Punk had burst onto the scene with its aggressive raw energy, confrontational lyrics and rhythm guitars spewing out arrangements that were just unorthodox. It was that moment of revolutionary art, overturning what had gone before. Punk has not run its course. It continued, and continues, to this day with its music, spirit and attitude. But it fell on the next wave of bands to exploit the change that had been bought about. So here comes Post Punk – the refining of the raw art form of punk. Lyrics don’t shout protest but more like explain, discuss and contextualise political and social issues. Overwhelmingly independent, usually experimental, often Avant Garde, mostly monochrome, artistically diverse, continually moving forward and always Post.
Pere Ubu had been turning out a post punk sound even before punk had turned up and Bowie and Iggy Pop had been playing in that world too. We can probably point to Public Image as being the first true Post Punk outfit. Following on from PIL came a wave, or more like a tide of bands that were Post Punk. Joy Division and XTC, the Cure, the Slits, the Psychedelic Furs, Adam and the Ants, Durutti Column, Killing Joke, the Membranes, Visage and the fall. Fast forward to now, Interpol, The Killers, The Horrors – all with a lineage that can be traced back to Post Punk.
Our Post Punk Book collection includes Torn Apart the biography of Joy Division vocalist Ian Curtis by Mick Middles and Lindsay Reade, A fantastic photo account of New Order by Kevin Cummins, the story of Joy Division by Peter Hook and the acclaimed Rip it Up and Start Again by Simon Reynolds.
