No future : punk, politics and British youth culture, 1976-1984

'No Feelings', 'No Fun', 'No Future'. The years 1976-84 saw punk emerge and evolve as a fashion, a musical form, an attitude and an aesthetic. Against a backdrop of social fragmentation, violence, high unemployment and socio-economic change, punk rejuvenated and re-energised British youth culture, inserting marginal voices and political ideas into pop. Fanzines and independent labels flourished; an emphasis on doing it yourself enabled provincial scenes to form beyond London's media glare. This was the period of Rock Against Racism and benefit gigs for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the striking miners. Matthew Worley charts the full spectrum of punk's cultural development from the Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks and Slits through the post-punk of Joy Division, the industrial culture of Throbbing Gristle and onto the 1980s diaspora of anarcho-punk, Oi! and goth. He recaptures punk's anarchic force as a medium through which the frustrated and the disaffected could reject, revolt and re-invent. Title Page 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Table of Contents 8 List of Figures 9 Acknowledgements 12 Teenage Warning: Punk, Politics and Youth Culture 16 1 What’s This For? Punk’s Contested Meanings 39 2 Rock and Roll (Even): Punk as Cultural Critique 64 3 Tell Us the Truth: Reportage, Realism and Abjection 99 4 Suburban Relapse: The Politics of Boredom 126 5 Who Needs a Parliament? Punk and Politics 154 6 Anatomy Is Not Destiny: Punk as Personal Politics I 187 7 Big Man, Big M.A.N.: Punk as Personal Politics II 209 8 No Future: Punk as Dystopia 230 Alternatives: Chaos and Finish 262 Notes 270 Bibliography 358 Index 396 Charts the full spectrum of punk's cultural development from the Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks and Slits through the post-punk of Joy Division, the industrial culture of Throbbing Gristle and onto the 1980s diaspora of anarcho-punk, Oi! and goth. Worley recaptures punk's anarchic force as a medium through which the frustrated and the disaffected could reject, revolt and re-invent. --From publisher description Matthew Worley (university Of Reading). Includes Bibliographical References (pages 255-379), Filmography (pages 378-379) And Index.