Punk Rock (aka “Shockwave”)

“Really, the generation of 16-18 year olds haven’t had a music they could call their own. Woodstock’s no good for them, nor boys and girls going out together under the silvery moon. Their reality’s a lot bleaker than that. So it’s back to three-minute songs, simple melodies, thumping it out.”  —Malcolm McLaren

“Rock ‘n’ roll is supposed to be fun. You remember fun don’tcha?” —Johnny Rotten

Called the first book on punk, this 1978 scrapbook of grainy black-and-white photos and pithy quotes (originally titled “Shockwave” in the UK), is today “a must-have Almanac, a historical handbook” of the British punk scene, as described by the musicians, zinesters, and fans who were creating it. Compiled by British kids’ book author Virginia Boston, whose “interest in the children of the seventies led her to explore the Punk phenomenon,” the book features pics, by 20-plus photographers, of the era’s most storied performers — The Clash, The Slits, The Damned, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Generation X, and more — as well as fun shots of lesser known acts, and cameos from visiting Americans. Snippets of lyrics and commentary from band members accompany the images. Also included are several sidebars devoted to the zines that tracked and informed the scene — Sniffin’ Glue, More On, Skum, Rotten to the Core, and more. A section on punk fashion includes looks and quotes by Vivienne Westwood, and club manager Andy Czezowski narrates a chapter on the Roxy. Sniffin’ Glue editor Danny Baker provides a foreword, followed by a longer article on the rise of the Sex Pistols by screenwriter Ian Rakoff. (The cover of this American edition features an inexplicable font choice, but the portrait of model Soo Catwoman makes up for it.) Punk Rock is “an authentic time-capsule of the emergence of a counterculture that would forever change the world but didn’t know it yet.” (virginiaboston.com)

Penguin, 1978. 128pp. 4to. VF in wraps. (9780140049855) [3.2]

$ 175.00