Letters

Rip It Up, Issue 96, 1 July 1985, Page 20

Letters

Post to 'RIU' Letters, PO Box 5689, Auckland 1. Fickled Pink Your Chills cover, June 1985, instills the true sense of the band. Vanity has replaced spirit. They are drawing their music from the image of what they were rather than the people they are now. They will do well in England. Charles Allison Simon Bendall Tim Robinson Grisly Spectacles! I’m not sure if it is Russell Brown that is so pathetic or just his review of the Johnnys. The man’s reviews, and in fact his writing, of late, have become without substance. His paean to the Johnnys is exactly what one would expect Russell to write about a band that one would expect Russell to like. In order for Russell to like a band they have to be correctly dressed, correctly marketed and drinking men, such as himself.

There is no more grisly spectacle that I could imagine than to find Russell and Martin Phillipps conversing. Two very little men hiding two massive egos behind two very obvious fronts of false humility. I guess my point is that I find (like a lot of people in Christchurch) that Russell Brown and his ilk should be put out to masturbation whilst there is still time. Ray Pierce Christchurch

Ad Ethics I’ve read all 95 issues which you’ve put out over the last couple of years and I remember the starting issues, yeah, intelligent, independent music information, always based somewhere on the critical alternative “revolutionary” ethic. Now I pick up the 40-odd pages volume and most of it only rates a casual glance, it’s all adverts. Shit, I suppose you've got to make a living, but for fuck’s sake, show a bit of critical discretion. I find it disgusting to pick up a supposedly young, alternative person’s paper and find in it blatantly sexist advertising, especially the 'Body Double’ advert you ran on page 35. The connection in that ad between sex and violence is obvious, and frankly alarming. Sex is not violence, rape is violence, and that advert oppresses women and so implicitly we’re all worse off. Take responsibility for what you show in your magazine or lose the last of your already slim credibility. Cut the sexist crap. Adrian Shields Auckland

Addiction Great to read the review of The Exciting Wilson Pickett. But what about the release of Animal Tracks (1965), the Animals original? Record Addict

Another One! I am writing with an alternative viewpoint to the review in June’s video section of Suburbia. I’m no film critic so my opinion is based from the point of view of an active participant in the punk culture today. My letter judges the film not by the merit or otherwise of its

production, but on the way it portrayed the lifestyles and mentality of punks in general today It occured to me that the director and scriptwriter only relied on the weak image given to punk by the media as a way of ensuring that the movie would appeal to the majority. Suburbia only covered a small and detrimental sector of punk activity today by showing them as weak and pathetic copouts, branded with "T.R.” (The Rejected), indulging in the usual attentionseeking channels like driving round in a big car with an anarchy symbol typically spraypainted on the side, acting stupidly, being ignorant and poking fun at society in weak ways. Okay, so they acted with good morals by making the rednecks appear dumb by turning the tables on them but that just goes to make a good story doesn't it? I’m not saying that punk beliefs and ideas are the new messiah and should be protected at all costs, merely that the film gives a poor representation of the way we think.

P.R., I’m not saying you were fooled by the portrayal of punk, just that we place different demands on its content, but I disagree that it “accurately documents modern punk philosophy." A much more worthwhile film in my opinion is Another State Of Mind, which covers a real live tour of two bands (Youth Brigade and Social Distortion) and accurately depicts both the faults and positive aspects of punk. Increasing numbers of people are becoming involved in bands, art and lots of other creative activity. These people all over the world are showing that they can do something intelligent and original without getting overly egotistical (most of the time). This worldwide underground network of people is striving to close the barriers that have always existed between people and break down the general public’s attitude towards punk.

Simon Draper (Rites Tapes)

Auckland

Over The Wall ... I.D. your video review of Pink Floyd’s The Wall (June RIU) annoyed me. You have failed to see its‘‘brilliance" by your own dim light of awareness. Hope I’m not getting too “deep” for you here I.D. But it is a movie that will stand the test of time and is already regarded by many as a “rock classic". Brilliant, moving and deep ...

Not A Madonna Fan Manurewa

Not Invisible I’ve finally got motivated to write because Alf has finally got to No.l. People have been coming up to me saying:"Your fat tart has finally got to No.l. How the hell did she get there?" and so on. What the hell has being fat got to do with music? Right, Alison’s a big lady; right too, she’s just had a baby. But she’s a damn sight more expressive and musical than a lot of other singers like Limahl, Bronski Beat, Duran Duran, Marilyn, Tears For Fears, Berlin and all that lot of teenie-boppers. What we need is some good soul!

Alison Moyet’s Diamond Earrings Pukekohe

PS: You’ve got a bloody good magazine going, thanks are you ever going to do a cover on Alison Moyet? We had Alf on the cover of issue N 0.65, December 1982.