October 1988
Contents
ROCK 'N' ROLL NEWS
For the hundreds of thousands of CREEM readers who've made this service's life a living hell with their constant inquiries, we've got a feisty bit o' news. The Stray Cats are indeed reforming. Cub reporter Sharon Liveten's chat with front puss Brian Setzer took place before the third coming was announced, so don't drop by our offices to punch and taunt her or anything.
Creem Profiles
BALAAM AND THE ANGEL
(Pronounced “Boy Howdy!”)
LETTERS
I have been reading CREEM for about six years now, so I know I'm not exactly the voice of reason, but my devotion to (and regular purchase of) CREEM comes largely from the captions. I believe they are the one thing that sets your magazine apart from myriad other music publications, most of which aren't worth the garbage they become after providing bathroom entertainment.
Eleganza
If it Feels Good, Do it!
Chuck Eddy
Because I was hatched in 1960, not 1950, I've been able to experience rock as a (''mere') product from the gitgo.
Features
CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN: SURFIN’ LSD
David Sprague
It's about time for somebody to spearhead a drugrock revival.
Brian Setzer
Sharon Liveten
Brian Setzer the slight blond guitarist, who, with the Stray Cats, made rockabilly a happening genre in the early part of this decade, is eventually located.
CROWDED HOUSE: WITH THREE YOU GET EGG ROLL
David Sprague
"Awright, stop yer sobbin'," you're probably thinkin'. "It's not like yer out in the hot sun carryin' hod or anything!" Fair enough. But the disrespect foreigners show for longstanding traditions like gettin' plenty of sleep on the night of July 3 so there'll be plenty of energy for the cycle of drinkin' and blowin' things up that's sure to follow just gets my (American Mountain) goat.
Stars Cars
BILLY DUFFY
RECORDS
Jeffrey Morgan
(Norton sits next to Ralph, puts on headphones, and turns on the Walkman. Loud music leaks from the headphones and Norton starts humming loudly. Ralph tries to ignore Norton at first, then looks at him, steamed. Finally, he gives him a shot in the arm.)
ROCK ~ A ~ RAMA
Talk about 'obnoxious' rock n' roll. This 6-song debut cassette from Champaign, IL's Bowery Boys has one foot in the gutter, warning ya from the first song that 'Here's more music JUST FOR BOYS!!! All the girls scream, saying what's that noise.'
Jimmy Page: Gibsons, Groundhogs And Gin
Elianne Halbersberg
Of the artists who have appeared on the cover of CREEM lately, Jimmy Page is perhaps the most intriguing and misrepresented.
MIDNIGHT OIL
Michael Davis
1988 has already seen some pretty bizarre sights— fortunately, not all of them on the negative side. Seriously, if someone had told you last year that Midnight Oil were about to break through to mainstream acceptance on the strength of a tune about giving part of Australia back to the Aborigines, you'd have been just a tad doubtful, right? But it's happened.
THE MOODY BLUES GET RHYTHM
Hank Bordowitz
During the last decade, when the adolescents of the '50s took control of the media (and everything else), there was a sudden wave of '50s nostalgia, sparked by American Graffiti. The result was such odious occurrences as people taking Sha-Na-Na seriously and the actors from both Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley forming rock 'n' roll bands, the latter group going so far as to put out a record as Lenny and the Squigtones.
Don't Try To Lay No Boogie Woogie On PREFAB SPROUT
Karen Schoemer
I gotta thank Prefab Sprout for one thing. I was in this record store in downtown Manhattan early one Friday evening looking for a copy of their second album, Two Wheels Good, because I had promised the editor I'd do a story on the band and I didn't own any of their records. The store didn't have it, so I headed up towards Tower Records and on my way decided to buzz by the building where Keith Richards lives, as I always do when I'm in the neighborhood, just in case, I had already passed the building.
CREEMEDIA
Marc Shapiro
When the first incarnation of those interplanetary follies starring Kirk, Spock and that lovable old country quack Bones McCoy fell into the ratings black hole, I was convinced that the memories of that noble experiment in television science fiction would last about an hour-and-a-half.
Media Cool
George Smith
An inflammatory quote like the above is known as a 'gimme'—easy to accept at face value (because supposedly Morrissey's been there and he should know) and just grandly condemnatory enough to raise the hackles on your average major-label veep who might counter with a comment like 'Absurd!' It conjures up the image of some embittered semibureaucrat who sits behind a desk in some A&R department hating the music he deals with on a day-to-day basis; it also plays well to all the wannabes, stars in transition, and stymied players within the industry who need a rationalization for failure.
The Beat Goes On NEW YORK
Steven Blush
Survival Research Laboratories is perhaps the most devastating performance statement known to mankind. Beyond rock, beyond art, Mark Pauline and his horde of evil geniuses combine firearms, heavy machinery and psychological warfare under the guise of artistic expression.
Tech Talk Bringing It All Back Home
Steve Peters
When Fostex introduced their first fourtrack home recording unit a few years back, the ads in stereo and music magazines were enticing enough to peak the interest of any would-be do-it-yourself record producer. The unit was pictured along with a copy of the Beatles' Sgt.
NEW BEATS
Holly Gleason
'When we were playing in bars without a record, we were aware of having to overcome this stigma of being from Nashville,' says Webb Wilder, talking about the early days of his band, the Beatnecks. 'Why in some cities, people would come right out and say, 'Look, you're from Mississippi, so don't even mention Nashville
Backstage
Backstage
Where the Stars Tank Up & Let Their Images Down