1979: Revolt Into Style

Not long after exploding into being as a raw, angry, and politically driven hypercharge of rock & roll, punk quickly mutated. Historians, fans, and purists will argue over the exact timeline, but if punk was truly born in 1977 with the Sex Pistols, the Clash, the Ramones, and other classic early bands of the genre, it had already begun sprouting new branches a few years later in the form of post-punk, new wave, industrial, punkers experimenting with dub, funk, and disco styles, and even more new approaches to a genre that was relatively new itself. The extensive compilation 1979: Revolt into Style collects dozens of tracks from what was a banner year for post-punk, setting familiar essentials side by side with more obscure cuts. Inclusions from punk upstarts like Sham 69, the Clash, and the Jam illuminate how those bands were maturing past the energetic three-chord rippers they started out with to explore more thoughtful songwriting and instrumentation. The next wave that was rising out of punk's initial crash is represented here by excellent songs from some of the most important names in post-punk: Joy Division, the Fall, Gang of Four, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Gary Numan's Tubeway Army. Revolt into Style does a great job of balancing out the better-known post-punk acts with less commercially successful but equally exciting bands like Swell Maps, Alternative TV, and the Mekons. This is true of every subgenre the compilation explores. New wave superstars like Adam and the Ants, Dexy's Midnight Runners, and the Pretenders appear beside more obscure artists like Glory Boys, the Regents, and the Zipps. With 76 songs and around four hours long, Revolt into Style is a solid entry point for anyone getting their feet wet with what came after punk. It's a deep dive that showcases both certified hits and lost gems, offering a sense of just how quickly styles were changing, and how the different players in the scene were influencing one another as those changes played out in the form of exhilarating new music. ~ Fred Thomas