A Times Book of the YearA Mojo Book of the YearA Louder Than War Book of the YearA Waterstones Book of the YearA Resident Book of the Year'A beautifully written, meticulously researched account. 4/5.' - CLASSIC POP1979. Months of industrial action throughout the winter have left the dead unburied and mountains of rubbish piling up in the streets. Punk has reached its bleak climax with the fatal heroin overdose of Sid Vicious while awaiting trial for the murder of his girlfriend. Unlikely alliances of outsiders prepare to seize power, set the political agenda and write the soundtrack for the years to come. Their figureheads are two very different kinds of dominatrices... As Margaret Thatcher enters 10 Downing Street, a handful of bands born of punk - Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division and the Cure - find a way to distil the dissonance and darkness of the shifting decade into a new form of music. Pushing at the taboos the Sex Pistols had unlocked and dancing with the fetishistic, al
