That's because the month arrived in style with the UK singles chart ruled by Prince Charming from Adam and the Ants.
But, soon, it lost that spot to It's My Party by Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin which hogged the top slot for the rest of the month.
Over on the album chart, Genesis began October at Number One, with ABACAB, only to be deposed by the Police's Ghost in the Machine which, in turn, was forced to yield to the irresistible rise of the Human League's Dare.
Elsewhere in the music industry, something big was stirring because it was the month in which Queen released their Greatest Hits LP which has since gone on to become the UK's best-selling album of all time, just ahead of ABBA Gold and Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
On the football field, twenty four year-old Bryan Robson became Britain's most expensive footballer yet, with a £1.5 million move from West Bromwich Albion to Manchester United. The current British transfer record is the £89 million Manchester United paid for Paul Pogba from Juventus. Such is the nature of inflation.
Meanwhile, at the cinemas, October saw the release of Galaxy of Terror, which is a title that rings a bell, though I'm not sure if I've ever seen it, and Halloween II which I also can't recall if I've seen.
But scary-sounding films weren't all we had to keep us entertained that month, because we also had the Galaxy's greatest comic to keep us going.
It was still giving us The Mean Arena, Judge Dredd (who was suffering from Block Mania after sorting out The Hotdog Run), Tharg's Future Shocks and Rogue Trooper.
However, the big news was that Prog 232 saw the debut of The Ace Trucking Co starring the pointy-headed Garp and sundry other characters I recall vaguely.
In other matters, I do wonder what the Zarjaz free gift was that came with that issue.
I have no recollection at all of KP Griddles, as advertised on the front of Prog 233. Apparently, they don't make them anymore, whatever they were.
I now have a craving for Rishy XL crisps. Whatever happened to Rishy XL? Once upon a time, you couldn't move for their crisps. Now, they're nowhere to be seen.
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42 comments:
Adam's Prince Charming album was a bit of a let down for me. The music videos were entertaining though. I appreciated Friend Or Foe much better.
Galaxy Of Terror is incredible! It has it all!! The late, great Sid Haig, Joni from "Happy Days", and lots of monster carnage!!! A garbage movie-lover's dream!!!!
The giant horny maggot rape scene is worth the price alone! I'm popping that in the player tonight.
Though I don't find her very attractive, it would have been great if Joni had a nude scene. It would have topped-off the oddity level of the film.
OK... don't hate on Charlie for saying this... but he kind of has the opinion that the Dredd art or inking or printing process reminds him of R Crumb's underground stuff. It's like the inks / printing isn't really sharp?
Mentioning R. Crumb reminds me of my favorite dreary Sunday pastime, back in the day...
Lounging out, playing records, firing up a doobie, and reading ZAP Comics.
I've got three of these.
Ok, it's AbbaGold, Queen's Greatest Hits and Abacab and none of the comics but I do have three of these.
Charlie, the cover to prog 236 is by Brian Bolland who's inks were always razor sharp, so I'd say it's largely the paper quality of 2000AD at this point that was the problem.
Btw thats a wraparound cover of his, which can be seen in its full awesomeness at
www.greatnewsforallreaders.com/blog/2016/10/29/on-this-day-31-october-1981-2000ad-prog-236
Scroll down there for some of the excellent interior Dredd artwork by Mike McMahon too; and a house ad for that years Fleetway annuals, which should excite at least Charlie if no-one else as it includes Tiger, Scorcher and Roy of the Rovers (it was a different world then).
Block Mania was great, Steve - the story of a modern society descending into irrational conflict (without even a referendum to kick it off).
It was the end of an era for Dredd though, as it would feature the last artwork both Bolland and McMahon did on the series for a very long time ):
-sean
For those interested in sports and how it morphed to big $$$ e.g., Paul Pogba's $100 MM transfer fee mentioned above, may i recommend the following truly well written article from Sports Illustrated.
Though written in 1994, it was reprinted again 20 years later b.c. it was one of their best articles.
https://www.si.com/more-sports/2014/08/05/si-60-how-we-got-here-steve-rushin-1994
UK dudes - I don't know if you are familiar with Sports Illustrated. Though it covered sports it was more that just a bunch of articles about bone-headed athletes... It was relatively high quality journalism covering sports.
Thanks Sean. Given you were an artist you probably got the best insight into all this.
But what is it that seems so "different" about the Dredd art? They had a different production method? OR it was just the paper?
But I was a big fan of comic strips here, in the newspaper, and never experienced anything like Dredd's art (or Crumb's).
Well, if I sound like I'm not making sense, don't worry, lol. Maybe it's just a Charlie thing.
And thanks for the link! I put it in for later viewing. It's a nice Sunday and me and the missus need to do that outside pre-winter stuff before ice and snow, e.g., clean out the lawn mower, bring in the hoses, etc.
Charlie, the art styles might be relevant, as they're quite different to most mainstream US comics.
Do you mean just the Dredd covers? Because the two Ace Trucking covers here are by the late Massimo Belardinelli who also had a really amazing inking technique - not that you can tell from this post - but generally you don't find that many artists using an illustrative approach in US comics.
(Obviously there are a few. But then someone like Alfredo Alcala's work suffered from his crosshatched lines blurring together in print, especially on the smaller page size of the colour monthlies).
I reckon American artists - especially in newspapers - often had a more direct, bold style, a kind of comic book shorthand developed to work with - or rather despite - poor reproduction.
(For all that Robert Crumb's work tends to be cartoonish it does have a lot of texture to it)
Er... does any of that make sense? (If you meant just the Dredd covers specifically maybe I completely misunderstand what you were getting at...)
-sean
Charlie-
Tell Charlie it's ok if he's not making sense. He sometimes goes all over the place, and it's alright. Maybe give him a yogurt or an organic, vegan jello.
Steve-
To refresh your memory if you DID see the film, Halloween II continues from the same night as the end of the first one. Most of the scenes occur in the hospital that they took Jamie Lee Curtis to.
Sean - Thanks for the reply! I'll need to re-read it in detail to give it the time it deserves!
I'm quickly blending a beet-carrot-cilantro-pear-celery smoothy to finish off the yard!
Alas, no energy to do the Xmas lights!
Well, I didn't even write "misunderstood" properly at the end there, so I'm not really in a position to have a go at Charlie (although I doubt that would stop me).
-sean
I got the Queen's Greatest Hits album for Christmas when I was maybe thirteen.
Man, I played that thing endlessly. I know every note in those songs backwards and forwards.
Incidentally, there's a very cool new animated video on You Tube for "All Dead, All Dead" (from the News of the World album).
I didn't dig everything Queen did, but they were never afraid to take risks and very often they knocked the ball clean outta the park.
M.P.
When Queen's Greatest Hits came out it was an instant staple for CD juke boxes I filled orders for.
Charlie, maybe if you had a meal of Delmonico or porterhouse steak (just barely medium rare, with pink juice dripping out), and a big baked potato sloshed with butter & sour cream you'd have had the zing to put up the Xmas lights.
That's what I'm planning on making myself for thanksgiving dinner.
Oh, and if we're talking Queen's Greatest Hits, should we have a Best Bohemian Rhapsody poll?
Off the top of my head, we could have a choice between
- Queen
- William Shatner
- The Muppets
- Bohemian Gravity by A Capella Science
- Wayne's World
- Hayseed Dixie
- Peanuts Gang
And I'd have to vote for The Shat. He doesn’t hold it back.
Thats so obvious its hardly worth polling dm.
It'd be more interesting to find out which tunes he did that people think best capture the Shat magic; I lean toward Mr Tambourine Man, but as well as Bohemian Rhapsody you've got Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, Rocket Man, Space Oddity and plenty of others to chose from. He even did Silver Machine.
And if Steve needs an excuse to hold a poll, he could make it seasonal as Shatner did a Christmas album last year. Including Iggy Pop! (No Charlie, they didn't do Devil Woman or We Don't Talk Any More).
-sean
Hold on. What? William Shatner did a cover of Bohemian Rhapsody? This I have to hear.
I'm off to YouTube to listen to it, right now.
I actually have The Shat's Seeking Major Tom album, Sean, and I must say it's pretty amazing. Just check out the list of tracks. And every track has a guest musician on it. Warren Haynes on Twilight Zone, Peter Frampton on Spirit In The Sky, Ritchie Blackmore somewhere.
My favourite Shat tracks are Bohemian Rhapsody, Spirit In The Sky and Common People. The first two are on that album. Common People isn't but is well worth checking out on YouTube. Be sure to go for the version with scenes from the Star Trek cartoon series.
Christmas albums sounds like a good idea for a poll. I don't have any. But if I were ever to buy one, it would probably be The Shat or Lynyrd Skynyrd that I went for. Maybe Marshall Tucker Band or Clapton at a stretch.
Bootsy Collins and Steve Hillage are on Seeking Major Tom too dm - everyone wants a bit of the Shat action.
By maing the poll seasonal I meant just including, say, Silent Night from the Shatner Claus lp. Still, Christmas albums generally is ok by me, but are there that many outside of compilations?
Pretty sure Steve's done more general festive song polls before, or at least discussed the subject. Every year actually. (So why stop now?)
-sean
Waaaaaitaminnit. Sean, are saying that Iggy Pop appeared on a Shatner Christmas album or that he's putting out one himself?
Either way, why was I not informed?!
Work with me here people!!! I can't keep track of everything!
...y'know, Iggy could do a pretty good "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" cover with that creepy-ass voice of his.
M.P.
Loved reading Townsend's and Daltry's interview in Rolling Stone today. They took a shot at Iggy over something or another, lol.
Anyhow, I'd rather listen to the UK's Moody Blues than Queen (IMO, LOL). Gimme Tuesday Afternoon, For My Lady, The Question, or Knights White Satin over Bohemian Rhapsody!
Hey - Is it true Trump fired Scaramucci in July 2017 because he couldn't do the Fandango???
He's just a rich boy, nobody loves him Charlie.
Er... you were on safer ground with Donovan (although I don't mind Giorgio Moroder's 70s Eurodisco version of Nights in White Satin).
Yeah M.P., Iggy Pop is on Shatner's Silent Night and Henry Rollins on his Jingle Bells, so don't say I never tell you anything.
I'll even throw in the added observation that they're both appalling, but feel free to find out for yourself.
-sean
I dunno, I like Shatners' stuff. The Shat and Rollins (who like me is an American treasure) teamed up on the track "I Can't Get Behind That." Brilliant!
Sean, I hafta say I'm disappointed in you. Can't you appreciate whimsy?
I mean, you're Irish for chrissakes.
Hell, I'm half Dutch and I'm whimsical as %@#&. And they are often a dour people.
M.P.
When you guys say Shat / Shatner you mean the dude from Star Trek?
Sean - Donvan rocks but The Moody Blues... well I was just listening to them on the record player.
My first observation was... "WOW! That's what stereo sounded like!" (Been listening to too much smart phone on my desk and such.
Second they have 15 times as many hits as Donovan. Maybe not as many as Three Dog Night but close! (I pray we don't have any 3 Dog Nights here like last winter. That was inhuman.)
Its not easy getting anything past you Charlie.
Not knocking Shatner or the other two M.P., I just don't care much for their versions of Silent Night or Jingle Bells.
-sean
Gah! - Whenever I reply to Charlie he gets another comment in first so it doesn't quite follow on....
-sean
I'm not much of a one for the sound of the mellotron Charlie.
Who cares about how many hits someone has? Next you'll be saying Throbbing Gristle weren't any good because they never had any...
-sean (Three comments in a row? I'll stop now)
That's because there's more than one of him.
M.P.
Winter is coming, Charlie. I expect horrific conditions, as per usual.
The icecaps may be melting, but winters in the Dakotas still suck. Sometimes it's like walking around on the surface of Europa in a hat and a coat.
Yet weirdly, the climate is getting wetter and more tropical in the spring, summer and fall. Wetlands are expanding (for a change),massive flooding, and I've never seen more reptiles in my life. It's almost like it's starting to revert to what it was a hundred or eighty million years ago, when this place was a swamp. This was dinosaur country, heck, they even had sharks in South Dakota and Wyoming.
Tough on the farmers, though. On the news a while back there was this guy inspecting his corn field in a motorboat. I'm not making that up.
M.P.
Charlie
The Shat = William Shatner = Dude from Star Trek, yes
MP - Thunderbolts and lightening, very, very frightening! Hope you Dakotans can do the Fandango.
Sean - We're "bi." So "yes" Charlie and I have twice the brainpower to work with. And yes, Charlie would say Throbbing Gristle isn't noteworthy sans any hits. I wouldn't but he woulld. But' since he's me best mate I have to accommodate him.
DM, Sean - Thank you. Now I know what to youtube while the man is beating my ass down at the job: Shatty, Shat, Shatner!
KD - Mock my kale smoothies, it's OK! But when I drop a deuce I could write sonnets to the smooth move that would make you jealous!!!
You got that right, oh my brother!
A good solid ca-poop-a-lee- doople is worth celebrating!! Especially on my end (pun intended)!
Wow, I said "ca-poop-a-lee-doople".
Hey, Sean, oh my brother-
I've noticed that you may have misdirected responses on statements I'VE made, especially those concerning Throbbing Gristle, to Charlie.
I'd bet Charlie hasn't heard a lick of them. lol!
That's alright. We Americans are all the same anyway. Lmoa.
Steve-
Feel free to use the term "ca-poop-a-lee-doople" when you know a comic stinks.
I haven't trademarked it, yet.
Neither Charlie nor me have heard of Throbbing Gristle.
In fact the name alone reminds us, being Catholic, of the various churches in Europe claiming to have the foreskin of Jesus as a relic. (All his other bodily parts ascended with him into heaven.)
Similarly one can find the member of Rasputin on display in a museum in St. Petersburg.
Well. that's what happens when weird stuff hits the blogoshphere.
Charlie, neither you nor Charlie are missing anything as far as Throbbing Gristle goes.
Rasputin The Mad Monk, a Hammer film, is a very entertaining flick. I'm uncertain how historically correct it is, though. Starring Christopher Lee, which is always a bonus.
Just seen there's a Cats In Space Christmas album coming out. The way they embrace the 1970s, I approve of this more than I do of most Christmas albums. It,s on my Amazon wishlist now.
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