Mit Dinger/Rother von NEU!
Mit Dinger/Rother von NEU!
1978
Neil Roberts does an ethnomusicologist turn in this edition of “established media tries to explain what the young people are doing”. His subject is NZ’s fledgling punk scene which is already on its way to extinction. Much of the focus is on Auckland but Doomed lead singer (and future TV presenter/producer) Johnny Abort (aka Dick Driver) flies the flag for the south. The Stimulators, Suburban Reptiles and Scavengers play live and punk fans pogo and talk about violence directed at them (from “beeries”).
Zebonka: ”What pisses me off the most is that people look at this and think “heh heh heh, stupid 70′s people!”, when in actual fact WE are the dumbasses for not building this motherfucker. Space stations are badass, and so was the space shuttle. Fuck you if you think any differently!”
I found this kitchen towel bundle for pretty good price (it was originally $16 and I got it for $8!). I had an idea of what I wanted to do with them…
All you need for this project is Inkodye, a glass plate (I got mine from a picture frame) and a black Expo marker. I recommend using Expo brand markers specifically because they block sunlight really well (you could also use a transparency instead of a glass plate).
The Menacing of the East River Bridge
via The Menacing of the East River Bridge by alternatehistories.
Now we’re all on the same level playing field, access wise. It may seem cynical, but the loss of that prior sense of privilege seems to be a big part of what’s being lamented by critics like Simon Reynolds in his book Retromania. Oh for the days when punk was new and so were its best and brightest fans, and only a handful of people had the inside running on genius. Yet the fact everyone is now privy to history’s treasures is a really good thing isn’t it?
There were already tensions between you two and David Byrne when Tom Tom Club started, and yet Talking Heads still managed to stumble on for another decade. Do you think the commercial success of those early Tom Tom Club singles helped prolong the Heads?
CF: It actually did, yes. It’s really no secret that David always had his sights set on a career outside Talking Heads – he felt like that was just one phase of his development. And I think the fact that we were selling tons of record on our first album, and getting lots of airplay, and having people sample our songs – that made David think, ‘Oh, maybe these people are still of value to me.’ Ha! But bless David’s heart, I don’t really want to disparage him because the stuff that we did together was so remarkable and outstanding… but, you know, nobody’s perfect.