{"title":"Books by Simon Reynolds","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780571289134","title":"Energy Flash","description":"\u003cp\u003eTwenty-five years since acid house and Ecstasy revolutionized pop culture, Simon Reynolds's landmark rave history \u003ci\u003eEnergy Flash\u003c\/i\u003e has been expanded and updated to cover twenty-first-century developments like dubstep and EDM's recent takeover of America.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAuthor of the acclaimed postpunk history \u003ci\u003eRip It Up and Start Again\u003c\/i\u003e, Reynolds became a rave convert in the early nineties. He experienced first-hand the scene's drug-fuelled rollercoaster of euphoria and darkness. He danced at Castlemorton, the illegal 1992 mega-rave that sent spasms of anxiety through the Establishment and resulted in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill. Mixing personal reminiscence with interviews and ultra-vivid description of the underground's ever-changing sounds as they mutated under the influence of MDMA and other drugs, \u003ci\u003eEnergy Flash\u003c\/i\u003e is the definitive chronicle of electronic dance culture.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom rave's origins in Chicago house and Detroit techno, through Ibiza, Madchester and the anarchic free-party scene, to the pirate-radio underworld of jungle and UK garage, and then onto 2000s-shaping genres such as grime and electro, Reynolds documents with authority, insight and infectious enthusiasm the tracks, DJs,  producers and promoters that soundtracked a generation. A substantial final section, added for this new Faber edition, brings the book right up to date, covering dubstep's explosive rise to mass popularity and America's recent but ardent embrace of rave. Packed with interviews with participants and charismatic innovators like Derrick May, Goldie and Aphex Twin, \u003ci\u003eEnergy Flash\u003c\/i\u003e is an infinitely entertaining and essential history of dance music.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43201805648050,"sku":"9780571289134","price":22.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780571289134.jpg?v=1786014543"},{"product_id":"9780571232093","title":"Retromania","description":"The first book to make sense of 21st Century pop, Retromania explores rock's nostalgia industry of revivals, reissues, reunions and remakes, and argues that there has never before been a culture so obsessed with its own immediate past. Pulling together parallel threads from music, fashion, art, and new media, Simon Reynolds confronts a central paradox of our era: from iPods to YouTube, we're empowered by mind-blowing technology, but too often it's used as a time machine or as a tool to shuffle and rearrange music from yesterday.We live in the digital future but we're mesmerized by our analogue past.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43400044183730,"sku":"9780571232093","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780571232093_68662abb-c752-4c9f-ab91-2c3356e5c675.jpg?v=1786013806"},{"product_id":"9781399618335","title":"Futuromania","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePre-order Simon Reynold's forthcoming \u003ci\u003eStill in a Dream: Shoegaze, Slackers, and the Reinvention of Rock, 1984-1994, \u003c\/i\u003epublishing June 2026.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A captivating celebration of the music that pushes us forward' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eRECORD COLLECTOR\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eFuturomania\u003c\/i\u003e is a celebration of music that feels like a taste of tomorrow: the vanguard genres and heroic innovators who prefigure and shape pop music's future. It explores the interface between pop music and science fiction's utopian dreams and nightmare visions, paying as much attention to the febrile creativity of the human mind as it does to the era-defining advances in electronic hardware and digital software.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom Giorgio Moroder and Donna Summer to Boards of Canada, Burial, Flying Lotus and dozens more, this collection of essays and interviews by critically-acclaimed author Simon Reynolds coheres into an exhilarating chronological narrative of machine-music from the 1970s to today. A fascinating guide through adventures in sound, there is a lifetime of electronic listening here.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57685949514101,"sku":"9781399618342","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":43605771878578,"sku":"9781399618335","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399618342.jpg?v=1792599205"},{"product_id":"9780232534627","title":"Lighten Our Darkness","description":"Over the course of the past 25 years, a quiet but persistent revolution has been taking place in English cathedrals, in some larger churches in major towns and cities, as well as the chapels of university colleges.  The numbers of people drawn by the distinctive musical character of their worship has risen significantly, with Choral Evensong becoming the locus of this persistent growth in the numbers of worshippers.  A significant number of these people are under 40 years of age; and many others have, until now, lived their lives on the edges of the Church - if not completely beyond it.Simon Reynolds believes Evensong is providing a place of sanctuary for people seeking space for reflection in a frenetic world. It is becoming a significant part of the Church of England’s mission. Lighten Our Darkness provides the definitive guide to Choral Evensong, and will be a fascinating introduction for newcomers to this historic form of worship, and for clergy and students wishing to explore its roots.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56229428625781,"sku":"9780232534627","price":20.95,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780232534627_372f9569-6a51-4eb0-bfc0-5bba50f452f1.jpg?v=1786012313"},{"product_id":"9780571301720","title":"Shock and Awe","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eGuardian,\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eSunday Times, \u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eMojo\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eDaily Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eObserver\u003c\/i\u003e Book of the Year\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLonglisted for the Penderyn Music Book Prize 2017\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs the sixties dream faded, a new flamboyant movement electrified the world: GLAM! In \u003ci\u003eShock and Awe\u003c\/i\u003e, Simon Reynolds explores this most decadent of genres on both sides of the Atlantic. Bolan, Bowie, Suzi Quatro, Alice Cooper, New York Dolls, Slade, Roxy Music, Iggy, Lou Reed, Be Bop Deluxe, David Essex -- all are represented here. Reynolds charts the retro future sounds, outrageous styles and gender-fluid sexual politics that came to define the first half of the seventies and brings it right up to date with a final chapter on glam in hip hop, Lady Gaga, and the aftershocks of David Bowie's death.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eShock and Awe\u003c\/i\u003e is a defining work and another classic in the Faber Social rock n roll canon to stand alongside \u003ci\u003eRip it Up\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eElectric Eden\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eYeah Yeah Yeah\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56291350315381,"sku":"9780571301720","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780571301720_81c87571-b875-4723-b25c-1c788dd139e6.jpg?v=1786014621"},{"product_id":"9780571232079","title":"Bring the Noise","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom Morrissey and Nick Cave to The Streets and Kanye West, this is the book that explores the links between hip-hop and rock. Reynolds has focused on two strands: white alternative rock and black street music. He's identified the strange dance of white bohemian rock and black culture, how they come together at various points and then go their own way. Through interviews he has carried out as a top music journalist for the last twenty years Reynolds is here able to tell a story of musical rivalry which no-one has told before.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe approach is similar to \u003ci\u003eRip It Up and Start Again\u003c\/i\u003e: a cultural history told through the music we love and the stars and movements that have shaped the world we live in.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56291675210101,"sku":"9780571232079","price":22.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780571232079_29d803fe-6b1c-4f36-ae62-815312d51ef9.jpg?v=1786013804"},{"product_id":"9780571235490","title":"Totally Wired","description":"\u003cp\u003eTotally Wired features 32 interviews with the post-punk era's most innovative musicians and colourful personalities. From Ari Up, Jah Wobble, David Byrne, Edwyn Collins, it also includes conversations with the most influential of label bosses, managers, record producers, DJs and journalists - such as John Peel and Paul Morley. Crackling with argument and anecdote, these conversations bring a rich human dimension post-punk's exceptional characters, from their earliest days to their glorious and sometimes disastrous musical adventures. Along with interviews, we get 'overviews': further reflections by Simon Reynolds on key icons and crucial scenes, including John Lydon and Public Image Ltd, Ian Curtis and Joy Division, and the lineage of glam grotesquerie running from Siouxsie \u0026amp; The Banshees to the New Romantics to Leigh Bowery.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56292090151285,"sku":"9780571235490","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780571235490_062397ec-72e3-4846-a1ff-00b722991cd8.jpg?v=1786013853"},{"product_id":"9780571215706","title":"Rip it Up and Start Again","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn this, the first book to take a big-picture view of the entire post punk period, acclaimed author and music journalist Simon Reynolds recreates a time of tremendous urgency and idealism in pop music. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFull of anecdote and insight, and featuring the likes of Joy Division, The Fall, Pere Ubu, PiL and Talking Heads, \u003cb\u003eRip It Up And Start Again\u003c\/b\u003e stands as one of the most inspired and inspiring books on popular music ever written.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56311803117941,"sku":"9780571215706","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780571215706_94948738-e9b7-44a6-8f66-30aa4a301a82.jpg?v=1786013580"},{"product_id":"still-in-a-dream","title":"Still in a Dream","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe definitive story of the slackers and shoegazers who reinvented rock.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTwenty years after his acclaimed postpunk best-seller, \u003ci\u003eRip It Up and Start Again\u003c\/i\u003e, Simon Reynolds tells the tale of what happened next: the underground explosion of noisepop, shoegaze, slacker rock and grunge that reverberated through the late Eighties into the early Nineties.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCapturing the musical exhilaration of the era along with the alienation of youth during a period of ascendant conservative politics and glitzy mainstream pop, \u003ci\u003eStill in a Dream \u003c\/i\u003ecelebrates a golden age of guitar reinvention, a second psychedelia of mind-blowing sounds pioneered by bands like My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth. In Britain, groups like Cocteau Twins and Slowdive escaped into shimmering dreamworlds while American underground rockers like Dinosaur Jr. and Pavement blended apathy and urgency into thrilling noise.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA propulsive and personal account from a journalist who covered this music in real time from the frontlines, \u003ci\u003eStill in a Dream\u003c\/i\u003e vividly recreates a period that was the last blast for the analogue culture of vinyl records and music papers, before the Internet changed everything.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57483385045365,"sku":"9781399618373","price":23.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399618373.jpg?v=1786178531"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-simon-reynolds.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}