In 1979, from the basement of a London squat, the Raincoats reinvented what punk could be. They had a violin player. They came from Portugal, Spain, and England. Their anarchy was poetic. Working with the iconic Rough Trade Records at its radical beginnings, they were the first group of punk women to actively call themselves feminists.
In this short book - the first on the Raincoats - author Jenn Pelly tells the story of the group's audacious debut album, which Kurt Cobain once called "wonderfully classic scripture." Pelly builds on rare archival materials and extensive interviews with members of the Raincoats, Sleater-Kinney, Bikini Kill, Hole, Scritti Politti, Gang of Four, and more. She draws formal inspiration from the collage-like The Raincoats itself to explore this album's magic, vulnerability, and strength.

Jenn Pelly is a contributing editor at Pitchfork. Her writing has appeared in Rolling Stone, The Guardian, NPR, The Wire, and Teen Vogue, among other publications. She lives in New York.

Tracklist
Preface
I
II
III
IV
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
Works Cited