'The Scene That Would Not Die: Twenty Years of Post-Millennial Punk In The UK' is the fifth and final book in Ian Glasper's acclaimed series documenting the UK punk scene, bringing to a conclusion his in-depth analysis of this most underground musical genre, that began with 2003's 'Burning Britain: A History of UK Punk 1980 - 1984'.
Featuring 111 bands active since 2000, hundreds of exclusive new interviews and previously unseen photos, this book explores the many insidious challenges faced by the scene: hedonism, nostalgia and apolitical apathy, not to mention coronavirus, Brexit and the rise of social media completely removing the mystique that drew many to punk rock in the first place.
All could have derailed lesser genres, and there are indeed many detractors that have pronounced punk as a creative force dead in the water. But the reality - if you scratch beneath the surface - is that punk has gone underground once again, and is as vibrant and relevant as it's always been; there are still thousands of angry youths making vital music the length and breadth of the nation, and they still don't need permission from anyone to have their say.
648 pages. 234 x 156 x 40mm
Author Biography:
Ian Glasper has been writing about punk since 1986, when he first started his own fanzine, 'Little Things Please Little Minds'. Although it only ran for five issues, it helped him realise that he could indeed string a few words together, and gave him the confidence - in the early Nineties - to start writing reviews for Record Collector, and a hardcore punk column for Terrorizer, the extreme music magazine that he contributed to for the next twenty years. In 2003, he got fed up of reviewing books about the Sex Pistols and The Clash, and decided to write a book about the particular era of the UK punk scene that was closest to his own heart, the second wave of punk during the early Eighties - or UK82, as it became more affectionately known. The resultant 'Burning Britain' tome, published by Cherry Red in 2003 to much critical acclaim, flew off the shelves and is now widely regarded as the definitive document on that period. It was followed by 'The Day The Country Died: A History Of Anarcho Punk 1980 - 1984' (2006), 'Trapped In A Scene: UK Hardcore 1985 - 1989' (2009) and 'Armed With Anger: How UK Punk Survived The Nineties' (2012). After then covering the last forty years of UK thrash metal with 'Contract In Blood: A History of UK Thrash' (2018), Glasper finally deemed it time to bring his coverage of the ever-evolving UK punk scene up to date, focusing on the last two decades with the book you now have before you. During the whole of this time, Glasper has also been busy writing, recording and touring with his own punk and hardcore bands, keeping his finger firmly on the pulse and staying in touch with the grass roots DIY element of the punk scene that so drew him to it in the first place. Since 1983, he has played bass for Ammonia 77, Decadence Within, Burnside, Stampin' Ground, Human Error, Suicide Watch, Flux of Pink Indians, Freebase, Betrayed By Many, Thirty Six Strategies and Sun Of The Endless Night, and he currently plays with Bristol-based anarcho punkers Zero Again. A father of two, and a lifelong vegetarian/vegan, he writes for Bass Player, Down For Life and Fistful of Metal magazines, as well as contributing to online webzines such as Mass Movement and regularly penning liner notes for retrospective punk releases. He is now working on a book collecting - and explaining the stories behind - the hundreds of song lyrics he has penned over the last four decades, which will frame a much more personal account of the UK's hardcore punk scene.
