Jon Savage
Finding aid
To view a detailed listing of contents for the British punk archive and to request materials for consultation in the Beinecke Reading Room, visit the Online Finding Aid.
Related collections
Online resources
Jon Savage (1953–) is a British music journalist who authored England's Dreaming: Sex Pistols and Punk Rock (1991), a historical account of British punk, along with with Teenage and 1966. Savage was a Cambridge graduate at the height of the punk rock explosion in Britain. He also collected the bulk of Beinecke's British punk art archives with American curator Johan Kugelberg.
After self-publishing punk fanzine London's Outrage!, Savage collaborated with artist Linder Sterling to create The Secret Public, a fanzine documenting the Manchester punk scene after influence from the Sex Pistols concert at the city's Lesser Free Trade Hall in 1976.
Collection Highlights
"Uninhabited London," modern prints / Jon Savage, 2009.
Savage's "Uninhabited London" photographs capture London in the aftermath of its bombing in WWII. These photographs set the stage for punk fanzine London's Outrage, a title he borrowed from a Sex Pistols's flyer.
Original paste-up collages / Jon Savage and Linder Sterling, circa late 1970s.
After publishing punk fanzine London's Outrage, Savage started working with visual artist Linder Sterling on The Secret Public. Like his other collections, this work explores themes of youth subculture.
"Sex Discrimination, Equal Pay" (portfolio print) / Edward Bell, 1978
Edward Bell was one of many artists whose work was integral to constructing the visual imagery of what became known as the Manchester music scene throughout the 1970s-1980s. His art, as reflected in Savage's, confronts norms about gender and work.
Citations
(1) “Articles, Interviews and Reviews from Jon Savage: Rock’s Backpages.” Www.rocksbackpages.com, www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Writer/jon-savage. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.