Greil Marcus, author of "Mystery Train," widely acclaimed as the best book ever written about America as seen through its music, began work on this new book out of a fascination with the Sex Pistols: that scandalous antimusical group, invented in London in 1975 and dead within two years, which sparked the emergence of the culture called punk. "I am an antichrist!" shouted singer Johnny Rotten-where in the world of pop music did that come from? Looking for an answer, with a high sense of the drama of the journey, Marcus takes us down the dark paths of counterhistory, a route of blasphemy, adventure, and surprise. This is no mere search for cultural antecedents. Instead, what Marcus so brilliantly shows is that various kinds of angry, absolute demands--demands on society, art, and all the governing structures of everyday life--seem to be coded in phrases, images, and actions passed on invisibly, but inevitably, by people quite unaware of each other. Marcus lets us hear strange yet familiar voices: of such heretics as the Brethren of the Free Spirit in medieval Europe and the Ranters in seventeenth-century England; the dadaists in Zurich in 1916 and Berlin in 1918, wearing death masks, chanting glossolalia; one Michel Mourre, who in 1950 took over Easter Mass at Notre-Dame to proclaim the death of God; the Lettrist International and the Situationist International, small groups of Paris--based artists and writers surrounding Guy Debord, who produced blank-screen films, prophetic graffiti, and perhaps the most provocative social criticism of the 1950s and '60s; the rioting students and workers of May '68, scrawling cryptic slogans on city walls and bringing France to a halt; the SexPistols in London, recording the savage "Anarchy in the U.K." and "God Save the Queen." Although the Sex Pistols shape the beginning and the end of the story, "Lipstick Traces" is not a book about music; it is about a common voice, discovered and transmitted in many forms. Working from scores of previously unexamined and untranslated essays, manifestos, and filmscripts, from old photographs, dada sound poetry, punk songs, collages, and classic texts from Marx to Henri Lefebvre, Marcus takes us deep behind the acknowledged events of our era, into a hidden tradition of moments that would seem imaginary except for the fact that they are real: a tradition of shared utopias, solitary refusals, impossible demands, and unexplained disappearances. Written with grace and force, humor and an insistent sense of tragedy and danger, "Lipstick Traces" tells a story as disruptive and compelling as the century itself.
Show moreGreil Marcus, author of "Mystery Train," widely acclaimed as the best book ever written about America as seen through its music, began work on this new book out of a fascination with the Sex Pistols: that scandalous antimusical group, invented in London in 1975 and dead within two years, which sparked the emergence of the culture called punk. "I am an antichrist!" shouted singer Johnny Rotten-where in the world of pop music did that come from? Looking for an answer, with a high sense of the drama of the journey, Marcus takes us down the dark paths of counterhistory, a route of blasphemy, adventure, and surprise. This is no mere search for cultural antecedents. Instead, what Marcus so brilliantly shows is that various kinds of angry, absolute demands--demands on society, art, and all the governing structures of everyday life--seem to be coded in phrases, images, and actions passed on invisibly, but inevitably, by people quite unaware of each other. Marcus lets us hear strange yet familiar voices: of such heretics as the Brethren of the Free Spirit in medieval Europe and the Ranters in seventeenth-century England; the dadaists in Zurich in 1916 and Berlin in 1918, wearing death masks, chanting glossolalia; one Michel Mourre, who in 1950 took over Easter Mass at Notre-Dame to proclaim the death of God; the Lettrist International and the Situationist International, small groups of Paris--based artists and writers surrounding Guy Debord, who produced blank-screen films, prophetic graffiti, and perhaps the most provocative social criticism of the 1950s and '60s; the rioting students and workers of May '68, scrawling cryptic slogans on city walls and bringing France to a halt; the SexPistols in London, recording the savage "Anarchy in the U.K." and "God Save the Queen." Although the Sex Pistols shape the beginning and the end of the story, "Lipstick Traces" is not a book about music; it is about a common voice, discovered and transmitted in many forms. Working from scores of previously unexamined and untranslated essays, manifestos, and filmscripts, from old photographs, dada sound poetry, punk songs, collages, and classic texts from Marx to Henri Lefebvre, Marcus takes us deep behind the acknowledged events of our era, into a hidden tradition of moments that would seem imaginary except for the fact that they are real: a tradition of shared utopias, solitary refusals, impossible demands, and unexplained disappearances. Written with grace and force, humor and an insistent sense of tragedy and danger, "Lipstick Traces" tells a story as disruptive and compelling as the century itself.
Show more"Lipstick Traces" has the energy of its obsessions, and it snares
you in the manner of those intense, questing and often stoned
sessions of intellectual debate you may have experienced in your
college years. It was destined, in other words, to achieve cult
status.--Ben Brantley"New York Times" (05/11/2001)
"Lipstick Traces"...is a highly subjective account of rebellious
gestures that recur from decade to decade, often in remarkably
similar incarnations. Marcus doesn't belabor the division between
high and low--he just ignores it, fluidly shifting from (sometimes
obscure) source to source. Dada leads to punk leads to Police
Academy, and Elvis movies prompt analyses of the Left Bank. Natch!
That Marcus can kick off and end his exhaustive, but always
clear-headed, cross-epochal trek with the Sex Pistols--and make it
all cohere--is but one indication of how fully he meshes the
academy and the gutter.--Katherine Dieckmann "Voice Literary
Supplement "
[A] seminal work...The impact of Marcus' work is
undeniable...Though his imagination may overreach, his sentences
may befuddle, his aims may elude his means (but not often), Marcus
as a critic, historian and essayist continues to be at the vanguard
of his field precisely because of his ability to find the balance
between these approaches, between mystery and proposition, between
a yarn and an epic, between yearning and compromise--an equilibrium
which gives voice to the present moment of our looking
back.--Robert Loss"popmatters.com" (02/03/2010)
A book about the twilight zone of art and revolution...[that]
displays an intellectual confidence, or nerve, that more than
convinces the reader to follow its unmarked trails.--Gail Caldwell
"Boston Globe "
Greil Marcus's absorbing new study...dips in and out of the history
of the Great Refusal, all the way from the medieval Lollards and
Brethren of the Free Spirit to the Dadaists, the French
Situationists, the Children of the May 1968 uprising in France and
British punk rockers. "Lipstick Traces", however, is no sedate
academic record of libertarian revolt but a bold blending of
anecdote, personal confession and cultural analysis, cutting
backward and forward from Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols to the
Surrealists, from Alexander Trocchi of the 1950's avant-garde group
know as Lettrist International to George Grosz, from the
Anabaptists in the 16th century to Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Danny the
Red of the French student rebellion...[Marcus's] book is
impressively adept at bringing alive some of the dramatic moments
of the history it charts...A coruscatingly original piece of work,
vibrant with the energy of the bizarre happenings it maps
out.--Terry Eagleton "New York Times Book Review "
"Lipstick Traces,.".is a highly subjective account of rebellious
gestures that recur from decade to decade, often in remarkably
similar incarnations. Marcus doesn't belabor the division between
high and low--he just ignores it, fluidly shifting from (sometimes
obscure) source to source. Dada leads to punk leads to Police
Academy, and Elvis movies prompt analyses of the Left Bank. Natch!
That Marcus can kick off and end his exhaustive, but always
clear-headed, cross-epochal trek with the Sex Pistols--and make it
all cohere--is but one indication of how fully he meshes the
academy and the gutter. -- Katherine Dieckmann "Voice Literary
Supplement"
Lipstick Traces ...is a highly subjective account of rebellious
gestures that recur from decade to decade, often in remarkably
similar incarnations. Marcus doesn't belabor the division between
high and low--he just ignores it, fluidly shifting from (sometimes
obscure) source to source. Dada leads to punk leads to Police
Academy, and Elvis movies prompt analyses of the Left Bank. Natch!
That Marcus can kick off and end his exhaustive, but always
clear-headed, cross-epochal trek with the Sex Pistols--and make it
all cohere--is but one indication of how fully he meshes the
academy and the gutter.
Lipstick Traces has the energy of its obsessions, and it snares you
in the manner of those intense, questing and often stoned sessions
of intellectual debate you may have experienced in your college
years. It was destined, in other words, to achieve cult status.
experienced in your college years. It was destined, in other words,
to achieve cult status.
off and end his exhaustive, but always clear-headed, cross-epochal
trek with the Sex Pistols--and make it all cohere--is but one
indication of how fully he meshes the academy and the gutter.
work, vibrant with the energy of the bizarre happenings it maps
out.
"Lipstick Traces..".is a highly subjective account of rebellious
gestures that recur from decade to decade, often in remarkably
similar incarnations. Marcus doesn't belabor the division between
high and low--he just ignores it, fluidly shifting from (sometimes
obscure) source to source. Dada leads to punk leads to Police
Academy, and Elvis movies prompt analyses of the Left Bank. Natch!
That Marcus can kick off and end his exhaustive, but always
clear-headed, cross-epochal trek with the Sex Pistols--and make it
all cohere--is but one indication of how fully he meshes the
academy and the gutter. -- Katherine Dieckmann "Voice Literary
Supplement"
A cultural history of society's anarchic fringe.
"Lipstick Traces."..is a highly subjective account of rebellious
gestures that recur from decade to decade, often in remarkably
similar incarnations. Marcus doesn't belabor the division between
high and low--he just ignores it, fluidly shifting from (sometimes
obscure) source to source. Dada leads to punk leads to Police
Academy, and Elvis movies prompt analyses of the Left Bank. Natch!
That Marcus can kick off and end his exhaustive, but always
clear-headed, cross-epochal trek with the Sex Pistols--and make it
all cohere--is but one indication of how fully he meshes the
academy and the gutter.
"Lipstick Traces" has the energy of its obsessions, and it snares
you in the manner of those intense, questing and often stoned
sessions of intellectual debate you may have experienced in your
college years. It was destined, in other words, to achieve cult
status.--Ben Brantley"New York Times" (05/11/2001)
"Lipstick Traces"...is a highly subjective account of rebellious
gestures that recur from decade to decade, often in remarkably
similar incarnations. Marcus doesn't belabor the division between
high and low--he just ignores it, fluidly shifting from (sometimes
obscure) source to source. Dada leads to punk leads to Police
Academy, and Elvis movies prompt analyses of the Left Bank. Natch!
That Marcus can kick off and end his exhaustive, but always
clear-headed, cross-epochal trek with the Sex Pistols--and make it
all cohere--is but one indication of how fully he meshes the
academy and the gutter.--Katherine Dieckmann "Voice Literary
Supplement "
[A] seminal work...The impact of Marcus' work is
undeniable...Though his imagination may overreach, his sentences
may befuddle, his aims may elude his means (but not often), Marcus
as a critic, historian and essayist continues to be at the vanguard
of his field precisely because of his ability to find the balance
between these approaches, between mystery and proposition, between
a yarn and an epic, between yearning and compromise--an equilibrium
which gives voice to the present moment of our looking
back.--Robert Loss"popmatters.com" (02/03/2010)
A book about the twilight zone of art and revolution...[that]
displays an intellectual confidence, or nerve, that more than
convinces the reader to follow its unmarked trails.--Gail Caldwell
"Boston Globe "
Greil Marcus's absorbing new study...dips in and out of the history
of the Great Refusal, all the way from the medieval Lollards and
Brethren of the Free Spirit to the Dadaists, the French
Situationists, the Children of the May 1968 uprising in France and
British punk rockers. "Lipstick Traces", however, is no sedate
academic record of libertarian revolt but a bold blending of
anecdote, personal confession and cultural analysis, cutting
backward and forward from Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols to the
Surrealists, from Alexander Trocchi of the 1950's avant-garde group
know as Lettrist International to George Grosz, from the
Anabaptists in the 16th century to Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Danny the
Red of the French student rebellion...[Marcus's] book is
impressively adept at bringing alive some of the dramatic moments
of the history it charts...A coruscatingly original piece of work,
vibrant with the energy of the bizarre happenings it maps
out.--Terry Eagleton "New York Times Book Review "
"Lipstick Traces,.".is a highly subjective account of rebellious
gestures that recur from decade to decade, often in remarkably
similar incarnations. Marcus doesn't belabor the division between
high and low--he just ignores it, fluidly shifting from (sometimes
obscure) source to source. Dada leads to punk leads to Police
Academy, and Elvis movies prompt analyses of the Left Bank. Natch!
That Marcus can kick off and end his exhaustive, but always
clear-headed, cross-epochal trek with the Sex Pistols--and make it
all cohere--is but one indication of how fully he meshes the
academy and the gutter. -- Katherine Dieckmann "Voice Literary
Supplement"
Lipstick Traces ...is a highly subjective account of rebellious
gestures that recur from decade to decade, often in remarkably
similar incarnations. Marcus doesn't belabor the division between
high and low--he just ignores it, fluidly shifting from (sometimes
obscure) source to source. Dada leads to punk leads to Police
Academy, and Elvis movies prompt analyses of the Left Bank. Natch!
That Marcus can kick off and end his exhaustive, but always
clear-headed, cross-epochal trek with the Sex Pistols--and make it
all cohere--is but one indication of how fully he meshes the
academy and the gutter.
Lipstick Traces has the energy of its obsessions, and it snares you
in the manner of those intense, questing and often stoned sessions
of intellectual debate you may have experienced in your college
years. It was destined, in other words, to achieve cult status.
experienced in your college years. It was destined, in other words,
to achieve cult status.
off and end his exhaustive, but always clear-headed, cross-epochal
trek with the Sex Pistols--and make it all cohere--is but one
indication of how fully he meshes the academy and the gutter.
work, vibrant with the energy of the bizarre happenings it maps
out.
"Lipstick Traces..".is a highly subjective account of rebellious
gestures that recur from decade to decade, often in remarkably
similar incarnations. Marcus doesn't belabor the division between
high and low--he just ignores it, fluidly shifting from (sometimes
obscure) source to source. Dada leads to punk leads to Police
Academy, and Elvis movies prompt analyses of the Left Bank. Natch!
That Marcus can kick off and end his exhaustive, but always
clear-headed, cross-epochal trek with the Sex Pistols--and make it
all cohere--is but one indication of how fully he meshes the
academy and the gutter. -- Katherine Dieckmann "Voice Literary
Supplement"
A cultural history of society's anarchic fringe.
"Lipstick Traces."..is a highly subjective account of rebellious
gestures that recur from decade to decade, often in remarkably
similar incarnations. Marcus doesn't belabor the division between
high and low--he just ignores it, fluidly shifting from (sometimes
obscure) source to source. Dada leads to punk leads to Police
Academy, and Elvis movies prompt analyses of the Left Bank. Natch!
That Marcus can kick off and end his exhaustive, but always
clear-headed, cross-epochal trek with the Sex Pistols--and make it
all cohere--is but one indication of how fully he meshes the
academy and the gutter.
Acclaimed rock reviewer/author Marcus ( Mystery Train , LJ 4/1/75) offers up a fascinating thesis: that modern consciousness is to a great extent shaped by events or documents ``insignificant'' of themselves but collectively very important indeed, perhaps even definitive. While spending much of its time on the impact of the Sex Pistols, this is not purely a ``rock-music'' book--along the way one encounters various ranters, Dadaists, nihilists, whatever--even Theodore Dreiser. If it lacks the rigor demanded of academic historiography, Marcus's book is still great popular culture, and academic historians would do well to be interested. Meanwhile, the cross-referential treatment gives a seeming (at least) validity that sheer facts wouldn't to the idea of a ``secret history'' that permeates unobtrusively and yields more meaning than many would like to believe.-- Robert E. Brown, Onondaga Cty. P.L., Syracuse, N.Y.
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