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pattytempleton · 1 year

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Hell yeah, a bigass history of goth as reported by John Robb. He focuses on 1980s goth and its impact on music and culture but goes into the future a bit. All of the shit you want to read about by someone who was there.

#goth #goth history #goth books #goth life #goth aesthetic #goth music #industrial goth #John Robb #book #books #booknerd #bookworm #bookaddict #book cover #book community #books books books #nonfiction books

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apdistractions · 1 year

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Don't ya just LOVE IT?

(Been reading their section in John Robb's "The Art of Darkness" - The History of Goth) and although I've read about it a thousand times or more, I just love the feel of the way they got together and came to record this masterpiece...What a time to be alive, and IN The Cramps!

❤️🔥😎🖤

#the cramps #cramps love #john robb

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the-gothic-darkness · 7 months

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john Robb

#thefallofrome #williamblake #charlesbaudelaire #richardwagner #edgarallanpoe #joydivision #bauhaus #killingjoke #siouxieandthebanshees #thehistoryofgoth #john robb #goth rock #goth #80s goth #gothic #alternative goth #trad goth

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alphabravohotel · 1 year

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You have to scroll down a little for the Virgin Prunes bit. Good read.

#Virgin Prunes #U2 #John Robb #The Art of Darkness #Goth

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freakingoutthesquares · 1 year

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Louder Than Words 2015

Russell Senior at the Louder Than Words Festival in 2015.

Plugging his book. Interview plus Q&A with John Robb, and the book signing.

#louder than words #john robb #russell senior #pulp #photos #autobiography #freak out the squares

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dustedmagazine · 1 year

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Bog-Shed — The Official Bog-Set (Melodic)

The Official Bog-Set by Bog Shed

Bog-Shed sounded like electroshock therapy. The 1980s post-punk band jittered and flailed, its bass ramped to rattling speed, its singer prone to starting yelps and squeals, its lyrics surreal and fanciful, if slightly disturbing. Resolutely DIY—the mid-1980s were early days for self-releasing—Bog-Shed nonetheless attracted a modicum of critical attention. They did five Peel Sessions. Their song, “Run to the Temple” figured on the now legendary C86 compilation.

The Official Bog-Set collects essentially everything this band ever recorded, from a six-song set of demos mailed off to John Robb’s Vinyl Drip label that became Let Them Eat Bog Shed, to the two proper albums Step On It (source of that “Run to the Temple” song) and Brutal, to an expanded version of the Peel Sessions compilation Tried & Tested Public Speaker, originally six tracks now a full 20 of them. A fifth disc, titled Who Scoffed the Trill, compiles 22 previously unreleased live tracks and rarities. It is quite a lot of Bog-Shed.

The band emerged in the early 1980s around the core of Mike Bryson (bass) and Mark McQuaid (guitar), two childhood friends who met up with singer Phil Hartley while a school in Leeds. It took longer to find a drummer, but they settled on Tris King. Bog-Shed seems to have hit on its taunting, boxy, jerk-rhythmed sound almost immediately. The earliest cuts, from Let Them Eat Bog-Shed, already skitter with psychotic glee. “Panties please!” howls Hartley in the first cut, a shriek that cuts through clanking cacaphonies of bass and drums. ��Fat Lad Exam Failure” grinds and cavorts, guitar stabbing, bass grumbling, drums bashing, the chanted lyrics prancing showily over top.

John Robb of the Membranes, whose Vinyl Drip label would release the first Bog-Shed album, describes his first encounter with the music in the liner notes, writing, “This wonderful racket came out. That clattering, grinding melodic bass, quirky guitar lines, frantic impatient drumming and a genius squawking vocal that was like no other delivering these strange lyrics that were like postcards from some beyond the fringe hill town full of strange characters and observations.”

Let Them Eat Bog-Shed came out in 1985. Step On It (1986) and Brutal (1987) followed in rapid succession. These two LPs were basically self-released on the band’s on Shellfish label. Step On It is less raw and more focused than the debut; cuts like “Mechanical Nun” explode in bursts with a machine-like precision. “Run to the Temple,” the song that made the C86 comp, is sharp but buoyant. Its guitars sting hard enough to leave a mark, but there’s something playful in the bounding beat. Brutal sounds even cleaner—Bog-Shed clearly learned a lot about recording in a brief period—but equally mad. It raves unabashedly, but in hi-def. “Excellent Girl” writhes with corrosive bass, plunges at galloping speed, “hoo-hahs” with phlegmy enthusiasm, but never veers into chaos.

John Peel was an aficionado, inviting them onto his show once in 1985 and twice each in 1986 and 1987. A previous version of Tried & Tested Public Speaker presented the two 1986 sessions, but the box set includes the remaining three. Highlights from the new material include an incendiary and previously unavailable version of “Six to One and Likely” from October 1987, as well as a ferocious rendition of “Oily Stack” from November 1985.

Who Scoffed the Trill offers more previously unheard material in 22 live, alternate and unreleased cuts. A live version of “Necktie Murder Shopping Trolleys” is particularly unhinged. “Proper Music” is anything but. There’s a lot of buzz and echo in the live cuts, even so, you can hear the crazy, idiosyncratic energy of this wired and weird outfit.

Bog-Shed disbanded in 1987, and three of the four principals have now passed away. The Official Bog-Set documents their madcap rattle and yelp in all its singular glory. Always oddball, now nearly unimaginable, Bog-Shed lives on.

Jennifer Kelly

#bog-shed #the official bog-set #melodic #jennifer kelly #albumreview #dusted magazine #post-punk #john peel #john robb

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randommultifandomrants · 1 month

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Being a girl is: wanting to go to bed early but deciding to just get on tumblr/wattpad/Ao3 for a little bit and then end up finding a fic series that you really like and read until well past your usual bedtime then keeping on because it’s already past your bedtime. Then being mad when you wake up in the morning because you overslept your timer.

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jaynedolluk · 4 months

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BOOKS OF 2023

I'm so late posting this but I'm determined to get it done. These are some of the books I read/enjoyed in 2023. I still have a massive to-read pile so not all these books actually came out in 2023 (tho' most of them did)

I don’t tend to read that many novels/fiction – I think the only one I read this year was Queen K. by Sarah Thomas about a tutor to a rich oligarch’s family. Also got the books of the scripts for Succession Seasons 3 & 4.

I tend to read a lot of memoirs. This year I read ones by Paris Hilton (which was surprisingly good), Hadley Freeman (which also talks about anorexia in general), Michelle Tea (which talked about her experiences of pregnancy in the context of being a queer woman), Ava Cherry and the latest one by Boy George.

Also Anita Bhagwandas’ book Ugly which looks at various beauty standards and how they affect us all + I really liked it. Plus Grace Dent did a book based on her podcast called Comfort Eating which looks at the favourite comfort foods of various celebrities (including recipes) combined with a bit of her own memoir.

I got a new book on Marilyn Monroe by Richard Barrios which examines her acting roles and re-evaluates her as an actor.

Read Claire Dederer’s book, Monsters, which looks at how we respond to problematic artists/creators. It raised some really interesting questions and personally I don’t think there are any easy answers. Another interesting book I came across was Creative Not Famous: The Small Potato Manifesto by Ayun Halliday which I thought offered some really good advice.

I’m keen on history especially books that look at cultural/social history. I found this fascinating book called Queer Blues which looks at the early blues musicians who explored sexuality/gender. Also another book I really recommend is I Thought I Heard You Speak: Women at Factory Records by Audrey Golden – one thing I really liked about it was the range of women they spoke to, so not just musicians but the security staff and DJs from the Hacienda. Read We Peaked At Paper which was about the UK fanzine scene.

In terms of more general history I got David Mitchell’s book, Unruly, which is his personal take on the history of the British monarchy up to Elizabeth I with plenty of sarcasm and general observations of the concept of monarchy.

I love the format of oral histories in books. This year I read Reach For the Stars (about the pop stars of the late 90s/early 00s), Faster Than a Cannonball (looking at various aspects of the nineties), and Don’t F&&K It Up (about the first ten years of RuPaul’s Drag Race).

I also read a lot of books on music. This year I read two of the new releases on goth music/culture – The Art of Darkness by John Robb and Season of the Witch by Cathi Unsworth (which I preferred especially the book/film recommendations and the gothmothers/gothfathers sections).

Read Parachute Women by Elizabeth Winder which re-evaluates the legacy of some of the women linked with the Rolling Stones – (Anita Pallenberg, Marianne Faithfull, Bianca Jagger and Marsha Hunt). I felt like it concentrated more on Anita & Marianne and it would have been nice to expand the book to cover the likes of Jo Wood, Jerry Hall and Mandy Smith but overall I loved the book.

It also ties in with one of my other areas of interest, feminism. I read Toxic by Sarah Ditum which looks at how various female celebrities were treated by the popular media in the late 90s/early 00s such as Britney Spears and Amy Winehouse.

#end of year #book reviews #my reviews #marilyn monroe #succession #rupaul's drag race #john robb #cathi unsworth #anita pallenberg #marianne faithfull #bianca jagger #marsha hunt #ava cherry #boy george #paris hilton #grace dent #michelle tea

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pcnmagazine · 7 months

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JOHN ROBB - ‘DO YOU BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF ROCK N ROLL’ UK TOUR 2024

Author, musician, journalist, presenter and pundit – JOHN ROBB – has shared details of a UK tour for 2024, celebrating his life in music. Discussing everything from his recently released book ‘The Art Of Darkness – The History of Goth’ to his experience being the first person to interview Nirvana, his coining of the term ‘Britpop’ and his adventures on the post-punk frontline, the ‘Do You…