This is Memorial Device

This Is Memorial Device chronicles the underground music scene of Airdrie, Scotland in the post-punk era of the late 1970s and early 1980s. The narrative centers on Memorial Device, a fictional band whose brief existence left an impact on the small industrial town. The book takes shape through interconnected testimonies, interviews, and fragments from various characters who lived through the period. Musicians, fans, venue owners, and local figures contribute their memories and perspectives on the music scene and its key players. Keenan constructs the story using an experimental form that includes photographs, footnotes, and documentary-style elements. The multiple voices and non-linear structure create a mosaic of life in a Scottish town during a specific cultural moment. The novel examines how memory and myth intertwine in the creation of local legends, while exploring themes of youth, artistic ambition, and the search for meaning in post-industrial spaces.

Readers describe the book as a raw, documentary-style account of Scotland's post-punk music scene. Many note its unique format - a series of fictional interviews and fragments that piece together the history of a small town's underground bands. Likes: - Captures the spirit and energy of DIY music scenes - Dark humor throughout - Authentic portrayal of working-class Scottish life - Experimental structure that mirrors punk's chaos - Local dialect and slang add authenticity Dislikes: - Fragmented narrative makes plot hard to follow - Too many characters to track - Heavy use of Scottish vernacular challenges some readers - Some find the experimental format pretentious - "Meandering and self-indulgent" according to multiple reviews Ratings: Goodreads: 3.9/5 (1,200+ ratings) Amazon: 4.2/5 (150+ ratings) LibraryThing: 4.1/5 (80+ ratings) One frequent comment: "You'll love this if you lived through punk/post-punk scenes, but might struggle if you didn't."

Our Band Could Be Your Life by Michael Azerrad The oral history structure and focus on underground music scenes captures the same documentary-style exploration of regional punk culture.

Rabbit Fur Coat by Jon Raymond A raw chronicle of Portland's music underground follows characters through a specific time and place in indie rock history.

The Hard Crowd by Rachel Kushner The essays paint portraits of subcultures and artistic movements with the same attention to geographic and temporal specificity.

Gut Against the Bullets by Justin Pearson The memoir of the punk scene in San Diego mirrors the same insider perspective of local music culture and its personalities.

Please Kill Me by Legs McNeil, Gillian McCain The oral history of punk rock employs multiple voices to construct a musical and cultural narrative of a specific scene and era.

🎸 The novel is set in Airdrie, Scotland during the post-punk era of the late 1970s and early 1980s, focusing on the fictional band Memorial Device and the town's underground music scene. 📚 David Keenan was a music journalist for The Wire magazine before becoming a novelist, bringing authentic insider knowledge of music culture to his writing. 🎼 The book is structured as an oral history, featuring interviews with 26 different characters who tell their version of events, creating a kaleidoscopic view of the era. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Airdrie, the setting of the novel, is a former industrial town near Glasgow that experienced significant economic decline in the 1980s, which forms a crucial backdrop to the story's themes. 🎭 The subtitle of the book - "An Hallucinated Oral History of the Post-Punk Music Scene in Airdrie, Coatbridge and environs 1978–1986" - reflects its unique blend of fiction and documentary-style storytelling.