'To see The Clash on the White Riot tour was like discovering how to be a rock star: you just did it yourself. You didn't wait for someone to come and discover you. That was the most important thing that came out of punk... We came home and we cut our hair and bought skinny trousers. It was year zero. That was the moment for me' Billy Bragg Punk Rock is a book like no other. It is an oral history of a radical movement which exploded in Seventies Britain. With its own clothes, hair, artwork, fanzines and radical politics, Punk boasted a DIY ethos that meant anyone could take part. The scene was uniquely vibrant and energetic, leaving an extraordinary legacy of notorious events, charismatic characters and inspirational music. John Robb has spent over a year interviewing more than 100 contributors including Glen Matlock, Mick Jones, Don Letts, Slash, Billy Bragg, Hugh Cornwell and Captain Sensible. Now, for the first time, they give the inside view on events such as The Sex Pistols' swearing live on the Bill Grundy TV show and staging their anti-Jubilee riverboat party on the Thames, famous gigs at The Roxy and 100 Club, and the groundbreaking records by The Pistols, The Clash, The Damned and others. From the widely debated roots of punk in the late-Sixties through to the fallout of the post-punk period in 1984, and the ongoing influence on today's bands, Punk Rock is the definitive oral history of an inimitable and exciting movement.

ジョン・ロブによる本書は、単なる音楽史の記録に留まりません。百人を超える当事者の肉声を編み上げたこの「口承文学」は、既存の価値を破壊し、自己を再定義しようとした若者たちの熱狂的な叙事詩です。「誰でも主役になれる」というＤＩＹ精神の真髄が、飾りのない言葉を通じて読者の魂に直接突き刺さります。 本書の白眉は、断片的な証言が重なり合い、巨大な時代のうねりが立ち現れる瞬間の鮮烈さです。伝説たちが生身の人間として呼吸し、混乱の中で格闘する姿が浮き彫りになります。これは単なる回顧録ではなく、世界を塗り替えようとする全ての表現者に贈られた、情熱的な革命の設計図なのです。