Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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There was a time when Gary Glitter was famous purely for being a pop star. And this week in 1973 was one of those times. That's because it was the week the not-at-all glamorous glam rocker hit the top spot on the UK singles chart with I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am!).
Amazingly, the singer was only in his twenties at the time, despite the widespread perception of him as being wildly superannuated.
Meanwhile, on the British LP chart, the roost was still being ruled by Various Artists' That'll Be the Day.
The trouble is that's the exact moment the Puppet Master decides he knows just what it takes to get revenge on Subby.
And that's a mind-controlled Hulk!
Cue the obligatory punch-up and, surely, the Hulk's greatest story, so far.
Elsewhere, for the eighty billionth time, the Watcher breaks his oath to not interfere, and recruits the Fantastic Four to deal with the valency-violating villainy of the vilely verminous Molecule Man.
And, whatever you do, don't miss Marvel UK's Swap Shop inside!
Always on the lookout for a quick buck, Spider-Man decides he's going to win himself that reward. But who is the Cat and where can he find him?
Meanwhile, Thor finally disposes of Mr Hyde and the Cobra.
But, when his alter-ego Don Blake returns to the office, he discovers Jane Foster hates him, thanks to his plan for defeating the villains having involved him "betraying" the thunder god she adores.
Speaking of Gary Glitter , he apparently had a thing for Jell-O! Jell-O was invented in Le Roy NY! And, since the Charlies are in Le Roy NY, they were able to stop in at fhe Jell-O museum!
ReplyDeleteBut did you know packaged gelatin started in Scotland???!!! “Knox’s - Made from sparkling calf’s head gelatin!”
If that slogan doesn’t send one running to the Scottish grocer, what would???
It was inevitable you'd have to mention Gary Glitter eventually in this feature, Steve. Never mind, let us turn our attention to more wholesome musical fare aimed at the nation's youth than 'Leader of the Gang', as that most 70s of singles - Hawkwind's brilliant 'Urban Guerilla' - was released this week 50 years ago.
ReplyDeletewww.youtube.com/watch?v=_7bS2YiwXiw
The BBC wouldn't play it, considering lyrics like "I'm an urban guerilla, I make bombs in my cellar/ I'm society's destructor, a petrol bomb constructor/ I'm a cosmic light conductor, the people's debt collector" to be in poor taste for some reason. But it got into the top 40 anyway... at which point it was withdrawn from sale.
Boooo! Down with the Man, man.
-sean
'Valency-violating villainy' is still a good one, Steve.
ReplyDeleteI liked the Molecule Man. He was a sort of Crowleyite anarchist raging against modern capitalism - "I hereby nullify every man-made law! I countermand every known rule and regulation!" Do what thou wilt, and all that. Unfortunately the FF story wasn't that good though.
Still, the opening is quite amusing, with Reed examining a meteorite and theorising that there must be life in outer space. You'd think having been to Planet X, and acquainted with the Watcher - not to mention the Impossible Man, and a few Skrulls - he'd already know that.
-sean
July 28th 1973 was my mother's 41st birthday so she would have been 91 today!
ReplyDeleteSean, Fantastic Four #98 featured Neil Armstrong becoming the "first" man on the moon even though the FF had already been to the moon loads of times and indeed halfway across the galaxy by then!
Charlie, we Brits refer to jell-o as jelly.
Sean, nowadays the BBC would be fine with playing Urban Guerilla but they ban Gary Glitter.
Colin, what do you think of Jason Addeans single "Try that in a small town"? Is it really any worse than some OTT rap songs?
ReplyDeletehttps://genius.com/Jason-aldean-try-that-in-a-small-town-lyrics of the
Jason Aldean sorry
ReplyDeletePaul, I've just listened to that song on YouTube and I assume it'll be Trump's campaign song in 2024.
ReplyDeleteCharlie and Missus are walking into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland in a few hours. Charlie will report on the presence or not (?) of Gary Glitter!
ReplyDeleteCurious to this Yank is that the www site mentions that Rock was built on the likes of the Beatles, Stones, and… Bowie(?)!
Is Hulk Subby actually Tales to Astonish 100 or is it just the immortal cover from TOA 100?
ReplyDeleteThat tale in MWOM is indeed from Tales to Astonish issue 100 "Let there be battle!"
ReplyDeleteThanks McScotty! Charlie thought the cover was mighty familiar!
ReplyDeleteGerman scientists have revived some worms that were frozen for 46,000 years!!!
ReplyDeleteBeat that Captain America!
*Beat THAT, Captain America!
ReplyDeleteCharles can report that Gary Glitter is not in the Rock n Roll Ball of Fame.
ReplyDeleteIs the Ball Of Fame a new thing, Charlie?
ReplyDeleteSorry for the typo! However, having done a little googling on Gary glitter, perhaps he should be in the “infamous balls of fame? “
DeleteGary Glitter would probably have achieved "National Treasure" status by now if he wasn't so fond of little girls.
ReplyDeleteI was not familiar with James Aldean, Paul, but I have now checked out 'Try That in a Small Town'. So er... thanks?
ReplyDeleteWhat nice small towns they have in the American south, like Columbia, Tennessee where his video was filmed.
www.en.wikipedia/wiki/Columbia,_Tennessee#Columbia_race_riot_of_1946
Personally, I don't agree with 'cancel culture' - lets leave the book burning and record banning to right-wing nutters - and if some in-bred, good ol' boy redneck wants to make a tit of himself in public and let everyone know what an ignorant, hateful #### he is, he should be able to do that imo.
-sean
Yes, one listen to that song was more than enough for me too, Sean!
ReplyDeleteBut Country music is mostly right-wing though the Dixie Chicks did criticise George W Bush and got a lot of hate for it and their records were banned from Country stations.
Ironically George W Bush seems quite moderate and sensible nowadays. He came out straightaway and congratulated Biden on his election win while most Republicans were enabling Trump's stolen election fantasies.
ReplyDeleteI've downloaded the e-book version of Titan's new Conan The Barbarian comic which was free as part of Free Comic Book Day in May (I only learned about the free comic this morning). The art is by Robert De La Torre who is clearly strongly influenced by Big John Buscema's Conan art!
ReplyDeleteRegarding James Aldean, it’s hard to tell what is going on anymore bis a vis “osmosis.”. Given the massive fragmentation of news, due to the Internet, I did hear a blurb on national public radio about his issues and being banned on various platforms. However, I have heard nothing since. 30 years ago or so this probably would’ve been national news that the entire country would be aware of for several weeks on end.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting, though, that Republicans continuously and aggressively try to defund national public radio.
Charlie
The fragmentation of news is a plus, Charlie, in the sense that even though money still speaks loudly its easier for different voices to be heard these days. But also a problem for the same reason (there are some nutters out there). And who knows what might happen, now we're entering the era of AI and deep fakes.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe we already have! *cue Twilight Zone music*
At the very least, its looking like you lot in the US will have quite a lively presidential election next year...
-sean
Colin, I wouldn't call George Dubya sensible, but he does know a thing or two about how to steal an election.
ReplyDelete-sean
Dubya and Gary Glitter in the same blog! That has to be a first!
ReplyDelete