August 1985
CREEM
SENSELESS PRANK! I am a Master’s prepared clinician endeavoring to pursue a specialty in psychiatry and need some assistance. My area of interest is the psychology of rock music and musicians. If you know of any practitioners in the field conducting research or know of a bibliography or other sources of referral, please forward them to me.
Rock ’n’ Roll News
Dio stands tall! Yep, Jimmy Bain and Vivian Campbell, both of Dio, have organized Hear ’N’ Aid, a heavy metal aggregate ala USA For Africa. Tracks have already been recorded for a song called “Stars"—written by Dio, the man— and those slated to contribute via overdubs are Lita Ford, Judas Priest, the Scorpions, Iron Maiden, Quiet Riot, Dokken, Ratt, Y & T, Bon Jovi, Night Ranger, Black Sabbath, Queensryche and Spinal Tap.
The Beat Goes On
L.E. Agnelli
NEW YORK—Hey darlin’—how’s about a cozy I’il Drive-In studio— say, Mitch Easter’s, in WinstonSalem, N.C.? Hell, yeah! Let’s record one of them “Hoboken” bands (kin of The Bongos & The dB’s) by the name of Beat Rodeo. Sell the masters to German Zensor Records for foreign release in July ’84 (Staying Out Late With Beat Rodeo), then wait for a domestic deal and sign with I.R.S. in January of ’85.
LET’S ACTIVE’S EASTER PARADE
Karen Schlosberg
North Carolina has one of the neater state mottos around: Esse Quam Videri, To Be Rather Than To Seem. You might apply that motto to one of the Tar Heel State’s brightest musical combos, Let’s Active, whose principals are songwriter/ singer/guitarist/producer Mitch Easter and bassist/singer Faye Hunter.
JASON & THE SCORCHERS: HOT CRACKERS TO GO!
Jon Young
Even if Willie Nelson only releases 10 albums this year, 1985 has already distinguished itself as a truly terrific time for good old-fashioned Amurrican music.
AUTOGRAPH: The Writing’s On The Wall
Roy Trakin
Like fellow metal popsters Ratt and Night Ranger, L.A.'s Autograph is an overnight sensation which took 10 years. Without much fanfare or critical huzzahs. the quintet all of a sudden found itself lodged in the Top 40 with a hit single ("Turn Up The Radio"), and a debut album, (Sigh In Please) that just went gold.
A SLAB O’ LIFE WITH BON JOVI
John Neilson
Japan. Land of the Rising Sun, transistors and raw squid as a dietary staple. Birthplace of the Atomic Age. Elephants’ graveyard for stadium bands that have outstayed their welcome in the rest of the world. You know the place. It’s 8 p.m., and all over the country kids in Walkmans are clustered in the glow of 24-inch Trinitrons, their tricolored shadows dancing on the walls behind them.
Features
The Many Myths Of MADONNA!
Rick Johnson
How green was my goddess?
Calender
EURYTHMICS: THIS IS 1985, OK?
Barbara Pepe
Nothing’s as simple or as logical as it should be in the radio-ruled world of big time music biz politics—or film, either, for that matter.
Creemedia
In its own sketchy, asymmetrical way, Desperately Seeking Susan is an engaging variation on the classic screwball comedy-of-liberation. A restless New Jersey housewife, Roberta Glass (played by Rosanna Arquette), gives up her microwave and her hot-tub peddling yuppie husband, and ends up in the arms of a distracted projectionist at the Bleeker Street Cinema.
Video Video
THE WHOLE WORLD CATALOGUE
Billy Altman
I’m reasonably sure that almost all of you out there reading this have, on at least one occasion, heard the old axiom which states that the only certain things in life are death and taxes.
Records
PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION
Laura Fissinger
Ostensibly, this is Prince’s “psychedelic ’60s” record.
45 REVELATIONS
Ken Barnes
Welcome to Garageland Around The World. Cults across the globe are worshipping at the shrine of the fuzztone god, and the seeds of psychedelia have resprouted in bands greedily plundering the trashy treasure troves of the ’60s. I grew up on the Standells and the Syndicate Of Sound, so I’m glad to see the sound revived. But I have a few reservations.
ROCK•A•RAMA
JOHNNY MacLEOD WITH THE YOUNG PIONEERS Dynamite In The Stove (True North/CBS) Even though I live in Toronto, you can count on one hand the number of times I’ve bent your ear about Canadian talent in the 10 years I’ve been writing for CREEM, so bear with me on this one because Johnny is the only singer/songwriter I’d put serious money on.
CREEM SHOWCASE
Bill Stephen
Ratt shot out of the Los Angeles heavy metal scene with a burst of power guitar that blew a hole in the music charts and pulled in a legion of fans. They were young and hot, but they had chops, guitar chops that cut a clean slice of musical pie with adept, blistering solos racing over a layer of power chords supported by a heavy, driving rhythm section.
GUITAR ARMY! GUITARS, AMPS & ACCESSORIES 1985
Bill Stephen
For years, the price of a decent electric guitar was so beyond the aspiring guitarist that most had to turn to acoustic instruments to get their start as serious musicians. No longer is this the case. About a decade ago, as the pop boom lit a fire under every prospective guitarist, manufacturers began to see the potential of their market.
Creem Profiles
GENERAL PUBLIC
(Pronounced “Boy Howdy!”)
Backstage
Backstage
Where the Stars Tank Up & Let Their Images Down