The Funnies
David L Ulin asks, is Harvey Pekar the Joyce Carol Oates of comics? “While I’d be the last to begrudge him his moment, I can’t help thinking that he’s begun to dilute the brand. His most recent book, Macedonia (Villard: 170 pp., $17.95 paper)–a collaboration with Heather Roberson and artist Ed Piskor–reads like work for […]
Rip It Up!
Johnny Deluxe of 100 Punks fame is curating a new exhibition, entitled “Rip It Up: Reading and the Punk Rock Revolution”, at Reading Museum. It runs from 21 July until 7 October and includes 100 previously-unseen pictures and some rare Sex Pistols memorabilia: “You’re just a satellite of London!” snarled Johnny Rotten in 1977, and […]
Old Britpoppers Don’t Die
Britpop didn’t kill off indie but it did alert the record labels to the public’s appetite for skinny nerks denouncing American culture and proclaiming their own brilliance. Of course, beyond a few European cities and the odd Japanese discos, the world remained largely untroubled by Britpop, possibly because it was a movement based on culturally recycling three decades worth of distinctly English reference points (the lyrics of Small Faces, the clunky riffs of Wire riffs, the sartorial style of Grange Hill) rather than anything approaching innovation.
Reading Balzac, knocking back Prozac: Ben Myers ponders why ex-Britpoppers are picking up pens rather than guitars.