'I Wanna See Some History': Recent Writing on British Punk

Wilkinson, D ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9036-577X, Worley, M and Street, J (2016) 'I Wanna See Some History': Recent Writing on British Punk. Contemporary European History, 26 (2). pp. 397-411. ISSN 0960-7773

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Abstract

© 2016 Cambridge University Press. Tucked away on the b-side of the Sex Pistols' third single, 'Pretty Vacant' (1977), is a cover version of The Stooges' 'No Fun'. The song had long been a staple of the Pistols' live set; on record, however, Johnny Rotten chose to open the track with a diatribe against those attempting to imbue the punk culture he helped instigate with broader socio-economic, cultural or political implications. 'Here we go now', he snarled, 'a sociology lecture, with a bit of psychology, a bit of neurology, a bit of fuckology'.