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Post-punk book ''Totally Wired'' by Simon Reynolds - Linder / Morrissey content
posted by davidt on Sunday March 01 2009, @10:00AM

 Jukebox Jury writes:
I have the new book by Simon Reynolds (published by Faber and Faber Ltd) - 'Totally Wired' (the title taken from a Fall song).

If anyone here read one of his previous books - the excellent 'Rip It Up And Start Again' then this is the follow up / natural companion to it.

It is mainly interviews with individuals who were at the forefront of post punk.... people like Tony Wilson, Paul Morley, Bill Drummond, Martin Rushant, John Peel, Jah Wobble etc etc etc.... and Linder Sterling.

Quite a good interview offering an insight into her role / relationship with Buzzcocks / Magazine and of course Ludas. There are also two questions asked relating to Morrissey:

Have you seen 24 Hour Party People?
I didn't go and see it. I saw an early shooting script and Morrissey and I were in it and our lines were just so abysmal, I just got hold of a legal friend to write a really scary letter and saying ''I have to be removed from this film''. So I was removed from the film. And I still haven't seen it. Maybe one day.

Finally, is it true that you are the subject of 'Wonderful Woman', that great, lost early Smiths B-side?
There's various rumours. So who knows? I dont. I do know 'What do I get?' (Buzzcocks single) was written about me. Because Peter Shelley told me so.

 
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Post-punk book ''Totally Wired'' by Simon Reynolds - Linder / Morrissey content | Log in/Create an Account | Top | 17 comments | Search Discussion
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Totally wired (Score:3, Interesting)
I was really really looking forward to getting this book - I think Reynold's "Rip it Up & Start Again" was a master piece. But this one gets a bit boring at times, it's all interviews and it doesn't sort of go anywhere. Also I think Reynolds has taken on a job too big - I mean WHAT is post-punk exactly? PIL, Slits, Joy Division? I don't quite get his term "new pop"...he seems to think all the 80's commercial acts like ABC, Altered Images, Adam & The Ants were a spin-off from post punk. Well, it's a very large area to cover.

To myself, Post-punk is the aftermath of punk, the early 80's bleak recession when people started experimenting with dub and art rock and when all the "rock rules" went out the window. To me post-punk is "Metal Box" by PIL and Throbbing Gristle.

I'm glad Jukebox & Uncle flagged it up on this website but for me it's a bit of a let down. Sorry folks.

Boxers71 -- Sunday March 01 2009, @10:42AM (#322913)
(User #20608 Info)
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  • Re:Totally wired by Anaesthesine (Score:1) Monday March 02 2009, @06:27AM
      • At Home He's A Tourist (Score:3, Insightful)
      Maybe Reynold's should have drawn a line in the sand and made a clear distinction between 'Post-punk'(in it's proper sense) and music made in the aftermath of punk that couldn't have existed without punk's blueprint and energy.
      Aside from those named above, Post-punk is primarily bands like Gang Of Four, The Au Pairs, ESG, Liliput, Delta 5, The Pop Group, Cabaret Voltaire, Wire, The Raincoats, Young Marble Giants etc. Bands who took the DIY ethic of punk and ran with it.
      Adam & The Ants WERE, in their earliest guise, Post-punk, and Altered Images first recordings were definitely Post-punk(Dead Pop Stars, Insects etc).
      But ABC? Come on! Only the fact that punk gave Martin Fry the bottle to try his own thing could attach the word PUNK to anything they did. Remember when Duran Duran claimed they were a hybrid of Chic and The Sex Pistols? It's pretty much the same thing.

      Bands like Dexys, The Specials, Madness, The Human League, The Belle Stars, even Bananarama could all claim to be Post-punk if being influenced were credence enough, but the music simply doesn't fit the criteria or ethos.

      Reynolds should have stuck to a more rigid discipline where the music is concerned instead of trying to make his book more populist.
      A wasted opportunity.

      Paul Morley will write the definitive tome one day I'm sure.

      Requiescant Inpacce * -- Monday March 02 2009, @01:15PM (#323019)
      (User #10687 Info)
       "You should not go to them...let them come to you...just like I do..."
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      • Blame it on Rio by Anaesthesine (Score:1) Monday March 02 2009, @05:17PM
        • Re:Blame it on Rio by Anonymous (Score:0) Tuesday March 03 2009, @12:06PM
            • So Dead The Pose (Score:2, Informative)
            Personally I don't have anything against Duran Duran per se, but it was a pretty common thing in the early 80s for pop bands to claim that they were influenced by Punk, and the Pistols in particular. I think they did it so as not to appear too namby-pamby.

            Still, I suppose it's not as bad as being a boring old Jazz muso and de-tuning your guitar to come across as Punk, i.e. Sting(spit!!!!).

            It's a bit of a chicken-and-egg conundrum but I believe that Post-punk is the most inspirational music genre that has ever been, even more so than Punk it's self which really only gave us a handful of good albums(basically the first or only albums by all the main players).
            Post-punk was far more diverse and liberating and of course gave us 'Closer' and 'Metal Box', two of the greatest albums in modern music.
            Whether The Smiths could properly be described as Post-punk is moot point, but without it's influence I think they would have sounded a lot more different.
            Requiescant Inpacce * -- Tuesday March 03 2009, @01:35PM (#323072)
            (User #10687 Info)
             "You should not go to them...let them come to you...just like I do..."
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      • Re:Totally wired by goinghome (Score:1) Wednesday March 04 2009, @02:51PM
        What Do I Get? (Score:1, Insightful)
        I tell you what, if 'Wonderful Women' wasn't written about you then 'What Do I Get?' is a pretty good consolation - flipping 'eck!

        That's way more cool than whether 'You're So Vain' was written about you, etc. ;-)
        Anonymous -- Monday March 02 2009, @01:44AM (#322989)
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          Punk Rock An Oral History (Score:1)
          It might have been mentioned here before but there are numerous references to Morrissey in the Punk Rock An Oral History by John Robb. Marc Riley quotes in that one "Slaughter's audience was a bit like a Morrissey audience: they had the sensitive ones and the nutcases, mainly nutcases!" Funny.
          ThinkOfMeKindlyLV -- Tuesday March 03 2009, @02:26PM (#323075)
          (User #18284 Info)
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            Simon Reynolds (Score:0)
            An interesting fact about Reynolds, when the police were interviewing people during the "Margaret on A Guillotine" furore (investigating whether it was part of a murder plot or not), Reynolds was amongst those questioned. It was in an interview with Reynolds that Moz first said he wanted her "destroyed". Apparently Reynolds was asked about Moz's "tone" during the interview...!
            Anonymous -- Wednesday March 04 2009, @08:29AM (#323087)
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