Ian Gittins interviews The Happy Mondays, 28th November 1987

Very early interview with the Mondays. Oh how the time has simply *flown* by. Don’t believe me? Well compare and contrast the above with this recent gem.

Hofmeister Advertisement, 28th November 1987

Further proof that Hofmeister Lager definitely wasn’t deliberately marketed to under age drinkers. I mean just because George the Bear is pictured with party balloons, clutching a Virgin megastore bag and blowing a streamer it’s just CO-INCIDENTAL! Ten years later you could flog 2-4-1 vodka Hooch lemonades and no one gave a shit. Thankfully, these days it seems like some of us have finally grown-up.

Best thing I’ve seen this week is this fantastic (and growing) Flickr set of scanned in Smash Hits. 1979-1980 there so far but looks like it’s being done chronologically so one to keep checking back on. I’ve thought about doing this with AMP over the years (gosh years! plural) and this convinces me I should.

Jonh Wilde interviews Public Enemy, 28th November 1987

Jonh Wilde interviews Public Enemy, 28th November 1987. Photos by Andy Catlin.

Good to hear from Kulkarni regarding this issue in the comments. Here’s the interview that “utterly changed [his] life forever”. Hope it stirs happy memories.

Public Enemy on the cover of Melody Maker, 28th November 1987

Public Enemy on the cover of Melody Maker, 28th November 1987 in response to another request that came through. Photo by Andy Catlin

And so here’s the first post since the BBC announced the planned closure of 6Music. Who knows if it’ll happen or not but I’ll be one of the many to be sad to see it go if Thompson does pull the plug. I often sit scanning to Freak Zone on the iPlayer – why not add to the sites traffic by taking a listen too – I guarantee you’ll hear something new and incredible.

Over at the continually amazing Quietus, Luke Turner nails the situation completely and drew my attention to this revelatory Information Is Beautiful graphic breaking down the BBC’s annual budget across major categories. To summarise, in terms of cash spent; Norton, Robinson & fucking Clarkeson = 6Music. And really; £2m for 3 days of Jo Whiley et al driving everyone absolutely fucking mental at Glastonbury, that’s a fucking disgrace! Only a fraction of the bands are actually filmed and then the footage can only be shown on iPlayer 7 days due to rights issues – how is that value for money? It was all very different not so long ago and much the better for it.

EDIT: Worth drawing everyone’s attention to this link from the comment left by Matt

Good points about 6Music. Why not tell the BBC this (I have) via their consultation survey? The more who do so, the more likely the station will be spared the axe. https://consultations.external.bbc.co.uk/departments/bbc/bbc-strategy-review/consultation/intro

Yamaha DX7 Advertisment, 12th December 1987

David Stubbs interviews Simon and Chris Donald of Viz Magazine, 12th December 1987

David Stubbs interviews Simon and Chris Donald of Viz Magazine, 12th December 1987. Photos by Phil Nicholls

Mat Smith interviews The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, 12th December 1987

Mat Smith interviews The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, 12th December 1987. Photos Andy Catlin.

Anyone know the location? I think it’s in Vauxhall, on the site of those awful glass tower blocks of St. George’s Wharf (when it was still a piece of waste ground / car pound) but it’s hard to tell from the fish eye lensed photos.

So which one’s Rockman and which one’s Kingboy? Some quirky irony in the story of how they “found a field they were happy with” to burn piles of their own records in order to save money when in the not too distant future they’d be burning piles of their own money to save themselves from having to make more records. The state of paranoia over record sampling  and not allowing their photos to be taken through fear of being sued seems so ludicrious now. If you didn’t know better and saw this in the papers today you’d think it was some sort of Banksy stunt.

Don’t take five (take what you want)

The Stud Brothers interview Sinead O’Connor, 12th December 1987

The Stud Brothers interview Sinead O’Connor, 12th December 1987. Photos by Paul Rider

The problem with having supermodel good looks is that it’s impossible to make yourself unattractive however much you might want to. And crucially, although Sinead shaved off her hair, wore doc marten boots and generally did everything to divert attention away from her looks, she never tried to conceal her intelligence, and there’s rarely anything more attractive than an intelligent, feisty woman.

When you look like that and have a voice like this it’s a staggering combination.

The Troy video probably cost quite a bit of cash back in 87 but it’s horribly dated now.  The overexposed, revolving alabaster-like bust of Sinead recalls nothing so much as one of those alien shape-shifters you’d occasionally have turn up in an episode of Star Trek to seduce Captain Kirk.

Public Enemy live at the Brixton Academy and other live reviews, 12th December 1987

Simon Reynolds reviews Public Enemy at Brixton Academy, London. Photo Richard Bellia

I happen to work with an ex NME journo from this period, who wears a Public Enemy T-Shirt around the office.

“Brilliant live” he says, talking fondly of how there were police blockades just to get into the street where you could then queue up to get into the venue.

“Rap’s shit live. It’s just shouting over a distorted PA”, I counter authoritatively without ever having been to a rap gig.

I’ll have to ask him if this is the Brixton show he went to. I’ve got Reynolds on my side now.

Elsewhere,
Paul Mathur reviews Sex Gods at Locomotive, Paris
Angie Daniell reviews Alex Konadu at The Africa Centre, London
Tom Morton reviews The James Taylor Quartet at The Rooftop, Glasgow
Phil DC reviews Red Lorry Yellow Lorry at ULU, London
Push reviews Masque at Fulham Lost Theatre, London
David Fricke reviews Marianne Faithful and her Mars Bar at The Bottom Line, New York – and
Push reviews The Icicle Works at the Town & Country Club, London

Sinead O’Connor on the cover of Melody Maker, 12th December 1987

Sinead O’Connor on the cover of Melody Maker, 12th December 1987. Photo Paul Rider

By inexplicably popular request here’s some more Sinead. But it’s the 2 pager on Bill & Jimmy that’s got me excited.