Another Tuneless Racket

The third volume of Steve Gardner's acclaimed series on Punk and New Wave In The Seventies focuses on the bands that came in the wake of pioneers like the Sex Pistols, the Damned, the Clash, the Jam, and the Buzzcocks, covered in the first two volumes.

Between that first generation of bands and the next wave a major change in attitude had occurred; now, instead of anticipating a struggle and probable failure as the result of not toeing the industry line, new bands in England expected success and reward for being creative and rule-breaking. People who say punk died after 1976 or 1977 have missed this important fact; the efforts of the first generation of bands paid almost immediate dividends in smashing open the doors for a great wave of creativity.

Volume Three opens with chapters on the second wave of UK punk groups, with detailed chapters on Generation X, Chelsea, Subway Sect, The Adverts, Tom Robinson Band, X-Ray Spex, The Lurkers, The Ruts, 999, The Slits, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Penetration, Post Pistols - Rich Kids, PIL, Cook'n'Jones, and Sid, Sham 69, and Slaughter and the Dogs, followed by shorter descriptions of lower profile bands like Billy Karloff, UK Subs, Suburban Studs, Neon Hearts, The Angelic Upstarts, Eater, London, The Cortinas, The Depressions, Warsaw Pact, The Outsiders, The Users, The Art Attacks, The Sniveling Shits, The Valves, Arthur Comics, and The Wasps.

It then turns to new wave pop bands, with complete stories of The Members, The Soft Boys, Dead Fingers Talk, XTC, The Flys, The Records, The Only Ones, Squeeze, and Stiff, Radar and Chiswick bands including, Johnny Moped, Bram Tchaikovsky, The Inmates, The Gorillas, Madness, The Pop Group, Nick Lowe, Yachts, Wreckless Eric, Lene Lovich. As with the punk segment, it provides shorter sketches of bands like The Carpettes, Joe Jackson, Fabulous Poodles, The Police, Fischer Z, Fingerprintz, John Otway, Leyton Buzzards, Elton Motello, Punishment of Luxury, The Zones, and The Boyfriends.

The book's third major section covers Irish and Scottish New Wave, with detailed chapters on the Undertones, Stiff Little Fingers, the Skids, and the Rezillos, and then shorter segments on groups like Rudi, Victim, Outcasts, Xdreamysts, Protex, Ruefrex, Tearjerkers, The Moondogs, The Starjets, and the movie Shellshock Rock.

Finally, it considers Post-Punk, Neo-Mod & Neo-Ska, which were just beginning to blossom in 1979. Bands given detailed chapters here include Swell Maps, Gang Of Four, The Specials, The Beat, and The Selecter, with shorter segments on Joy Division, The Fall, Au Pairs, Delta 5, The Mekons, The Raincoats, The Cure, Glaxo Babies, The Monochrome Set, Alternative TV, Essential Logic, Doll By Doll, Comsat Angels, Television Personalities, Cowboys International, The New Hearts, The Jolt, Secret Affair, The Purple Hearts, The Chords, Back To Zero, Squire, The Merton Parkas, and The Lambrettas.

Another Tuneless Racket is an attempt to give something back to the music author Steve Gardner has loved best. Gardner turned twenty years of age in mid-1975, and followed punk music religiously during the Seventies. In 1980 he launched the highly regarded fanzine, Noise For Heroes, publishing twenty-three physical issues before switching to a web format in the 1990s (Noise For Heroes is compiled in three volumes, also available on Amazon). Later Gardner contributed to the Big Takeover, the Bob, and several other music fanzines. In writing Another Tuneless Racket, he has drawn from resources including a large personal collection of punk, new wave, and rock magazines of the period, research from the British Library in London, and many new interviews conducted specifically for the book.

"A truly essential and righteously fun set" - The Big Takeover
"These three volumes are the kinds you pull off the shelf for relaxed, random perusal, though they are reliable reference tools, too" - Ugly Things