Sam Knee - The Bag I'm In (2015)
The full title is The Bag I'm In:
Underground Music and Fashion in Britain 1960-1990,
though for accuracy's sake, that should be amended to have 'Rock'
inserted between 'Underground' and 'Music'. Among the genres
receiving virtually no coverage are ska (despite a 2-Tone chapter),
hip-hop, electronic (aside from a passing reference to the enormously
influential Throbbing Gristle and acid raves), and metal, unmentioned
until 1984 with the 'Thrash/Crossover' section. Dub, reggae, and
rudeboys (none of which get their own section) are brought up
peripherally a few times, but the number of photos with black Britons
can be counted on one hand, and Indians seem entirely absent despite
the fashion-mimicking of their regionality by the hippie and space
rocker sets.
There's also some
sweeping characterization made with the first line of the author's
introduction: “Unique to this island, the music and fashion scenes
are ingrained in the UK's DNA, going hand in hand as an inseparable
force of nature that shapes our lives and the society we exist in.”
Aside from the preposition at the end, there's the issue of omitting
(whether by choice or simply not thinking of it) consideration of
another island nation, Japan, where music culture and correspondent
clothing have similar intertwining, from the punk-sworn bikers to the
visual kei movement, not to mention the mainstream-abhorring
experimental electronic/noise scene or the massive influx of American
rock after World War II. I'll leave additional national
counter-examples up to readers' discretions.
Providing brief
analysis and background for each of the styles covered, along with a
pertinent lyrical excerpt for each (in a nice touch, the back-to-back
sections of Second Wave Punk and Goth respectively use “Punks Not
Dead” and “Bela Lugosi's Dead”), the book tells its history in
pictures well enough through the extensive photo illustrations,
though as the author notes, size restraints limit the scope of
exploration. The mod section stands tied with punk as the
lengthiest, if revivals and derivatives go uncounted, though punk and
its various off-shoots would otherwise easily win. One of the more
interesting inclusions is hard mod, “an almost mythical, transitory
sartorial style that is virtually impossible to pin down,” which
spans just two photographs.
A focus on the
lead-up to punk's emergence and the subsequent fallout tints most of
the historical examinations, but given the impact the arrival of that
genre had on music, fashion, and the UK in general, it's an
understandable skewing. On the other hand, there's some odd
minimizing of some aspects, such as the reduction of third-wave
skinhead politicism and agitation to just two sentences. Similarly,
“half-baked, shabby, second wave Gothdom” and pre-thrash metal,
which the author characterizes as being marginalized to “poodle
permed, Dungeons & Dragons playing sci-fi kids” during the punk
era get brushed past without investigation even while recognizing
their cultural subsumption. Even in light of needing to save page
space, the amount of material excluded raises questions, particularly
when the book's foreword identifies what did make the cut (such as
Smithsmania and the '79-'81 fashions of Postcard Records) as “36 of
Britain's most radical, vital underground scenes”.
The subjects of
photographs are often identified by first name only, but there are a
few with full name inclusions, and some of the photos have the
locations identified as well, which adds an interesting sense of the
regional disparities. There's some noticeable pixelization with the
photos that have been blown up to larger sizes (a handful of which
get double-page spreads), but the value of their inclusion (and of
being able to get a closer look at some of their details) makes this
easy to forgive. On a sweet note, a couple of pictures of Robert and
Janet Knee, presumably the parents of the author, are included in the
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND)/Beatnik and Art School Boho
sections.
Some
regional slang appears, and US readers may be confused by references
to 'Mohican haircuts', which go by the name 'Mohawk' over here, but
these turns of phrase can generally be puzzled out, and they add a
nice personal flavor to the book's analytical angle. The appendix of
an 'illustrated style guide' proves one of the book's most intriguing
aspects, with paper-doll-style presentations and head-to-toe
examinations of the fashions illustrated by Florence Bamberger
offering help for quick perusals or more involved study.
The book may make
you turn a fresh eye towards your own clothing choices in relation to
your listening habits, past, present, and future; it may also give
you an urge to visit your parents for the purpose of raiding their
stored-away wardrobes. Whatever the case may be, it's an engrossing
assembly of music/fashion cross-sections over three decades of the
UK's history, framed and enthusiastically connected by Knee's
assessments of influence. A scattering of band names and record
labels adds an extra dimension of enjoyment for record-hunters, and
it's fun to imagine the accompanying CD or DJ mix some enterprising
individual could put together from all of the songs that get quoted
along the way. All together, quite a good read, though some of its
choices will have readers scratching their heads as they try to
figure out the reasoning.
~ Gabriel
~
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