June 1983
CREEM
LIKES CREEM MAIL! Thank you for keeping me entertained for the last 14 years. I really enjoy reading your magazine. My favorite part of your magazine are the letters. Reading them makes me feel like a normal person. Next to the letters, I like the replies from the “Ed.” And, of course, there are the captions under the pictures.
CHRISTGAU CONSUMER GUIDE
Robert Christgau
STEVE ARRINGTON’S HALL OF FAME: “I”(Atlantic):: Funk vocals are so cartoon-defined you’d figure the bassist to end up with the real band after the split. But it must have been Arrington’s parts of Slave’s collective compositions that made them stick.
ROCK 'N' ROLL NEWS
Bob Dylan’s next album is being produced by Dire Straits maestro Mark Knopffler (he contributed guitar to Dylan’s Slow Train Coming), who reports that there is no “sacred” material on the LP, which is reportedly a “rock ’n’ roll” affair.
THE BEAT GOES ON
Bill Holdship
NEW YORK—He wore his trademark black leather jacket, and he opened with a fiery “Sweet Jane,” but it was a different Lou Reed who performed eight sold-out shows at the Bottom Line in late February, his first live appearances in over two years and his only planned gigs for 1983.
LITTLE STEVEN & THE DISCIPLES OF SOUL
Bill Holdship
Like most good disciples, Little Steven and the Disciples Of Soul have several important missions to accomplish on earth, and one of these is to update the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle for the 1980s.
LETTER FROM BRITAIN
Cynthia Rose
Now that even the NME's publishing house plans to muscle in on the teenie-trendie circulation success of Smash Hits with its own lyrics/pinups/gossip glossy weekly, image-mongering may well become Britain’s next nationalized industry.
NO ANGEL, BUT NO OSMOND EITHER
Sylvie Simmons
Downtown between the Pacific American Fish Co. and the Hotel St. Agnes Hospitality Kitchen there’s an alley.
I AIN’T GONNA WORK ON DEXY’S FARM NO MORE
Toby Goldstein
The first impressions begin here.
PRETENDERS PROGRESS REPORT: CHAMBERS ON THE CHAINGANG
Iman Lababedi
Sensible. That’s the word for Pretenders drummer Martin Chambers.
Rock ‘n’ Roll Calendar
CALENDAR
Features
HERE & NOW IT’S BOW WOW WOW!
Richard Grabel
The story has to begin with Malcolm McLaren, the ex-Kings Road clothier who brought the Sex Pistols to the world.
MALCOLM McLAREN EATS EGG SALAD
John Mendelssohn
Throughout his career as proprietor of one of London’s most controversial boutiques, and later as the man who radicalized the New York Dolls and essentially thought up the Sex Pistols, Adam Ant, and Bow Wow Wow, Malcolm McLaren has demonstrated a remarkable proclivity for scandalizing the pop world.
CULTURE CLUBBING with George and The Boys
J. Kordosh
After years in the biz, very few things surprise me anymore.
CREEMEDIA
Edouard Dauphin
Does television control your life?
REWIRE YOURSELF
Richard Robinson
It’s not that I want to make you nervous about the stereo system you’ve spent your hard earned money on, but in all probability the sound coming out of your stereo isn’t anywhere near what you should actually be hearing, or even close to what’s actually been recorded on the record or tape you’re playing.
Stars Cars
Kathy Valentine
Records
MELTDOWN, ANYONE?
J. Kordosh
Meet The Premise.
ROCK • A • RAMA
This month’s Rock-’A’Ramas were written by Billy Altman, Mitchel Cohen, Richard Grabel and Craig Zeller FRIDA—Something’s Going On (Atlantic):: Sure is, as Anni-Frid Lyngstad proves conclusively that there is, indeed, life after ABB (or is that BBA?).
Backstage
BACKSTAGE
Where the Stars Tank Up & Let Their Images Down