PUNK LONDON 1977
The Roxy, The Vortex, Kings Road and Beyond

Derek Ridgers

Softback 160 pages

Punk London 1977. Most people blinked and missed it. Many spent a decade trying to catch up. Derek Ridgers stumbled across it by accident, where it was, in the beating filthy heart of the Roxy in middle of a derelict slum called Covent Garden.

Stumbling through the moshpits trying to keep hold of a borrowed camera. 1977. Punk London brings you 152 pages of photography featuring the birth of the the most exciting cultural phenomenon in UK history. Currents and vibes, flows and backwash, trends and anti-trends splashing around in the cauldron of youth culture in the city of London, and the lost rebels haunting their suburban bedrooms – jumping the train uptown to get into the legendary Roxy. All converged, for one priceless moment, an outpouring of a truly original, DIY, anarchic, underground scene.

Ridgers captured the first wave. Kids in the crowd, never before seen. The punks who made their own clothes because you couldn't buy punk clothes. The punks who got beaten up time and again for making themselves into targets. Rebellion before it got easy. You won't see these kids anywhere in the magazines. They weren't trying to get famous.

1977 will happen again. 1977 is happening somewhere, for someone, right now.