Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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You know who was under pressure, this week in 1981?
David Bowie was.
And so was Freddie Mercury.
But possibly not that much pressure, because their song of that title had just smashed its way to the Number One spot on the UK singles chart; dethroning the Police, in the process.
And good news abounded for Queen on the British album chart, as well, with their Greatest Hits LP retaining its place at the pinnacle there.
Also under pressure - but in a very different way - was the Doctor and his assistant Jo, on this very evening of forty years ago.
Horror of horrors, they were confronted by the nightmarish Drashigs in BBC Two's repeat of The Carnival of Monsters, the latest installment in its Five Faces of Doctor Who season.
Half glove puppet. Half serpent. Half caterpillar. All terror. Who could forget the Drashigs?
Some sights stick with you for the whole of the rest of your life.
In this one, I'm assured that Spidey teams up with Moon Knight.
In which case, I'd guess it's the one in which Moonie's out to infiltrate New York's criminal underworld by pretending he's out to kill our favourite webhead.
Fortunately, Spidey's in on it and justice is soon brought to the gangs of New York.
This week's centrefold is a poster in which Spider-Man's about to tackle the Sinister Six.
Yes it can!
Roger "Red" Norvell - presumably no relation to Duncan - puts on Thor's belt of strength and Iron Gloves and becomes a new thunder god, who's even more awesome than the old one.
He then orders Sif to leave with him or he'll destroy Asgard.
I have a feeling he'll soon be getting his comeuppance.
Back on Earth, Captain America's still having his Hollywood showdown with the Red Skull, as tempers just keep rising over the making of a Captain America biopic.
Elsewhere in that nation, a famous painting by Rembrandt has been stolen by a shadowy figure.
And it can only mean one thing.
That Daredevil's about to meet Tagak the leopard man.
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27 comments:
That “Under Pressure “ video always brought a tear of joy to Charlie who had and still has a 33” waist (except after fattening up during the holidays lol).
I was in Tesco this morning and I saw a book called "Magnifico! The A-Z Of Queen" and on Saturday evening there'll be a documentary about Freddie Mercury on Radio 4 (because next week is the 30th anniversary of his death).
Tesco is also selling packets of McVitie's Christmas pudding flavour chocolate digestives. Obviously I had to buy a packet out of curiosity and I can report that they do taste vaguely of Christmas pudding.
Paul, in the previous post when I said UK press sales were plummeting I meant the newspapers, The Sun, Mail, Express etc (which I'm very glad about). I have no information about comics or magazines.
CH Impressed you've had a 33 waist all that time. I can't recall the Queen)Bowie video.
Colin. I totally agree it's good that those particular papers circulation are falling
McScofty? On Talksport H&J (13:00 your time) they regularly and frequently speak with sports reporters. I dont recall which papers they favor. Do you gents read the papers then or just get their insights via their emails or… too busy toonread sports writers most likely lol.
I receive the Friday and only soccer column via email from the New York Times soccer reporter. Very insightful… high level of writing. I can try to share if interested but i do subscribe to NYT so it may not work. If interested Steve has my email (and now my waist size).
And NO! He does not write about US soccer much LOL although we had a near-spiritual level win against Mexico last Friday. Orgasmic.
Colin, et al. I know socxer isnt your thing lol. Please pardon me.
And if I’m writing loopy i literally just came out of ACL surgery 3 hours ago and am well lubed! I don’t like pain… like that anyhow.
McScofty? On Talksport H&J (13:00 your time) they regularly and frequently speak with sports reporters. I dont recall which papers they favor. Do you gents read the papers then or just get their insights via their emails or… too busy toonread sports writers most likely lol.
I receive the Friday and only soccer column via email from the New York Times soccer reporter. Very insightful… high level of writing. I can try to share if interested but i do subscribe to NYT so it may not work. If interested Steve has my email (and now my waist size).
And NO! He does not write about US soccer much LOL although we had a near-spiritual level win against Mexico last Friday. Orgasmic.
Colin, et al. I know socxer isnt your thing lol. Please pardon me.
And if I’m writing loopy i literally just came out of ACL surgery 3 hours ago and am well lubed! I don’t like pain… like that anyhow.
CH. I rarely read newspapers now but check them on the internet ( mostly for work) or via radio usually Radio Scotland and Clyde 1 which deals with the Scottish game. Hope you better soon after your surgery, take care.
Whenever I hear a commercial using a Queen song it pisses me off. How dare they defile what is good.
Except for this one commercial advertising some kinda medieval combat video game, for which they used "The Seven Seas of Ryhe."
That was kinda cool, I'll admit.
Last night, for the first time, I read "the Great God Pan" by Arthur Machen. All the way through. You guys know about it? I'd read that it's described as one of the greatest horror stories ever written.
Jesus, I was awake half the night after reading that.
M.P. is a nervous cat.
M.P.
Alan Moore goes on about Arthur Machen in his mid-90s spoken word piece Snakes & Ladders, M.P.
Art, dna, magick... you can listen to it on Youtube if you feel like a laugh.
Steve, I didn't see Dr Who til the last few stories of the Pertwee era, so I had to check what the Drashigs were.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymfycCQY0n8
Er... well, they certainly don't make 'em like that anymore.
-sean
And Eddie Campbell adapted Snakes and Ladders into comic form, later collected (along with The Birth Caul) in A Disease of Language:
https://www.amazon.com/Disease-Language-Alan-Moore/dp/0861661710
Following last time's Big Numbers comments, this was Eddie attempting a style towards what he planned had Alan agreed to his continuing (or restarting) Big Numbers.
DW
I dunno if I need Alan Moore to describe the weird and diabolical to me at this late date, Sean, though I must admit he has a flair for it.
I was reading Machen and I thought, okay, I understand Lovecraft now.
I've been slowly, steadily working my way through gothic horror novels this past year; The Monk, by Lewis, Melmoth the Wanderer, by Maturin, and now I guess I'm gonna have to read Robert Chambers.
I've been putting that off. I'm not sure I wanna read it. I dunno how weird I wanna get.
This may be the road to madness.
M.P.
Sean, thanks for the link. The Drashigs are almost as terrifying as the dress sense of the characters at the end of that clip.
MP, I don't think I've ever read any Arthur Machen, although I have heard tell of him on many occasions.
Charlie, like McScotty, I wish you a speedy recovery. I've not read a physical newspaper in about 15 years and didn't even know it was possible to have them emailed to you. Not that I have any wish to have any emailed to me. British newspapers are, by and large, not great.
McScotty, I don't recall the Queen/David Bowie video either. I'm pretty sure that when it was Number One, Top of the Pops didn't show one, it just played the track without pictures.
Sky News does a UK paper review at 10.30pm (ish), every night.
Hope you get well soon, Charlie!
Phillip
The Guardian has a pretty good football comic strip every Tuesday, Charlie -
www.theguardian.com/profile/david-squires
Steve, yeah - the clip wouldn't have been the same without those other characters (;
As soon as I saw them I remembered more about the Carnival Of Monsters, from reading the Target paperback novelization. Not having seen Dr Who before moving to England, I read quite a few of those... its always amusing to see how a story actually looked on screen compared to what I imagined from the books.
-sean
The Under Pressure cover version from Annie Lennox and David Bowie at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert (1992) is probably my most watched video on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wt78vnPucQ
MP, did you know that "The Castle of Otranto" is considered to be the first ever gothic horror novel? It was written by Horace Walpole who was the son of Robert Walpole, the first British Prime-Minister (he was PM from 1721-42). Like Steve, I haven't read any Arthur Machen but I've certainly heard of him and I haven't read Robert W. Chambers either but "The King In Yellow" is considered to be a horror classic.
Phil, a 36" waist and 6' 1" height are the perfect measurements ;)
Colin
The first series of True Detective referenced the King in Yellow heavily in its final episodes. Very good series.
DW
So ABBA's 'Voyage' album has been bumped down to #2 by, of all things, Taylor Swift re-recording one of her old albums.
In the singles chart two more Christmas songs creep in - Michael Buble and The Pogues/Kirsty MacColl. Not long until the festive frenzy starts and half the chart is Christmas songs!
That Taylor Swift album ('Red') includes the only song of hers that I actually like - 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together'.
Thanks, Colin.
Concerning "The Castle of Otranto" I've read ABOUT it. It sounds pretty weird alright, so I'm probably gonna have to read it at some point.
I've been aiming for the big targets first.
The Great God Pan was downright horrific, particularly the ending. For a guy who grew up with REH and Lovecraft, it was worth putting in the nightmarish effort to get to the end of the goddam thing. Admittingly, M.P. is a weird cat when it comes to literature.
I'm getting these things through the "Inter-Library Loan system", which is fantastic, I can get my trembling sweaty hands on just about anything short of the Necronomicon. (they keep that locked up tight in the Library at Miskatonic University in Arkham after that unfortunate Whateley business, or so I'm told)
But I've been getting weird looks from these local librarians.
I would much prefer getting sexy looks from these comely young female librarians, but, whaddya gonna do.
M.P.
I've been listening to the Freddie Mercury documentary on Radio 4 which was very interesting. It repeated the claim that Queen's career in America was badly damaged by the video for 'I Want To Break Free' where they all appeared in drag - but that claim has been denied by our American friends on this very blog!
I don't buy that either. I thought the video was funny, and it was a good song on a good album.
Anybody who's alarmed by guys in drag (at this late date) probably wasn't a Queen fan to begin with!
I've never heard anybody say anything about it. Not everybody over here is a raging homophobe.
I've loved Queen since News of the World, when I was, like, ten. One of my uncles used to give me shit about it. I thought, "screw that asshole. I knows what I likes."
Once you're a Queen fan, you're a Queen fan for life.
There's no cure for it!
Just listen to a couple or three tracks every week or so and you can manage this terminable condition indefinitely.
M.P.
They have to explain away why they didn't have as many hits in the US somehow, Colin.
Music must be one of the least rigorous forms of journalism there is - any old bit of unsourced gossip gets repeated as fact for decades, without anyone checking even the most obviously unlikely things. Its as carefully researched as an old Boris Johnson column in the Torygraph.
-sean
Charlie never heard a single refernce to Queen and their sexuality, growing up. Never. I never had an album until their Greatest Hits around 1980? I think my brother had one or two.
Most guys i knew thought Queen were.a Good band… We just werent that caught up with them is all but they certainly got a lot or airplay.
I certainly heard that the drag scene affected their sales at the time in the US but I think that was just the right facing press as they were selling bucket loads over there. I think there sales took a dip everywhere a few years later(all bands go through that phase) and maybe that fuelled the story. Everyone in the UK that was into music new Freddie ( and George Michael) were gay at the time never affected them at all.
I think Queen's sales dipped a bit by the end of the 70s Paul, but they really went off a cliff after 'Another One Bites the Dust' was a big hit, after they went further in that direction as Freddie Mercury was inspired by what he heard in gay clubs.
Its interesting that a band fronted by a gay, south Asian (via Zanzibar) were so big back in the 70s...
-sean
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