SEPTEMBER 1986

CONTENTS

MORE MUSIC, MORE MUSIC, MORE MUSIC...

Crushing all hope that the Who just might reform for the heck of it, all three original members are reportedly hard at work on some more of their famous solo projects. According to former Who manager Bill Curbishley (who still represents the dudes), “Pete Townshend is getting new material together at his London studio and he’s deciding on the producer—he’s got a couple of top-name guys in mind.”

LEATHERED, STUDDED DUDES OR... JUDAS PRIEST?

Sylvie Simmons

Cows are very useful except in India. There are varying degrees of cow-use— milk, cheese, burgers, cheeseburgers—' but none so useful as the concealment and adornment of the puny human form with the bag the cow comes wrapped in. Shiny, tough, black, reflective, clinging, erotic leather.

THE CULT

HOME: Nirvana. AGE: Like cheese. PROFESSION: Big Neon Glitter Mongers. HOBBIES: Love, watching old Jim Morrison videos, pursuing the sanctuary she sells, rain, revolution, writing songs about American Indians, denying that they’re out to “revitalize the ’60s.”

LETTERS

DAVE MARSH: "PARANOID MORALIST” OR ONE HECKUVA BUY? Dave Marsh has over the years, rightfully established himself as a firstclass rock journalist. But I’m getting quite tired of his growing obsession with becoming the official conscience of—so far as I can tell—the entire world.

RECORDS

Michael Davis

JETHRO, WE HARDLY KNEW YE BoDEANS Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams (Slash/Warner Bros.) by Billy Altman Considering what a shambles most so-called “roots” bands are making out of plain old rock ’n’ roll these days, it’s a distinct pleasure to discover an album with as much simple respect for, and exhilaration in, the basic elements of the form as is displayed on the debut effort of Waukesha, Wisconsin’s BoDeans.

CHRISTGAU CONSUMER GUIDE

ROBERT CHRISTGAU

LAURIE ANDERSON “Home Of The Brave” (Warner Bros.) Multimedia ain’t omnimedia, and if she ever gets to do a movie again I hope she hires Jonathan Demme or at least Julien Temple. A credible groove ain’t a compelling groove, and I’m inclined to blame the auteur rather than Nile Rodgers, Jimmy Bralower, or even Adrian Belew.

45 REVELATIONS

KEN BARNES

Who’s that singing that nasty song? Janet Jackson?! And who’s produced that nasty vocal? Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, hottest production team in the land. I was a bit concerned about this much-praised (here and elsewhere) duo—not from a commercial standpoint, not after they snagged three of the Black/Urban chart’s top four one week, but artistically.

ROCK A RAMA

DEATH OF SAMANTHA Strungout On Jargon (Homestead) An American rock band that shuns the comfy drag of Nouvelle Pop and the eyeliner-watered gloom of Colonial wanna-bes? This foursome is merely the most substantial contraction of the trumpeted CLE-vival scene that birthed Pere Ubu and the mighty Pagans.

Our Wacky, Wacky World

John Mendelssohn

In the early ’70s, we Americans called it glitter and the English glam, but by any other name it would still be mass transvestitism. It’s this summer’s Great Big Thing in rock ’n’ roll in Southern California. There, inspired by the success (if not by their record deal, then by the number of spandex-encased teen slutettes who flock to their shows) of a group called Poison, who derive from Ratt via the infinitely dreadful Hanoi Rocks (who, of course, derived from the New York Dolls, who got the idea from the Rolling Stones in general and Mick Jagger’s 1967 film debut, Performance, in particular), every young male heavy metal musician in sight seems to have traded in his chain-, stud-,and spike-laden vinyl clothing, leer, and Morgan Fairchild hairdo for rouge, mascara, lip gloss, fishnet clothing, bracelets, a pout, and a Morgan Fairchild hairdo.

BOB SEGER: THE CREEM INTERVIEW

Roy Trakin

“Y’know that new song by Bob Seger, ‘Like A Rock?,’” asked the 50-year-old accountant, mother of three grown children herself.

WITH SPECIAL GUEST STAR KEITH RICHARDS

Gary Graff

Keith Richards strides through the door wearing a grin and gripping bottles of Rebel Yell in his right hand and a pack of Marlboros with a camouflage-colored lighter in his left.

ROBERT PALMER

Pet Shop Boys: Out Of The Doghouse

Harold DeMuir

Meet Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, respectively the vocal and musical halves of England’s Pet Shop Boys. They’re older than your average British pop sensations (Neil is 31, Chris 26), and they didn’t start their group because they were on the dole with nothing better to do.

FEARGAL SHARKEY: BIG VOICE, BIG SOUND, BIG DEAL!

Jon Young

Former Undertones singer Feargal Sharkey is the proud parent of two new albums.

It's Really Pogue, Man

Richard Grabel

Talking to Shane MacGowan, singer and lyricist with a spirited bunch of North London Irish lunatics called the Pogues—trying to decipher the words buried in the stream of mumbling and riotous laughter that pours from his mouth—is a bit of an experience.

Features

Drinking (And Drinking Lots More!) With The REPLACEMENTS

Bill Holdship

So “Who’s Hot?”

CENTERSTAGE

Dave Segal

Back when your grandpa was a young man, Tristan Tzara wrote “...from now on we want to shit in different colors so as to adorn the zoo of art with all the flags of all the consulates.” Tzara was the spokesman of the Dadaist art movement which was based on deliberate irrationality and negation of traditional artistic values.

CREEMEDIA

Toby Goldstein

Julian Temple’s directorial credits include masses of music videos as well as the cult Sex Pistols movie, The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle, but in recent years, he’s been obsessed with using the music he Knew so welt to explore his longtime grand passion—Britain’s teenagers.

DAYDREAMIN’ DAUPHIN

Edouard Dauphin

The Dauphin thought the six o’clock alarm would never ring. But it rings and I rise (not easy when you're passed out on the floor), wipe the ouzo out of my eyes. My steppin’ razor’s cold and it stings—but I strap it under my belt anyway and I’m ready to go out into the night, for a seven o’clock screening of a film I’ve not been looking forward to seeing, Poltergeist II: The Other Side.

MEDIA COOL

MORE DARK THAN SHARK by Brian Eno and Russell Mills (Faber & Faber) Here’s a guy so enamored with Brian Eno’s records that he’s created a series of paintings based on them. In this hefty paperback, Russell Mills presents his story and his artwork, featuring canvases of Eno songs from “Seven Deadly Finns” through the Eno/Cluster LP, After The Heat.

This Month In TV History

ADRIAN BELEW: SETTING FREE THE BEARS

Moira McCormick

Adrian Belew has distinct ideas about this business of being an artist, and there’s nothing grandiose about them. On the contrary, this supremely normal guy doesn’t see why the creative process can’t be just as much a part of the daily routine as brushing your teeth.

Video Video

AUTEUR! AUTEUR!

Billy Altman

A funny thing happened the other night while I was watching MTV.

CLIPS

TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS Pack Up The Plantation (MCA Music Video) Tom Petty is boring and this tape is boring. His two best songs remain “American Girl,” of which Roger McGuinn did a better version, and “Breakdown,” which he no longer sings because his audience sings it for him.

NEW BEATS

Dave Segal

To SLAM AND DIVE IN L.A. This cartoon looks familiar. The Circle Jerks tear into their 97th song of the night. Skinheads and Mohicans become projectiles and battering rams. Haven’t seen this many bodies flying since the last terrorist attack. Ooh! A waxed spike of hair pokes out the eye of a shaved-headed gal.

Backstage

Backstage

Where the Stars Tank Up & Let Their Images Down