REVENGE OF THE SHE-PUNKS BY VIVIEN GOLDMAN
SKU: BK-338 BOOK REVENGE OF THE SHE-PUNKS OS£16.99
Revenge of the She-Punks
“In Revenge of the She-Punks, she probes four themes―identity, money, love, and protest―to explore what makes punk such a liberating art form for women.”
As an industry insider and pioneering post-punk musician, Vivien Goldman’s perspective on music journalism is unusually well-rounded. With her visceral style, Goldman blends interviews, history, and her personal experience as one of Britain’s first female music writers in a book that reads like a vivid documentary of a genre defined by dismantling boundaries.
A discussion of the Patti Smith song “Free Money,” for example, opens with Goldman on a shopping spree with Smith. Tamar-Kali, whose name pays homage to a Hindu goddess, describes the influence of her Gullah ancestors on her music, while the late Poly Styrene’s daughter reflects on why her Somali-Scots-Irish mother wrote the 1978 punk anthem “Identity,” with the refrain “Identity is the crisis you can’t see.” Other strands feature artists from farther afield (including in Colombia and Indonesia) and genre-busting revolutionaries such as Grace Jones, who wasn’t exclusively punk but clearly influenced the movement while absorbing its liberating audacity. From punk’s Euro origins to its international reach, Revenge of the She-Punks by Vivien Goldman is an exhilarating world tour.
Read our full book review on Revenge of the She-punks here
If you’re interested in the punk music scene, we also recommend: Defying Gravity by Jordan Mooney and Turn the World Dayglo: The Creative Life of Poly Styrene by Celeste Bell
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.
Our vast selection of Punk books reflects the importance of that subculture from the early 1970’s in New York, through London, The US West Coast, Riot Grrrl through to the current day. The curated selection includes the photography of Dennis Morris, Kevin Cummins, Sheila Rock and Janette Beckman, biographies of The Undertones, a history of The Roxy club and a good selection of women in Punk including Poly Styrene, Patti Smith, Jordan and Kim Gordon.
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