It appears to have become the norm these days for every musical-literary study to have its own soundtrack; and Clinton Heylin’s rather spiffing 1993 book dealing with the development of punk, new wave and noisy mischief-makers is no exception. Any compilation that brings together The Stooges, MC5, Alice Cooper and The Modern Lovers, with Dead Boys, Ramones and Talking Heads is going to be a wonderful listen and a delight for anyone with a passing interest in the slightly grubbier side of the tracks (in both senses).
The most interesting thing about this, perhaps, is in considering how culture and popular music has swung around the nexus of the tracks and the bands who, in their day, were variously considered to be either genuinely subversive or countercultural; or, at the very least, unsavourily and aggressively individualistic. Perhaps because of the bands’ impact, and the punk attitude’s subsumation into a more general populist culture, a strange, and perhaps notmassively- wonderful thing has happened. In 2007, these songs have become as familiar as an old, slightly smelly pair of trainers. Slipping them on brings nothing more than a sigh of comfort – with only a residual stench to replace how shiny and exciting they once were. Great book, mind.
