled New Englander now living in Canada. I dream in Spanish but can't speak it. I wish I'd grown up as an old black man playin' the blues just like my father.