Totally Wired: Postpunk Interviews and Overviews

465 Pages·2010·2 MB·English

by  Simon Reynolds

U.S. $16.95 MUSIC
With his critically acclaimed Rip It Up and Start Again, renowned music journalist Simon
Reynolds applied a unique understanding to an entire generation of musicians working
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in the wake of punk rock. Spawning artists as singular as Talking Heads, Joy Division,
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The Specials, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Gang of Four, and Devo, postpunk achieved so
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new relevance in the first decade of the twenty-first century through its profound
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influence on bands such as Radiohead, Franz Ferdinand, and Vampire Weekend. uT
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With Totally Wired the conversation continues. The book features thirty-two interviews ka

with postpunk’s most innovative personalities—such as Ari Up, Jah Wobble, David I
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Byrne, and Lydia Lunch—alongside an “overview” section of further reflections from t
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Reynolds on postpunk’s key icons and crucial scenes. Included among them are John rl
Lydon and PIL, Ian Curtis and Joy Division, and art-school conceptualists and proto- v
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postpunkers Brian Eno and Malcolm McLaren. Reynolds follows these exceptional, e
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often eccentric characters from their beginnings through the highs and lows of
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postpunk’s heyday.
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Crackling with argument and anecdote, Totally Wired paints a vivid portrait of individuals
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struggling against the odds to make their world as interesting as possible, in the process i
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leaving a legacy of artistic ambition and provocation that reverberates to this day. v
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PRAISe foR RIP It UP And StARt AgAIn v
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ed
“[A] passionate, insightful history.” —entertainment Weekly
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“Exhilarating . . . a perfect alchemy of lightly worn erudition and focused enthusiasm.”
—the Village Voice
ToTally Wired
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“Reynolds’ study of bands such as Wire, Public Image Ltd, the Slits, Talking Heads,
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and Mission of Burma is full of page-turning narratives and an infectious ambition to S
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reinvent artistic norms. When he turns his attention to the music itself, his metaphor- nim PostPunk Interviews
tinged, acrobatic descriptions show off how illuminating criticism can be.”
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—time out new York (top ten Books of 2006)
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Cover design by Jason snyder S

ISBN 978-1-59376-286-5
Soft Skull Press
51695 S i m o n r e y n o l dS
An Imprint of COUNTERPOINT
www.softskull.com
SoFT
Distributed by Publishers Group West 9 781593 762865 SkULL
PRESS Author of Rip It Up and Start Again
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Totally Wired (Fin):Rip It Up 7/8/10 10:37 AM Page i
PRAISE FOR
SIMON REYNOLDS
“If I had to choose just one commentator to guide me through the
last quarter-century of popular (and not so popular) music it
would have to be—on the basis of depth of knowledge, range of
reference, soundness of judgment, and fluency of style—Simon
Reynolds.”—Geoff Dyer
“Reynolds’ writing [is] a perfect alchemy of lightly worn erudition
and focused enthusiam.”—Jessica Winter, Village Voice
. . . andTotally Wired
“A compelling oral history . . . On every level, Totally Wiredis
never less than fascinating.”—Q
“With . . . Rip It Up and Start Again. . . Simon Reynolds
became the flag-waver for the importance of post-punk to pop
music from 1978 to 1984—a scene . . . where The Cure, Echo and
the Bunnymen, Public Image Limited and Scritti Politti could exist
in the same space simply by sharing the same double-headed ethos
of innovation and oddness . . . [Totally Wired] brings together a col-
lection of people who recall that spirit of possibility so vividly you
end up wanting to believe them all . . . There’s so much to take in
and enjoy.”—Metro
“Reynolds sets about getting to the bottom of what made these peo-
ple tick creatively, why they made the strange and often magnificent
music that they did, and what the social and cultural forces behind
that music were . . . There’s no shortage of laugh-out-loud moments
either.”—Sunday Business Post
Totally Wired (Fin):Rip It Up 6/10/10 4:49 PM Page ii
“Plenty of entertainment and interest for the post-punk
reader.”—Mojo
“As an interviewer, Reynolds’s boyish enthusiam is a joy.”
—The Wire
Totally Wired (Fin):Rip It Up 7/8/10 10:37 AM Page iii
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Simon Reynolds
TOTALLY WIRED: POST-PUNK INTERVIEWS AND OVERVIEWS
Simon Reynolds is the author of numerous books, including Rip It Up and
Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984 and Generation Ecstasy: Into the World
of Techno and Rave Culture. His writing has appeared in The New York
Times, Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, Spin, Slate, and Artforum, among
other publications. Born in London, Reynolds now lives in Los Angeles.
Totally Wired (Fin):Rip It Up 6/10/10 4:49 PM Page iv
Totally Wired (Fin):Rip It Up 6/10/10 4:49 PM Page v
TOTALLY WIRED
Post-punk Interviews and Overviews
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Also by Simon Reynolds
The Sex Revolts: Gender, Rebellion, and Rock ’n’ Roll (with Joy Press)
Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture
Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–84
Bring the Noise: 20 Years of Writing about Hip Rock and Hip Hop
Totally Wired (Fin):Rip It Up 6/10/10 4:49 PM Page vii
SIMON REYNOLDS
TOTALLY WIRED
Post-punk Interviews and Overviews
Soft Skull Press
New York
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First published in the U.K. in 2009 by Faber and Faber Limited
First American edition, 2010
Copyright © 2009 by Simon Reynolds.
Except “The Blasting Concept,” which originally appeared in a slightly different version
in the U.K. edition of Rip it Up and Start Again, copyright © 2005 by Simon Reynolds
American edition copyright © 2010 by Simon Reynolds
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Reynolds, Simon.
Totally wired : postpunk interviews and overviews / Simon Reynolds.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-59376-286-5
1. Rock musicians—Interviews. 2. Rock music—History and criticism. I. Title.
ML385.R49 2010
781.66—dc22
2010013032
Cover design by Jason Snyder
Interior design by Faber and Faber Limited
Printed in the United States of America
Soft Skull Press
An Imprint of Counterpoint LLC
2117 Fourth Street
Suite D
Berkeley, CA 94710
www.softskull.com
www.counterpointpress.com
Distributed by Publishers Group West
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Totally Wired (Fin):Rip It Up 6/10/10 4:49 PM Page ix
To my brother Jez