LETTERS

LETTERS

Mail Dept., CREEM Magazine, P.O. Box 931869, Los Angeles, CA 90093

JIM FELDMAN WRITES!

Dear Sirs: Please send me a copy of your guidelines.

B. Platt

APO, NY

(No.—Ed.)

LA LA LA LA LA BAMBA!

Upon seeing September 1987’s issue of CREEM, I was pleased that Squeeze was finally getting some well-deserved attention. However, after reading Ivan Lababamba’s schizophrenic article on them, they’d probably be better off without that article. I’m still confused as to whether he was endorsing them or writing them off as has-beens. Mr. Lababamba implies that Glenn Tilbrook has lost his

“The headliner’s wearing a dress!”

knack for melodies; if Lababamba knew anything about music, he’d realize that isn’t the case. I just bought an imported single called “Hourglass” from Babylon And On, their upcoming LP. Perhaps if Ivan had heard the song prior to writing that article (He did.—Ed.), his foot wouldn’t be in his mouth.

Another thing I want to address is Ivan’s writing style. Although I am an English major, I don’t need an MBA or a Ph.D. to figure out that the best job that Ivan could hope for is bathroom graffiti. Seriously, Ivan, it really sucked. Those photo captions were not much betterdumb and irrelevant (sums up the whole article).

I like Squeeze and I hope they make it big—they deserve it, but I don’t like to see a lot of crap like Ivan’s article. Finally, Ivan asks, “was the article an obitu-

ary?” I’ll say, but not for Squeeze: for Mr. Lababamba. If I was his editor, I’d hang him from his typewriter ribbon. Perhaps CREEM would have better success in articles and subscriptions if they hired coliege-educated writers, like myself, rather than those who graduated from a studyby-mail program.

J.L.: Musician, Squeeze Fan

Virginia Beach, VA

(Sure, but you’re fat.—Ed.)

FEEDBACK SOLO ON “COLOR ME IMPRESSED” GOES UNMENTIONED!

Great article on the Replacements. Caught their show in Detroit yesterday and it was, as you promised, a flawless set. Favorite moment? Paul doing a blistering version of “Born In The U.S.A.” without cracking up too much. The arm-wrestling match was a close second (better luck next time, Paul).

Mary

Caseville, Ml

(Give our regards to Bad Axe, and remember us to Harbor Beach.—Ed.)

“PSYCHOTIC REACTION”— SUZANNE VEGA!

Suggested cover songs:

songs: “Gloria”—The Cult

“You’re Gonna Miss Me”—

The Bangles

The Bangles “Pushin’ Too Hard”—

Debbie Harry

Harry “Moulty”—Michael Jackson

“Runaround Sue”—The

Legendary Stardust Cowboy

“96 Tears”—The Fleshtones

“I Wanna Be Your Dog”—

Irma Thomas

“Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen”—

T-Bone Burnett

“The Twist”—U2

“Mister Sandman”—AC/DC

Don’t forget my royalties.

Bert Eccles

Bert Eccles Montreal, Quebec, Canada

PEN PAL FROM HELL!

Surely it must be the best of all possible worlds when your issue of CREEM arrives in the mail before you have seen it at the newsstands. (In fact, you notice that you don’t even see it on the newsstands anymore). Thank you!

My informants have returned from Southern California and I guess you guys were right—the editors of CREEM do look very handsome in Hollywood (and I thought you were just bragging). Don’t think the irony of it escaped me when the latest issues of my favorite music mags came out and Motley Crue was on the cover of Rolling Stone and Fleetwood Mac was on the cover of CREEM. By the way, last week I broke down and bought a copy of the Crue’s album, thinking that as long as I’ve been dumping on these guys for as long as I have, I might as well see what they sound like. And, boy, was I surprised—they’re even worse than I imagined. I was particularly disappointed in the singer, who I thought might have a little style of his own, but he sounds exactly like 90 percent of all those metaloid singers. I only listened to it once (and it was right after listening to the Hooters’ killer new one), and I only listened to it at 1/3 volume (because that was all I could stand), so maybe I’ll listen to it again some year.

While we’re at it, let’s talk about another band that definitely has problems—the Cure. These guys are certainly candidates for my vote as worst band of the year. Not that they don’t have their good points. They’re all good musicians.

I guess they are, anyway—when ( saw them at the Oakland Coliseum it was hard to tell. Their sound is very fuzzy. Their individual instruments were not. really defined and, since there were two keyboard players and two guitarists, it was difficult to tell who was playing what. The drummer cooked though. Also, they do have some good tunes.

On the negative side, let’s discuss Robert Smith. First of all, his voice has just got to go. I like singers who have singing voices that are not too dissimilar from their speaking voices (like Dylan and Lou Reed, for example), and if this dude’s speaking voice is anything like his singing voice, the human race is in trouble. I hate to be cruel, but let’s face it: this guy is a poofter and a total nerd. (Then again, how old is this guy? Maybe I’m just an old fart and have no business telling younger people and their fans what to like. Then why do they keep hounding me? But I digress).

Also, even though they have some good songs, they are all within the same emotional range. There were no emotional valleys or peaks created during their performance, and no emotional tension was created either. It was like, “Hello, I’m Robert Smith and we’re the Cure, and we’re here to perform a series of somewhat depressing, somewhat catchy pop tunes, each almost identical in emotional range. And, oh, by the way, while we’re here, not one of us will move more than a few inches in any direction. We’re like statues.” And when Robert Smith did make the odd attempt to loosen up a little and “get down,” he was pathetic. The guy has nil charisma. They did about four encores (I swear) and each time they would come back and play two or three of their somewhat catchy, emotionally identical pop tunes. It

was sad. Bv the way, the fans went berserk, and I guess I kinda liked them too, but all I can say is Led Zeppelin these guys are not.

I should mention that I was not physically well at this concert. I even had to leave a little early (during the fourth encore) and I was robbed at gunpoint on my way to the BART station. All in all, it was a fantastic evening.

What else? Oh, Wolfgang’s, the night club owned by Bill Graham, burned down on Friday. It was a pretty good club (but no place to sit) and I saw Iggy Pop there not long ago. Also Los Lobos and Crowded House played there.

I went to the Grand Canyon on vacation recently and had a good time. Got sick about two weeks after I got back. Thought it was food poisoning but it’s lasted a month and food poisoning shouldn’t last that long, should it? Saw the Bangles—great (opening act, the Cutting Crew, sucked). Saw Oingo Boingo—great, I don’t care what their records sound like (I haven’t heard them), the guys are great live. X opened up for them and they were fun also. Saw Dylan and the Dead. Good show.

Didn’t see Christgau’s name in the new ish. Hope he hasn’t split. Pisses me off that in Critics Poll, I can never honor people like him or Billy Altman, Michael Davis, the Dauph, R.C. Walls, etc., who do great work year after year. Oh well.

Spuds McKenzie

Oakland, CA

GAY TEXANS ON ACID!

I cannot believe it! Prince finally received a decent record review. Jim Feldman deserves some recognition for his review of Sign O’ The Times in the August issue of CREEM.

While all the other critics are putting him down anyway they can, Jim points out the truly good and bad parts of Prince and the album.

Does this mean that the staff at CREEM are finally maturing? Next thing you know bands will be dressing like girls!

Jason Araujo

Ft. Worth, TX

(Yee-hah!—Ed.)

SECHER WRITES AGAIN!

I just had to express how glad I was to see Fleetwood Mac gracing your cover. It was great to see them on any cover, let alone on CREEM’s. The article was really very good—it said a lot of new things, which was great! It’s hard to care about a band like them as they seem to shy away from the public. But thanks to you, they’re back in focus! Great headline—how true!

I also would like to say it was one of the best covers I’ve seen in a while: “hip and very trendy.”

Venessa Brooks

Pottstown, PA

(But we live like pigs!!!!—Ed.)