June 1981
CREEM CONTENTS
I just bought your April issue—GREAT cover feature story on the Police, and fine Stiff tour coverage, but why the scathing review of the Romantics� newie, National Breakout? You guys used to write favorably about this band, then when their first album came out, you trashed it!
CHRISTGAU CONSUMER GUIDE
Robert Christgau
For years the Consumer Guide has graded 20 albums per month, and I could have done it again — there are plenty of LPs worth writing about. But because I�ve been obsessing on 12-inch singles, this month I�m breaking format. I�m hardly a 12-inch expert—-this isn�t reviewer-serviced stuff, and because indie-label underground r&b seems to have been exploding ever since the collapse of disco as mass culture, I have a lot of catching up to do.
ROCK 'N' ROLL NEWS
Good news: Donald Roeser, Cult�s whiz-guitarist Buck Dharma, will be releasing a solo Fear The Reaper� and the best Cult tunes of recent years, so said LP should be guaranteed hot stuff... Other solo LP news includes that of highly volatile Kink Dave Davies, who's just finished his second for RCA, apparently called Glamour.
Hail, Hail O Mighty Orion!
Rick Johnson
Hopefully, Shelby Singleton will pardon this bit of truthful irreverence directed at his �Superstar of the 80�s,� but the Orion mystique itself is somewhat of an irreverent sham. First, there�s the book, Orion, written by Gail Brewer-Giorgio with the lightning flash of a geniune hack.
What’s A Picnic Without Ants?
Chris Salewicz
HIPPIE HAPPINESS FROM SIR DOUG
Toby Goldstein
What Year Did You Say This Was?
BIG CLAY PIGEONS WITH A MIND OF THEIR OWN!
Rick Johnson
Like the laughing hyena, rock �n� roll fans are a curious, incredible and sometimes pitiful breed. They bring a buzzard�s passions and fanatical brand name loyalty to a style of music that practically begs not to be taken seriously. With a sixth sense for missing the point, fans wear their heroes like neon dashikis, allowing musicians (of all people) to speak for their innermost dialtones.
HOUDINI IN DREADLOCKS
Toby Goldstein
Think about it—Garland Jeffreys is out on the road with the Rumour.
BLONDIE IN L.A., AND NOW FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT
Chris Stein
Or, The Making Of The President’s Chauffeur
The Psychedelic Sounds Of ROKY ERICKSON
Gregg Turner
(Roger) Roky (Kynard) Erickson, lead-singer/songwriter/guitarist of the 13th Floor Elevators, was born on St. Swithin�s Day in Dallas, Texas 1948, the� son of an Episcopalian architect and regionally prominent opera singer. He was first �horrified by comic books.
Features
RUSH: BUT WHY ARE THEY IN SUCH A HURRY?
Kordosh
Thursday: Kordosh has been roused from his afternoon nap by Sherry Ring, publicist for Mercury Records.
Rock ‘n’ Roll Calendar
CALENDAR
Creem Profiles
VAN HALEN
(Pronounced “Boy Howdy!”)
Thank Heaven For Little Girls
Jeffrey Morgan
�...and gentlemen, I use the word kill with all due respect for the fear and loathing I�m sure it provokes in every one of you when you reflect that these degenerate rapists used this galaxy of narcotics to completely destroy the mind and morals of this once-innocent teenager, this ruined and degraded young girl who now sits before you in shame...
Is It Drool Yet?
Richard C. Walls
Remember Larry Talbot? When the moon was full, you could count on him to change from being a gentle, lovably nurd into a bloodthirsty, howling wolf. And I don�t mean some oldtime blues singer.
Confessions of a FILM FOX
Stein, who enjoys listening to Rush, Styx and Kansas and reportedly changed his name from “Stain” to “Stein” sez: "It Came From Hollywood is a startling expose on a hush-hush subject. My brother Kevin says that it’s worse than The Kids Are Alright."
ROCK PAPERS FOR BRITS
Penny Valentine
New Music News died over six months ago now. For a while there it looked like it was going to make it. It was the first intrusion into the strangehold of the Big Three (NME, Melody Maker, Sounds) for ten years. Trade papers, as they are sometimes cynically known (the inference being they are as much ‘for’ the record industry as for the readership) are a unique product of British reading habits, weekly nationwide rock newspapers, and of our historical place in the music and our geographical size.
Stars Cars
JERRY LEE LEWIS
Rick Nelson Back On The Boards
Susan Whitall
My first memory of Rick Nelson’s music is laughing when I heard “Hello Mary Lou” or “TraveTin’ Man” on the radio.
TANGENT SERIES 4
Allen Hester
Putting together a sound system and keeping it in operation on the road is one of the more bothersome tasks in rock ’n’ roll. It’s certainly less fun than just about anything else a musician has to do, except load the trailer. Granted, some of your better-known musicians don’t have to actually lay hands on all that gear and do the maintenance work and the physical labor, but you can bet that any musician is concerned about the sound system.
NEW TOYS
Richard Robinson
Current technology isn’t as spectacular as it was a few years ago when for the first time we were making footsteps on the moon and back on earth discovering consumer applications for hi-tech computer circuits. The great days of pioneer consumer technology are past, no longer can we be first on the block with the latest innovations: digital watches, pocket calculators, TV computer games, home video, miniaturized audio.
Unsung Heroes Of Rock ‘n’ Roll
ELLA MAE MORSE: The Cow-Cow Girl
Nick Tosches
Ella Mae Morse—Miss Morse to you—was born on September 12,1924, in Mansfield, Texas, a small place not too far south of Dallas.
GREASE IS THE WORD
Joe Ely’s Musta Notta Gotta Lotta is a modern masterpiece of real-gone hiccuping.
ROCK 'A' RAMA
COLLIN WALCOTT, DON CHERRY, NANA VASCONCELOS-Codona 2 (ECM) s: Brian Eno’s recent stuff has gone a long way toward making cross-cultural mix-’em, mateh-’em music hip again but he’s really only the most visible barrier basher. Trumpet great Don Cherry has gone much further afield: who else do you know who’s recorded with Ornette Coleman, Krzysztof Penderecki and Lou Reed? His playing here is fine as usual but equally important is the way his playfulness has affected Oregonian Walcott, who responds with subtle outrages like tympani solos and running down walking bass lines on his sitar.
BACKSTAGE
Where the Stars Tank Up & Let Their Images Down
CREEM DREEM
CARLENE CARTER