Was punk just another moment in music history? Marcus delves into the after-life of punk as a richer phenomenon—a form of artistic and social rebellion that continually erupts into popular culture. In more than 70 short pieces, he traces the uncompromising strands of punk from Johnny Rotten to Elvis Costello, Sonic Youth, even Bruce Springsteen.

Introduction Prologue: The End of the 1960s Two Late Beginnings Johnny Rotten and Margaret Drabble The End of an Antichrist: Sex Pistols, Winterland, San Francisco, 14 January 1978 1977-1979 Elvis Costello: The Old Waldorf, San Francisco, 16 November 1977 The Clash Doom Squad From 1979, Remove 7, Add Zero to 9, Then Wait Dead Air Live at the Roxy Gang of Four Logic Rock Death in the 1970s: A Sweepstakes 1980 Fear in the Marketplace: Real Life Rock Top Ten 1979 Hi, this is America. War in the Catamaran Plague Disco Ripped to Shreds It's Fab, It's Passionate, It's Wild, It's Intelligent! It's the Hot New Sound of England Today! Love and Death in the American Novel Elvis Costello's Bill of Rights The Roots of Punk, #783 Yes Nukes Success and Failure in the Wilderness Suspicious Minds The Next President of the United States 1981-1982 Life and Life Only Songs of Random Terror: Real Life Rock Top Ten 1980 Ideal Home Noise Crimes Against Nature The Au Pairs in Their Time Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Charts of the Gods Food Fight: Real Life Rock Top Ten 1981 Life After Death Dial Twisting from Elvis Costello Repents: The Rolling Stone Interview Badlands 1983-1985 The Mekons Story In the Fascist Bathroom Free Speech, #1 Imperial Margarine Gone with the Wind Four More Years 400,000 More Years Corrupting the Absolute Number One with a Bullet Less Than Zero The Last President of the United States 1986 Alone and Forsaken The Last Broadcast King of Nebraska Flat, Toneless and Tiresome Hum-drum Sand in Your Mouth U.S.A. Combat Heroes The Return of King Arthur Free Speech, #2 1987-1992 Born Dead The Return of Iron Butterfly Judgment Day Music More Bad News Groovy Hate Fuck Punk Is Where You Find It An Echo The Assassin Chapters from History Three Premature Endings The Return of the Ranter The End of the 1980s The Return of the Antichrist Epilogue: A Brief Return of the 1960s: Real Life Rock Top Ten Spring 1991 I am a Cliche Citations Acknowledgments Permissions Index

The dean of rock criticism, Greil Marcus, has been analysing the populist and the impenetrable for 30 years. This reissued collection includes features from times past, when Rolling Stone covered obscure British bands, gloomy discourses on Eighties American politics and Greil's exasperation with Springsteen and Costello.