March 1979
CREEM CONTENTS
1960’s drug prophet advocate T. Leerie shown here with a S.L.A.-financed device with which he plans to take the survivors of Woodstock nation to SATURN. “I haven’t got all da bugz outa it yet,” he was reported to have said before lapsing into a Charlie Horse spasm.
CHRISTGAU CONSUMER GUIDE
Robert Christgau
CAPTAIN BEEFHEART AND THE MAGIC BAND: “Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)" (Warner Bros.) :: Inspired by the Captain’s untoward comeback, I’ve dug out all his old albums and discovered that as far as I’m concerned this is better than any of them—more daring than Safe as Milk, fuller than Trout Mask Replica, more consistent than Lick My Decals Off, Baby.
ROCK 'N' ROLL NEWS
Don’t mess with this one: Dolly Parton is now packing a pistol after receiving a death threat recently. Though she feels the man “just wanted some attention,” she’s decided not to take any chances... Speaking of guns, how ’bout a 21-gun slaute for this item: The Monkees have decided to reform! You heard it, Mickey, Davey, Peter & Wooly are back in the studio together for the first time in 10 years, figuring that if the Bee Gees can do it, they can too.
THE BEAT GOES ON
Jeffrey Morgan
NEW YORK-Rock ’n’ roller Mickey Jupp wouldn’t fly. It’s like a tune on his current (import only) Stiff album Juppanese, says, “You’ll never get me up in one of those.” But for the rest of the jovial crew of up-and-coming Stiff artists, an airplane ride to New York to present highlights of their (import only) LPs sounded just what the management ordered.
LOU REED & the Secret Life of Plants
Stephen Demorest
Cross-pollination at the YMCA.
SOUTHSIDE JOHNNY
(Pronounced “Boy Howdy!”)
HEART OF MY PIECE
Alan Madeleine
...I speculated, wistfully glow-faced in my brown weave desk chair. My brain halves twiddled in this generation of unharnessed prurience until, just as my amorphous sentiments were beginning to take on actual visages, the phone’s ring rudely cleaved my daydreams.
RORY GALLAGHER: RETURN OF THE WORLD’S BEST NORMAL GUITARIST
Susan Whitall
Simon Frith wrote in a recent Melody Maker, that he reckoned rock’s best moments were live, not recorded.
Letter From Britain
Goodbye To All That
Simon Frith
I've been writing this column on and off since 1972 and I just decided to stop.
Features
TALKING HEADS: MORE WORDS ABOUT ENO AND LIFE
Patrick Goldstein
Having survived several years of art and design school, Talking Heads have developed a finely honed sense of the absurd.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
RADIO, RADIO
OK: The results are in, we can officially kiss off 1978 and be one year closer to what everyone hopes will be a real decade, the 80's. Right? Wrong.
PETER TOSH: He's The Toughest
Barbara Charone
If anybody can bring reggae music to the rest of the world, especially America, then Peter’s the one to do it along with Bob Marley. After all, we were second to the Beatles. You need a door opener and then you need the serious stuff. I’m not saying Marley isn’t serious.
Features
DEVO ACTUAL SIZE
Richard Riegel
“Yes,” says Warner Bros, publicist Les Schwartz to the inquiring hostess, “there are more of us coming. We’ll wait for a larger table.”
CREEMEDIA
Georgia Christgau
Three downer flicks in my top ten—Straight Time, Blue Collar, and Who’ll Stop The Rain, and two documentaries; you might say I've avoided the obvious this year. But if you'll recall, two bona fide ’78 hits — Saturday Night Fever and The Turning Point—qualified for 1977, no good for now.
And! Boy Howdy!’s Movie Pits Of 1978
Edouard Dauphin
Picking the worst films of 1978 is like picking your least favorite Brothers Gibb songs. It’s easy to start but where do you draw the line? Ten is where. Georgia The Borgia has already picked her ten best, so now Edouard Le Retard, gets to root around in the slime.
Confessions of a FILM FOX
Hi all—glad to see you’ve tuned in once again to the latest word on your fave raves. And this month’s hottest item concerns the Ramones and their forthcoming (Roger Corman-directed) flick, Rock ’n’ Roll High School. Not only did the New Yawk flip tops finish their big screen debut on time (a rather lengthy five week production schedule, by Corman’s standards), but in addition had the good taste to invite CREEM rockcrit and Ramones look-alike Billy Altman along for the ride.
CREEM DREEM
TANYA TUCKER
Stars Cars
TED NUGENT
Rewire Yourself
Moving On To Moving Coils
Bill Kanner
FUTURE SHOCK NOW (If You Want It)
Richard Riegel
I’ve loved the debut Clash album ever since it first graced my record collection, and I’ve loved it with the particular ardor only a punk kid laying out his hard-earned cash for his first important LP purchase can bring to such devotion, as that’s exactly how I acquired my copy.
The Royal Screw, Part VII
Mitch Cohen
For a few weeks in 1978, an FM radio station in New York City was trying, earnestly and imaginatively, to create rock ’n’ roll counter-programming.
SATURDAY-NIGHT BLUES FEVER !
ROCK A RAMA
ROBERT JOHNSON—Close Personal Friend (Infinity):: This guy actually goes Elvis Costello’s name ploy one better, by appropriating the entire moniker of a certain famous and deceased bluesman. This new Robt. Johnson (a white guy, by the way) mixes his metaphors even further by resembling a young John Denver about the face, but dressing in the pegged pants popularized by yet another stiff, Eddie Cochran.
Extension Chords
A Match Made In Heaven
Allen Hester
I think we can all agree that there are a number of ways to go about learning music, but when it comes to, learning rock guitar (or any kind of guitar, for that matter) one’s choices are narrowed down a bit.
Backstage
BACKSTAGE
Where the Stars Tank Up & Let Their Images Down