Jon Savage (born Jonathan Malcolm Sage; 2 September 1953 in
Paddington
Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...
, London) is an English writer, broadcaster and
music journalist
Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...
, best known for his history of the
Sex Pistols and
punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
music, ''England's Dreaming'', published in 1991.
Career
Savage read
Classics
Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
at
Magdalene College, Cambridge, graduating in 1975. Becoming a music journalist at the dawn of
British punk
There are a number of punk bands originating in the United Kingdom.
See also
* List of punk rock bands, 0–K
* List of punk rock bands, L–Z
* List of post-punk bands
* List of new wave a ...
, he wrote articles on all of the major punk acts, publishing a
fanzine
A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by fan (person), enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) ...
called ''London's Outrage'' in 1976. A year later he began working as a journalist for ''
Sounds
In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid.
In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...
'', which was, at that time, one of the UK's three major music papers, along with the ''
New Musical Express
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' and ''
Melody Maker
''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...
''. Savage interviewed punk,
new wave and
electronic music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...
artists for ''Sounds''. At that time, he also wrote for the West Coast fanzines ''
Search & Destroy'', ''
Bomp!'' and ''
Slash
Slash may refer to:
* Slash (punctuation), the "/" character
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters
* Slash (Marvel Comics)
* Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'')
Music
* Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band
* Nash ...
''.
In 1979 he moved to ''Melody Maker'', and a year later to the newly founded pop culture magazine ''
The Face
The face is a part of the body, the front of the head.
Face may also refer to:
Film
* ''The Magician'' (1958 film) or ''The Face''
* ''The Face'' (1996 film), an American television film
* ''Face'' (1997 film), a British crime drama by Antonia ...
''. Throughout the decade, Savage wrote for ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'' and the ''
New Statesman
The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...
'', providing
high-brow commentary on popular culture.
In 1991, Savage designed a record sleeve for the then little-known Welsh rock band
Manic Street Preachers
Manic Street Preachers, also known simply as the Manics, are a Welsh Rock music, rock band formed in Blackwood, Caerphilly, Blackwood in 1986. The band consists of cousins James Dean Bradfield (lead vocals, lead guitar) and Sean Moore (musician ...
. The single was called "
Feminine Is Beautiful
Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as socially constructed, and there is also some evidence that some behaviors considered f ...
".
His book ''England's Dreaming'', a history of the rise of punk rock in the UK and the US in the mid- to late 1970s, was published by
Faber and Faber
Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...
in 1991 and received a positive review in
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
. It was used as the basis for a television programme, ''Punk and the Pistols'', shown on
BBC2 in 1995, and an updated edition in 2001 featured a new introduction which made mention of the Pistols' 1996 reunion and the release of the 2000 Pistols documentary film, ''
The Filth and The Fury
''The Filth and the Fury'' is a 2000 British rockumentary film directed by Julien Temple. It follows the story of punk rock pioneers the Sex Pistols from their humble beginnings in London's Shepherd's Bush to their fall at the Winterland Ballr ...
''. A companion piece, ''The England's Dreaming Tapes'', was published in 2009.
In July 1993, Kurt Cobain gave a dramatically candid interview to Jon Savage. Freely discussed were such controversial topics as Courtney Love, homosexuality, heroin and Cobain's relationship with his Nirvana bandmates.
Conducted with Cobain the night before the now-infamous shoot with legendary photographer
Jesse Frohman
Jesse Frohman is a photographer who lives and works in New York City.
Career
Studying economics at the University of Michigan, Frohman discovered his passion for photography. With no formal training, he decided to try photography as a career and ...
, and just months before the frontman's death.
Savage continues to write on punk and other genres in a variety of publications, most notably ''
Mojo
Mojo may refer to:
* Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo
Arts, entertainment and media Film and television
* MOJO HD, an American television network
* ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film
* ' ...
'' magazine and ''
The Observer Music Monthly
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
''. He wrote the introduction to Mitch Ikeda's ''Forever Delayed'' (2002), an official photobook of the Manic Street Preachers.
Savage has appeared in the documentaries ''
Live Forever'' and ''
NewOrderStory''.
Several compilation CDs based on his track lists have also been released, including ''England's Dreaming'' (2004) and ''Meridian 1970'' (2005), the latter of which puts forward the argument that 1970 was a high-point for popular music, contrary to critical opinion. He curated the compilation ''Queer Noises 1961–1978'' (2006), a collection of largely overlooked pop songs from that period that carried overt or coded gay messages. His most recent compilations have included the now deleted ''Fame, Jon Savage's Secret History Of Post-Punk 78–81'' on Caroline True Records. His latest curated release on the same label is ''Perfect Motion, Jon Savage's Secret History Of Second Wave Psychedelia 1988–1993''. Also a limited double-vinyl release, this collection posited late eighties/early nineties "Baggy" music as a slight return to the ethos of 60s psychedelia.
Savage's book, ''Teenage: The Prehistory of Youth Culture'', was published in 2007. It is a history of the concept of
teenagers
Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the t ...
, which begins in the 1870s and ends in 1945 and aims to tell the story of
youth culture Youth culture refers to the societal norms of children, adolescents, and young adults. Specifically, it comprises the processes and symbolic systems that are shared by the youth and are distinct from those of adults in the community.
An emphasis ...
's prehistory, and dates the advent of today's form of "teenagers" to 1945. The book was adapted into a
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
by
Matt Wolf.
In 2015, Savage published ''1966,'' recalling the popular music and cultural turmoil of that year. He also compiled and wrote the liner notes for a two-disc companion CD, ''Jon Savage's 1966: The Year the Decade Exploded'' (Ace Records).
Bibliography
Books
*
*''England's Dreaming: Sex Pistols and Punk Rock'' (Faber and Faber, 1991, )
*''Picture Post Idols'' Publisher: London, Collins & Brown, 1992
*''The Hacienda Must Be Built'' (International Music Publications, 1992, )
*''The Faber Book of Pop'' (edited with
Hanif Kureishi
Hanif Kureishi (born 5 December 1954) is a British playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker and novelist of South Asian and English descent. In 2008, ''The Times'' included Kureishi in its list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945.
Early l ...
) (Faber and Faber, 1995, )
*''
Touching From a Distance'' (Foreword) (Faber and Faber, 1995, )
*''Time Travel: From the Sex Pistols to Nirvana – Pop, Media and Sexuality, 1977–96'' Publisher: London, Chatto & Windus, 1996
*''Teenage: The Creation of Youth Culture'' Publisher: Viking Books, 2007
*''1 Top Class Manager: The Notebooks of Joy Division's Manager, 1978–1980'' (Anti-Archivists)
*''The England's Dreaming Tapes'' (University of Minnesota Press, 2010)
*''Jon Savage/Linder Sterling: The Secret Public'' (Boo-Hooray Gallery, 2010)
*''Sex Pistols and Punk'' (Faber and Faber 2012) )
*''
Punk: Chaos to Couture'' (2013)
*
*
*''This Searing Light, the Sun and Everything Else: Joy Division'' (Faber and Faber 2019)
Articles
*
*
Screenplays
*''Joy Division'' documentary film, screenwriter, 2008
Discography
*''England's Dreaming'' (
Trikont
The leftist publishing house Trikont was founded in 1967 in Munich by Gisela Erler and others. The record label has its origins in the protest and alternative movements of the 1970s and derived its name from geographical concept 'Trikont', which r ...
2004)
*''Meridian 1970'' (Forever Heavenly 2005)
*''Queer Noises – From the Closet to the Charts'' (Trikont 2006)
*''The Shadows of Love – Intense Tamla 1966–1968'' (Commercial Marketing 2006)
* ''Dreams Come True – Classic Wave Electro 1982–87'' (Domino Records 2008)
*''Teenage – The Invention of Youth 1911–1945'' (Trikont 2009)
*''Fame'' – Jon Savage's Secret History of Post Punk 1978–81'' (Caroline True Records 2012)
*Perfect Motion- Jon Savage's Secret History of Second-Wave Psychedelia 1988-93 ''(Caroline True Records 2015)''
*''Jon Savage's 1965: The Year the Sixties Ignited'' (Ace Records 2018)
*''Jon Savage's 1966: The Year the Decade Exploded'' (Ace Records 2015)
*''Jon Savage's 1967 ~ The Year Pop Divided'' (Ace Records 2017)
*''Jon Savage's 1968 ~ The Year the World Burned'' (Ace Records 2018)
*''Jon Savage's 1969-1971 ~ Rock Dreams on 45'' (Ace Records 2019)
*Do You Have The Force? -Jon Savage's Alternate History Of Electronica 1978-82 ''(Caroline True Records 2020)''
References
External links
2002 interview2007 interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Savage, Jon
1953 births
Living people
People from Paddington
Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge
English male journalists
English music critics
English music journalists
Sex Pistols
Melody Maker writers
Mojo (magazine) people
LGBT writers from the United Kingdom