Silence Is No Reaction: Forty Years of Subhumans

Formed in Wiltshire, England, in 1980, the Subhumans are rightly held in high regard as one of the best punk rock bands to ever hail from the UK.

Over the course of five timeless studio albums and just as many classic EPs, not to mention well over 1,000 gigs around the world, they have blended serious anarcho punk with a demented sense of humour and genuinely memorable tunes to create something quite unique and utterly compelling. For the first time ever, their whole story is told, straight from the recollections of every band member past and present, as well as a dizzying array of their closest friends and peers, with not a single stone left unturned. Bolstered with hundreds of flyers and exclusive photos, it’s the definitive account of the much-loved band.

Praise

“It’s all here: the genesis of the band, the practising, the song-writing, the recordings, the gigs, the original split and the reformation … in fact everything you could possibly want to know about this very special band.”
—Tony Whatley of Suspect Device

“Ian Glasper captures the emotion and excitement surrounding one of the most enduring punk bands on the planet. With an extensive—some might say forensic—narrative, this book really gets under the skin of a perennial favourite who have rarely put a foot wrong.”
—Nathan Haywire, Louder Than War

“Subhumans have integrity in spades, and you can’t buy that. They were important then and are important now.”
—Sean Forbes of Wat Tyler and Hard Skin

“Subhumans are special both on and off stage. It’s the passion that’s evident onstage, with those beautifully constructed lyrics spat out with every breath—and that charged energy they generate, that sweeps through the crowd and leaves us feeling changed.”
—Ruth Elias of Hagar The Womb

“They’re one of my favourite bands in the world, but a band is only as good as the people in it … and the Subhumans are the real deal.”
—Stu Pid of Police Bastard

“Their songs seem to exist out of time, somehow always relevant. And they’ve stuck to their guns—there’s this stubborn defiance in the face of fashion, and a glorious, unaffected honesty.”
—Winston Smith

“They are the ultimate punk band, with the most genuine, inclusive, informative, approachable attitude, and such amazing music … tight and edgy as fuck, and so professional—a joy to watch.”
—Peter Jones of Paranoid Visions

About the Author

Ian Glasper has been writing about punk since 1986, when he first started his own fanzine, Little Things Please Little Minds. Then in the early Nineties he started writing reviews for Record Collector, and a hardcore punk column for Terrorizer, the extreme music magazine that he contributed to for the next twenty years. He is the author of six other books including Burning Britain and The Day the Country Died. A father of two, and a lifelong vegetarian/vegan, he writes for Down for Life and Fistful of Metal, as well as regularly penning liner notes for retrospective punk and metal releases. He is tentatively working on the next book in his ongoing overview of the UK punk scene.

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