March 1977
CREEM
Tommy Bolin died last night, when I heard the . news I just couldn’t see it in my mind. It was so hard to believe, I think it’s the first time I’ve ever shed tears over somebody I never met. It was such a shock, Tommy would have been playing In Atlanta two nights after his death. I had planned to go meet him cause I always admired his music.
THE CHRISTGAU CONSUMER GUIDE
This was supposed to be a natural. So often I play a record I once knew well and hear it snap into place —suddenly, I feel that I’ve never really comprehended it before. Perhaps I find myself liberated from assumptions that seem absurdly limited or shortsighted in retrospect, or finally grasp the assumptions some prescient artist arrived at years ago—something that happens frequently with black music, where my understanding lags chronically because my familiarity with the culture it is part of is so secondhand.
ROCK 'N' ROLL NEWS
Wedding invitations for the Grade Slick/Skip Johnson nuptials in Hawaii were "singing telegrams" from "Western Onion": "I'm getting married in Maui.." sung to the tune of "I'm Getting Married In The Morning." Flower girif or Mom's big day was little China, and the Dom Perignon flowed freely, despite Ms. Slick's current policy of teetotaling.
THE BEAT GOES ON
Robert Duncan
DETROIT—A while back the editors of CREEM were bouncing each other off the walls of a now condemned apartment building, enjoying the subtle nuances of the saltpeter bombs which are sprinkled over the Kiss Alive LP when someone, a good natured drunk who believed himself to be a taxi driver, but who in fact never drove anything other than his mother crazy, pointed out the rather humorous contradictions between our heroes, Kiss, and their record company’s new band, Angel.
Graham Parker Learns To Speak
Patrick Goldstein
Backstage at the Roxy Theatre, Graham Parker is coughing, spitting, smoking, growling, guzzling honey (of course he’s drinking—whattya expect?).
Why It’s EARTH, WIND & FIRE Dummy!
Ross “Baby” Del Ruth
WHAT HAS 18 LEGS, DOESN'T DRINK AND IS BIGGER THAN AEROSMITH?
Creem Profiles
BOSTON
(Pronounced “Boy Howdy!”)
Letter From Britain
Anarchy In The UK
Simon Frith
You have to hand it to them. The Sex Pistols, I mean.
Features
MONEY MONEY MONEY: How Abba Won Their Waterloo
Simon Frith & Peter Langley
In all the world except (which was too busy celebrating ten dials and electing presidents) 1976 was the Year of Abba In Britain.
THE 1976 REPORT
Hey, fans.. .you gave us the message; scrawled in yellow crayon on that funky toilet paper.
1976 READERS’ POLL
TOP THREE ALBUMS 1 .Rocks (Aerosmith) 2.Frampton Comes Alive (Peter Frampton) 3. The Song Remains tfie Same (Led Zeppelin) 4. Destroyer (Kiss) 5. Agents of Fortune (Blue Oyster Cult) 6.Presence (Led Zeppelin) 7.Blue Moves (Elton John) 8. A Night On the T own (Rod Stewart)
Rhett Butler After The Fall
Robert Duncan
Dickey Betts Brushes Himself Off...
Features
Don't Knock on (Ron) Wood
Richard Cromelin
“It’s in the contract, you know,” says Ronnie Wood, trying to lock his features into a suitably stern Rolling Stones scowl.
Features
Rock ‘n’ Rail Pandora Unleashes Violence and Mayhem
Patrick Goldstein
CHICAGO “AAWWWWWWGGHHUUUGGHH...”
Features
GET THE HOOK?
Lester Bangs
The strange truth about Jefferson Starship.
Eleganza
Bored Brits Look To Punk Bock
Lisa Robinson
John Rotten is the lead singer of the Sex Pistols, the band that’s got all of England in an uproar.
Creemedia
King Dong K.O.’s Cupcake Cutie
Patrick Goldstein
My first clue that all this King Kong hoopla was getting out of hand came when I slipped into the local 7-11 for a case of Yoo-Hoo and a quick Rock Scene leaf-through for cleavage pix of Ms. Eleganza and saw a crowd of drooling little geeks besieging the check-out counter like Indians around a wagon train.
CREEM DREEM
HEART
Stars Cars
MICK FLEETWOOD
DRIVE-IN SATURDAY
Patrick Goldstein
For pure horror, few experiences in life can rival the senior prom. So what could be more exciting than a horror film that takes place at the senior prom, right? Wrong. If the movie in question is Brian De Palma's Carrie, you'll probably have a more thrilling time if you stay home, brush up on your glass-blowing, and listen to Tir Na Nog's Greatest Hits.
Confessions of a FILMFOX
Patrick Goldstein
Though belated, the Broadway money maker of a few years back, Hair, is scheduled for movie production. We'll keep you posted on the potential biggies to head the cast. The Band's farewell concert in San Francisco a few months back will no doubt go down as the group's finest hour. In case many of you were unable to witness the hoopla, director Martin Scorsese (of Taxi Drive r and Mean Streets fame) filmed and recorded the concert for possible release as a motion picture and soundtrack.
Records
PAUL MCCARTNEY IS PARDONED
Kevin Doyle
He may be a sheepmauler, but Paul McCartney is no dinosaur.
Remembrances Of Prolerockers Past
Richard Riegel
With Capitol's repackaged Beatlemania having established the past summer as the authorized re-issue of the golden season of 1964.
ROCK-N-RAMA
PATTI SMITH—Radio Ethiopia (Arista):: Horses was almost too skeletal; Ethiopia is almost too meaty. I personally have never listened to an Aerosmith album beyond a few bars, but this guy Jack Douglas sure knows how to get a drum sound. Too bad Patti gets treated like another instrument in the mix...
Extension Chords
Singing The Solid Body Electric
Allen Hester
The consensus among aspiring rock guitarists today is that older instruments particularly the late 50s were somehow "made better."
Rewire Yourself
Xerox Blues
Richard Robinson
I don't know where to start. It's so stupid yet serious.
Backstage
BACKSTAGE
Where the Stars Tank Up & Let Their Images Down