Another Tuneless Racket: Punk And New Wave In The Seventies, Volume Two: Punk

by Steven H. Gardner

From the perspective of pop music, the Seventies are too often regarded as the weak sister to the Sixties. But those of us who followed the punk and new wave explosion of the last four years of the Seventies don’t buy this assessment. Just because those late Seventies bands didn’t get airplay and sell records like the Sixties bands, and in their later years didn’t become the establishment as the members of the Sixties generation did, it doesn’t mean the punk and new wave bands were any less artistically valid or less fun to listen to. If you could pull your ear away from consumer oriented rock bands of the era and were willing to exercise a little independence, you could hear exciting and boundary stretching music from a legion of groups from around the world, all of them inspired by an idea whose time had come. This is the story of that idea and what thousands of innovative and intriguing people were able to make from it. This is the second of what will eventually be four volumes. Volume Origins considers the origins of Seventies punk and new wave, and then tells the story, chapter by chapter, of each significant band in that period. Volume Two moves definitively into the stories of the bands that were critical to the punk boom of 1977. Still in progress, Volume Three will cover the metamorphosis of what was Punk into New Wave, and Volume Four will discuss the fracturing of New Wave into dozens of splinter offshoots.

484 pages, Paperback

Published April 28, 2020

Reviews

[Ray Smillie · Rating 5 out of 5]

In common with the first volume, a well researched look at the punk / new wave bands of the late 70s. As with the first book I find myself not always in agreement with Steven H Gardner but, in general, mostly on the same wavelength. Particularly regards the Drones who were looked down upon by the hard of thinking. Their first album is an undoubted classic. Very good read.

The above is volume two, the below volume three (which doesn't appear to be on Goodreads).

This has been my favourite of the three books, as it concentrates on the UK scene from the viewpoint of an American. I was particularly interested in the writings about the Skids and Rezillos. Steven H Gardner is mightily amused by the band name, Matt Vinyl and the Decorators, who were a genuine band. Saw them a few times and thoroughly enjoyed them.

Did spot a few errors including the Skids/Wreckless Eric/Rezillos gig which was in Dinfermline and not Edinburgh then the farewell gigs from the Rezillos of which there were two and not one as reported by the author. The first was in Edinburgh Odeon, the night before the recorded Glasgow Apollo gig. Tbh the Odeon gig was the most disappointing of all the Rezillos gigs I went to in the 70s. A definite unpleasant atmosphere on the stage.

Great and well researched.