Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984
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| Author | Simon Reynolds |
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| Country | England |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Post-punk music |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Faber & Faber |
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Publication date
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April 2005 |
| Media type | Print, e-book |
| Pages | 607 (xxx, 577) |
| ISBN | |
Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984 is a book by Simon Reynolds on the post-punk musical genre and era. It was first released in the UK in April 2005 by Faber & Faber. The US edition was published by Penguin Books and released in February 2006 It is considerably shorter, with many chapters removed or shortened. Reynolds notes this was for space reasons.
The book is widely referenced as a kind of "post-punk doctrine", although Reynolds stated that the book's focus was consciously biased toward the music that personally appealed to him.
Writing for The Guardian, Nicholas Lezard described the album 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 described the book as "a compelling reminder of a time when clever, mischievous, creative people formed bands".The New York Times called it "exhaustive and exhausting in equal measure."
It was also subject to criticism by writer Clinton Heylin in a book on a similar subject: "Here [is] post-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 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".
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