Last night I started reading...

Punk: The whole story introduced by the luscious Debbie Harry. We got it into the library about 6 months ago and I'm surprised it's not been nicked yet!

Ive only read a bit of it, but checked out all the pics, I love the fact that most of the bands considered punk don't actually look like the stereotype of what a punk is considered to be. The only glued up spikes I saw where on Johnny Rotten looking a complete ridiculous parody of himself when they made their 1996 comeback. Well at least they had the balls to say that they were only in it for the money!

I did lean something I never new about Mr. Rotten; When he was 7 he contracted meningitis, he was in a coma for 6 months and the illness caused him to gain his trademark hunch, stare and he had a weak chest which filled with phlegm that needed to be spat out. Charming!

My favourite quote so far is from Malcom McLaren in the afterword "...The music, the fashion, the movement himself, it was all one big artistic statement born out of my life and times at art school." So basically the whole Punk ethos was his idea of an art project!

The book, as usual, concentrates on the London and New York scenes but I have found a couple of references Australian bands to 'the Saints' and 'Radio Birdman'. but not just the music, the book also profiles photographers, clubs, fashion and the cut'n'paste artwork of Jamie Reid.

Reading this book brought back memories of a book I borrowed from the Castlemaine library called The uncyclopedia of punk which was a hilarious parody of the scene, can't find a pic of it but, sorry!