Punk rock is a music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock. They typically produced short, fast-paced songs with hard-edged melodies and singing styles, stripped-down instrumentation, and often shouted political, anti-establishment lyrics. Punk embraces a DIY ethic; many bands self-produce recordings and distribute them through independent record labels.
The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the post-punk and new wave movements that emerged in the wake of punk and employed elements of a variety of genres including reggae, dub, funk, ska, and rockabilly. For most of their recording career, the Clash consisted of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Joe Strummer, lead guitarist and vocalist Mick Jones, bassist Paul Simonon, and drummer Nicky "Topper" Headon. Headon left the group in 1982 due to internal friction surrounding his increasing heroin addiction and it was more internal friction which led to Jones' departure the following year. The group continued with new members, but finally disbanded in early 1986. The Clash achieved critical and commercial success in the United Kingdom with the release of their self-titled debut album, The Clash (1977) which continued with their second album, Give 'Em Enough Rope (1978). Their experimental third album, London Calling, released in the UK in December 1979, earned them popularity in the United States when it was released there the following month. It was declared the best album of the 1980s a decade later by Rolling Stone. Following continued musical experimentation on their fourth album, Sandinista! (1980), the band reached new heights of success with the release of Combat Rock (1982), which spawned the US top 10 hit "Rock the Casbah", helping the album to achieve a 2× Platinum certification there. A final album, Cut the Crap, was released in 1985, and a few weeks later, the band broke up.
William Somerset Maugham was an English playwright, novelist, and short-story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest-paid author during the 1930s.
Irvine Welsh is a Scottish novelist, playwright and short story writer. His 1993 novel Trainspotting was made into a film of the same name. His work is characterised by a raw Scots and brutal depiction of Edinburgh life. He has also written plays and screenplays, and directed several short films.
John Shirley is an American writer, primarily of fantasy, science fiction, dark street fiction, and songwriting. He has also written one historical novel, a western about Wyatt Earp, Wyatt in Wichita, and one non-fiction book, Gurdjieff: An Introduction to His Life and Ideas. Shirley has written novels, short stories, TV scripts and screenplays—including The Crow—and has published over 70 books and 8 short-story collections. As a musician, Shirley has fronted his own bands and written lyrics for Blue Öyster Cult and others.
Cujo is a 1981 psychological horror novel by American writer Stephen King about a rabid Saint Bernard. The novel won the British Fantasy Award in 1982 and was made into a film in 1983.
A Game of Thrones is the first novel in A Song of Ice and Fire, a series of fantasy novels by the American author George R. R. Martin. It was first published on August 1, 1996. The novel won the 1997 Locus Award and was nominated for both the 1997 Nebula Award and the 1997 World Fantasy Award. The novella Blood of the Dragon, comprising the Daenerys Targaryen chapters from the novel, won the 1997 Hugo Award for Best Novella. In January 2011, the novel became a New York Times Bestseller and reached No. 1 on the list in July 2011.
The Queers are an American punk rock band, formed in 1981 by the Portsmouth, New Hampshire native Joe P. King along with Scott Gildersleeve, and Jack Hayes. With the addition of Keith Hages in 1982 the band started playing their first live shows. The band originally broke up in late 1984, but reformed with Joe Queer and a new line-up in 1986. In 1990, the band signed with Shakin' Street Records and released their first album Grow Up. The album earned the band notability within New England, but with the release of their next album 1993's Love Songs for the Retarded, on Lookout! Records, their following grew larger.
Aaron Elliott, better known as Aaron Cometbus, is an American musician, songwriter, roadie, and magazine editor, best known as the creator of the punk zine Cometbus.
John King is an English writer best known for his novels which, for the most part, deal in the more rebellious elements driving the country's culture. His stories carry strong social and political undercurrents, and his work has been widely translated abroad. He has written articles and reviews for alternative and mainstream publications, edits the fiction journal Verbal, and is the co-owner of the London Books publishing house.
Taqwacore is a subgenre of punk music dealing with Islam, its culture, and interpretation. Originally conceived in Michael Muhammad Knight's 2003 novel, The Taqwacores, the name is a portmanteau of "hardcore" and the Arabic word "taqwa" (تقوى), which is usually translated as "piety" or the quality of being "God-fearing", and thus roughly denotes reverence and love of the divine. The scene is composed mainly of young Muslim artists living in the US and other Western countries, many of whom openly reject traditionalist interpretations of Islam, and thus live their own lifestyle within the religion or without.
Headhunters is the second novel by English author John King. Along with The Football Factory and England Away, it comprises The Football Factory Trilogy, a series that challenges the official position on subjects such as class, racism, sexism, and patriotism in the UK. First published in 1997 by Jonathan Cape and subsequently by Vintage, it has been widely translated abroad. The US edition (2016) includes an introduction by King—"In England's Fair City"—and the following quote by author Michael Moorcock: "John King is the authentic voice of contemporary London".
Michael John Burkett, known professionally as Fat Mike, is an American musician and producer. He is the bassist and lead vocalist for the punk rock band NOFX and the bassist for the punk rock supergroup cover band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. Fat Mike started out with his first band False Alarm in 1982. He credits Joe Escalante of the Vandals for introducing him to punk rock when he was 13 at a summer camp.
Garry Bushell is an English newspaper columnist, rock music journalist, television presenter, author, musician and political activist. Bushell also sings in the Cockney Oi! bands GBX and the Gonads. He managed the New York City Oi! band Maninblack until the death of the band frontman Andre Schlessinger. Bushell's recurring topical themes are comedy, country and class. He has campaigned for an English Parliament, a Benny Hill statue and for variety and talent shows on TV. His TV column Bushell on the Box still appears weekly in the Daily Star Sunday, and he is the Review Editor of the Sunday Express.
Coney Island has been featured in novels, films, television shows, cartoons, and theatrical plays.
Mick Herron is a British mystery and thriller novelist, winner of the Crime Writers' Association 2013 Gold Dagger award for Dead Lions.
White Trash is the fifth novel by the English author John King, first published in 2001 by Jonathan Cape. The paperback edition of the book released by Vintage carries the following quote by Alan Sillitoe, author of Saturday Night And Sunday Morning, on its cover: “Complete and unique, all stitched up and marvellous, the two sides of the equation brought together, realistic yet philosophical.” The quote also appears on the US edition of the novel (2016), which includes an introduction by the author – From Cradle To Grave.
Skinheads is the seventh novel by British author John King. It was first published in 2008 by Jonathan Cape and subsequently by Vintage. Set in the same new-town and Outer London hinterland as two of King's previous books, Human Punk (2000) and White Trash (2001), it forms a loose trilogy, The Satellite Cycle. The book has been translated and released in a number of countries, among them France, Italy, and Russia.
Stories We Could Tell by Tony Parsons, published in 2005, is set on a single night in August 1977, the night Elvis Presley died. It focuses on the adventures of three men, Terry, Ray, and Leon, all writers for the fictional musical magazine The Paper in pre-Thatcherite punk-ridden London. Parsons covers topics that deal with the role of music for young people, youth gangs and music culture in this time.
Erekosë is a heroic warrior in different fantasy adventure stories by Michael Moorcock. The character repeatedly assumes different forms and identities during adventures across Moorcock's multiverse. He first appeared in the 1962 novella The Eternal Champion, which was later expanded into a novel of the same title in 1970. The book became the first of the Erekosë book series, which includes the novels Phoenix in Obsidian and The Dragon in the Sword. The Erekosë canon The Swords of Heaven, the Flowers of Hell, is a graphic novel plotted by Moorcock that was scripted and illustrated by Howard Chaykin. In Moorcock's novels The Vanishing Tower and The King of the Swords, Erekosë is described as a man with "jet black skin", often wearing a bear-skin cloak.
