April 1978
CREEM
As Ralph J. Gleason once said, “music is the glue that holds civilizations together.” CREEM is the publication that holds my perspective together. Without it, I should probably take all these horribly decadent fads and fashions ultra-seriously. But CREEM is the embodiment of self-parody, which I love, and that combined with some very creative (if occasionally uncohesive) writing it makes my favorite magazine.
CHRISTGAU CONSUMER GUIDE
Robert Christgau
BLUE OYSTER CULT: “Spectres” (Columbia):: Now that they’ve become a standard brand I can admit it to myself—their expertise and versatility leaves me slightly awed and completely unmoved. B DEBBY BOONE: “You Light Up My Life” (Warner/Curb):: Who cares if the single sells six million? It’s only singles, y’know? Trendsetters don’t buy singles.
ROCK 'N' ROLL NEWS
More Broken Wings: Drummer Joe English has left Paul McCartney and crew because he felt he was spending too much time in England away from his American family, (Let's hope Linda decides to perch behind the drumkit—she should feel right at home with a cowbell.
THE BEAT GOES ON
Cathy Gisi
LONDON—Will Keith Moon finally admit his involvement with the TM Movement? At what point did Roger Daltrey first notice he couldn’t hear a note the band was playing? Why didn’t Pete Townshend ever get a nose job? Who is John Entwhistle and why is he so boring?
WET WILLIE: SLICKS FROM DIXIE
Patrick Goldstein
Rock ’n’ roll—especially the kind of wild demonic rhythms that have been hurtling out of the South since the time Elvis first mounted a flat bed truck and Jerry Lee Lewis got expelled from the Southwestern Bible Institute—has always been a music of the church.
Creem Profiles
FOGHAT
(Pronounced “Boy Howdy!”)
Mug Of Kintyre
Simon Frith
January is a rotten month. Music that sounded quite jolly over Christmas emerges, shamefaced, from behind its tinsel and turns out pathetic, like drunken dreams the morning after. No one’s got any money left and so no one releases a record or even goes on tour.
Features
SEX PISTOLS IN THE PROMISED LAND
Patrick Goldstein
The first thing Johnny Rotten did when he arrived in the United States was test out an airport men’s room.
JOHNNY ON THE SPLIT: “I’m A Free Man!”
Susan Whitall
Just as we were going to press, pasting up pictures of Messrs. Rotten, Vicious, Jones and Cook, the news broke. The band had broken up in San Francisco, Johnny revealed, in an interview with Rupert Murdoch’s N.Y. Post. To add to the confusion, Sid Vicious O.D.’d on the plane from S.F. to New York—he’d reportedly been given a two-day dose of methadone to last him until he got to London, but had taken it all at once, managing to land himself in a Jamaica, N.Y., hospital.
PUNK GUIDE: A Consumer Manual To New Wave Wax
Robert Christgau
Although the exceptions are significant, most English punk is unreleased in the Yew Ess Ay, and some of it will remain so.
Features
QUEEN’S ROYAL FLUSH
Penny Valentine
Queen had been successfully oversold before I got a chance to catch up with them.
ERIC CLAPTON: Return Of The Reluctant Hero
John Pidgeon
There was once a movie actor who, having made his name as a heavy, took to playing the romantic lead.
SGT. PEPPER Picks A Peck Of Pickled Pop Stars
Another post-Beatles spin-off. So big deal. Do these people think this will force the Fab Four to shit or get off the pot? After all the hoopla hits the fan, John, Paul, George and whoever will most, likely flee to a Madagascar leper colony to hide their shame.
NASHVILLE BABYLON: ELVIS The Pharoah Of Seas And Lips
Nick Tosches
Monday, July 5, 1954. Rock-and-roll exists.
Creemedia
Junkie, Junkey... An Interview With William Burroughs
Jeffrey Morgan
“I was around people who were using it. Then I started, you know, taking an occasional shot. It is, for most people, I think, a very pleasurable experience. After I’d had these experiences as an addict—I guess it was in 1950—I was living in Mexico City and someone suggested to me that I simply write up my experiences with heroin addiction, which I did.
Stars Cars
THE RAMONES
DRIVE-IN SATURDAY
Edouard Dauphin
If you're like most of us, you enjoy bodies torn limb from limb, brains eaten for breakfast, and human blood running down the movie screen like peepee at an infant's convention. You probably like Clint Eastwood films. Well, his latest, The Gauntlet, just might disappoint you. Few people get killed except for some cops (they don't count) and there isn't enough gore on the screen to offend my Aunt Millie.
Confessions of a FILM FOX
The Sgt. Pepper soundtrack, according to RSO prez Al Coury, will be a three-record set, and advance orders already total over $2 million. By the way, the film's title song/finale attracted quite a few music biggies—everyone wanted to be in on it—including Doctor John, Jose Feliciano, Stephen Stills, Wolfman Jack, Johnny Winter, Black Oak, Labelle, The Beach Boys, Herman's Hermits (yea, they're making a "comeback"), the Grateful Dead, Heart, Keith Carradine, George Benson, Seals & Crofts, Sha Na Na, Bobby Womack, Curtis Mayfield, Chita Rivera, Tina Turner, Carol Channing, Gwen Verdon, 150 singers, and—as you can see—just about everything but the kitchen sink!
Eleganza
Even Cowgirls Need New Shoes
Robert Duncan
So I hooked up with the Ted Nugent tour for a couple of dates in Texas and wound up, per plan, with a few days to spend in Dallas.
Records
PUT ON A HAPPY FACE
Billy Altman
Mention Sweden to me and here's what comes into my mind: Lousy parties.
Gonzolitis Terminitus
Kevin Doyle
Being summoned upon to think about Ted Nugent is like being asked to give your opinion of eczema—or rabies.
ROCK • A • RAMA
SHAKTI WITH JOHN McLAUGHLIN— Natural Elements (Columbia)::I'm not quite sure why this spiritually slanted music slips through my cynicism but it does. Maybe it's "cause Shakti don't need banks of amps to get energized or maybe it's "cause the lack of a spotlight lately has allowed McLaughlin's gifts to grow rather than stagnate like they did with the Mahavishnu Orchestra.
Rewire Yourself
More Watts For Less!
Bill Kanner
Audio is about to take a quantum leap forward.
Extension Chords
The New Word On Pickups
Jim Lillard
Ace Frehley. Joe Walsh. Eric Clapton. Three electric guitarists.
Backstage
BACKSTAGE
Where the Stars Tank Up & Let Their Images Down