Simon Reynolds
Post-Punk 1978-1984

As true ultra-dependent music addicts, do you sometimes feel like you're wasting your life listening to albums, compilations, EPs, and whatever else the music industry throws at us for hours, while out there the world offers endless possibilities and opportunities for growth and learning? A very legitimate doubt, there are not only listens, add a bit of variety to your life!

How about dedicating yourself to another noble art, like reading? Well, in that case, a work I can't help but recommend is what many initiates conceive as the bible of post-punk/new wave, namely "Post Punk 1978-1984" by Simon Reynolds (originally published in the English language under the name „Rip it up and start again“).

First of all, don't be discouraged by the cover featuring "Simon Reynolds is the world's most illustrious living music critic“ according to Rolling Stone, because for once (as the law of large numbers would also have it), the reviewers/scribblers of that kind of advertising catalog have chosen to promote something that is truly worth your hard-earned cash, as well as the time dedicated to consumption (but since we all know that in our capitalist reality time is money, it could be said that this is a variable already considered in the monetary factor). Indeed, in this tome of about 700 pages, the writer offers a broad overview of the entire British post-punk scene, starting from the Sex Pistols up to the rock crisis and the advent of MTV. Good old Simon also speaks as a direct witness, present at the scene at the time, which helps him to draw a picture not only purely musical but also socio-cultural-political of those years (which in some cases assumes more relevance than the mere musical aspect), talking to us among other things not only about new-wave in the strict sense but also about a bunch of other contemporary movements like new-pop, industrial, noise, dark, and hardcore, and whatever else young rebels were listening to at the time.

The deepest analysis is obviously received by Great Britain (given the author's origins), directly followed by the USA (but we certainly don't discover now that rock is a primarily Anglo-American phenomenon), but many artists from countries considered, rightly or wrongly, secondary or even almost ignored by most (for example, I wasn't particularly informed about the Icelandic or Brazilian post-punk scene), with a brief appendix listing the groups the author finds most interesting from other nationalities (Italy NOT included). There's a ton on the table then, but the author handles it brilliantly, making the reading always enjoyable and flowing, never losing track of the thread, so much so that the book will delight not only those who still have to approach the scene but also (and perhaps above all) those who already know quite a few groups, who will then enjoy discovering various anecdotes about the music of their favorites and the various backgrounds. It will certainly surprise some how certain groups considered legends in Italy like the Smiths are sometimes dealt with in a few sentences, while others definitely less renowned in the beautiful country like Scritti Politti (paradoxically great admirers of the Italian Gramsci and Bologna) or Frankie Goes To Hollywood receive very detailed treatments; but indeed this mentality outside of the „mental schemes“ or from the "Italian view“ of rock history contributes to the interest of the work and will indeed allow 99% of readers to discover at least a few new names to add to their listening list.

Recommended!