ROCK
1978: 0Golden
Guitar
The Michigan Daily-Sunday, January 7, 1979-Page
Awards
By ALAN RUBENFELD
and MIKE TAYLOR
N INETEEN SEVENTY-EIGHT
may be remembered by some rock
fans as the year punk rock died off, and
by others as the year it took hold;
strangely enough, both statements are
more or less true. Many of the groups
that emerged in 1977's tidal wave of
new music have dropped out of sight,
leaving stalwarts like Elvis Costello,
Talking Heads, Television, the Patti
Smith Group, the Ramones, Blondie,
and the Clash behind. But these bands
were stronger than ever this year;
many broke into the top 100 album
charts, and some tunes like Patti
Smith's "Because the Night" and
Talking Heads' "Take Me to the River"
made headway on AM radio charts.
The year will be remembered by the
record industry as the year of mega-
platinum bands-bands like Boston,
k'oreigner, Electric Light Orchestra,
Kansas, Styx, and Billy Joel. Record
companies focus their promotion on
these proven best-sellers, attempting to
sell three or four million units, when
just a million would have been a
tremendous success a couple of years
ago.
Unfortunately, this game plan leaves
little money to promote groups that
have not yet achieved superstardom,
yet have all the economic potential of
the above groups. Moreover, many of
these artists, such as Southside Johnny
and the Asbury Jukes, Blondie, the
Ramones, and Joan Armatrading, have
considerably greater artistic potential
than their platinum counterparts.
The year's best music came from
artists who have been around a few
years, but no longer. None of the best
groups were recording in the sixties'
although some are firmly rooted in
the traditions of sixties'
rock'n'roll. It wasn't a good year for
debuts - Ian Dury and Devo are the
only new artists to make our ten best
albums list, and both have been,
performing for some time.
Here then, are the Golden Guitar
Awards of 1978.
The Ten Best
Reed's tales of greed, passion, and
laughter. The simple instrumentation,
coupled with Reed's coarse voice
recalls the Velvet Underground in its
finest days.
though they are currently charging
exhorbitant prices on their concert tour,
Devo is the funniest talent to emerge in
1978. The year before, with only a
couple of nutty singles to their credit,
who could have predicted this fivesome
from Akron, Ohio would hit big? Brian
Eno's formica-smooth production
might be a little too sleek for some
devo-tees, but it's the perfect medium
for Devo's crazy tunes and silly lyrics.
9) Television:
Adventure
This decade's equivalent to the
Grateful Dead, TV mixes cerebral and
visceral approaches in their art, a
combo which leaves some listeners
dizzy from confusion, and others
enthralled with the music's passion.
Tom Verlaine, the band's leader,
mollifies the acrid bite of their debut,
Marquee Moon, yet the end result is
even more conceptual and perplexing
than the first was. The tension inherent
to both records made their live shows
Events. Unfortunately, this friction
carried over to their personal lives -
TV broke up in October.
10) Ian Dury:,,
New Boots and Panties!!
With the Invasion of the Disco
Snatchers upon us, Ian Dury and the
Blockheads lend some sanity to this
catatonic form. In fact, Dury's music
can best be described as "proletariat
disco." Dury and his crudely polished
band croons standards such as 'Wake
Up and Make Love to Me," "Sex and
Drugs and Rock and Roll," and "I'm
Partial to Your Abracadabra."
Enough Rope, the
Ramones' Road to Ruin,
Blondie's Parallel Lines,
Radio Birdman's Radios
Appear, . Johnny
Thunders' So Alone, and
David Johansen
Best Single
"Surrender" by
Cheap Trick
the E Street Band
Best Ann
Arbor Concert
The Romantics at the
East Quad Halloween
party
Best New
Group
Devo
See GOLDEN, Page 2
o- CINEMA 1110%
Best Ann
5) Southside Johnny and
the Asbury Jukes:
Hearts of Stone
This effort by the Jersey shore's
finest marks a realization of the
rock'n'roll potential demonstrated on
their first two albums. Hearts of Stone
is a joyous tribute to the unyielding
spirit of rock, a compelling sound that
makes you call for one more at the bar
instead of heading out into the early
morning air. The Jukes' revivalist
passion for their genre is brought out in
full color by Miami Steve Van Zandt's
terrific production - making the LP
one of the listening treats of the year.
6) Brian Eno:
Before and After
Science
Besides producing albums by Devo,
Talking Heads, and a valuable
compilation of New York art bands
called No New York, Eno made two fine
albums of his own, Before and After
Science and Music for Films. The first
is the better of the two, for it effectively
combines Eno's conception of disco
("No One Receiving"), rock'n'roll
("King's Lead Hat"'), and soft rock
("Julie With. ) in onensurprisingly
coherent LP. Eno's records are always
somewhat collaborative, for he plays
with musicians who add their feelings
to each song.
7) Patti Smith Group:
Easter
The first of New York's current
generation of punk rockers to get a
record cut, Smith is still going strong
three years later. Like Bruce
Springsteen, who co-authored this
record's "Because the Night," Smith
can't completely capture the frenzy of
her live shows on disc, but this one
comes close. Her poetry has been
streamlined, the rock'n'roll turned up,
and all pretenses of "art-rock" cast off
- this is pop with a rock'n'roll heart.
8) Devo:
Q: Are We Not Men?
A: We Are Devo.
Though the hype has been disgusting,
r
Runner-Ups
Arbor Single
"City Slang" by Sonic' s
Rendezvous Band
Best Dance
Song
"Badlands" by
Bruce Springsteen
Best Disco
Song
Best Concert
Tour
Bruce Springsteen and
" j
so,
, ~Gbh1
CO~ o o goS i
y pAu
oM~5 O
presents Or0
°# HERE COMES MR. JORDA N
ALEXANDER HALL, 1941
The original film about an athlete who, by celestial mistake, is given a
ticket to heaven 50 years before his time. If you've seen the remake,
HEAVEN CAN WAIT, you must see HERE COMES MR. JORDAN. ". . . gay,
witty, tender, and not a title wise. It is one of the choicest comic fantasies.
-NY Times. Starring ROBERT MONTGOMERY and CLAUDE RAINS. A campus
favorite) (93 min.)
SHORT-2 Looney Tunes: HIGH DIVING HARE, in which
Yosemite Sam attempts to force Bugs Bunny to perform death-defying circus
acts (1948, Friz Freleng). Also BOOBY HATCHED (Looney Tunes, 1944).
I
J
L Aud A, Angell Hall
7:00 & 9:00 PM
$1.50
Now Showing, Campus Area Butterfield Theatres
' .J':
,.
I
WEDNESDAY IS
"BARGAIN DAY"
$1.50 until 5:30
MONDAY IS
"GUEST NIGHT"
TWO ADULTS ADMITTED
FOR PRICE OF ONE
ADULT MAT. 2.50
EVES. & HOL.. 3,00
CHILD
14 & UNDER. 1.25
p
WAYSIDE Wait Disney's
3424 washtenaw IN CC I
YPpNiCCHti
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iTa
Albums
1) Bruce Springsteen:
Darkness of the Edge
of Town
The Boss made the summer of '78 a
memorable one for many with his long-
awaited fourth album. The record is a
reflection of pain, tears, and distress;
its message is a revolutionary, yet
highly personal one: we must seize
control. Springsteen and the E Street
Band's live shows were the concerts to
see this year - three hour rituals into
the past, present, and future horizons of
rock'n'roll. "You want it - you take
it-you pay the price."
2) Elvis Costello:
This Year's Model
Elvis couples innocent pop styles
from the mid-sixties with lyrics born in
a tormented seventies. We didn't think
he could improve over his incredible debut
LP last year. but his current band, the
Attractions, a biting, vicious unit,
toughens Elvis' acrimonious attack
with colorful tongue-in-cheek
instrumentation. You won't find Elvis
Costello in Studio 54.
3) Talking Heads:
More Songs A bout
Buildings and Food
Outsider Brian Eno fleshed out this
New York band's stark pop sound by
teaching them to take full advantage of
studio effects. The result is a deliriously
tasty version of rock'n'roll - complete
with sudden tempo changes, abrupt
melodic turns, and unpredictable
vocals. With their strong cover of Al
Green's "Take Me To the River," they
proved they can tackle any material.
4) Lou Reed:
Street Hassle
Reed can be brutal with language,
hypnotic with music; put it together
and you get terrifying rock'n'roll.
Binauralustereo gives Street Hassle a
brittle, eerily realistic sound, ideal for
Steve Forbert's Alive
on Arrival, Bryan Ferry's
The Bride Stripped Bare,
Captain Beefheart and
the Magic Band's Shiny
Beast (Bat Chain Puller),
Lou Reed's Take No
Prisoners, Cheap Trick's
Heaven Tonight, Nick
Lowe's Pure Pop For
Now People, Dave
Edmund's Tracks on
Wax 4, NRBQ's From
Yankee Stadium, the
Rolling Stones' Some
Girls, Warren Zevon's
Excitable Boy, and The
Cars.
New Wave
All Stars
MON, TUES, THUR 7 & 9
FRI 7 & 9:25
SAT 1 -3-5-79:25
SUN & WED 1-3-5-7-9
1
MON, TUES, THUR 7 & 9:15
FRI 7 & 9:25
SAT 1:15-4:15-9:25
SUN & WED 1:15-4:14-7-9:25
r-
RYAN
0' NEAL
CANDICE
BERGEN
RAY
P @ nameness."'MILAND
MON, TUES, THUR 7 & 9
FRI 7 & 9:25
SAT 1-35-7-9:25
SUN & WED 1-3-5-7-9
u
MILLAND
om IIVEKSITY cMUSICAL' OCIETY presents
The Clash's Give
'Em
A Guide to the Campus of
The University of Michigan
The first official guidebook to those unique and historic buildings
which mark a campus rich in tradition. Handsomely illustrated with
photographs and a new aerial map of the campus, the guide is de-
signed to enhance visits to the Ann Arbor campus of the University
of Michigan and will prove invaluable to alumni as well as students
and their families.
paperbound $3.95
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN PRESS
P.O. Box 1104 Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106
Send me copy(ies) of A Guide to the Campus of The University of
Michigan @ $3.95 per copy. Payment is enclosed.
0+
ANGELICK
&
JKCQUEL NE
POZO
ELL ENS
two woman show
January9-26
Acclaimed as one of the Met's briahtest new
I
Mlonon and Bellini's I Caouletl e i Montec-