''Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984'' is a book by

Simon Reynolds Simon Reynolds (born 19 June 1963) is an English music journalist and author who began his professional career on the staff of ''Melody Maker'' in the mid-1980s. He has since gone on to freelance and publish a number of full-length books on music ...

on the

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

musical genre A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. It is to be distinguished from ''musical form'' and musical style, although in practice these terms are some ...

and era. It was first released in the UK in April 2005 by

Faber & 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 ...

. The US edition was published by

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', Nicholas Lezard described the book as "startlingly thoughtful, gracefully illuminating, in command of an anarchic subject," writing that "Reynolds has reilluminated the period for us, shown us how fascinating and rewarding it was." ''

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 ...

'' described the book as "a compelling reminder of a time when clever, mischievous, creative people formed bands". ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' called it "exhaustive and exhausting in equal measure." In 2006, it was also subject to criticism by writer

Clinton Heylin Clinton Heylin (born 8 April 1960) is an English author who has written extensively about popular music and the work of Bob Dylan. Education Heylin attended Manchester Grammar School. He read history at Bedford College, University of London, ...

in a book on a similar subject: "Here spost-punk - at least before Simon Reynolds decided it was All The Music That I Liked When I Was Young, a somewhat broad not to say solipsistic, view of pop". Alex Ogg of ''

The Quietus ''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics. Content ''The Quiet ...

'' noted that Reynolds was frank in his musical choices: "Reynolds was honest enough in announcing his solipsism, in so far as ''Rip It Up'' addresses those elements of post-punk that appeal to him".

Editions

*UK edition: Reynolds, Simon. ''Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984''. London:

, 2005. *US edition: Reynolds, Simon. ''Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984''. London:

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

Excerpts from the 2009 edition
on

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Rip It Up and Start Again Footnotes blog
chapter by chapter footnotes 2006 non-fiction books Faber and Faber books Post-punk {{music-book-stub