This book has to be the final word on last Great rock movement,starkly honest, hysterical and deeply sarcastic. Shattering myths,and reconfirming inconvient truths about a forgotten Britain in crisis on the way. It also paints a gritty and painfull picture from the memorys of it's key players and of the cost to them and the people surrounding them to make it happen, if like me you weren't born to remember it actually happening this book is the closest you will probably get to it.

Originally published in 1991 (the edition I read, though a revised one includes details of the Pistols reunion and more), this is an incredibly thorough examination of where Punk came from, what it stood for (originally), who the key players were and just what happened. I was 8 in 1977 so I missed the bulk of the furore (I found punk a lot later and, for the most part, enjoyed it), so there was a lot here I wasn’t aware of and Savage neatly dissects the myth-making of McLaren, Lydon and others. Although he clearly loves the music, Savage maintains an objective eye and apart from Steve Jones and Paul Cook, not many people come out of the Sex Pistols debacle well. Hugely informative, thorough to the nth degree and eminently readable, this has great pace and really makes you feel like you were there. For my money, this is the definitive book about British punk. Very highly recommended.