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Power Chords is 'a life set to music. Beautifully told'. Specifically the lived experience of punk. How it changed people. Why it changed people. Why a 'new wave' of protest art was necessary then - in 1976 - and why it is necessary now. (Hmmm. Because Trump and the mad-bad populists, because austerity, because the staggering and immoral disparity in wealth distribution?)
This is the story of the energy that is anger changing a life. Anger and political/philosophical awakening. The kind of thing that happens when you're a teenager and when things look outrageously bad. It's personal, mischievous, serious, articulate and maybe a little wild. The writer thinks he's Elvis Costello. The writer thinks he's Sigmund Freud. The book surges everywhere - it's funny, daft, authoritative and fearlessly behind what's good.
"What I'm getting at is I can't think of a more vital time for music (& young people) to discover or re-discover their conscience & their agency".
There is an appreciation of the central figures of British New Wave - Lydon; Costello; Weller; Strummer; Mark E Smith - and how it felt to be a Buzzcock or a Bunnyman. There is a notable dismemberment of Thatcher. Mostly there is a real love for and understanding of the music.
1976 to about 1980 was special. The author is wise and fair enough to try to place it in the wider context of wonderful and seminal protest music but he passionately and compellingly argues the Case for Punk... and the need for Punk 2, now.
