Monday, August 6, 2007

Pretty Vacant



This blog goes out to David K. He loaned me the book "Rip it Up and Start Again" by Simon Reynolds. I have read only a few pages and so many memories have come flooding back to me. This book is about the post-punk years of 1978-1984 in the UK. For me and many of my friends this time period is what helped shape our lives and helped us develop into the punk asses we are today. You know in 1978, I was living in Mobile, Alabama. There were lots of rednecks, but there were also a few new wavers. At this time, I was really beginning to notice how different I was from my peers, I didn't want to listen to Alabama and Hank Williams. I was enthralled with Billy Idol and Bow Wow Wow. Thankfully in the summer of 1983 we moved to the Washington DC metro area. Here I really delved into the post-punk music scene. Now I had access to more music and exposure to other people like me.

Enough rambling about myself, this novel will transport you back to that time and place of fantastic music and the birth of a scene that touched so many of us. Yeah, I know times change and we may have all sold out to the corporation, but it's nice to remember the days where you felt like you could make a difference by fucking shit up.

I also recommend reading "Rotten" by Johnny Lydon and watching the film "Punk Attitude," those are also nice little refreshers of that time period. If you are in the mood that is.

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