Being 26 y/o at the time, I’ve no doubt why I purchased this Oct 1990 issue of Rolling Stone. Three reasons, in fact. Oddly enough in retrospect, I was never a subscriber. I think I felt that the magazine’s best days were past. I did, however, subscribe to CMJ New Music Monthly and Q Magazine for the music recommendations (they gifted me early warnings on Neko Case, American Analog Set, Franz Ferdinand and Sparklehorse). And yet somehow none of those copies survived, while I did manage to hang onto this artifact across the 34 years and 12 home moves, most of that time without a storage unit. Recently unearthed, I wanted to share some of the images in this little time-capsule. ..
Perhaps more than the feature articles, the advertisements seem to capture the vibe of those days. It’s the frisson of amused and semi-disgusted recognition. Like an unflattering photo of your younger self, caught wrong-footed. Reminds you of all the really bad stuff you fell for and/or bought. Any 8-track tape. Pants with pleats. Top-siders. The Stones album “Dirty Work” (1986). That beer can collection. The beaded car seat cushion. I could go on…
And why is it that bad jokes are so easy to remember? My friend Mike, if you hit your golf ball into a bunker, would invariably exclaim, “China Beach!” It never got old because it was always old. But we all could agree that Dana Delany was, and probably still is, as that very same Mike would say, a “smoke show”! TV, thankfully, started to get a little weirder in the 80’s and early 90’s. ESPN launched in 1979 (ESPN2 in 1993). The sports news was initially pretty sparse, so they used supplemental material like strongman competitions and Australian Rules Football (“Footy”). In the latter case, our mid 80’s college boredom was transiently salved by picking teams and trying, unsuccessfully, to figure out the scoring system (later explained to me by an Aussie while on an overnight ferry from Calais to Dover). My adopted team was Geelong. The stadium cheer I conjured up was half the crowd yelling “GEE-” and the other side responding “-LONG” (fucking brilliant!). MTV started in 1981. Later would come “The Simpsons” and “Beavis and Butthead” when things really started to bend. But, as with bad jokes, some of the most memorable TV shows are the ones you found cloying/annoying, like “30 Something” and “Friends.” Just fucking shoot me…
There were also standouts to the upside like the surrealist “Twin Peaks”, and it is only fitting that we honor the great David Lynch who very recently passed away (for my money, “Elephant Man” is his magnum opus, followed closely by “Mulholland Drive”). A moment of silence, please…
It wasn’t all ads, of course. But while I mostly enjoy Kyle MacLachlan’s work, I never got comfortable with his role on “Sex and the City.” Just sayin’…
New albums by Neil Young, with or without Crazy Horse, are always welcome! And there’s a song on Ragged Glory that I’ll sing to myself when I’ve made some stupid, unforced error: “Why do I keep fuckin’ up…??” (and if you’re interested, the track is called, ahh, “Fuckin’ Up”). Try it…!!
In life, there’s always a mix of good and bad news. A yin for every yang. Saw a great musical play about Curtis Mayfield in Chicago years ago. Man, he had such a healing voice…
Yup…
The only thing constant is change…
Miss, are you gonna finish that cherry?…
The Netflix documentary about WHAM! is quite good. But this post has turned a tad funereal…
I must have joined these CD clubs half a dozen times (and still have the discs!). But there was never a time, ever, when I would spend even one bloody-red-fucking-cent for Don Henley’s “The End of the Innocence” album. Utter shite…
Top Five: Mariah Carey, MC Hammer, Anita Baker (I do like her!), Poison, and Wilson Phillips. I’ve recently been thinking that popular music has gotten much worse in the last 30 years. Now I’m not so sure…
Music’s future was in our past…
(Richard Branson in an ad for GAP) Remember the good old days when our corporate oligarchs were jovial adventurers and had no plans to subvert democracy from unelected positions? How quaint…
Kids, look away…!!
Great Exudations 