Punk '77

The Year and Music That Revolutionized Rock

In Punk '77, Martin Popoff offers a month-by-month blow-by-blow of the year punk rock conquered popular culture, featuring interviews, photos and record sleeves, and essential releases.

Buckle up for the wild and definitive month-by-month illustrated history of punk rock’s pivotal year, when the music, culture, and fashion exploded all over the mainstream. 

Music fans love to debate who invented punk rock—from the Velvet Underground to the Stooges to the New York Dolls to the Ramones, it sometimes seems there are more opinions than there were bands. But one fact is unarguable: 1977 was the year that punk rock detonated around the world.

In Punk '77: The Year and Music That Revolutionized Rock, music historian Martin Popoff tells the story of twelve chaotic months when punk rock transformed from an underground provocation into a global cultural force. Moving through this pivotal year, Popoff traces the intertwined scenes of London and New York while also highlighting the genre’s spread to other regions, including Australia and cities throughout the US and UK. Featured inside:

• Popoff’s interview material with key musicians of the era, including Captain Sensible, Dave Vanian, Rat Scabies, and Brian James of the Damned; “Ross the Boss” Friedman, Handsome Dick Manitoba, Scott Kempner, and Andy Shernoff of the Dictators; Cheetah Chrome of the Dead Boys; Steve Jones, John Lydon, and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols; Jerry Harrison of Modern Lovers and Talking Heads; John Holmstrom of Punk magazine; Billy Idol of Generation X; Marky Ramone; Lenny Kaye of the Patti Smith Group; Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks; Sir Bob Geldof of Boomtown Rat; and more!
• 25 landmark 1977 releases from bands such as the Sex Pistols, the Clash, Ramones, the Heartbreakers, the Damned, the Jam, Buzzcocks, Wire, the Dead Boys, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, the Saints, Radio Birdman, Television, and more
• Sidebars describing concurrent events in the rest of the music world.
• Vividly illustrated pages that include evocative photography, classic punk record sleeves, gig flyers, and period ads. 

By focusing on a single electrifying year, Punk '77 offers a fresh perspective on punk history and captures the moment when a raw underground movement erupted into a global phenomenon.