But not this August. The August that happened in 1980.
Tragically for this blog, nothing interesting seems to have happened in the world in that month of that year but I do know that ABBA, David Bowie and the Jam dominated the Number One slot on the British singles chart, with The Winner Takes it All, Ashes to Ashes and Start, while Back in Black by AC/DC and then Flesh and Blood by Roxy Music hogged the top spot on the album chart.
Such absence of riveting world events means I shall plunge straight into my look at what the galaxy's greatest comic was up to at that time.
And the truth is I know very little of what was happening in the galaxy's greatest comic at that time. I do know Judge Dredd's Judge Child saga's still ongoing, Wolfie Smith is still in the comic and still stirring no memories for me whatsoever, while, obviously, the Stainless Steel Rat's still saving the world. From what he's saving it, I haven't a clue. It is surprising to see that Tornado is still sharing the masthead with 2000 AD, a full year after the two comics merged.
I do recall Brian Bolland's Judge Dredd cover to Prog 173 but have no recollection of the advertised Galactic Olympics from Progs 174 and 175. I'm assuming it involves people, with mechanical legs, leaping five miles into the air - and people throwing objects twenty miles, thanks to the reduced gravity of an alien world - but this is mere speculation on my part.
Steve, that Stainless Steel Rat cover by Carlos Ezquerra is another wraparound - the complete image can be seen at
ReplyDeletewww.tainthemeat.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/2000ad-prog-171-2-august-1980-poster.jpg
While the covers here aren't quite as spectacular as last months, Ezquerra, Brian Bolland, Kev O'Neill and Dave Gibbons is still an impressive list of artists.
Inside, you also had the reliably stylish Ian Gibson drawing Robo-Hunter, and the VCs - a very average future war series (they always were very average) - was more memorable than it should have been thanks to the artwork of Garry Leach and Cam Kennedy.
-sean
Thanks for the link, Sean. Unfortunately, Google Chrome won't let me access it but it will let me access that page by using https://taint-the-meat.com/2015/02/03/2000ad-prog-171/ instead.
ReplyDeleteIt took me a long time to warm-up to Bowie's post-Diamond Dogs stuff.
ReplyDeleteOdd, as I was using Google Chrome. But being a bit of a luddite, I'm not even going to try to work out why.
ReplyDeleteI should at least sort out putting actual clickable links in the comments in future though...
-sean
Still haven't warmed to Bowie's pre-Diamond Dogs stuff myself. Give me the Eno era over glam any day of the week.
ReplyDelete-sean
Sean, I think it's probably because the link didn't have, "http," or, "https," in it.
ReplyDeleteKD and Sean, I tend to like a random smattering of songs from throughout Bowie's career, rather than any particular era.
Steve-
ReplyDeleteYou're right. Anyone who appreciates the talent of Bowie can find a gem that is likable during anyone of his "changes" (I couldn't resist the pun.)
My fab Bowie song, post-glitter rock era is TVC-1 5. I found out he was inspired to write this song when he & Iggy Pop were partying (I.e. tripping on SOMETHING) and Iggy claimed that the television set was trying to eat his current girlfriend!
Man, I used to do some good stuff, but nowhere THAT GOOD!
Every time Bowie & Jagger's Dancing In The Streets came on the radio I'd burst into parody:
"We'll be jammin',
Jammin' each other's hams!"
"It's an invitation,
For lubrication,
Put some greased meat between the gams!"
I won't go any further. The kids at the warehouse would laugh till tears were in their eyes. It got to the point when the song came on all I had to do was look at someone and they'd burst out laughing.
I guess I was the porno-Weird Al Yankovich. I love to make-up sick parodies.
I remain big fan of Bowie and the Jam. Start was a great song but given it's debt to the, previously sued for copyright infringement, George Harrison it does show that the ex Beatle was a bigger man than most.
ReplyDeleteDW
99 days to Christmas!
ReplyDeleteWhy was Bowie fairly commercially insignificant in the USA in terms of sales compared to the UK but for Let’s Dance?”
ReplyDeleteThe disparity is astounding!
Charlie, in 1975 Bowie's "Fame" reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 - it was a much bigger hit in America than the UK.
ReplyDeleteOk... Fame and Golden Years made 1 and 10 respectively though they were A and B side of same single? Then you have the Let’s Dance phenom with Let’s Dance, Blue Jean, and Dancing in the Streets 10 years later. But the huge bulk of his work which we know and enjoy like Space Oddity, Heroes, etc. was strictly non-charting FM fare in the USA whereas he charts a lot in the UK?
ReplyDeleteGenius sometimes goes underappreciated.
DeleteYes Charlie, Bowie was big here all through the 70s. It wasn't just him though - seems like there used to be a greater disparity in hits between the UK and US generally than there is now.
ReplyDeleteLike you pointed out recently, punk wasn't particularly big around '77 in America; and here, for example, I don't ever recall hearing anything by Journey before the last episode of the Sopranos.
-sean
KD, my favourite Bowie song is Heroes.
ReplyDeleteDW, Paul Weller was a shrewd cookie. The tune and words of Start are totally different from those of Taxman, which would have made it hard for Harrison to sue him, as those were the bits Harrison had been responsible for in the original. The bits The Jam stole from it may not have been things he could have claimed as being his own.
Charlie; "99 days to Christmas!" There certainly are. I've already been playing Slade to get me in the mood.
As for Bowie's lesser success in America, I've always been under the impression it was down to his early androgyny causing more resistance over there. I remember Karen from Bronze Age Babies claiming there was a lot of hostility towards it at the time.
In Britain, there was a long tradition of male family entertainers dressing up as women, so I wonder if that led to a more easy acceptance of his, "Gender bending?"
Also, the British have always had a love of novelty records, and his propensity for the quirky, unpredictable and eccentric might have struck a chord with the part of the British psyche that loves anything new, odd and different, especially on things like Space Oddity, Star Man and, of course, The laughing Gnome.
Steve-
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Bowie song is "Suffregette City"
"Awww,Wham, bam,
Thank you, mamame!"
Relentless glitter-era rock.
ReplyDeleteI think Bowie's semi-success might've been surplanted because we already had an American "androgynous" shock-rocker who was filling the charts. Alice Cooper.
ReplyDeleteI love em both. The 70'S gave birth to so much good rnr.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I never heard of Bowie in a large way until Fame when I was around 14. Never heard of him again, musically, in a large way, until Let's Dance. There were a few small blips in between like Suffragette City or Space Oddity on the FM Radio but I am not sure if they were being released or just a result of FM Radio playing his stuff now and then.
ReplyDeleteI do recall him on Saturday Night Live where his head was super imposed on a puppet with a dress. I thought it was theoretically creative but kind of stupid.
Honestly, never thought much about his gender-bending other than he just seemed to be "artistic." We had "artistic" types before who were popular like Liberace and Elton John.
The Diamond Dogs, Young Americans, Low, Lodger and Scary Monsters albums all charted either in the top 10, or there about, in the US (according to wiki) and so he had a fair amount of success prior to Let's Dance. Also, I believe he was one of the first white artists to appear on Soul Train, and so he must of had a reasonable presence in the US. He wasn't exactly mainstream in Britain, either. He was more likely to turn up in a BBC documentary than on Top of the Pops.
ReplyDeleteThe Marc Bolan TV show was a classic. Bowie did Heroes live, and then jammed with Bolan during the closing credits. Bolan fell of the stage and union work-to-rule guidelines prevented them from re-shooting. Sadly Bolan died a few days later. The whole thing is on you-tube.
DW
T-Rex Rules!
DeleteI've heard that the tree that Marc Nolan hit is basically a national monument.
ReplyDeleteMeant "Bolan", darn spell check.
DeleteI do believe the tree has become something of a shrine to him. How officially sanctioned that is, I'm not sure.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I pulled it up, and folks hang stuff like hubcaps, nail & staple stuff to it.
DeleteMuch like how people leave Campbell soup cans at Andy Warhol's grave here in the 'Burgh.