Renowned music journalist Simon Reynolds celebrates the futurist sound and spirit of such bands as Joy Division, Gang of Four, Talking Heads, and Devo, which resulted in endless innovations in music, lyrics, performance, and style. Reynolds explores these influences which continued into the early eighties with the video-savvy synth-pop of groups such as Human League, Depeche Mode, and Soft Cell--all of whom found success which coincided with the rise of the iconic Music Telelvision, or better known as MTV.

Full of insight and anecdotes and populated by charismatic and well-known characters, Rip It Up and Start Again re-creates the idealism, urgency, and excitement of one of the most important and challenging periods in the history of popular music.