The term ‘New Romantic’ was coined by the pioneering electronic musician Richard Burgess to describe the showy pop subculture that exploded in the British club scene in the late 1970s. As those present will attest, the New Romantics were never anything as unified as a movement. Some called themselves ‘Futurists’ and ‘gender benders’. The press labelled them ‘New Dandies’ and ‘Blitz Kids’. If you dressed to impress, danced in your pants and had attitude or style, you might be any of these. As with punk, talent didn’t matter.

Presenting a composite of oral testimony, Dylan Jones’s Sweet Dreams offers innumerable contrasting shards of soundbites and anecdotes – not to mention a fair bit of posturing and self-regard to go with the synth pop. The aim is to create a mosaic of the New Romantic era. There are no