The Michigan Daily
utan
By MARK DIGHTON
"Clemmarock" made one of its all too
infrequent Ann Arbor appearances at
Rick's American Cafe Sunday night.
Those of you who are not yet familiar
,with the obliquely infectious humor of
*he Mutants should immediately run
out and buy their first single, "So
American." You'll understand them
much better after one listen to that
single than after a million words from
me.
A precise description of The Mutants'
music is next to impossible, largely
because they defy all trends and/or
labels. They're not just a throwaway
novelty band in that you can dance (like
crazy!) to 'em. They're also not simply
"new wave" band. Their, sound is
sic mainstream rock, though it runs
the spectrum from the "D.O.A."-like
tour de force "the sound of a Big
Machine" to the 'light country ditty
about "our favorite saviour," "Jesus
Was a Hardworking Man."
THE MUTANTS' sense of humor is
really what sets them apart from the
pack. They don't resort to any easy
puns or punch lines. Instead, merely
riting songs about some of the most
undane things imaginable, The
Mutants infect these subjects with their
own brand of convoluted cynicism. A
song title such as "I Like Pizza" says it
all.
Unfortunately, their cynical outlook
seems to be gnawing away at their own
performing abilities. They are already
referring to themselves as "washed
up" and quite frankly playing as if they
really were. Don't get me wrong-it's
not'that they were sloppy or anything.
,whey are as tight and forceful as ever,
t competent is far from committed.
They seem to have lost a great deal of
their inspiration and are now relegated
to merely repeating their standards
without any added passion. Certainly it
was no mistake that the set they played
Sunday night at Rick's was virtually
ideptical to their show at East Quad's
Halloween party last year. It was even
less of a mistake that they played for no
org than an hour. (12 songs tops, no
aing)
I had really hoped that with the
release of their George
(Parliament/Funkadelic) Clinton-
produced album pending, they would
infuse some new gought and energy in-
to their playing. Instead, they seem to
have already resinged themselves to a
trendless void. Perhaps a great deal of
their disappointment is justified, but
Film tonight
The anti-war film Johnny Got
his'Gun, scheduled to be shown
last Friday at the Michigan
Theatre, was pulled after a
matinee screening due to a con-
flict with a local theatre chain
that had the movie scheduled for
an appearance in October. In-
stead, the Ann Arbor Film Co-op
will sponsor showings of the film
tonight at Angell Hall,
Auditorium A, at 7:00 and 8:30.
This adaption of Dalton Trumbo's
1939 novel stars Donald
Sutherland, Joseph Bottoms and
Diane Varsi.
ARTS
CINEMA GUILD Presents
IVAN THE TERRIBLE, Part 1
A display of pure cinema "Ivan is the greatest historical film to have appeared
on the screen. In construciton, magnificence, and beauty, it surpasses every-
thing we have hitherto seen in cinema."-Charlie Chaplin. In Russian with
English subtitles. 7:00: 9:05
Wednesday: Chaplin's THE GOLD RUSH
)
4.
Tuesday, September 16, 1980 Page 7
its'
satire backfiring?
CINEMA GUILD
Were oa the old A&D
celebrating our 30 yrs.
taking out their first frustrations on
their fans by playing shorts sets is sim-
ple unjustifiable.
THE BAND that opened the Rick's
show for The Mutants were one of the
better local bands. Hard Corps, who
couldn't decide whether to claim that
they were from Australia or Zimbabwe,
delivered two surprisingly competent
and varied sets. Their major sound is
fairly standard rock with a few tasteful
heavy metal undertones and some
great sax work for coloring. They were
also not above stooping to occasional
reggae and funk influences, luckily.
Their only faults were that they
overestimated themselves and over-
stayed their welcome. Many of their
original songs were quite good, (it's
about time a band refused to be em-
barrassed about being students) but
they greatly overextended themselves
A rare candid shot of Detroit's favoriterock and roll geeks, the Mutants,
captured here in their favorite parking lot behind the Hamtramck VFW hall.
WELCOME STUDENTS
bo
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co k
A be b
'1C N
r
k
F
announces
OFF
2O°
'O
days "
CONSTRUCTION
SALE
20% off ENTIRE STOCK
of Regular Merchandise
(ONE WEEK ONLYI)
NEVER IN 35 YEARS -WE ARE OVERSTOCKEDI
Due to sidewalk and street renovations in the entire State Street
area, business is the pitts! Our Inventory Manager has advised us
to quickly reduce our inventory.
Ooh !
aC e
V~e
0
a01
THEREFORE, we are having a CONSTRUCTION SALE
of 20% off our entire stock of this season's best-selling merchan-
dise.
V Not Including merchandise already on sale
V State' Stree store only