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Post by Lord Emsworth on Apr 17, 2023 15:19:28 GMT
This is the memoir of a teenage mod from the East End of London.
A journey of discovery for a schoolboy dabbling with punk, funk, record shops, discos and clothes, and then... WHAAAM! An unstoppable wave of like-minded kids fall headlong in love with 60s mod culture, revived and reformatted for the 70s and 80s generation.
Eddie Piller was one such kid. His life was changed forever. Written with humour, passion and attention to detail, CLEAN LIVING UNDER DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES is perhaps the ultimate mod memoir, taking us from meeting the Small Faces as a toddler, to the 1979 Mod revival, through the more purist 1980s mod scene and eventually to Acid Jazz.
A born storyteller, Eddie takes us evocatively into a world of scooters, clothes, and music. We run with the crowd to decaying seaside towns, East End backstreet boozers and sweaty teenage gigs, all fizzing with an uncontainable excitement and often exploding into violence.
Once mod touched your soul it changed the way you looked at life, unexpectedly broadening your horizons. In Eddie it awakens a can-do attitude that sees him setting up a fanzine, putting on club nights, hustling jobs in the music industry, and eventually setting up a record label. It even takes him to Ireland at the height of the troubles and to Australia where the local mods take him on a military exercise...
Visceral and always entertaining, CLEAN LIVING UNDER DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES is a stand-out memoir that relives the thrill of the 70s and 80s, and the movement that helped make mod the most enduring and successful British youth culture of all time.
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Post by Lord Emsworth on Apr 17, 2023 15:19:44 GMT
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Post by Lord Emsworth on Apr 17, 2023 15:21:35 GMT
'Eddie was there very early doors. His story is of the many.' Paul Weller
'A total riot! Takes me right back to the 70s. A Superb book' Mani, The Stone Roses
'What a wonderful book. Mod isn't about what decade you lived in, it's about your attitude, and this book has tons of it' Kenney Jones, The Small Faces
Hell of a storyteller...
Chinwag with Eddie Piller Part 1 (1/5)
Chinwag is a chat about life and whatever else comes up, hosted monthly by therapist Chris Madden at Outlaws Yacht Club, Leeds UK.
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Post by Lord Emsworth on Apr 17, 2023 15:30:54 GMT
Parts 2-5 also on YouTube
Only listened to part one and it's v interesting
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Post by zeopold on Apr 19, 2023 8:38:20 GMT
Piller is a cool guy, something of a rarity given that the 80's 'mod' travesty was mostly populated by dim-witted straights.
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Post by Lord Emsworth on Apr 19, 2023 9:15:32 GMT
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Post by Lord Emsworth on Jun 28, 2023 12:30:40 GMT
Currently reading this and bloody loving it
A great memoir which starts with the Irish tale above and then becomes more chronological. Pretty confident anyone reading this would enjoy it
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Post by Lord Emsworth on Jul 2, 2023 12:54:46 GMT
Just finished
This is a terrific Mod memoir
Eddie is a natural storyteller and he has some engrossing stories to tell. This is a terrific memoir. The opening tale of a visit to Ireland to DJ during the Troubles grabbed me and the book didnt let go until the final page. If you lived through this era then there's added resonance and recognition. This has got the lot: passion, violence, humour, reinvention and redemption. It's a joy from start to finish.
5/5
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