Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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World Cup fever's been gripping the globe, of late, but June 1988 saw our beloved continent sit down to watch the Uefa Euro 1988 Football Tournament in West Germany, which would be famously won by the Netherlands.
And, just as now, the temperature was on everyone's mind. This time because NASA scientist James Hansen testified to the United States Senate that human-made global warming had begun!
But, whatever happens in football - and whatever happens with the weather - one thing is always with us.
And that's the art form mankind knows as cinema.
And so it was that the month saw the release of such motion pictures as Big, Poltergeist III, the Presidio, Puss in Boots, Bull Durham, Red Heat, Waxwork, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Coming to America.
I am, inevitably, going to nominate Who Framed Roger Rabbit as my Movie of the Month. Other opinions are, of course, available.
And what of the music scene?
June kicked off with the unlikely pairing of Wet Wet Wet and Billy Bragg at Number One on the UK singles chart, thanks to their covers of With a Little Help from My Friends and She's Leaving Home. But, before long, that pairing was usurped by the Timelords (otherwise known as the KLF) and their track Doctorin' the Tardis, before the awesome new musical force that was Bros seized the pinnacle, with their smash hit I Owe You Nothing.
When it came to the accompanying album chart, the month breezed in with Various Artists' Nite Flite atop the pile before that was smited by the appearing-from-out-of-nowhere power of Tracy Chapman and her eponymous LP of the same name.
When it came to the accompanying album chart, the month breezed in with Various Artists' Nite Flite atop the pile before that was smited by the appearing-from-out-of-nowhere power of Tracy Chapman and her eponymous LP of the same name.
"Well, that's all well and good," I hear you cry, "but what of the Galaxy's Greatest Comic? Just what that was delivering to us?"
It was mostly delivering Bad Company, The Journal of Luke Kirby, Judge Dredd and A.B.C. Warriors, while Prog 580 saw the return of old warhorse Strontium Dog.
But there was a new occurrence.
And that was Prog 578's arrival of Tales of the Doghouse, by lan Grant and Colin MacNeil which was, it seems, a series of short stories set in the world of Strontium Dog. However, instead of focusing on that strip's protagonist Johnny Alpha, this sporadic feature devoted its attentions to other mutant bounty hunters working for the Search/Destroy Agency.
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7 comments:
In the video for 'I Owe You Nothing', the girl who slaps the Bros boy in the face looks like the same girl (albeit with a different hair do) who's in 'Father Figure', by George Michael.
Phillip
My reserved copies of 2000AD used to pile up at the newsagent I worked in part-time until I eventually had to buy them all, take them home and not read them. This went on until the newsagent closed in 1990. It was impossible to voluntarily break the habit, as it had been part of my life since prog 1.
Two bad Ian Gibsons. A rad Simon Bisley. Not a huge fan overall but damn that Deadlock cover stands out.
I actually went to see Poltergeist III [I was a huge fan of the original and had a soft spot for II]. It was one of the worst films I'd ever seen. Not been near it since. But I was interested to later read Todd Haynes say he'd admired something the cinematographer did on that movie and hired them for his film 'Safe'. So there you go. Every cloud...
And Coming To America! I went with a friend, and he'd seen Trading Places and knew all the in-jokes, but I hadn't. Still quite funny though.
Saw Big and Bull Durham on tape later on, and neither of them did as much for me as they do for other people. And Roger Rabbit I found mystifyingly dull. Haven't seen it since - am I missing something?
COMING TO AMERICA. Charlie and 3 friends saw it in Brussels in 88.
It was in VO with French and Flemish subtitles IIRC.
So…
It seemed funny to us yanks to see two sets of subtitles.
Also the scene where the black actor(s) leave their “afro-sheen” on the back of their high-backed chairs when they stood up (gloop from their hair) had the four of us laughing in hysteria when we noticed not one other person in a relatively full theatre was laughin!.
We talked about it after the movie surprised the joke didn’t transcend nationality. Weird.
Of this batch of films, I saw four: "Big", "Coming to America ", "Bull Durham" and "Roger Rabbit ". A full month for cinema at our household. Of those , "Roger Rabbit " gets the win. Being an animation nut, I couldn't resist it. Loved it from start to finish (the onstage feud between Donald and Daffy Duck kills me every time). Was overjoyed to finally score a copy on dvd last summer (all these intervening years and we never acquired it!).
I remember that 1988 Dutch team. Gull it, Van Basten, Koeman, Rijkaard. They played England of the park (effectively the England team that made the World Cup quarter finals two years later). That said, England also lost to Russia and Ireland. England’s nardir (not counting all those times we didn’t qualify 😉).
No memory of any of these progs. The current line-up doesn’t appeal. How long until Zenith returns?
Bros burned brightly if not for very long. Chart-topping, Wembley filling, teen-age laundry generating one minute to bankruptcy the next. I heard a first hand account, at the time, that their contract was one of the worst signed. It’s a sh#t business…
DW
Any of you UK gents attend the World Snail Racing Championships this weekend in Norfolk? Spoiler Warning (in case you taped it for later viewing!): SNAILOR SWIFT pulled out a W!
Steve - surely you should add this to your annual review of UK sports? Though, now that I think about it, you haven’t provided a pulse-pounding, senses-shattering review of any UK athletics since the snookers tournament a few years ago?
Andy Burnham has officially become the Prime-Minister! Let's hope he lasts longer than the previous five.
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