Rock On, September 1978: Difference between revisions
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At a time when Donny Osmond and The Carpenters ruled the charts and David Bowie was the closest thing there was to a rock "eccentric", the original Kilburns were the ugliest, motliest assembly of characters you ever saw. Dressed in ill-fitting jumble sale suits, and with expressions mean enough to clear the roughest public bar, they looked like they'd just shuffled in from some seedy back alley. | At a time when Donny Osmond and The Carpenters ruled the charts and David Bowie was the closest thing there was to a rock "eccentric", the original Kilburns were the ugliest, motliest assembly of characters you ever saw. Dressed in ill-fitting jumble sale suits, and with expressions mean enough to clear the roughest public bar, they looked like they'd just shuffled in from some seedy back alley. | ||
They had a black drummer who lowered himself onto his drum stool from a pair of crutches, a giant of a bassist with absurd Robert Mitchum shoulders, a pianist who appeared to have been left behind from the beatnik age, and to cap it all off there at the front was crippled, dwarf-like Ian | They had a black drummer who lowered himself onto his drum stool from a pair of crutches, a giant of a bassist with absurd Robert Mitchum shoulders, a pianist who appeared to have been left behind from the beatnik age, and to cap it all off there at the front was crippled, dwarf-like Ian Dury, clutching the microphone like it was somebody's throat — with a shrivelled hand in a black leather glove. | ||
Shortly after, Dr Feelgood appeared on the same pub/club circuit and, though it might be hard to believe now that we're all familiar with their kind of band, they looked almost as bizarre. | Shortly after, Dr Feelgood appeared on the same pub/club circuit and, though it might be hard to believe now that we're all familiar with their kind of band, they looked almost as bizarre. | ||
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Stiff signed Ian Dury and Elvis Costello, the unlikely lads of their day. They also have Wreckless | Stiff signed Ian Dury and Elvis Costello, the unlikely lads of their day. They also have Wreckless Eric — he of the gormless expressions, demented college boy haircut, and shirt cuffs hanging out of jackets two sizes too small. Wreckless looks a prize twit if ever there was one! Even if he does have the talent to make up for appearances, it would be hard to imagine a record company pre-1977 giving him the time of day, let alone a record contract. | ||
Stiff also have Larry Wallis, a '60s hippie renegade who they sent out on the Greatest Stiffs package tour to play to punks. More recently they've had the bizarre Devo, who look like cashiers from some <!-- extra-terrestial --> extra-terrestrial High Street bank, and are unquestionably the weirdest of the weird. | Stiff also have Larry Wallis, a '60s hippie renegade who they sent out on the Greatest Stiffs package tour to play to punks. More recently they've had the bizarre Devo, who look like cashiers from some <!-- extra-terrestial --> extra-terrestrial High Street bank, and are unquestionably the weirdest of the weird. | ||
In the latter half of the 1970s rock stars come in all shapes and | In the latter half of the 1970s rock stars come in all shapes and sizes — new wave or otherwise. From gangling Mick Fleetwood, skyscraper drummer with Fleetwood Mac... to short-assed, short-sighted Graham Parker... to fat boy-made-good Meat Loaf. | ||
Then there's Poly Styrene and Tom Petty proving that deficiencies in the dental zone are no barrier to stardom. And Dee Dee Ramone of the brothers Ramone giving hope to acne sufferers everywhere. | Then there's Poly Styrene and Tom Petty proving that deficiencies in the dental zone are no barrier to stardom. And Dee Dee Ramone of the brothers Ramone giving hope to acne sufferers everywhere. | ||
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Age, too, needn't stand in your way. There's Ian Dury again, veteran Brummie gunslinger Steve Gibbons, and old man Jet Black of The Stranglers who admits to being 39 but who could be into his 40s. For all-round antiquity there's no beating The Pirates who last year, despite their wives, kids, steady jobs and mortgages, re-formed and went back on the road alongside groups half their age. | Age, too, needn't stand in your way. There's Ian Dury again, veteran Brummie gunslinger Steve Gibbons, and old man Jet Black of The Stranglers who admits to being 39 but who could be into his 40s. For all-round antiquity there's no beating The Pirates who last year, despite their wives, kids, steady jobs and mortgages, re-formed and went back on the road alongside groups half their age. | ||
So you're worried about premature baldness? A receding hairline is holding you back? Well, it hasn't stopped Howard Devoto of Magazine, or old friend Graham | So you're worried about premature baldness? A receding hairline is holding you back? Well, it hasn't stopped Howard Devoto of Magazine, or old friend Graham Parker — and Ed Cassidy, the veteran drummer with American band Spirit, hasn't got a single hair on his head! | ||
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P.S. Consolation for the pretty boys. The Rich Kids and Generation X haven't done too bad either. | P.S. Consolation for the pretty boys. The Rich Kids and Generation X haven't done too bad either. | ||
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{{tags}}[[Stiff Records]] {{-}} [[Wreckless Eric]] {{-}} [[Ian Dury]] {{-}} [[Kilburn & The High Roads]] {{-}} [[Larry Wallis]] {{-}} [[:Category:Stiff's Greatest Stiffs Live|Stiffs Greatest Stiffs tour]] {{-}} [[Dr. Feelgood]] {{-}} [[Lee Brilleaux]] {{-}} [[Fleetwood Mac]] {{-}} [[Graham Parker]] {{-}} [[Tom Petty]] {{-}} [[Wayne County & the Electric Chairs|Wayne County]] {{-}} [[Generation X]] {{-}} [[David Bowie]] | |||
{{cx}} | {{cx}} | ||
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{{Bibliography notes}} | {{Bibliography notes}} | ||
{{Bibliography next | |||
|prev = Rock On, June 1978 | |||
|next = Rock On, 1980 Annual | |||
}} | |||
'''Rock On!, No. 5, September 1978 | '''Rock On!, No. 5, September 1978 | ||
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<small>Cover and page | <small>Cover and contents page.</small><br> | ||
[[image:1978-09-00 Rock On cover.jpg|x120px]]{{t}} | [[image:1978-09-00 Rock On cover.jpg|x120px]]{{t}} | ||
[[image:1978-09-00 Rock On page 03.jpg|x120px|contents page]] | [[image:1978-09-00 Rock On page 03.jpg|x120px|contents page]] | ||
<small>Page scans.</small><br> | |||
[[image:1978-09-00 Rock On pages 16-17.jpg|x120px]] | [[image:1978-09-00 Rock On pages 16-17.jpg|x120px]] | ||
Latest revision as of 18:18, 20 December 2022
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