CHEAP GUITARS, CHARITY SHOP CLOTHES, THE MINERS' STRIKE, THATCHER AND THE COLD WAR... WELCOME TO THE ALTERNATIVE
'80s
The long-awaited C86 & All That: The Creation of Indie In Difficult Times comprehensively documents the rise of indie during
the socially-divisive 1980s, tracing its ancestry out of the ashes of Post Punk, through Neo Psychedelia, Anarcho-Punk, Garage, Trash and Goth, on to the release of the landmark compilation
C86 in the spring of 1986.
The Smiths were flagbearers for the new scene, the Jesus & Mary Chain bete noires that increasingly threatened an
evermore-bland music establishment. They were joined at the barricades by hundreds of others - including the Wedding Present, the Shop Assistants, the Pastels, the June Brides, Primal Scream, the
Membranes, Bog-shed, Big Flame and the Loft, to name but a small handful. New clubs and labels sprang up and a new wave of fanzines emerged to document the scene, samizdat publications like The
Legend!, Hungry Beat, Adventure In Bereznik, Trout Fishing In Leytonstone, Slow Dazzle, Noise Annoys and Attack On Bzag.
The book casts an eye over a period when indie was a passion not a brand, and places its rise firmly in the context of the turbulent
political times. Based on primary source material, including the contents of scores of forgotten fanzines, it draws in the views of many of the key players to present a luminous work - one
scrupulously researched and engagingly written - opening a window on a period that, with its parallels, resonates strongly today.
NEIL TAYLOR co-compiled NME's C86 tape but since the early 1990s has worked in publishing. He is the author of the
highly-acclaimed Document & Eyewitness: An Intimate History Of Rough Trade.
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