❚ All you need to know about the New Romantics
revolution of the 1980s is covered in each of these
books which is definitive in its own way. . .
* 78-87 LONDON YOUTH, by Derek Ridgers (Damiani, 2013) – Generous and compassionate straight-up photography at the street level of daily life captures the “looks” that set people apart.
* SOUVENIRS, by Stephen Jones (Rizzoli International, 2016) – Pictures of his playful and compelling hats accompany the life story of milliner Stephen Jones, from St Martin’s School of Art to every key designer runway over four decades.
* BLITZ, The club that created the 80s, by Robert Elms (Faber & Faber, 2025) – “Unofficial catalogue” for the Blitz Club exhibition in September 2025 at London’s Design Museum, according to its curator. The time-travel broadcaster and writer Elms was a key influencer when individualism redefined nightclubbing.
* POP STARS IN MY PANTRY, by Paul Simper (Unbound, 2017) – The columnist and TV writer Simper stumbled across an early Spandau Ballet gig to become an essential part of the British pop scene ever since. He had his own crack at the charts in the ill-fated disco duo Slippry Feet.
* WE CAN BE HEROES: London Clubland 1976-1984, by Graham Smith and Chris Sullivan (Unbound 2011) – The most personal gallery by photographer Smith in an elegant hardback, with insightful text throughout by club host Sullivan, a key Shaper of the 80s who ran the Wag for 18 years and charted with his band Blue Rondo a la Turk.
* If I was…, by Midge Ure (Virgin Books, 2004&5) – This remains a superb and frank autobiography by the weathervane of synth-pop who helped shape the British New Wave with Ultravox as probably the first active player of a synth among any of his clubbing pals. He earned an OBE for being half the brains behind Band Aid’s smash hit for charity in 1984, Do They Know It’s Christmas? the song that became, for 13 years, the biggest selling UK single of all time.
* NIGHTLIFE REBELS: How New Romantics Ignited the 80s, by David Johnson, featuring photographs by Derek Ridgers (self-published, 2025) – Two seasoned eye-witnesses watched Britain’s young ignite a glittering subcultural revolution… As a Fleet Street journalist I explored their intriguing carnival of style-setting cults across Britain, Paris and New York, while straight-up photographer Derek Ridgers captured the libertines in their dark dens, illustrating many of my own reports in The Face mag’s early years. . . Our elegant illustrated hardback NIGHTLIFE REBELS celebrates the 19-year-old hedonists who insisted “One look lasts a day” while becoming the latest British pop stars with more acts in the US Billboard charts than the 1960s ever achieved. Featuring unseen pictures, stats, a unique timeline and Who Really Was Who. . . “Some nights it was like walking into Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights,” says Ridgers. And Johnson: “The whole spectacle shouted newness. This chapter was about youthful talent and personal success, not about worshipping rock gods in a stadium.”
[ Order through my online address –
nightlife.rebels [a t] shapersofthe80s.com ]
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