1-2-3 happy neighborhood

Sunday is a day of rest...and at Armagideon Time, it's also a day of lazy music video posts.

Reel Big Fish - Sell Out

Carter USM - Do Re Mi So Far So Good

I wonder if I could pull off having a haircut like Jim Bob's at my age... I'm very tempted to try even if my bangs don't curl.

just another story

Normally, a day off work would mean an opportunity to work up a longer and more substanital post, but since this particular day was spent shoveling a couple cubic tons of heavy wet snow, I'm going to take easy way out.

Here's a little gem culled from the "Chatter" column of the November 22, 1982 issue of People magazine (cover story: "Mick and Jerry Split"; the mag's previous owner drew a mustache on Ms. Hall, along with an "I love fat old millionaires" heart tattoo on her arm.)


As a bit of dated celebrity gossip, it's amusing in it's own right. More importantly, it also serves as an appropriately depressing and absurd obituary for the last moribund vestiges of the 60's counter-culture.

You say you want a revolution? Sorry, chum, I'm too busy practicing my backhand swing and moaning about the generation gap. Besides, my portfolio of assets isn't going to manage itself.

The Clash - Death or Glory (from London Calling, 1979) - I struck my bargain with the world for a complete collection of Animotion 45's. I don't want to boast or anything, but it's easy to see who got the better end of that deal.

The Dishrags - Sold Out (from Love/Hate, 1997) - Femvox punk from the early Vancouver scene. Joe Strummer liked them. I do, too.

a non-consensual hallucination experienced by one

I had the strangest dream. I dreamt that I dedicated an entire week’s worth of posts to monkey-related matters…

…oh, damn.

Classix Nouveaux – Is It a Dream (from La Verite, 1982) – Strange to think this band rose from the ashes of X-Ray Spex. This track has nothing on Classix Nouveaux’s Nu Ro masterpiece, “Guilty” (from 1981’s Night People), but its cheesy, over the top mix of disco and synthpop makes for a fun listen.

The promo video for the song is a real gem, and perfectly captures all that was glorious and ludicrous about the era:


Everything goes better with kendo!

The Damned – Is It a Dream (from Phantasmagoria, 1985) – General consensus states that Phantasmagoria and Anything, the two albums the band released after Captain Sensible’s departure, are inferior products and betrayals of The Damned’s punk roots. To hell with that attitude, I say.

I don’t get punk purists at all. How does one celebrate “breaking all the rules” by yoking one’s self to a rigid doctrine? Some time around my twenty-second birthday, I decided to shelve my punk jacket in favor of a warmer and more practical black overcoat. I also quit trying to find new ways to dye and chop my hair, and opted for an easy to maintain crew cut style. Shortly afterward I ran into a vague college acquaintance of mine who wanted to know the reasons for the change.

“It was too much effort to maintain, and it’s better to let go willingly than hold on until you just look foolish,” I told him.

“Fuck the man. I’d never SELL OUT,” he responded.

Apparently The Man’s schemes are furthered by a skinny guy realizing that a leather jacket with a broken zipper is not the wisest outerwear choice during a New England winter. Such pearls of wisdom are gleaned from a thirty-year old burnout that works splits at a liquor store and spends all his free time hawking demo tapes of his amazingly terrible hardcore band.

As for the song, it’s a nice piece of melodic rock that hearkens back to the 60’s pop and garage rock sound that Dave Vanian (and Captain Sensible) obviously had a huge affection for.

Here’s the (unfortunately poor quality) promo video: