Creem, January 1981: Difference between revisions
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{{:Bibliography index}} | {{:Bibliography index}} | ||
{{:Creem index}} | {{:Creem index}} | ||
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<center><h3> 1980 Flashback! </h3></center> | |||
<center>''' Letter From Britain </center> | <center>''' Letter From Britain </center> | ||
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<center> Penny Valentine </center> | <center> Penny Valentine </center> | ||
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{{Bibliography text}} | {{Bibliography text}} | ||
"Enjoy yourself" | "Enjoy yourself" the Specials sing, part ironic, part mourning on their second album of 1980. "It's later than you think"... | ||
The year came to an end with the music of the white boys showing strange signs of lyrical impotence. 1980 in British music was the year of tribes and tendencies. Over there the mods, next to them the skins, the ska revival and the soul boys, the electronic experimentalists... The mainstream jolted on, disjointed by a record company slump. Down at the Bandwagon my friend Gerry said the first visible signs of true rock 'n' roll impotence was to watch the HM freaks miming every thrust and lick of their musical heroes on cut out guitars. | The year came to an end with the music of the white boys showing strange signs of lyrical impotence. 1980 in British music was the year of tribes and tendencies. Over there the mods, next to them the skins, the ska revival and the soul boys, the electronic experimentalists... The mainstream jolted on, disjointed by a record company slump. Down at the Bandwagon my friend Gerry said the first visible signs of true rock 'n' roll impotence was to watch the HM freaks miming every thrust and lick of their musical heroes on cut out guitars. | ||
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On his 1980 album Peter Gabriel looked to the Third World too for "Biko" and inward to growing State control at home. Elsewhere the vision was often less defined. Social upheaval found its reflection in music gangs. Down at the soul clubs it was white racists who plugged into original Stax sounds. The black boys stuck to jazz funk—revolving rhythms and repeated riffs. Dancing became a question of male gangs mimicking street aggression, cock-fighting dance rituals, winners and losers in a charade. | On his 1980 album Peter Gabriel looked to the Third World too for "Biko" and inward to growing State control at home. Elsewhere the vision was often less defined. Social upheaval found its reflection in music gangs. Down at the soul clubs it was white racists who plugged into original Stax sounds. The black boys stuck to jazz funk—revolving rhythms and repeated riffs. Dancing became a question of male gangs mimicking street aggression, cock-fighting dance rituals, winners and losers in a charade. | ||
After two years of solid street work Rock Against Racism spent 1980 almost invisible and ended the year by putting out their own "Greatest Hits" volume. Rock Against Sexism, fighting on a more complex issue, were rewarded by Thin Lizzy's nasty predatory hero worship of Jack The Ripper "Killer On The Loose" which, if you want to take a positive view, just underlines the facetious popular press argument that with | After two years of solid street work Rock Against Racism spent 1980 almost invisible and ended the year by putting out their own "Greatest Hits" volume. Rock Against Sexism, fighting on a more complex issue, were rewarded by Thin Lizzy's nasty predatory hero worship of Jack The Ripper "Killer On The Loose" which, if you want to take a positive view, just underlines the facetious popular press argument that with Chrissie Hynde and Debbie Harry around there is now no reason for the girls to get in a tizz. | ||
The new | The new David Bowie album ''Scary Monsters (And Supercreeps)'' (a more opposite title than he might have meant!) didn't exactly point the way forward either. While he's still the grand master of the British experimentalists of 1980 it revisited his past collections from ''Hunky Dory'' on. Just drawing breath. | ||
It was the year Joy Division's bleak vision was almost comforting. This year the influence of Jim Morrison's prowling anguish found strange reflection in the experimentalists work, so that Echo And The Bunnymen's ''Villiers Street'' apart from re-interating the Doors original mournful tones, pinpointed a people in retreat. 1960 rears its head in 1980 but the days are no longer innocent: | It was the year Joy Division's bleak vision was almost comforting. This year the influence of Jim Morrison's prowling anguish found strange reflection in the experimentalists work, so that Echo And The Bunnymen's ''Villiers Street'' apart from re-interating the Doors original mournful tones, pinpointed a people in retreat. 1960 rears its head in 1980 but the days are no longer innocent: | ||
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And Major Tom turned out to be a junkie too. Bowie cruelly marks the end of a dream that came up in the 70's, the optimism of space. ''Ashes To Ashes'' is a sardonic wave kid that... | And Major Tom turned out to be a junkie too. Bowie cruelly marks the end of a dream that came up in the 70's, the optimism of space. ''Ashes To Ashes'' is a sardonic wave kid that... | ||
The Sex Pistols didn't just want complete control, they had it Now the Specials "Do Nothing": ''"Try to find a future, nothing ever change / Living a life without meaning / I talk and talk, saying nothing / I walk, I talk, do nothing."'' Against the sparse echoey sound of a music that now relies less on the ground swell of ska, more on the distant paces of electronics and an undertow of British music hall three decades ago. At the beginning of the year Secret Affair demanded action of their gang, against everything. Now "Live For Today" at the end of 1980 rings a fake clarion call into emptyness: | |||
"We need a reaction," Ian Page sings listlessly "we need it tonight." At the start of the year he wouldn't have considered why. Now the end of the track seeks a motive: ''"But how I wish I knew / What we were running from."'' | "We need a reaction," Ian Page sings listlessly "we need it tonight." At the start of the year he wouldn't have considered why. Now the end of the track seeks a motive: ''"But how I wish I knew / What we were running from."'' | ||
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'''Creem, January 1981 | '''Creem, January 1981 | ||
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[[Penny Valentine]]'s ''Letter From Britain'' | [[Penny Valentine]]'s ''Letter From Britain'' includes a report on the Rainbow Theatre 50th Anniversary concert, Monday, [[Concert 1980-09-29 London|September 29, 1980]], London, England. | ||
{{Bibliography images}} | {{Bibliography images}} | ||
[[image:1981-01-00 Creem page 32.jpg|360px|border]] | |||
[[image:1981-01-00 Creem page 32.jpg| | |||
<br><small>Page scan.</small> | <br><small>Page scan.</small> | ||
[[image:1981-01-00 Creem photo 01 er.jpg| | <small>Photo by [[Ebet Roberts]].</small><br> | ||
<br><small> | [[image:1981-01-00 Creem photo 01 er.jpg|360px|border]] | ||
[[image:1981-01-00 Creem cover.jpg|x120px|border]] | |||
<br><small>Cover.</small> | |||
{{Bibliography notes footer}} | {{Bibliography notes footer}} | ||
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*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creem Wikipedia: Creem] | *[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creem Wikipedia: Creem] | ||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Creem 1981-01-00}} | |||
[[Category:Bibliography 1981 | [[Category:Bibliography]] | ||
[[Category:Bibliography 1981]] | |||
[[Category:Creem| Creem 1981-01-00]] | [[Category:Creem| Creem 1981-01-00]] | ||
[[Category:Magazine articles | [[Category:Magazine articles]] |
Latest revision as of 22:32, 15 September 2017
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