Tag: 80s

They’ve come to take my music.

I heard today that the Pogues were used in a Subaru commercial. Haven’t seen it. I hope it’s “Sally MacLennane.” This isn’t quite as bad/good as “Blister in the Sun” advertising fast food (BLURGH!) but it’s a little surprising.

My generation (I’m 45) is now the target of semi-random generational marketing. Many of us are established and have extra money (note: if you are in this group please contact me). We’re also dominating the marketing business itself right now, so the lazy ad person will remember what lit up the night in 1986 and think “that’s what will nail it!”

In this spirit I offer some suggestions to those who want to reach the semi-lucrative market of Gen X middle-aged people, those of us who aren’t $20K in debt with no house and chronic medical problems. For instance. Let’s move on.

“Shipbuilding,” by Elvis Costello. A couple dancing slowly in the sunset on the deck of a ship somewhere in the Caribbean. “Is it worth it?” he sings, as he swings her around in his arms and she smiles upwards. V/O describes selling points, ad ends with Elvis returning to sing “we should be diving for pearls.”

“Lost in the Supermarket,” by the Clash. Song plays as mopey 40ish housewife pushes cart around drab yet overlit market, looking at identical cans. Red tag catches her eye, prominently featuring supermarket loyalty card logo. She picks up a jar and smiles: it’s Goober, a delight of her childhood. Outro with slowing fading bassline and slogan on screen: FOUND.

I was going to put some reggae in here but that’s all been heavily prepped by Caribbean Vacation Culture and marijuana. On we go.

“I Need Love,” LL Cool J. Middle-aged African-American professional guy driving his upscale SUV through traffic, frustrated. Everything goes wrong, traffic, drink spills on him, phone rings and it’s his jerk boss, etc. Finally arrives home to wife and kids who open door both holding Cokes, and handing him one. The three enjoy the beverage on the porch. Slogan on screen, “COKE” fades into “LOVE.”

“Senses Working Overtime,” XTC. Attractive woman of a certain age clearly plagued by multiple allergies. Sneezing shot, eye rubbing shot, pulling back in terror from plate of food. OTC medicine introduced. Closing shot with happy woman enjoying some if not all of her sensuous experience in life.

“The One I Love,” R.E.M. Flower delivery. Not much else to say here.

“I Will Dare,” The Replacements. Parallel shots of hopeful-looking man and woman of a certain age looking at computer screens, reading emails, on the phone, meeting. Clearly some sparks in the air, shared laughter, fade into new couple walking down the street away from camera. Logo and url of dating service.

and finally,

“Debaser,” Pixies. 2015 Hyundai Andalusia minivan.

Well fancy that! Old punk flyers.

I was looking in the garage for the computer monitor that was, in fact, right behind me. Larger versions available at flickr for those who want to read the little print with the names of all the crazy record stores, etc.

And while in the garage I opened up a box of crap from the summer between my freshman and sophomore years at UCLA, when I worked at Radio Shack and went to punk shows. And whee! Three flyers from then.

Flyer: 45 Grave at Fender's, 1984

Flyer: The Cult, The Meteors at Perkins Palace 1984

Flyer: Dead Kennedys 1984 at Olympic Auditorium

sweet home tendinitis

Got a call from Trout. He’s going to be here visiting soon, probably, because a mutual friend is ill. Bad news but it will be good to see him.

I wish to entirely blame the visiting eyeteeth for the fact that John Parr’s horrible “St. Elmo’s Fire/Man in Motion” is stuck in my head. Won’t you just strap a mullet on me and shoot me.

lasagnese always wins

Anti-Club Calendar

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Anti-Club Calender, originally uploaded by J. ‘Doh.

Wow.. I was at some of these shows. In fact, I was at both the July 4 Minutemen Show (they did the song “Substitute”! and the July 5 night, at which my best friend Greg’s band played: The Blasphemous Yellow.

a jaded hack is me!

Okay, so you all read “Perry and Me,” my account of how a $2.50 blurb caused famed rock star Perry Farrel to stalk the fuck out of me for months. I just ran across evidence of another bit of similar hilarity.

Another $2.50 blurb I wrote was for Henry Rollins in 1987. This was when Henry was just starting out on a literary career by doing “spoken word.” “Spoken Word” meant rock musicians doing standup comedy with occasional blank verse.

One of the regular venues for music and other things was BeBop Records, a little store on Reseda Blvd owned by a guy named Rich. In the mid to late 1980s Rich booked an impressive series of events there: live music, performance of all kinds, and art. Henry was slated to do one of his “spoken word” gigs there. I’d just seen Henry do this thing at UCLA and I wasn’t very impressed, but I didn’t pan it or tell anyone to avoid it; I just described in a very few words what it looked like.

Henry’s response is here: Hack Writer (.mp3, 5.3M). It went into a book, too, not sure which one.

The funny part was that not much later I interviewed Henry for publication. He actually came to my apartment in Hollywood on the bus from where he was living in Echo Park. I opened the door to see a very tentative and anxious rock star in black t-shirts and black shorts. He was clearly worried that I had taken his shtick to heart, but we had a good laugh and did the interview. I was impressed with how serious he was about publishing and writing.

By the time I saw him again, for another interview when he and Weiss were putting out Wartime, it was a running gag.

And now, of course, he’s Dick Clark. But that’s another story.

I’M IN LOVE I’M IN LOVE I’M IN LOVE WITH A WORKING GIRL

Music video blows. Seen your video, we don’t wanna know. But sometimes…

working

The Members released this song in 1982 and it was a minor New Wave hit here. It’s been a mixtape regular for me since. Never did see the video. Now I’ve seen it and I like the song even more.

Effortless raffish charm from the singer. You can immediately tell he’s the kind of guy who makes everyone think “Oh, shit…” whenever he grins, and who shows up and spontaneously causes parties. Goofy overacting. New Wave Girls in 80s Power Suits. HUGE PHONES. The near total inability of anyone to keep a straight face. And in true punk fashion the whole thing dissolves into chaos and hilarity by the last third of the video: people stuffing food into their faces and pushing each other into pools and failing to keep a straight face for any reason whatsoever. I want to visit 1982 so I can party on the set of this video.

I dropped a flash video at http://www.masculinehygiene.com/d/m/workinggirl.html and you can probably find it on youtube also.