by Richard Allen (James Moffat)
New English Library 1977
James Moffat, as Richard Allen, wrote a quickie exploitation novel about British skinheads. It became a surprise hit, so there were a billion sequels, as well as books covering other subcultures of the day. I've read a couple and they're horrible, ill informed, and too restrained for proper exploitation.
In Punk Rock, Allen/Moffat avoids the problem of knowing jack-all about punks by mostly avoiding them, focusing on a journalist working halfheartedly on a piece about the scene.
The journalist spends most of the time shagging the daughter of his future employer, and the rest of the slim book is about an indie music magazine being bought out and reorganized. Thrilling stuff.
There's a titch about punks. One is a spoiled rich rock star, and others fake their safety pin piercings. The most sordid it gets involves a punk star sleeping with a married maid. Shocking, I know.
Unrelated to the rest of the plot, we get a couple of brief vignettes of Teds beating up punks, but those threaten to get too interesting, so not much focus there.
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