Book review: Rebel Grrrls

Molly Tie’s feminist history, subtitled The Real Story Of Women And Punk, brings an important perspective to the current “50th anniversary of punk” commemorations.

The book argues that the “punk purists” are wrong to believe that punk died at the end of the 1970s and that it has remained important, especially to women. I confess that, as someone who came of age in the first punk movement of 76–77, I have been one of those purists. Partly that was because the second wave of punk in the UK seemed so conformist and, it has to be said, so male: elements that seemed counter to the original spirit of rebellion and liberation. 

But you are never too old to learn from younger people, as I’ve found from reading this book. Tie presents punk as a continuum, with a series of waves that have continued to the present day. And she argues – backed up by quotes from fans – that it has always been relevant to women.

I’ve written a book

I’ve written a book and it’s out on 5th March. It’s called Atypical Girl.  If you’ve enjoyed reading this blog I think you’ll like it.

Here are answers to some things people have asked me about it.

What’s your book about?

The very short answer is: ‘Punk rock, Liverpool and trying to be normal’. That’s the book’s subtitle.

The slightly longer answer is that it’s a memoir starting in 1976 and going up to the 21st century. It’s about coming of age during punk and how that influenced the rest of my life – including my career as a music journalist. A lot of it is about the Liverpool punk scene around Eric’s club and the post-punk scene that followed. There’s also a subplot about growing up with undiagnosed autism, hence the title (which is, of course, a play on Typical Girls by the Slits).

A People's History of Punk: radio review

 

It’s 2026. And apparently it’s the “50th anniversary of punk”. There’s going to be a lot of Media Stuff about it this year.

I’ve got a few problems with this.

1. The timing is London-centric. For most of us in the rest of the country, our year zero was 1977.

2. Punk wasn’t supposed to last 50 years.

I might come back to that another time. But for now, here’s the beginning of the Media Stuff: a Radio 4 series fronted by Chris Packham.

Old ladies to the front: in praise of unglamorous bands

Ruth Miller with the Unglamorous LP.

Years ago, when Twitter was a place where you  could find community, I came across an account called Punk Girl Diaries.  The two women behind it were punk fans and musicians Ruth Miller aka Vim Renault and Polly Hancock aka Lene Cortina. 

It turned out they did a website (no longer active) and an excellent fanzine, which I immediately subscribed to. And merch, too: I now have a Punk Girl Diaries T-shirt with the word “Typical” on the front. 

Bunnyman: a review

 

I don’t often write about music books written by men, because there are plenty of other people to do it, and I’d rather promote women’s history of pop. But I’m going to make an exception for Echo and the Bunnymen guitarist Will Sergeant’s memoir Bunnyman, because I Was There.

Not, like Will, growing up in a council flat, closer to Kirkby than Liverpool. Not going to a comprehensive school that decided who was thick. Not getting a dead-end job in 1970s Liverpool. But I was at Eric’s, the punk-era music club that grew Echo and the Bunnymen, and many more post-punk Scouse stars. I remember it as a golden era, and Will’s book confirms it.

Book review: Face it by Debbie Harry

“That’s very heavy” said the librarian as she scanned in my book. She was right. It looks like a normal hardback but it’s twice the weight. I still haven’t worked out why.

Appearances can be deceptive, as Debbie Harry knows. She was never “Blondie”, as the book makes clear: that was always a character. Debbie’s own character is harder to make out, even after reading this book. She has a lot of stories to tell but she tells them deadpan.

Books and booze and rock’n’roll

Photo by Andy Pidge

Last week I went to see Viv Albertine at the Walthamstow Rock’n’Roll Book Club. Everyone should have a rock’n’roll book club. It’s a brilliant idea and I wish there was one where I live. But luckily I have a friend in Walthamstow and she invited me along.

The club is (usually) in an old cinema, which feels like a suitably rock’n’roll venue. A bit vintage, a bit shabby, hanging on to some glamour. (Aren't we all?) The central ticket booth is now a cocktail bar, which I thought was pretty cool.

Here to be heard: the Slits documentary

Before punkettes, there were punkesses: that’s how the Slits were described in their early press coverage, according to this new documentary about the band. As a linguist I like that word a lot more. “Punkettes” is a diminutive – mini-punks, not the real thing – but “punkesses” is just female. And potentially, like lionesses, fierce.

Book review: Untypical Girls

Me being untypical, many years ago.

When I was a teenager and I wanted to learn how to look like a punk, I didn’t have much to go on apart from the newspapers and the back cover of the New Wave compilation LP. I’d have loved a book like this.

The Reunion: Women of Punk

I don’t listen to Radio 4 that often because I’m not that posh, but I was quite excited to find out about a programme called Women of Punk last week. It was part of a series called The Reunion which “reunites a group of people intimately involved in a moment of modern history”.

People’s history of pop

Like many people my age, I often watch the music documentaries on BBC4 on a Friday night. Sometimes I enjoy these programmes. Sometimes I hate myself a bit for succumbing to cheap nostalgia. More often, I hate the presenters or the talking heads who half the time Weren’t There and most of the time are men. One of my friends even calls it “middleagedwhiteblokenight”.

The People’s History of Pop is a bit different. Not enough different, but a bit is a start. Because it’s not about presenters (although there always is a celebrity presenter) or about talking heads, but about fans.

Back in the gallery with my bullshit detector

I’ve never been quite sure about this 40 years of punk “celebration” that’s going on. All a bit too establishment for me. And I know some of the London stuff has been controversial.

I was in Bristol yesterday and it turned out they are doing a punk season at the Arnolfini arts centre. They say they are, anyway.

Fingers in the sparkle jar: a rant or a review

I’ve been reading Fingers in the Sparkle Jar, Chris Packham’s remarkable memoir. It’s a hard book to review so maybe I won’t. But I will have a rant.

Provincial punk: Why I love Grayson Perry

You’ve got to love someone who made an artwork called “Football stands for everything I hate”. (Well, I’ve got to anyway, because it does.) You’ve also got to love an artist who has a retrospective exhibition called Provincial Punk.

You’ve got to go and see it, too (well, I had to anyway because I identify as Provincial Punk), so I went off to Margate to have a look. It’s the first time I’ve seen any of Grayson Perry’s work outside of the telly or a magazine, and I loved it.

Book review: punkPunk!

I prefer short stories to novels, the same way I prefer singles to albums.  So I guess that means this anthology of punk-inspired fiction is a bit like a compilation album.  Like most compilation albums it’s got stuff I like, stuff I like a lot and some stuff I don’t really get.

I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now

I went to a reunion and it got me thinking about life. Everyone else got pissed.

At the age of fifty-something, I'd never been to a reunion before. No school reunions, no college reunions. When I finally ended up going to a reunion it was for a punk club.

Book review: Clothes Clothes Clothes Music Music Music Boys Boys Boys

Years ago, when I still worked for other people, I was talking about the legendary grumpiness of a colleague and one of his admirers said 'You don't know what he's been through.'  As if that was an excuse.  And I thought: 'You don't know what I've been through either.' And then I thought: 'Show me someone who's got the the age of 40 who hasn't had bad things happen to them and I'll show you someone who hasn't lived.'

Shit happens. We're all survivors, one way or the other. And you could call Viv Albertine's memoir the story of a survivor. Except that would be a) very '80s and b) a cliche.

Another Punk Britannia review, and some middle-aged angst

I've been thinking and writing a lot about punk lately. And I don't know if I want to think and write  about it any more. It's very easy when a lot of your thinking and writing is done online to find yourself trapped inside the same conversation. But I never wanted to be defined by my past.

You're history: Punk Britannia review

In honour of the jubilee (yes, I know), the Guardian asked some 60-year-old writers to ruminate on their lives. Sean O'Brien, in a rather good piece, wrote: 'One of the mixed benefits of ageing is reading accounts of your lifetime by people who weren't there.'

Shit. That means I'm going to have to get used to it.

Punk's not dead - discuss

I don't watch a lot of television but when I do I like to watch it in company. Which generally means Twitter.

A few weeks ago, BBC4 decided to resurrect Top of the Pops and kicked it off with a themed evening that included a documentary about 1976. It was this in particular that polarised commentators. Generation gap? I expect so.

As we watched the awfulness that was Sailor and Brotherhood of Man, half the viewers said: 'This is why we fought the punk wars'. And the other half said: 'I suppose someone will come on in a minute and say that punk changed everything'.

Let's nail this once and for all.

Actually, it did.