You know why? BECAUSE THEY WERE ON APPLE RECORDS! I have a good friend whose band put out an LP for Apple Records in the early ’70s. They might actually be pretty good, but nobody gives a fuck. It’s like when actors decide what they really want to do is sing. So the prospect of artists starting up record companies to inflict their old heroes and new discoveries not just on a captive room full of fans, but on the whole damn world at once, only turns my dread up another notch or two. The point of this little prologue is to explain that I get suspicious when famous acts reach the point where they decide it’s not enough that millions of people worship them, now we all have to worship the bands they like, too. We decided he still sucked, and tossed the cassette out the window of our van, figuring, if he was the Lord of the Highway, he’d be pleased. Experience and maturity had refined our tastes, so we were ready to listen to the tape with open ears. My friend and I were touring with our own band now, and knew what it was like to play for a roomful of people who just wanted us to hurry up and finish so whatever group they actually paid to see could take the stage. It was painful and embarrassing enough that the members of the Clash felt compelled to come out on stage and dance around in trench coats while Ely sang, just so the crowd would start clapping, which, like good little robots, we did.Įight years later, someone gave me a Joe Ely tape: Lord of the Highway. Ely’s songs were all pretty slow, and his voice was pretty low, so the crowd eventually got louder than the guy performing. I did this mostly because I was a fifteen-year-old dunderhead, and hating the opening acts at rock concerts was as much a part of the ritual back then as holding up lighters when our beloved headliners left the stage. The band called it quits in 2000.”Įarly in 1980, when the Clash came to New York City to play the Palladium, my friend and I joined the majority of the crowd in booing opening act Joe Ely. The band’s Wikipedia page sums up what happened after that thusly: “Their song, ‘Shift Into Turbo’ was featured in Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, which came out the following year. Fulflej also recorded another album, ‘To Keep A Long Story Long’ in 1998, though it was only released through MP3.com. The Fulflej LP D’arcy and James were so excited about didn’t excite the kids quite the way James had anticipated. My cynicism about the venture’s odds of success turned out to be justified, though it brings me no satisfaction to say so. The magazine got a cover shot that would help sell issues, while James and D’arcy got a chance to promote the label they’d recently formed with Mercury. ![]() This was the cover story for Raygun #42 in December, ’96.
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