Punk in 50 Pieces: Punk, Post-Punk, New Wave and the Five Years that Changed Pop Music Forever. A must-read for 2026.

Fifty years ago punk crashed onto the scene, redefining music and popular culture. In celebration of that historic event comes this cultural history exploring fifty iconic songs and unforgettable moments that destroyed then helped redefine rock.

“Fifty argument-starting blitzes of fury and awe, with just the right dash of playful crankiness.” Hua Hsu, staff writer, the New Yorker

“This book vaults to the top shelf in the Punk Lit pantheon.” Simon Reynolds, author of Rip It Up and Start Again: Post-Punk 1978–1984

“The perfect companion for those wishing to revisit the golden age of late-70s/early-80s pop.” Jane Wiedlin, The Go-Gos

Once upon a time – November 26, 1976, to be precise – a band named the Sex Pistols dropped “Anarchy in the U.K.,” and a musical movement called punk rock came, saw, and conquered.

Fifty years later, the question remains: What the hell was that?

Punk in Fifty Pieces retells the story of punk’s cultural earthquake and how early classic punk (The Ramones, Patti Smith, Iggy Pop) gave birth to post-punk (Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Gang of Four), New Wave (Talking Heads, Blondie, Devo) and a rock n’ roll revolution.

A great, new addition to the shelf that holds Please Kill Me, Lipstick Traces and England’s Dreaming, Punk in Fifty Pieces is the perfect playlist for discovery by a new generation of rebels without a cause and for die-hards who traded the mosh pit for two cars in the garage – but have never forgotten the music.

Includes chapters featuring:

• The Sex Pistols, “Anarchy in the U.K."
• Talking Heads, “Psycho Killer"
• The Police, “Roxanne"
• The Clash, “(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais"
• Siouxsie and the Banshees, “Hong Kong Garden"
• Blondie, “One Way or Another"
• Joy Division, “Love Will Tear Us Apart"

“I devoured Dettmar’s Punk in Fifty Pieces.” Jonathan Lethem, author of Motherless Brooklyn and The Fortress of Solitude

“This is an irresistible book that will spark a thousand arguments.” Greil Marcus, author of Mystery Train and Lipstick Traces

“This book is so kinetic and edifying, I found it impossible to stop reading.” Amanda Petrusich, staff writer, the New Yorker

Kevin Dettmar is the author of Is Rock Dead? and the 33 1/3 volume on Gang of Four’s Entertainment!, and the editor of The Cambridge Companion to Bob Dylan and (with Jonathan Lethem) Shake It Up: Great American Writing on Rock and Pop from Elvis to Jay Z. He teaches at Pomona College.