Read an excerpt on Mission of Burma from Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984
Ten post-punk albums not by Gang of Four
1 | Public Image Limited, Second Edition (Warner Bros, 1979). The daddy of them all, still as bass-radical and cruelly avant-garde as the day it was released.
2 | In the Beginning There Was Rhythm (Soul Jazz, 2001). Top-notch compilation of British electro-skronkers. Get your Throbbing Gristle here!
3 | Joy Division, Unknown Pleasures (Factory, 1979). An icy wind comes off this one. Wrap up warm.
4 | Killing Joke (EG, 1980). In which the eclipse of Western civilization, to the sound of tribal drums and brutalized synthesizers, is eagerly anticipated.
5 | Adam and the Ants, Kings of the Wild Frontier (CBS, 1980). A teenybopper version of the above. Adam was a genius.
6 | Wire, Chairs Missing (Harvest, 1978). Is there a song title out there more arty than “French Film Blurred”? I think not.
7 | New York Noise (Soul Jazz, 2003). Soul Jazz scores again with this superb chronicle of NYC’s disco/sheet-metal pile-up circa 1980.
8 | Birthday Party, Prayers on Fire (4AD, 1981). Shamanic blues bone rattling from Nick Cave and his fellow Aussies.
9 | Pere Ubu, The Modern Dance (Blank, 1978). The gibberings of a large, worried man surrounded by rebellious musical instruments.
10 | Suicide, Suicide (Red Star, 1977). Pulse-based synth-punk with Roy Orbison–style vocals. Be the first to rip off this sound!