December 1979
Contents
I was thinking if you could do me a little favor. Just one little favor. Lynn Goldsmith is one of your many photographers, right? So I have only seen her twice in a picture. Once in your August 1979 issue of CREEM. Could you print a picture of her in your mail section, showing everything she’s got? Cause I think Lynn is cute.
CHRISTGAU CONSUMER GUIDE
Robert Christgau
“THE A’s” (Arista):: People say they take after the Dolls, but I hear the Boomtown Rats. At its best, their burlesque on a “teenage jerk off’ (a title) who still gets “grounded” (another) is funny and a little too nasty. At its worst it’s boring and a little too nasty. In between it’s got verve and you’ve heard it before. B
Rock 'n' ROLL NEWS
Dust off the old striped jacket and give those polka-dotted trusses a shine, cuz if the Who have their way, the Mod look is back to stay (at least this week). Townshend and Co. are putting out their own Mod line of threads to tie in with their Quadrophenia film and the current British Mod revival.
THE BEAT GOES ON
Dave DiMartino
DETROIT—The Only Ones lived up to their name during their recent Detroit debut at Bookie’s Club 870, which was a shame: they were nearly the only ones there. All of which was the fault of unfortunate timing, surely, as their first American LP—Special View, a compilation of their two British albums—wasn’t even in the stores yet and had barely made it to local radio stations.
Creem Profiles
MITCH RYDER
(Pronounced “Boy Howdy!”)
Letter From Britain
Pretty Vacant
Penny Valentine
After months which have witnessed the birth of a new trend every four weeks (faithfully recorded, and over-exposed, by the music press here)...suddenly anything goes.
RASH CLASH MASH IN MOTOR CITY BASH
Dave DiMartino
Joe Strummer and I are sitting in a bar, talking about his band.
FULL-BORE INTO THE MAELSTROM!
Jeffrey Morgan
Is this the real life? What? Is this just fantasy? The Writer opened one eye and cautiously scanned the surrounding sunlight. Morning? Caught in a landslide. Where the—right. Suite 1734. The Chicago Hilton. September the ... Saturday! “Tacker!” No escape from reality.
KEYS TO THE KINKDOM
Richard Riegel
Ray Davies isn’t talking to the press on this Kinks tour of America, and even though I’m nominally representing the fourth estate myself, I don’t blame him a bit. My editor apologized to me for our lack of an exclusive on the Kinks, saying that the band’s recent, unprecedented string of chart hits—“Superman." “Catch Me Now I’m Falling,” and “A Gallon Of Gas,” all from the goldmine LP Low Budget, which has allowed the Kinks their greatest incursion of American radio since the similarly flukey success of “Lola” in 1970—had apparently “gone to Ray’s head.”
END OF THE 70’S
Features
THE B-52’s: CLIMATE CONTROL IN THE LAND OF 16 DANCES
Mitch Cohen
Most people, when discussing/remembering the beach party movies, don't take Jody McCrea into account.
Extension Chords
Power Trio For Hire
Allen Hester
Submitted for your approval...a trio of worthy power amps, all in competition for your hard-won bucks.
Rewire Yourself
BEAT THE BOX
Richard Robinson
Iggy was wrong. TV isn’t an eye. It’s another portion of the anatomy.
Unsung Heroes Of Rock ‘n’ Roll
ROY BROWN: Good Rockin’ Tonight
Nick Tosches
“I remember Colonel Parker making the statement, ‘I believe the white kids want to hear rock ’n’ roll, but I’m gonna have a white boy do it.’”
CHEAP TRICKSTERS DENY PLANS FOR GLOBAL CONQUEST
Richard Riegel
I want recognition as a writer...a designer of guitars, of sweaters, and of structural concepts... -Rick Nielsen
CREEMEDIA
Rick Johnson
“Sickness is the newest trend on prime time television,” goes the TV Guide commercial, and this time they’re even more on target than the time they predicted handy, rechargeable wristwatch televisions by 1964 at the latest. In a new season where the biggest event is a tossup between Charlie hiring a new Angel with nerf breasts and Meadowlark Lemon slow-breaking into the cast of the biggest airball in TV history, Hello Larry, there’s definitely nothing happening on the ween-screen that you’d want to tattoo on the underside of your penis as a memory aid.
DRIVEN SATURDAY
Edouard Dauphin
Oh yeah? So who is Patrick? Well, Patrick is what used to be referred to in polite circles as a vegetable. Suffering from massive damage to the cerebral cortex, he is described by one doctor as “160 pounds of limp meat hanging from a catatonic brain.”
Confession of a FILM FOX
Godzilla's revenge? Meat Loaf is set to star in another film called The Roadie, with Jackie Gleason as the big guy’s papa. With a pair like that, no wonder they call it the big screen. Art imitates life imitates, etc. Brooke Shields turned down an offer to add her adolescent whine to the upcoming Eagles LP.
Stars Cars
SAMMY HAGAR
Records
ZEP’S NITRITE ZAP
John Swenson
Led Zeppelin has never made a bad album.
SHTICK IN THE MUD
Mitch Cohen
After five albums and almost ten years of intermittent brilliance, Randy Newman achieves a number one single with a nastily amusing ditty.
HUBBA! HUBBA! MORE ZAPPA KRAPPA!
MAD PECK
ROCK • A • RAMA
NAKED ANGELS—Original Soundtrack (Straight Records)::At last the true musical (ahem) soundtrack for Altamont. When you�re locked into the B-side of life (and who ain�t), this is the only muzak, the only dirge to quench the urge. All cycle mythology aside, this is definitely art as sleeze.
Backstage
BACKSTAGE
Where the Stars Tank Up & Let Their Images Down