A Times Book of the Year A Mojo Book of the Year A Louder Than War Book of the Year A
Waterstones Book of the Year A Resident Book of the Year ' A beautifully written
meticulously researched account. 4 5.' - CLASSIC POP 1979. Months of industrial action
throughout the winter have left the dead unburied and mountains of rubbish piling up in the
streets. Punk has reached its bleak climax with the fatal heroin overdose of Sid Vicious
while awaiting trial for the murder of his girlfriend. Unlikely alliances of outsiders
prepare to seize power set the political agenda and write the soundtrack for the years to
come. Their figureheads are two very different kinds of dominatrices... As Margaret Thatcher
enters 10 Downing Street a handful of bands born of punk - Siouxsie and the Banshees Joy
Division and the Cure - find a way to distil the dissonance and darkness of the shifting decade
into a new form of music. Pushing at the taboos the Sex Pistols had unlocked and dancing with
the fetishistic all will become global stars of goth. By the time Thatcher is cast out of
office in 1990 the arrival of goth will have imprinted on the cultural landscape as much as
the Iron Lady herself. Forty years on author Cathi Unsworth provides the first comprehensive
overview of the music context and lasting legacy of goth. This is the story of how goth was
shaped by the politics of the era - from the miners' strikes and privatisation to the
Troubles and AIDS - as well as how its rock ' n' roll outlaw imagery and music
cross-pollinated throughout Britain and internationally speaking to a generation of alienated
youths. A fascinating social history Season of the Witch tells the tale of an enduring
counter-culture one that steadfastly refuses to give up the ghost.
