Apologies if this has already been mentioned here before:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI ... 83-6078218
Tim (from the Ideal Copy mailing list [not THAT one]} writes:
"This 700 page doorstop of a book should make a nice distraction from yr Xmas turkey and bring a dewy tear to many a wistful old punkers eye.
Of course for a young pup like me this is just an encyclopedia of
unknown facts and figures.
Its basically a 'diary' of the evolution of punk/new wave from the
release of the Stooges Funhouse and Andy Partridge from XTCs first
rehearsal in 1970, to 31 Dec 1982 when the author decides punk finally
ends with the release of Belle Stars 'Sign of the Times' and the first
Husker Du album.
Anyway, basically this nutcase has complied a diary from all the music
papers of the time, so it reads as an 'as it happened' account of the
evolution of punk and what came shortly after. Every significant (and
many more insignificant) gig, record and seemingly every letter
Morrissey ever wrote to Melody Maker during this era is documented."
