No Machos or Pop Stars | Gavin Butt

*INITIAL COPIES AT SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY PRICE*

The musical heritage of the large Lancashire towns and cities has cast a long shadow over Yorkshire for many years. The imagery has solidified - an ashen Ian Curtis in a great coat pulls on a cig to stave off the cold, a Pollocked up Stone Roses slip and slide under the camera's gaze, Sean Ryder hangs grinning like a chimp from a rooftop sign in Spain, four young men linger outside the Salford Lad's Club...

No Machos or Pop Stars by Gavin Butt is a book that begins to redress the balance. Casting its eye over the bands that formed in the post punk ferment and rose from an art school education that, in terms of class, had far fewer borders - No Machos unveils a late '70s Leeds as a pioneering and innovative city, at the forefront of a new art-influenced music. It's high time that the Gang of Four, Scritti Politti, the Delta 5, Soft Cell, and the Mekons had their story told in this context - it's important music and this is an excellent document.

" In No Machos or Pop Stars Gavin Butt tells the fascinating story of the post-punk scene in Leeds, showing how England's state-funded education policy brought together art students from different social classes to create a fertile ground for musical experimentation. Drawing on extensive interviews with band members, their associates, and teachers, Butt details the groups who wanted to dismantle both art world and music industry hierarchies by making it possible to dance to their art. Their stories reveal the subversive influence of art school in a regional music scene of lasting international significance."

Size: 152 x 228 (paperback)

Pages: 290

Publisher: Duke University Press