And God Created Punk — Erica Echenberg & Mark P (1996 Virgin Books)

Description

And God Created Punk is one of the most vivid photographic documents of the British punk explosion. Shot in clubs, dressing rooms, back alleys, and the bedrooms where the whole thing was stitched together, the book captures the raw energy of the movement in its formative years. The Sex Pistols, The Buzzcocks, Generation X, The Heartbreakers, Sue Catwoman, Shane MacGowan, and the anonymous kids who built the scene by sheer force of attitude—Echenberg’s photographs freeze that brief, feral moment when punk was still new, small, London, and completely unpredictable.

Erica Echenberg was one of the key photographers embedded in the London punk scene, known for her direct, unfussy images of bands and fans in their natural habitat—nightclubs, streets, backstage corridors. Mark Perry (Mark P) was the founder of Sniffin’ Glue, the pioneering punk zine that shaped the visual and verbal vocabulary of the movement. Together, their collaboration reads like an insider’s scrapbook: sharp, first-person text from Mark P and gritty, unvarnished photographs from Echenberg.

For collectors of punk ephemera and first-generation punk photography, the book stands as a cornerstone.