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Sweet Dreams: The Story of the New Romantics
David Bowie. Culture Club. Wham!. Soft Cell. Duran Duran. Sade. Adam Ant. Spandau Ballet. The Eurythmics.'Excellent' Guardian 'Hugely enjoyable' Irish Times 'Dazzling'LRB 'Fascinating'New Statesman 'An absolute must-read' GQ One of the most creative entrepreneurial periods since the Sixties, the era of the New Romantics grew out of the remnants of post-punk and developed quickly alongside club culture, ska, electronica, and goth. The scene had a huge influence on the growth of print and broadcast media, and was arguably one of the most bohemian environments of the late twentieth century. Not only did it visually define the decade, it was the catalyst for the Second British Invasion, when the US charts would be colonised by British pop music - making it one of the most powerful cultural exports since the Beatles.In Sweet Dreams, Dylan Jones charts the rise of the New Romantics through testimony from the people who lived it.For a while, Sweet Dreams were made of this.
715 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 6, 2020
About the author
Dylan Jones
23 books55 followersDylan Jones studied at Chelsea School Of Art and then St. Martin’s School of Art. He is the award-winning editor of GQ magazine, a position he has held since 1999, and has won the British Society of Magazine Editors “Editor of the Year” award a record ten times. In 2013 he was also the recipient of the prestigious Mark Boxer Award.
Under his editorship the magazine has won over 50 awards.
A former editor at i-D, The Face, Arena, the Observer and the Sunday Times, he is the author of the New York Times best seller Jim Morrison: Dark Star, the much-translated iPod, Therefore I Am and Mr. Jones’ Rules, as well as the editor of the classic collection of music writing, Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy. He edited a collection of journalism from Arena - Sex, Power & Travel - and collaborated with David Cameron on Cameron on Cameron: Conversations with Dylan Jones (shortlisted for the Channel 4 Political Book of the Year).
He was the Chairman of the Prince’s Trust’s Fashion Rocks Monaco, is a board member of the Norman Mailer Writers Colony and a Trustee of the Hay Festival. He is also the chairman of London Fashion Week: Men’s, London’s first men’s fashion week, launched in 2012 at the behest of the British Fashion Council.
In 2010 he spent a week in Afghanistan with the Armed Forces, collaborating on a book with the photographer David Bailey: British Heroes in Afghanistan.
In 2012 he had three books published: The Biographical Dictionary of Music; When Ziggy Played Guitar: David Bowie and Four Minutes that Shook the World, and the official book of U2’s 360 Tour, published in October. Since then he has published
The Eighties: One Day One Decade, a book about the 1980s told through the prism of Live Aid, Elvis Has Left The Building: The Day The King Died, Mr. Mojo, London Rules, a polemic about the greatest city in the world, Manxiety and London Sartorial.
In June 2013 he was awarded an OBE for services to publishing and the fashion industry. In 2014 he was made an Honorary Professor of Glasgow Caledonian University.
Under his editorship the magazine has won over 50 awards.
A former editor at i-D, The Face, Arena, the Observer and the Sunday Times, he is the author of the New York Times best seller Jim Morrison: Dark Star, the much-translated iPod, Therefore I Am and Mr. Jones’ Rules, as well as the editor of the classic collection of music writing, Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy. He edited a collection of journalism from Arena - Sex, Power & Travel - and collaborated with David Cameron on Cameron on Cameron: Conversations with Dylan Jones (shortlisted for the Channel 4 Political Book of the Year).
He was the Chairman of the Prince’s Trust’s Fashion Rocks Monaco, is a board member of the Norman Mailer Writers Colony and a Trustee of the Hay Festival. He is also the chairman of London Fashion Week: Men’s, London’s first men’s fashion week, launched in 2012 at the behest of the British Fashion Council.
In 2010 he spent a week in Afghanistan with the Armed Forces, collaborating on a book with the photographer David Bailey: British Heroes in Afghanistan.
In 2012 he had three books published: The Biographical Dictionary of Music; When Ziggy Played Guitar: David Bowie and Four Minutes that Shook the World, and the official book of U2’s 360 Tour, published in October. Since then he has published
The Eighties: One Day One Decade, a book about the 1980s told through the prism of Live Aid, Elvis Has Left The Building: The Day The King Died, Mr. Mojo, London Rules, a polemic about the greatest city in the world, Manxiety and London Sartorial.
In June 2013 he was awarded an OBE for services to publishing and the fashion industry. In 2014 he was made an Honorary Professor of Glasgow Caledonian University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 92 reviews
October 1, 2020
The definitive oral history of the New Romantics. Sweet Dreams charts the British cultural explosion that happened in the ten years from 1975-1985 ― the rise of the New Romantics. Growing out of the remnants of the post-punk period, the New Romantics introduced club culture, ska, electronica, and goth to the world. One of the most creative entrepreneurial periods since the Sixties, the era had a huge influence on the growth of broadcast media. Not only did it visually define the decade, it was the catalyst for the Second British Invasion, when the US charts would be colonized by British pop music, making it one of the most powerful cultural exports since the Beatles. For fans of Jon Savage's 1966 and Lizzie Goodman's Meet Me in the Bathroom― SWEET DREAMS is the fascinating story of how The New Romantic movement was born in the British clubs of the late 1970s and flourished on the radio and television airwaves of the early 1980s. Sweet Dreams were made of this.
This is a sprawling, beguiling and richly entertaining account of one of the most flamboyant, hedonistic periods in British musical history, from 75-85. Drawing from a multitude of diverse sources, Jones collates a vast array of interviews of those in and around the industry at the time and gives us unprecedented access to the philosophy, fashion, culture, soundtrack and politics of the time through this fascinating and extensively researched account accompanied by iconic photographs from the time. This is so much more than just a music scene; it was a way of life. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Faber & Faber for an ARC.
This is a sprawling, beguiling and richly entertaining account of one of the most flamboyant, hedonistic periods in British musical history, from 75-85. Drawing from a multitude of diverse sources, Jones collates a vast array of interviews of those in and around the industry at the time and gives us unprecedented access to the philosophy, fashion, culture, soundtrack and politics of the time through this fascinating and extensively researched account accompanied by iconic photographs from the time. This is so much more than just a music scene; it was a way of life. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Faber & Faber for an ARC.
September 20, 2020
Sweet Dreams
Razor Blades! Safety Pins!
Big Hair! Big Shoulderpads!
There you go. The 1970’s and the 1980’s summed up in 8 words.
Or are they? There’s much more to these decades than clichés and ‘Sweet Dreams’ aims to tell the whole story. 1975-1985 was an amazingly creative period in Britain and the book shows how an ambitious band of talented, creative people took the world by storm.
The 1970’s was a grey decade with inflation at 20% and in 1979 it culminated in The Winter of Discontent. The dead couldn’t be buried, rubbish piled up in the streets and Mrs Thatcher swept to power. As the author says ‘London was very bland and conservative and locked down’. But it was about to change.
The Chameleon and the Lounge Lizard, or Bowie and Bryan Ferry, had created a loyal group of fans who liked to dress exactly like them. This dedication resulted in the NME reviewing the audience at one gig instead of the band. Some of these would become the insiders, the inner circle of what would be known as the Blitz Kids or New Romantics. They would create the music, the styles, the style bibles and above all the climate in which almost anything could be achieved with ambition and a friend’s help. After all, without help from his friends how would Bob Geldof have created ‘Do They Know its Christmas?’ and Live Aid?
It was a time of little money, of succeeding on a wing and a prayer, of second hand clothes (who remembers the joy of rummaging through Flip on a Saturday afternoon?) and above all, remembering that ‘Ridicule is nothing to be scared of’ as the lyrics of Prince Charming stated. One interviewee said that ‘ it was self-expression through adversity.’ It was a tight little circle who operated a strict door policy at their clubs.
As the ‘80’s took off everything was suddenly in colour. Music was the driving force supported by the music press of the time and the new ‘style bibles’. ID, Smash Hits and the traditional ‘inkies’ such as NME. However, The Face and Blitz were the big ones crammed with good writers and photographers and startling layouts. But the style police were no less stringent with their staff as one Blitz insider said ‘….if you wore an unnecessarily jaunty hat then you would be laughed at for weeks, sometimes longer.’
So many classic acts came from this period: Wham! Duran Duran, Soft Cell and Depeche Mode (sometimes referred to as Casiotone Cure) cutting edge with The Eurythmics and John Foxx, OMD and the Human League as well as one hit wonders such as Roman Holiday and Joboxers. They conquered the US charts again. Pop videos were an event and often more memorable than the song. This was mercilessly lampooned in the ‘Not the Nine O’Clock News’ sketch ‘Nice Video, Shame About the Song.’ As the ‘80’s music scene took off Phil Oakey said ‘We laughed at the other bands learning 3 chords, we used one finger’ as the synthesiser dominated.
The tribal aspect of the decade cannot be underestimated as the author says ‘shoe gazing had a different purpose as you lived and died on the choices you made knee down.’ Antony Price suits were an obligatory item in certain pop groups wardrobe and his shop, Plaza, in the Kings Road was a minimalist magnet. The Face seemed to have a new cult every month; Hard Times, The Dirtbox, the Zoot Suit revival, Casuals, Buffalo. But there were some that were still around such as Teddy Boys and skinheads who beat up punks and New Romantics with impunity. However the last time I saw a Teddy Boy was sometime in the Noughties. He was a lone middle aged man decked out in the full uniform ambling along in my local Tesco. Everyone was staring at him as they had no idea of who he represented. The New Romantics had their revenge. It was often nasty as one interviewer was told ‘if you’re not going to dress like a woman we’re not going to treat you like a woman.’
However there was a downside to the decade. The results of some of Mrs Thatcher’s policies are mentioned; the riots and the bitter Miners Strike. In 1985 I visited Bradford and everything we saw on the way seemed to be either closed or closing down. Bradford it looked like a wasteland. There was a pub in the middle of it where, as we later discovered, the Yorkshire Ripper had found one of his victims. My companion suggested that we go in and enquire about places to stay. I demurred and we moved on. Never had The Specials 1981 ‘Ghost Town’ seemed so prophetic.
Sweet Dreams is compiled from over 400 interviews including Bowie and Ferry which include the main movers and shakers, how the scene came together, its do or die creativity and how it fell apart when the dressing up box was finally donated to charity. It’s a big book at 600 pages and I really enjoyed reading it. If you want to know about this fascinating and influential period then this is the book for you. Although some of the major players have crashed and burned, others have gone onto to have successful careers to the present day. The author, Dylan Jones, considers that there may never be another period like it and he may be right. It was a combination of many things that came together at once: ambition, talent, music, the music press, style magazines and determination. Just before I started reading Sweet Dreams there was a 2 page spread in a newspaper announcing the 2021 tours of some of the ‘80’s biggest names. OMD, The Human League, Marc Almond and Howard Jones amongst others. As Mark Ellen says ‘everyone from the early 80’s who had a hit is still touring. It shows how big the ’80’s record market was and how many people are still attached to it.’
I like to think that the decade’s spirit lives on in everyone who has a sidehustle, a little artisan business, or is knocking up a hit record or performing on Youtube. y. ‘Sweet Dreams’ is more than just a trip down Memory Lane. It’s a document of an exciting, fertile time. Recommended.
My thanks to Faber and Netgalley for providing me with an advance preview copy of this book.
Razor Blades! Safety Pins!
Big Hair! Big Shoulderpads!
There you go. The 1970’s and the 1980’s summed up in 8 words.
Or are they? There’s much more to these decades than clichés and ‘Sweet Dreams’ aims to tell the whole story. 1975-1985 was an amazingly creative period in Britain and the book shows how an ambitious band of talented, creative people took the world by storm.
The 1970’s was a grey decade with inflation at 20% and in 1979 it culminated in The Winter of Discontent. The dead couldn’t be buried, rubbish piled up in the streets and Mrs Thatcher swept to power. As the author says ‘London was very bland and conservative and locked down’. But it was about to change.
The Chameleon and the Lounge Lizard, or Bowie and Bryan Ferry, had created a loyal group of fans who liked to dress exactly like them. This dedication resulted in the NME reviewing the audience at one gig instead of the band. Some of these would become the insiders, the inner circle of what would be known as the Blitz Kids or New Romantics. They would create the music, the styles, the style bibles and above all the climate in which almost anything could be achieved with ambition and a friend’s help. After all, without help from his friends how would Bob Geldof have created ‘Do They Know its Christmas?’ and Live Aid?
It was a time of little money, of succeeding on a wing and a prayer, of second hand clothes (who remembers the joy of rummaging through Flip on a Saturday afternoon?) and above all, remembering that ‘Ridicule is nothing to be scared of’ as the lyrics of Prince Charming stated. One interviewee said that ‘ it was self-expression through adversity.’ It was a tight little circle who operated a strict door policy at their clubs.
As the ‘80’s took off everything was suddenly in colour. Music was the driving force supported by the music press of the time and the new ‘style bibles’. ID, Smash Hits and the traditional ‘inkies’ such as NME. However, The Face and Blitz were the big ones crammed with good writers and photographers and startling layouts. But the style police were no less stringent with their staff as one Blitz insider said ‘….if you wore an unnecessarily jaunty hat then you would be laughed at for weeks, sometimes longer.’
So many classic acts came from this period: Wham! Duran Duran, Soft Cell and Depeche Mode (sometimes referred to as Casiotone Cure) cutting edge with The Eurythmics and John Foxx, OMD and the Human League as well as one hit wonders such as Roman Holiday and Joboxers. They conquered the US charts again. Pop videos were an event and often more memorable than the song. This was mercilessly lampooned in the ‘Not the Nine O’Clock News’ sketch ‘Nice Video, Shame About the Song.’ As the ‘80’s music scene took off Phil Oakey said ‘We laughed at the other bands learning 3 chords, we used one finger’ as the synthesiser dominated.
The tribal aspect of the decade cannot be underestimated as the author says ‘shoe gazing had a different purpose as you lived and died on the choices you made knee down.’ Antony Price suits were an obligatory item in certain pop groups wardrobe and his shop, Plaza, in the Kings Road was a minimalist magnet. The Face seemed to have a new cult every month; Hard Times, The Dirtbox, the Zoot Suit revival, Casuals, Buffalo. But there were some that were still around such as Teddy Boys and skinheads who beat up punks and New Romantics with impunity. However the last time I saw a Teddy Boy was sometime in the Noughties. He was a lone middle aged man decked out in the full uniform ambling along in my local Tesco. Everyone was staring at him as they had no idea of who he represented. The New Romantics had their revenge. It was often nasty as one interviewer was told ‘if you’re not going to dress like a woman we’re not going to treat you like a woman.’
However there was a downside to the decade. The results of some of Mrs Thatcher’s policies are mentioned; the riots and the bitter Miners Strike. In 1985 I visited Bradford and everything we saw on the way seemed to be either closed or closing down. Bradford it looked like a wasteland. There was a pub in the middle of it where, as we later discovered, the Yorkshire Ripper had found one of his victims. My companion suggested that we go in and enquire about places to stay. I demurred and we moved on. Never had The Specials 1981 ‘Ghost Town’ seemed so prophetic.
Sweet Dreams is compiled from over 400 interviews including Bowie and Ferry which include the main movers and shakers, how the scene came together, its do or die creativity and how it fell apart when the dressing up box was finally donated to charity. It’s a big book at 600 pages and I really enjoyed reading it. If you want to know about this fascinating and influential period then this is the book for you. Although some of the major players have crashed and burned, others have gone onto to have successful careers to the present day. The author, Dylan Jones, considers that there may never be another period like it and he may be right. It was a combination of many things that came together at once: ambition, talent, music, the music press, style magazines and determination. Just before I started reading Sweet Dreams there was a 2 page spread in a newspaper announcing the 2021 tours of some of the ‘80’s biggest names. OMD, The Human League, Marc Almond and Howard Jones amongst others. As Mark Ellen says ‘everyone from the early 80’s who had a hit is still touring. It shows how big the ’80’s record market was and how many people are still attached to it.’
I like to think that the decade’s spirit lives on in everyone who has a sidehustle, a little artisan business, or is knocking up a hit record or performing on Youtube. y. ‘Sweet Dreams’ is more than just a trip down Memory Lane. It’s a document of an exciting, fertile time. Recommended.
My thanks to Faber and Netgalley for providing me with an advance preview copy of this book.
January 13, 2022
What a disappointment. The title is very misleading: this is not a "story" as much as a chronicle, or even a yearbook, since it's a year by year, 1975 to 1985 account of the movements -- social, cultural, musical, fashion -- that led up to what is known loosely as the New Romantics movement or style. As for the "New Romantics" part, well guess what? It takes about 5-6 years, aka chapters to get there, which is probably as it should be, but still... But what makes this book so disappointing is that Jones, for all his hard work on assembling a massive body of testimony from all the players, and then some, of this era, nonetheless does not actually write a study. Instead, he intersperses his italicized remarks, somewhat moving the "narrative" forward, between celebrity bites, as it were -- long, sometimes dreary sequences of quotes from these players. If he had taken the time and made the effort to condense these voices into a narrative, a carefully organized study, much of the importance of the different shifts between club styles and fashion styles and musical styles between the many different groups and cliques would possibly have been much clearer. Instead, much of this becomes a blurry hodgepodge of names, titles, dates, clubs, etc. etc. yawn. Having looked forward to what I hoped this book would be, I could not wait to get through it, all 626 pages.
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October 8, 2020A grand survey of the New Romantics was always likely to have me broadly along for the ride, but Dylan Jones gets extra points for opening with a quote from Julia Flyte: "Sometimes, I feel the past and the future pressing so hard on either side that there's no room for the present at all." The blurring and refashioning of times and identities; the new possibilities unlocked by the synthesiser, and the remaking of who and how fame could light upon; these deeper levels are at least as present here as the usual clip show clichés. It's an oral history, which is both its great strength and the thing that occasionally threatens to topple the whole project. The weak spots often come in Jones' italicised linking passages, with things like a fairly generic broad-brush social history of the eighties, or the outrageous suggestion that the Style Council is not a good band name. But equally, his interviews include so much quality material which he clearly couldn't bear to cut that at times the book threatens to lose focus. He's talked to most of the key players, including some no longer with us (among them big names like key influence Bowie and scene regular George Michael), but this also means that we have to pause for stories like Malcolm McLaren inventing the Sex Pistols, again, or another run-through of the Clash's gang mentality. You will note that neither of these are New Romantic acts, but the book is at pains to remind us that while some people (including that berk Lydon) might think otherwise, the first New Romantics were early punks, who'd jumped ship when the punk scene's dressing-up and can-do spirit had been drowned in violence and sputum. So yes, you can't tell one story without the other – but when the lineaments of punk are so thoroughly pored over, one can't help but wonder if they couldn't have been dealt with rather quicker here. This is a recurring issue, as movements far less directly relevant come under discussion, from early hip hop to 2 Tone – it's interesting, but it really isn't the advertised subject, and one's left wondering if this shouldn't either be a slimmer book about the New Romantics, or re-titled as a more general survey of the (re)birth of British club culture and pop, 1975-85. Which said, if the former option had been taken, the book would have lost at least one of the Facebook mates of mine to make a talking head appearance, and that would clearly have been a tragedy.
If Jones can lapse into platitudes with the big picture stuff, he's done some excellent work recalling, collecting and recording specifics, work which makes me absolutely understand his reluctance to kill any darlings. The familiar story about the Blitz and Louise's is here, but also the precursors, some of them out in the provinces, places like the Lacy Lady and the Goldmine which are often overlooked. Nor does he restrict himself to the usual go-round of Steve Strange, Boy George and Spandau; I was initially a bit puzzled at Sade being on the cover, even if she did a lot to make it less of a white male roster, but no, turns out she did indeed go to the Blitz, and indeed was in the Spandau video filmed there, alongside not just the obvious faces one thinks of in this connection, but everyone from Wham! to Blancmange and Pigbag. Nor did Jones only talk to musicians because, like any decent scene, New Romanticism was never all about the music. Here too are the managers and writers, but also the designers (of clothes or magazines), the hairdressers – which is exactly as it should be. I particularly enjoyed Kim Bowen's summary of 1984: "everyone was either a stylist or on heroin".
A lot of it is like that, though. Some contributors feel overly rehearsed, in style and/or content, but more often than not one gets the sense of being present at a gloriously unfiltered chat with the people who were in the room where it happened. Some of the nuggets speak to wider trends, like John Foxx nearly being in a band with Steve Jones; others are just entertaining in their own right, like the Sunday Regent's Park football games between Spandau Ballet and Blue Rondo A La Turk, Fletch talking about how you didn't want to get in a fight with Alison Moyet, or the camel that ended Visage. I'm sure people who are more hardcore Durannies than me will already know Nick Rhodes' summary of success ("Every dinner one would go a little further down the wine list"), but I thought I knew Pet Shop Boys pretty well, and I don't recall hearing before the story about how Neil Tennant went to see the Pistols, and was so horrified by the atmosphere that he didn't attend another gig for five years. Sometimes it's not even famous names as such, more odd side-stories like the Neo-Naturists (though even there famous names turn up, with Grayson Perry a sometime participant). Possibly my favourite of all, though, was the reminder that, contrary to the usual stereotype, Martin Fry, face of one of the best albums of the period or indeed ever, was a musician in part because he'd failed at being a music journalist.
Even at this length, and with these provisos, there are puzzling absences and presences. It's fine that some people are threaded through the story (Spandau, Duran, Boy George) while others are sidebars – but it's still jarring that there's almost as much on Hall & Oates as Japan, and more on either than Sparks, who only get passing mentions as an influence when they surely merit more of an investigation. Still, it's inevitable with a project like this that a certain degree of curation will happen, or the whole thing could sprawl into an unfinishable and barely readable mass, Casaubon in blusher or Walter Benjamin's Arcadia Project. More surprising is the comparatively mild line taken on Live Aid, traditionally seen as the official end of it all but here treated more kindly both in terms of itself and its impact than has been the fashion for a while now. It also serves as a natural conclusion, not just artistically, but to the tension that runs throughout the story between the politics of the pop peacocks – who, Tony Hadley and Gary Numan aside, were at least broadly leftwing – and the Thatcherite celebration of luxury for which their images and videos were sometimes taken, especially in the cases of Spandau and Sade. Though this is where the timing of the book's arrival really starts to feel awkward, when Jones talks about Thatcher as the most divisive modern PM – "Few prime ministers in Britain have been burned in effigy". To which one would have to say that, even before Brexit, someone's clearly never been to Lewes. But more than that, while there are a few mutterings by the final interviewees about how the great opening up and colouring in of British social life of which they felt a part seemed to have faltered over the latter half of the 2010s, none of them could have expected what was to follow. Time and again, they talk about how dull Britain used to be, the shortage of anywhere exciting to go back then; the most poignant was regarding the Wag club, in the days when it was still the Whiskey-A-Go-Go – "Best of all, the Whiskey lasted till 1 a.m – desperately late in those sad, forgotten grey days before punk, New Romantic and acid house." And even more so now, when that's three hours after the mandatory, nationwide, indefinite curfew, when even the shittiest of the provincial heterotheques these trailblazers fled for Soho would feel like Xanadu. All those bands who started in these funny little rooms, then went on to conquer the world? Apparently their successors are no longer considered viable. And so a history intended as a celebration ends up feeling more like a requiem.
(Netgalley ARC)
If Jones can lapse into platitudes with the big picture stuff, he's done some excellent work recalling, collecting and recording specifics, work which makes me absolutely understand his reluctance to kill any darlings. The familiar story about the Blitz and Louise's is here, but also the precursors, some of them out in the provinces, places like the Lacy Lady and the Goldmine which are often overlooked. Nor does he restrict himself to the usual go-round of Steve Strange, Boy George and Spandau; I was initially a bit puzzled at Sade being on the cover, even if she did a lot to make it less of a white male roster, but no, turns out she did indeed go to the Blitz, and indeed was in the Spandau video filmed there, alongside not just the obvious faces one thinks of in this connection, but everyone from Wham! to Blancmange and Pigbag. Nor did Jones only talk to musicians because, like any decent scene, New Romanticism was never all about the music. Here too are the managers and writers, but also the designers (of clothes or magazines), the hairdressers – which is exactly as it should be. I particularly enjoyed Kim Bowen's summary of 1984: "everyone was either a stylist or on heroin".
A lot of it is like that, though. Some contributors feel overly rehearsed, in style and/or content, but more often than not one gets the sense of being present at a gloriously unfiltered chat with the people who were in the room where it happened. Some of the nuggets speak to wider trends, like John Foxx nearly being in a band with Steve Jones; others are just entertaining in their own right, like the Sunday Regent's Park football games between Spandau Ballet and Blue Rondo A La Turk, Fletch talking about how you didn't want to get in a fight with Alison Moyet, or the camel that ended Visage. I'm sure people who are more hardcore Durannies than me will already know Nick Rhodes' summary of success ("Every dinner one would go a little further down the wine list"), but I thought I knew Pet Shop Boys pretty well, and I don't recall hearing before the story about how Neil Tennant went to see the Pistols, and was so horrified by the atmosphere that he didn't attend another gig for five years. Sometimes it's not even famous names as such, more odd side-stories like the Neo-Naturists (though even there famous names turn up, with Grayson Perry a sometime participant). Possibly my favourite of all, though, was the reminder that, contrary to the usual stereotype, Martin Fry, face of one of the best albums of the period or indeed ever, was a musician in part because he'd failed at being a music journalist.
Even at this length, and with these provisos, there are puzzling absences and presences. It's fine that some people are threaded through the story (Spandau, Duran, Boy George) while others are sidebars – but it's still jarring that there's almost as much on Hall & Oates as Japan, and more on either than Sparks, who only get passing mentions as an influence when they surely merit more of an investigation. Still, it's inevitable with a project like this that a certain degree of curation will happen, or the whole thing could sprawl into an unfinishable and barely readable mass, Casaubon in blusher or Walter Benjamin's Arcadia Project. More surprising is the comparatively mild line taken on Live Aid, traditionally seen as the official end of it all but here treated more kindly both in terms of itself and its impact than has been the fashion for a while now. It also serves as a natural conclusion, not just artistically, but to the tension that runs throughout the story between the politics of the pop peacocks – who, Tony Hadley and Gary Numan aside, were at least broadly leftwing – and the Thatcherite celebration of luxury for which their images and videos were sometimes taken, especially in the cases of Spandau and Sade. Though this is where the timing of the book's arrival really starts to feel awkward, when Jones talks about Thatcher as the most divisive modern PM – "Few prime ministers in Britain have been burned in effigy". To which one would have to say that, even before Brexit, someone's clearly never been to Lewes. But more than that, while there are a few mutterings by the final interviewees about how the great opening up and colouring in of British social life of which they felt a part seemed to have faltered over the latter half of the 2010s, none of them could have expected what was to follow. Time and again, they talk about how dull Britain used to be, the shortage of anywhere exciting to go back then; the most poignant was regarding the Wag club, in the days when it was still the Whiskey-A-Go-Go – "Best of all, the Whiskey lasted till 1 a.m – desperately late in those sad, forgotten grey days before punk, New Romantic and acid house." And even more so now, when that's three hours after the mandatory, nationwide, indefinite curfew, when even the shittiest of the provincial heterotheques these trailblazers fled for Soho would feel like Xanadu. All those bands who started in these funny little rooms, then went on to conquer the world? Apparently their successors are no longer considered viable. And so a history intended as a celebration ends up feeling more like a requiem.
(Netgalley ARC)
May 4, 2021
This massive oral history of the stylists, clubs, magazines and music of the New Romantics of the early 80s has some gems - some great anecdotes, sharp insights, and a welcome narrative for some of the bands of the period - but good Lord is it work to find them. At nearly seven hundred pages it's colossally bloated: it takes over a hundred pages just to get out of punk (and by punk, Jones is only interested in the Sex Pistols and the Clash); full of near-identical origin stories of Bowie-worshipping art school dropouts, each one told in great detail (understandably important to the teller, but desperately in need of editing); and lengthy descriptions of which shops or clubs were trendy and for how long, and which new designers or nightspots supplanted them. Some of the subjects are insightful about what class or queerness meant during this period, but those moments feel almost accidental - Jones doesn't really put ideas into conversation with one another, and some inconsistencies about the period never get addressed (we're constantly being told how welcoming and inclusive this world is - we're also constantly being told that kids get turned away from the clubs if they haven't kept up with that week's definition of style, that bands are holding secret invitation-only shows, and that the staff of one magazine would "laugh at you for weeks if you said you liked the wrong song").
Jones is a better writer than editor, and his commentaries are often interesting, if contentious. He calls Prince a "James Brown clone," displaying a shocking ignorance of both Prince and James Brown - and the fact that Prince is in this book at all (he comes right after the section about Hall and Oates) speaks to the problem with this unwieldy book. Sweet Dreams is useful for it's massive index, but probably best enjoyed as a nostalgia trip for people who have fond memories of i-D magazine and who dreamt of being a Blitz Kid.
Jones is a better writer than editor, and his commentaries are often interesting, if contentious. He calls Prince a "James Brown clone," displaying a shocking ignorance of both Prince and James Brown - and the fact that Prince is in this book at all (he comes right after the section about Hall and Oates) speaks to the problem with this unwieldy book. Sweet Dreams is useful for it's massive index, but probably best enjoyed as a nostalgia trip for people who have fond memories of i-D magazine and who dreamt of being a Blitz Kid.
February 20, 2021
A history of the “New Romantics” music period which he describes as beginning with punk and no moving to Culture Club, WHAM, etc. He ends it with Live Aid and the death of Princess Diana. A British musical movement that began as a dark, grey, Punk attitude and as video became more important than radio, morphed in to bright colors, makeup and a more pop sound.
December 29, 2020
(4.5*) In a year in which music—more than any art form (sorry, books!)—kept me sane, this book is worthy of (almost) all the stars Goodreads allows.
Informative and entertaining, a testament to the best decade in music.
Informative and entertaining, a testament to the best decade in music.
October 19, 2020
This was an absolute monster of a book covering the music and culture of the decade from 1975 to 1985.. I was born in 1972 in the East Midlands. I don't remember a lot about punk. it filtered into provincial life slowly and I was too young for it but my early teens were all about New Romantics and all the bands Jones talks about here. He charts the progress from one genre to the other, year by year, interviewing many of those involved, not just from the world of music and builds a fascinating picture that even at the time would probably have passed most of us by. It's interesting to view a time you lived through, albeit in peripheral terms, but written about retrospectively and in a historical context. I was kind of sad it stopped in 85. I hope he charts the next decade in the same way. It was interesting that rather than a single, authorial voice it was made up of interviews and journalism in a kind of patchwork effect. It did make for some repetition at times, but on the other hand it did give a much more multi-faceted view of things and I liked the fact that Jones doesn't smooth over the fact that some of the people interviewed give completely different stories about events, some of which blatantly contradict each other. I enjoyed the end sections, with lists of records that shaped the years, photos and a solid bibliography. I'd have liked more photos of the time, but there are no shortage of those online. The whole thing made me feel quite nostalgic.
December 29, 2020
For a kid who grew up in rural Alabama but was borderline obsessed with this British invasion, the book was a dream come true -- the history book I didn't even know I needed. Were there voices missing that I wish could've been included? Of course. But you can't land them all yet Dylan Jones connected so many dots for me that I still hadn't linked, even as a middle-aged Gen-Xer, about these artists, the punk movement, disco, Bowie, Roxy Music and the '80s that followed.
November 1, 2020
An oral history from the movers and shakers of the New Romantic scene. It starts off in 1975 with the glam rock through to the punk scene and everything that influenced the New romantics, who were initially known as peacock punks. It takes us through the setting up of the Blitz club, the forming of many of the bands, through to chart success and up to Live Aid.
I was a little too young to have been there at the time but I really enjoyed reading about it, particularly the early years where it felt like such an exciting time. I did find the later chapters dragged a bit, by this time the bands were very successful and no longer so interesting to read about.
*Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy of the book in ex hangs for an honest review*
I was a little too young to have been there at the time but I really enjoyed reading about it, particularly the early years where it felt like such an exciting time. I did find the later chapters dragged a bit, by this time the bands were very successful and no longer so interesting to read about.
*Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy of the book in ex hangs for an honest review*
October 17, 2021
I was delighted to see this book existed but my enthusiasm waned somewhat as I waded through its considerable length, reading it became a chore rather than the pleasure I was hopng it would be. It's way too long and spends a lot of time off topic, or to my mind, barely on topic - such as Wham and George Michael who get a huge amount of coverage, the roots in punk are relevant, but again but a side story to the topic, not 100 pages of coverage. Absent were artsists such as Shock, Landscape, Tik and Tok, Ronny etc... Needs radical editing and focus.
October 23, 2020
Having looked back over the last three books I have read, I realise that they all have one thing in common, music.
This book although it is the story of the New Romantics, it is much more than just about the music. It is about the heritage, the influences, the fashion and the extraordinary characters who frequented ‘the Blitz club and eventually became big names on the music and club scene of the eighties.
The book starts, however, in the mid 70’s and I did at first wonder why, but once you start reading the style influence of bands like Roxy Music (Bryan Ferry in particular) and Bowie, on the frequenters of the Blitz Club you then understand how they did indeed deserve to be included in this book.
The contrast between the dying days of the 70’s and the Punk movement and the emergence of the ‘New Romantics’ was stark and it was interesting reading about the time (the 70’s) that I cannot really remember. I got the feeling that the creativity, the club culture and flamboyance was a direct reaction against the hard, angry and violent scene that punk had become.
Jones has managed to interview an absolute goldmine of 80’s characters, not only musicians of the time but also journalists, managers and designers. (What would a book about the 80’s be if it didn’t mention the fashions)
However, for all its insights and anecdotes that this work should and does include I felt that the writing did not spark for me and I felt it dragged. Perhaps it should have been put into two books rather than this big sprawling one. Also, I feel that a few more pictures might have helped. It just felt to me that it was lacking something even with all its insight and interviews.
This book although it is the story of the New Romantics, it is much more than just about the music. It is about the heritage, the influences, the fashion and the extraordinary characters who frequented ‘the Blitz club and eventually became big names on the music and club scene of the eighties.
The book starts, however, in the mid 70’s and I did at first wonder why, but once you start reading the style influence of bands like Roxy Music (Bryan Ferry in particular) and Bowie, on the frequenters of the Blitz Club you then understand how they did indeed deserve to be included in this book.
The contrast between the dying days of the 70’s and the Punk movement and the emergence of the ‘New Romantics’ was stark and it was interesting reading about the time (the 70’s) that I cannot really remember. I got the feeling that the creativity, the club culture and flamboyance was a direct reaction against the hard, angry and violent scene that punk had become.
Jones has managed to interview an absolute goldmine of 80’s characters, not only musicians of the time but also journalists, managers and designers. (What would a book about the 80’s be if it didn’t mention the fashions)
However, for all its insights and anecdotes that this work should and does include I felt that the writing did not spark for me and I felt it dragged. Perhaps it should have been put into two books rather than this big sprawling one. Also, I feel that a few more pictures might have helped. It just felt to me that it was lacking something even with all its insight and interviews.
September 20, 2021
I've been in a bad mood all day. Snapping at my friends and generally feeling irritable. Usually that's a sign that I've read something that hasn't agreed with me. This book was good for about the first quarter; after that it became very monotonous. I get it. The inspiration for musicians of the 70s was Kraftwerk, David Bowie and Roxy Music. Just listen to Kraftwerk now! It hasn't aged well and sounds tinny. And look at how David Bowie treated Gary Numan! One of the nicest guys and Bowie kicked him off the set when he only wanted to stay and watch when he was filming a video. And Bryan Ferry is entitled to be a middle class wanker. His music is f*****g good. The book got very repetitive towards the end and I couldn't stick with it. It would have been better if it was half the size and contained more variety. In some ways it has cured me of wanting to go back to the 80's. I'd forgotten, for the most part, how conformist and therefore stressful it was. We've traded that now for a different kind of stress. But at least the path is more clear to be who we want to be, albeit without the all important guidelines for definition that the 80's music scene graced us with. Which is why new music now is just consumed in the vacuous cosmos. Six of one half a dozen of the other really, isn't it?
March 17, 2023
A very fun, musical, journey told via memories of people involved in the scene, in the bands, and people who ran the music magazines. It is a hefty read but well worth your time.
Reread: enjoyed it as much as the first read.
Reread: enjoyed it as much as the first read.
April 16, 2022
I've thoroughly enjoyed Dylan's enjoyable trawl through the glory days of music and fashion, and it's been a real nostalgia trip.
It's quite a large book (it took me 2 months to read it!), but it's really worth it if you're a fan of the music, fashions and culture of the times.
Rather than being one long narrative, Dylan has divided the book into chronological chapters for each year he's focused on - from the rise of punk in 1975 to the post Live Aid shakedown of 1985.
He tells the story mainly with selected quotes and anecdotes from the stars of the times, and it makes for a fascinating journey as we see how the New Romamtic movement evolved from the short-lived (but monumental punk era), through to the colourful new wave stars of the early 80s who dominated the charts.
My only criticism (other than its length) is that there is a fair bit of repetition along the way - and some parts are maybe of less interest than others. It's quite slow starting too but, like an epic film, the foundations are then set for the story to unfold.
Also, he keeps referring to Eurythmics as THE Eurthymics!
But, those minor things aside, this is a fascinating read, and comes from someone who was there at the time and a part of the scene itself.
If you love the new romantic era and the glory days of the early 80s music scene, you're sure to love this book.
It's quite a large book (it took me 2 months to read it!), but it's really worth it if you're a fan of the music, fashions and culture of the times.
Rather than being one long narrative, Dylan has divided the book into chronological chapters for each year he's focused on - from the rise of punk in 1975 to the post Live Aid shakedown of 1985.
He tells the story mainly with selected quotes and anecdotes from the stars of the times, and it makes for a fascinating journey as we see how the New Romamtic movement evolved from the short-lived (but monumental punk era), through to the colourful new wave stars of the early 80s who dominated the charts.
My only criticism (other than its length) is that there is a fair bit of repetition along the way - and some parts are maybe of less interest than others. It's quite slow starting too but, like an epic film, the foundations are then set for the story to unfold.
Also, he keeps referring to Eurythmics as THE Eurthymics!
But, those minor things aside, this is a fascinating read, and comes from someone who was there at the time and a part of the scene itself.
If you love the new romantic era and the glory days of the early 80s music scene, you're sure to love this book.
July 1, 2022
Being slightly generous, really a 3.5. I admire the ambition of the task and but the execution is a bit wobbly - not in form (the oral histories punctuated with Jones takes on various things works, even if I don’t always agree with his takes) but in content/curation. This could easily have been 150 pages shorter (lots of repetition particularly in the first quarter) but the length could have been justified if important players were given more space (Kate Bush, Moroder, Sparks, post-Dare League, the roots of SAW, Jam and Lewis) in place of the odd tangents, an over abundance of detail about punk, and the endless parade of Roxy and Bowie fawning (I love them too but we get it already) in the first 100 pages.
But lots to enjoy here if you love the period: the Wham!/George Michael section is particularly well done. The books greatest strength is that the focus is not limited to music but to the intersection of music, media, fashion, art, class, and politics. In the end Jones contention that this is an important, oft under-analysed period of major cultural shifts is a convincing one.
But lots to enjoy here if you love the period: the Wham!/George Michael section is particularly well done. The books greatest strength is that the focus is not limited to music but to the intersection of music, media, fashion, art, class, and politics. In the end Jones contention that this is an important, oft under-analysed period of major cultural shifts is a convincing one.
November 23, 2021
"I remember it was about 77 I was wearing trousers, and a shirt, and Steve was there and we were listening to Roxy Music"
After Simon Reynolds "Rip it up and Start again" is there really any more to say about the late 70s and early 80s pop culture?
No.
Not if this beast of a book is anything to go by, it begins in 1975 and retreads England's Dreaming by Jon Savage, but way less compelling. This book could do with a hard edit.
And - unlike Savage and Reynolds - Sweet Dreams just makes everybody sound utterly vacuous (pretty vacant?)
After Simon Reynolds "Rip it up and Start again" is there really any more to say about the late 70s and early 80s pop culture?
No.
Not if this beast of a book is anything to go by, it begins in 1975 and retreads England's Dreaming by Jon Savage, but way less compelling. This book could do with a hard edit.
And - unlike Savage and Reynolds - Sweet Dreams just makes everybody sound utterly vacuous (pretty vacant?)
October 26, 2020
thanks to the publishers and netgalley for a free copy in return for an open and honest review
Really enjoyed this an oral history of the new romantics ranging from 1975-1985 and gives an insight to how it developed on from the punk movement of the mid 1970's to 1977 expression of dress sense and developing different sounds. the author portrays this in a yearly chapter so you can see the development of the bands which came.
Really enjoyed this an oral history of the new romantics ranging from 1975-1985 and gives an insight to how it developed on from the punk movement of the mid 1970's to 1977 expression of dress sense and developing different sounds. the author portrays this in a yearly chapter so you can see the development of the bands which came.
July 26, 2023
For 15 minutes in the early 80's, the New Romantics were a "thing". There was the Blitz Club, Steve Strange, Rusty Egan, Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran. No real music fan took them seriously.
In Sweet Dreams, Dylan Jones tries to persuade us that this blip in UK musical history was somehow an all-pervasive "movement" that included anyone who touched a synthesizer or wore eyeliner. Much of the text deals with bands/artists who had nothing to do with the "New Romantics" - OMD, Heaven 17, Simple Minds, Japan, Depeche Mode, Psychedelic Furs etc.
His New Romantic narrative wanders far from Steve Strange and Spandau Ballet, dipping into glam and punk, 80's publishing and Sade (Jones is keen to ensure that we think well of this mid-80's cul-de-sac). It becomes quite infuriating.
For more accurate and honest accounts of this period read Simon Reynolds or Jon Savage.
In Sweet Dreams, Dylan Jones tries to persuade us that this blip in UK musical history was somehow an all-pervasive "movement" that included anyone who touched a synthesizer or wore eyeliner. Much of the text deals with bands/artists who had nothing to do with the "New Romantics" - OMD, Heaven 17, Simple Minds, Japan, Depeche Mode, Psychedelic Furs etc.
His New Romantic narrative wanders far from Steve Strange and Spandau Ballet, dipping into glam and punk, 80's publishing and Sade (Jones is keen to ensure that we think well of this mid-80's cul-de-sac). It becomes quite infuriating.
For more accurate and honest accounts of this period read Simon Reynolds or Jon Savage.
April 7, 2024
Far more than just the story of the New Romantics, Jones' oral history covers a period of great music and sociological change with considerable class. From Bowie down, Jones quotes more than 150 of the era's movers and shakers, weaving the story together with his own observations in inimitable style. Recommended to anyone who lived through the punk/ska/goth/synthpop era, there's plenty for everyone here.
February 28, 2023
Fantastic writing on such a unique music scene and period of popular culture. Great collection of interviews and editing. I thoroughly enjoyed chipping away at this book.
September 10, 2020
Sweet Dreams is an oral history of the New Romantics, from the beginnings and the clubs of the late 1970s to Live Aid and changes in music in 1985. Jones collates interviews from a huge range of sources (a difficult task seeing as 'New Romantic' is wide-ranging and widely disparaged as a term, so the bands covered are diverse) and connects these with explanatory narration that sets scenes and points out important moments. The book is split by year, clearing charting the progression of the bands and the scene, and has a discography at its end for those wanting further listening, whether as a reminder or to discover new music.
As someone who likes the music but wasn't alive during the period, perhaps the more nostalgic element you tend to find in oral histories of music scenes didn't work for me. The book is a very comprehensive charting of the people, bands, and music you could loosely call 'New Romantic', and like similar books, brings a useful picture of what it was like. However, I found it lacked analysis or insight into a lot of the phenomena it was describing, which I would've found more interesting than just what happened: more on why things happened as they did, which some parts of the book do look at in passing (for example, why there were a lot of both straight and gay people at the New Romantic clubs and trying out the fashions).
Music oral histories tend to either feel like you wanted more, or you wanted less, and in the case of Sweet Dreams it did drag a lot, feeling comprehensive but lacking a spark. A lot of people, especially those who were into it at the time, will probably enjoy the book and it'd make a great gift for someone who likes the bands, but for me it felt like an endeavour to get through, even with the music playing in my head.
As someone who likes the music but wasn't alive during the period, perhaps the more nostalgic element you tend to find in oral histories of music scenes didn't work for me. The book is a very comprehensive charting of the people, bands, and music you could loosely call 'New Romantic', and like similar books, brings a useful picture of what it was like. However, I found it lacked analysis or insight into a lot of the phenomena it was describing, which I would've found more interesting than just what happened: more on why things happened as they did, which some parts of the book do look at in passing (for example, why there were a lot of both straight and gay people at the New Romantic clubs and trying out the fashions).
Music oral histories tend to either feel like you wanted more, or you wanted less, and in the case of Sweet Dreams it did drag a lot, feeling comprehensive but lacking a spark. A lot of people, especially those who were into it at the time, will probably enjoy the book and it'd make a great gift for someone who likes the bands, but for me it felt like an endeavour to get through, even with the music playing in my head.
October 10, 2020
Kimley and I will be discussing this book on our podcast BOOK MUSIK. Episode will be up on October 15, 2020.
February 16, 2021
A great read for a midwestern girl who idolized these folks. I do see some of these folks on facebook, including the author. A lot of them have done interesting things!
May 5, 2022
Really was excited to read this one and it was a bit of a letdown. I know you have to start with a foundation, but the lead-in years seemed to go on forever and I'm desperately tired of reading about the Sex Pistols. Not bad, overall, but not as good as I'd hoped.
November 24, 2020
I very rarely get sent Non Fiction books to review and this latest book by Dylan Jones is an absolute joy. It's a bittersweet journey through the bands and the music that I loved growing up in the Eighties. This book brings back vividly the thrill of getting my hands on the latest copies of Smash Hits and Look In and reading all about the bands and the artists that I idolised at the time. And if I could sneak it past my Dad's eagle-eyed scrutiny there was the occasional issue of Hot Press and Melody Maker. (Even then, for me, the NME took itself too seriously!)
Unknowingly a lot of the venues that feature in the book became a part of my work life in the music industry in London, although twenty years on these clubs and pubs were quite tame by comparison with the hedonism and social awakening of the post-punk New Romantics.
I'm very fond of a band biography and have been slowly reading Andrew Ridgeley's book over the course of this year as well as the fabulously decadent book by Duff McKagan of Guns N Roses fame. For me Sweet Dreams is in a league of its own. It is part memoir, part socio-economic history and a good chunk of nostalgia for a time unlike no other. Changing technology had such a huge influence on this time with the development of the synthesiser and music videos and the birth of MTV. Who can forget Adam & The Ants' dandy highwayman or the Duran boys lounging on luxury yachts?
Jones has a very easy writing style and each chapter is dedicated to a year in the decade. He begins with the punk revolution of 76/77 and documents how that developed into the New Romantic explosion just a few years later. A movement that had such a big influence on the UK, Europe and later the USA has surprisingly few protagonists moving incestuously from band to band as their styles and music developed and naturally as disputes and arguments split up their original bands.
Using interviews with the performers, stylists, journalists, artists etc who were part of the largely London based scene, Jones has been able to craft a vibrant record of what it was like to be part of this period. It is not the catchiest of titles and it is a very hefty 688 pages but if you grew up in the Eighties and loved bands like the Ants, Spandau, Duran Duran, Depeche Mode etc you won't be able to put this book down. It's a sparkly little gem to curl up with on a dark winter's evening!
Supplied by Net Galley and Faber and Faber Ltd in exchange for an honest review.
Unknowingly a lot of the venues that feature in the book became a part of my work life in the music industry in London, although twenty years on these clubs and pubs were quite tame by comparison with the hedonism and social awakening of the post-punk New Romantics.
I'm very fond of a band biography and have been slowly reading Andrew Ridgeley's book over the course of this year as well as the fabulously decadent book by Duff McKagan of Guns N Roses fame. For me Sweet Dreams is in a league of its own. It is part memoir, part socio-economic history and a good chunk of nostalgia for a time unlike no other. Changing technology had such a huge influence on this time with the development of the synthesiser and music videos and the birth of MTV. Who can forget Adam & The Ants' dandy highwayman or the Duran boys lounging on luxury yachts?
Jones has a very easy writing style and each chapter is dedicated to a year in the decade. He begins with the punk revolution of 76/77 and documents how that developed into the New Romantic explosion just a few years later. A movement that had such a big influence on the UK, Europe and later the USA has surprisingly few protagonists moving incestuously from band to band as their styles and music developed and naturally as disputes and arguments split up their original bands.
Using interviews with the performers, stylists, journalists, artists etc who were part of the largely London based scene, Jones has been able to craft a vibrant record of what it was like to be part of this period. It is not the catchiest of titles and it is a very hefty 688 pages but if you grew up in the Eighties and loved bands like the Ants, Spandau, Duran Duran, Depeche Mode etc you won't be able to put this book down. It's a sparkly little gem to curl up with on a dark winter's evening!
Supplied by Net Galley and Faber and Faber Ltd in exchange for an honest review.
June 13, 2021
I was ready to like this. I was ready to learn anything and everything about the music and that seemed almost secondary a lot of the time. My eyes glazed over every time I picked this up. I now understand more than ever how important clubs and fashion were at the time, but also, I wasn't expecting a good one-third of this book to be droning on and on and on and on about club experiences that no one would care about if they weren't there. Sure, give a chapter or whatever to club life, tell some tales, okay. I can't really stress enough just how much paper was given to "blah blah blah, Bar xyz was so great, I'd see Steve and Bob there, I know you don't know them, but let me describe in great detail literally everything that happened on these nights that were really significant to me personally." Everything, and I mean everything, was so overdone and repetitive and exhausting. Everybody was influenced by David Bowie and you can read *everybody's* take on that, plus the life and times of George Michael and Wham! (way bigger focus of this book than they needed to be). Too comprehensive on some things, and rarely interesting. I felt some relevant artists got barely mentioned when even Prince and Madonna got tossed in the book for seemingly no reason. Really disjointed, poorly edited, self-satisfied piece of work. I would continue on, but I am not this book, so.
September 3, 2023
What a masterpiece! I am only sad it took me a year to read. I had this on my Kindle and usually only take that in the Summer when I travel. Anyway, this book is fantastic with over 153 people in the mix that were actually there. This highlights why the 80s were so important musically, fashion wise, art wise, etc. So much was happening in London in New York during those times and I agree that the period after punk was much more rich and diverse in terms of a blending of the tribes. Also a great addendum to the book is the discography which you will surely find your favorite records and remind you of a few to pull out and give another listen to. This book is in the league with Jon Savage's England's Dreaming along with Dave Rimmer's books on the New Romantic movement. Currently, we are seeing a plethora of books on Goth coming out from Cathi Upsworth, Lol Tolhurst and others. An additional Bibliography of books on tertiary musical movements in the back. Do yourself a favor and don't take a year to read this!
February 26, 2021
Interesting but quite broad in its scope. Punk (whilst being interesting and a factor of the change to new romantics) is given a bit too much space, and some bands/musicians missed out altogether or given little room. Lots about fashion, club scene of the time too, so be prepared for that. Worth a read if you grew up in the 80s or love that era of music, even if it is slightly too long.
March 2, 2022
This was a very annoying book that I only finished through sheer determination.
More pretentious than insightful, it would have been easier to bear if it were shorter.
I think the problem is that the author is too close to the subject, and so was missing perspective on it, but this was published in 2020. For a book covering 1975-1985, there should have been plenty of time to gain perspective, except that for too many participants this is not true.
The best example may be Duran Duran. Most of the band members are quoted, and they are the exception, in not having to spend so much time about what made the era so special, or their own petty jealousies. Most of the other people quoted, though, keep focusing on Duran Duran, and how they weren't deep or were more like a boy band, manufactured. And if they thought that in 1981, that's one thing, but as one of the few bands mentioned who has continued to grow and create new music, with some re-configuring, then it sounds ridiculous to still be writing them off.
So Duran Duran comes off best, followed by David Bowie. The saddest bit for me was Bowie talking about "Let's Dance", because I have read about that from Nile Rodgers' perspective, and Nile was a little disappointed that when he asked Bowie what he wanted, Bowie said he wanted to make hits, because he was expecting something more unconventional. So then reading that Bowie felt trapped by making hits, like it was the identity change that he couldn't change again, isn't tragic but it's a little sad. So perhaps that is why after that, Bowie shifted gears completely and started an internet company.
Possibly the best summation of the book -- and this is a gross exaggeration, but it kind of makes the point -- is that art school students are the worst.
More pretentious than insightful, it would have been easier to bear if it were shorter.
I think the problem is that the author is too close to the subject, and so was missing perspective on it, but this was published in 2020. For a book covering 1975-1985, there should have been plenty of time to gain perspective, except that for too many participants this is not true.
The best example may be Duran Duran. Most of the band members are quoted, and they are the exception, in not having to spend so much time about what made the era so special, or their own petty jealousies. Most of the other people quoted, though, keep focusing on Duran Duran, and how they weren't deep or were more like a boy band, manufactured. And if they thought that in 1981, that's one thing, but as one of the few bands mentioned who has continued to grow and create new music, with some re-configuring, then it sounds ridiculous to still be writing them off.
So Duran Duran comes off best, followed by David Bowie. The saddest bit for me was Bowie talking about "Let's Dance", because I have read about that from Nile Rodgers' perspective, and Nile was a little disappointed that when he asked Bowie what he wanted, Bowie said he wanted to make hits, because he was expecting something more unconventional. So then reading that Bowie felt trapped by making hits, like it was the identity change that he couldn't change again, isn't tragic but it's a little sad. So perhaps that is why after that, Bowie shifted gears completely and started an internet company.
Possibly the best summation of the book -- and this is a gross exaggeration, but it kind of makes the point -- is that art school students are the worst.
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