Depressed about not being able to plough through Ulysses, I decided it was time for some junk reading – which turned out to be not junk at all, but a very astute and thoughtful take on my favourite musical period the “post punk” years of 1978-1984.
I don’t have a stack of things to say about it, but Simon Reynolds “Rip it Up and Start Again” was an excellent resource on the state of the musical trends in the U.K and U.S during this period. It’s a shame that the Australian/New Zealand scene wasn’t mentioned, because we had many inventive musical contributors also. It was great that Reynolds listed the bands featuring in each chapter at the beginning, so you could skip bits of little interest. Despite this, I found myself ploughing through the sections on Frankie Goes to Hollywood and ABC with a fascination I didn’t expect. The writing is that good. Somehow even Genesis P. Orridge’s various projects were made interesting, and I have half a mind to drag out 20 Jazz Funk Greats from the collection to give it another shot. I’m sure I’ll be horrified. What struck me was the amount of politically motivated music there was during this time. Lots of bands seemed to throw in anti-capitalist lyrics but were coy about it in interviews, but Devo, Gang of Four, The Minutemen, Scritti Politti and the Red Crayola had all done their homework and to me seem amazingly mature in hindsight. Last night I started scouring ebay in the hope of picking up a few seminal works from this period from bands I knew nothing about (i.e The Raincoats, The Associates, Cabaret Voltaire). And hoping for reasonably priced Sweet and Sour L.P’s, which have to date eluded me. Boy, are we going to dance to those once they finally arrive.