Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
***
July 1985 gave us a choice that could test the wisdom of Solomon himself. We could spend our money going to the cinema or we could spend it going to Live Aid.
But which should we choose?
Well, let's see. The picture houses of the world were currently showing Back to the Future, Red Sonja, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Silverado, Day of the Dead, Kiss of the Spider Woman and National Lampoon's European Vacation.
They were also showing a thing called Dr Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam. I don't have a clue what the hell that was but, from that title, it sounds like a thing best watched with the assistance of vast quantities of mind-bending substances.
Live Aid, on the other hand, was offering us access to the world's greatest music stars and Nik Kershaw.
But Wembley and Philadelphia weren't the only places we could find music. After all, we could also find it on the pop charts.
The UK singles chart, that month, kicked off with Sister Sledge's Frankie at Number One. That was soon deposed by the Eurythmics' There Must be an Angel (Playing With My Heart) which was then overthrown by Madonna's Into the Groove.
Over on the British album chart, July arrived with Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA ruling the roost for three-quarters of the month before it was replaced by Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms.
But what of the galaxy's greatest comic while this smorgasbord of song was being unleashed?
As so often, it was offering us a diet of Strontium Dog, Judge Dredd, Sláine, Ace Trucking Co and Rogue Trooper, while Judge Anderson was still battling the Dark Judges. Judging by the covers below, the comic seemed to have developed a strange fixation with surfing but I don't know in which strips that fixation was manifesting itself.
Its the six part Judge Dredd story 'Midnight Surfer' being referenced on a couple of those covers, Steve, which re-introduced the character of Chopper last seen progs 206 and 207 ('Unamerican Graffiti'). It was a fairly (imo) uninspired story about illegal flying surfboard racing, but featured some nice artwork by the curiously under-rated Cam Kennedy.
ReplyDeleteBtw, the 2000AD Summer Special for 1885 came out this month, which - among a fair few reprints - included a DR & Quinch story by Alans Moore and Davis.
-sean
These four progs are pretty hit and miss. Actually, mostly miss. Cliff Robinson's art on Judge Anderson is good but finished up in prog 427. Worse, it was replaced by another Ace Trucking Co. story. We do get two chapters of Slaine by Glenn Fabry, and, personally, I didn't mind the Midnight Surfer story. Unfortunately Strontium Dog and Rogue Trooper are both forgettable and so I'm out for now. Thinking about it, I recall first reading Midnight Surfer in colour, and so must have bought the Quality Comic reprints a couple of years later.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't around in 1885 however I did (and still do) have the 1985 Summer Special, which also featured a new DR and Quinch story 'back to nature' as well a double sized Halo Jones poster.
DW
I wasn’t that impressed with the Midnight Surfer story either, and I wasn’t a Cam Kennedy fan at the time though I’m just now beginning to appreciate his art a bit more. I still find the fact that his faces all look the same a bit of a problem.
ReplyDeleteCliff Robertson always felt like someone who was trying to do Bolland (all that fine crosshatched inking) but was more like a Robin Smith with his stiff figures and dodgy anatomy. This cover is a Smith though isn’t it, as he seemed to do half the covers this year…?
This must surely have been the last days of Ace Trucking…? It’s been going for about five years at this point. Please make it stop.
Frankie reminds me of a girlfriend I had that year, and I love the Eurythmics and Madonna singles to follow. But not those two albums. Or Live Aid.
I'd even have preferred more Judge Anderson to the return of Ace Trucking, Matthew, that's how bad it was. Poor old Massimo Belardinelli, having to draw that sh*t.
ReplyDeleteAnd I didn't like Live Aid either. Fair play to the people who did it, especially the organisers - like, whatever you think of them (or the economic and political realities behind 'famine' in the modern world) at least they tried to raise some money for a good cause - but the event itself... I was not interested. At all.
In retrospect Live Aid seems like the first major cultural anticipation of the 90s. You know, the end of history - after Reaganomics and Thatcherism won - when we loved celebrities and free market capitalism, but at least we weren't racists, misogynists and homophobes anymore (well, not openly in public anyway).
-sean
Sean, DW and Matthew, thanks for your comments. I wonder if there was anyone who liked Ace Trucking? I assume there must have been because they kept bringing it back.
ReplyDeleteProbably the readers who were younger back then than the 50 somethings who comment here were into Ace Trucking, Steve. Tharg was juggling two audiences really - the traditional kid readership for weekly comics, and the older teen+ readers who'd stuck with 2000AD since the early days.
ReplyDeleteLike, I don't recall much enthusiasm for Rogue Trooper here in the comments, but the series was a constant in the progs for years. I expect it was a lot more popular than, say, The Ballad of Halo Jones (not that she seemed to be a massive hit with the usual suspects here either, at least early on, which surprised me).
-sean
*Actually, even those younger readers in the early 80s would be at least 50 by now. But you know what I mean.
ReplyDelete-sean
Chiming in here at the tail end to wxpress a couple thoughts on Live Aid. At the time I was quite excited about it, and was most irritated that I had to work that day and thus missed much of the programming. I did catch the evening coverage here in the states, and liked what I saw. Got to see my man Thomas Dolby on keyboards for David Bowie, anyway.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, the politics involved were, at best naive. But there were certainly good intentions (yes, we all know where the road of good intentions leads). Perhaps my lingering fondness for the event was the echoes of Woodstock, albeit for the 80's generation.
Finally, it seems odd they never released an album (ok, boxed set of albums) culled from the multitudinous performances. There was a video, which I've never seen. I most definitely would have bought the audio recording; still would today. Seems like that might have generated a few coins for the cause...
I believe there is a right's issue which has prevented the release of any official recording of Live Aid (certainly the Wembley concert). Surely the benefit to the charities outweighed the disappointment over any underlying politics?
ReplyDeleteI mostly remember watching the hour and a half between finishing at Sainsbury's and heading out for the evening during which time I saw the whole of the Queen, Bowie and Who sets (other than when the tv feed dropped out). All three did really great sets which still look ok on youtube. I reckon Bowie's version of Heroes that is a cracker.
I don't think I've ever met anyone that admits a fondness for Ace Trucking Co., and so wonder if it was a favour to Wagner and Grant for all of the great Dredd stories. It was, somehow, still going towards prog 500 (possibly beyond). I never cared for Strontium Dog, either, but that at least was pretty much on-point for the target 2000AD theme.
DW
that day
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who was a casual 2000AD reader but who never got into comics otherwise, and he liked Ace Trucking. We were both about 9 or 10 when it first appeared, and in our teens when it finally ended. So there’s him.
ReplyDeleteI’ve mentioned this before, but I was oblivious to Live Aid until my friends told me it was on. And even then I just gave it a cursory 5 minutes.
It just wasn’t my thing,
I think (and I’m theorising here we’ll after the fact) that the fact that it was mainly comprised of older rock & pop legends - what I would politely call ‘my parent’s music’ - meant it didn’t feel particularly fresh or interesting. I like Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ now, but as a callow 14-year-old who was into the latest electronic pop and a bit of indie, it meant nothing. Same with Queen, Phil Collins, the Stones etc.
MM
ReplyDeleteI was 17 at the time and obsessively into The Smiths who probably would have been the last band to consider performing, however Bowie, Queen, U2 etc were popular enough to appeal to most of my friends. Having aid that, I didn't stay in on the Saturday night, or anything...
I don't think the London concert was meant to be anymore meaningful than a popular show raising a load of money for a good cause. If Geldof was looking for street credit, I doubt he would have invited Charles and Di ;-)
DW
Having said that...
ReplyDeleteYou'd think I would've learned to proof read my messages before posting by now.
DW
My memories of Live Aid are vague, now. I thought I watched it, but since Colin highlighted the significance of 'Into the Groove', at the concert (a while back), I think I may have been on holiday, at the time. Memory's reconstructive, and Live Aid's been discussed on tv music shows so many times since, that who knows? Although I was a year younger than DW, and two years older than Matthew, the only old fogie (fogey?) performer, to me, was Jagger. He wasn't my parents' music, though, them being too old even for the Stones! My father was 56 at the time, I think.Or maybe it's more a question of musical taste. Although, to my father, most pop music was total dross, I remember him hearing "The Living Years", by Mike & the Mechanics, and it striking a deep chord with him. My father's reaction surprised me, it being the first time positive reaction from either of my parents to "our generation's" music.
ReplyDeletePhillip
Not that I'm saying "The Living Years" was performed at Live Aid. I think it was from the subsequent years, when I was in the Sixth Form.
ReplyDeletePhillip
On the subject of music events, interestingly enough it occurs to me that Live Aid happened less than a month after the cops cracked a load of skulls putting a stop to the Peoples Free Festival at Stonehenge (yes, I'm surprised I didn't bring that up here last month too).
ReplyDeleteObviously you can regard that as a complete coincidence, but you can also see the contrast between the two as an indication of what a turning point in the modern history of the UK the mid-80s were.
-sean