rip it up's believe it or not

Rip It Up, Issue 100, 1 November 1985, Page 16

rip it up's believe it or not

“My original concept when I formed the Sex Pistols was to have them compete with the Bay City Rollers." Malcolm McLaren, Sept 1983. "Nobody ever asked me anything." Bill Wyman on being the ‘Silent Stone', May 1982. “To be written about by a magazine like Time means you’ve really penetrated into the heart of America it is quite an achievement I suppose. But considering our profile there it's not surprising because Americans do that. They like to institutionalise anybody who becomes very successful and makes a lot of money. They make a

religion out of success and money.”

Andy Summers of the Police on making the cover of Time, March 1984.

“We do see all the young girls getting hysterical and a few of them fainting. Perhaps we appear as father figures to them. I feel that old, but Neil does look very young and cute. Unfortunately it does put off older people who I'd feel more comfortable with." Eddie Rayner on encountering teen hysteria with the Enz in Canada, July 1982.

"The English rock scene, with its punk rock the 'new wave’, is not well. Punk rock is all about a feeling, that is not enough. A lot of people say feelings and

attitudes is where rock is at. Not necessarily. Music has to be where rock is at. There are few that I think are worth it, exceptions being th^

Stranglers and the New York band Television. Their stuff blows me away. The punk rocker is hard and heavy, not very melodic; certainly the English rocker is this repetitive deal, there is not a hell of a lot in it with its chord after chord." Barry Jenkin, Sept 1977. And Mushroom Records? The contract was too long and boring to read but they trust Mike Chunn. It runs five years and calls for an album and two or three singles a year. Michael Higgins, writing about Dance Exponents, July 1982. "Even the big bands realise now they have to make changes. People will only be fooled for so long. The Stones were doing albums with only one good song in 12, and then Some Girls

came out and they were in leather jackets against brick walls, which we did four

years ago. The new Queen album is the same. On

Some Girls the Stones tried to write better songs. I really admire kids in Europe and over here who can see

through these people who are trying to take them for a ride. But in America the kids just don't understand there's a lot of money tied up there like you heard Boston 20 times in one hour and you start thinking maybe Boston are okay." Joey Ramone, RIU Extra, Oct 1980.

"I think the biggest influence on the way I look is that picture of Arthur Rimbaud that Picasso drew, the one on the oval. Biggest influences on image, we'll say Arthur Rimbaud and Jean Shrimpton." John Cooper Clarke, Nov 1983.

'They’re just the Playboy magazine for the cocaine generation, without the added advantage of having any beautiful women in their magazine, they haven't even got any beautiful men." Elvis Costello on Rolling Stone mag, Aug 1984.

“Cream re-open. Steinlager price fall. A rooftop bar at Queen’s Ferry. The deporting to Australia of any band that plays more than six Gluepot weekends a year. And that silly people stop singing silly songs about yours truly." Harry Ratbag on his ‘Dream for 'B2', March 1982.

“I always dread doing interviews because I know it ends up talking about drugs. I was a very upstanding, respectable property-owning citizen before, in the first three years of Sailor." Graham Brazier, August 1982.

“Trends are so dangerous because they blinker you. You get a cynical attitude living in Dunedin. The place looks at the rest of the country in a funny way. You inherit that and apply it to music from a critical point of view, taking the best of what you see." Terry Moore of the Chills, June 1982. “It was a bit like shoving a ball of cotton wool up his creative anus.” XTC’s Andy Partridge describes the effect of an American tour on colleague Colin Moulding’s songwriting, RIU Extra, Oct 1980. “Every band I’ve seen here, all you can fuckin’ hear is the bloody bass guitar" Mark E. Smith of the Fall speaking from Australia, August 1982. “Live gigs are a thing of the past. They were well and fine in the Who’s era, in the 60s, it was a good thing, but it isn’t no more. They've become too institutionalised. It’s a real pain now to go and see a band live. You’re forced into your seat, the bouncers can be brutal and it’s all at a very high cost. It’s just like bad theatre, you have to sit there. You can’t really enjoy yourself. There’s not enough activity.” John Lydon, May 1981. "The Beatles were just entertainment. They weren’t saying anything, as far as I

could see. It was just show biz, and show biz will make it anywhere in the world, probably. We’re offering something a little bit different." Paul Weller on why the Beatles made it big in the USA and the Jam didn’t, June 1981.

"You know, Mum would say 'That nice boy Stephen down the road, why don’t you go surfing and play rugby like him?' ” Scavengers’ Des, on being a pioneer NZ punk, May 1978.

"Bands like Sheerlux don’t have magic. They can do conjuring tricks, but it’s all to a formula. Mi-Sex are an even better example. Steve Gilpin has even admitted that he just looked around for what was happening and then did it. If it had been jazz-rock then he’d be into that now.” Chris Knox on the state of things, April 1979.

“We like playing here. It’s like the old days they hate us.” Johnny Volume after Scavengers gigs at Slack Alice’s in Wellington when glasses and tomatoes were thrown from the audience and his guitar was smashed, July 1978. “Actually, it's just the cheapest ride we could get over here.” Klaus Flouride of the Dead Kennedys on the group’s arrival in NZ at the same time as the US nuclear warship Texas, Aug 1983.

“Herbie was such a fucked drum machine. He was just a Farfisa organ drum machine with eight rhythms. And there were only two we could use the others

were samba and that sort of thing. We couldn’t work out a way to turn it off or

anything. A song would end and Wayne would try to kick the Stop button and instead he’d hit another rhythm and it would change or speed up ... and it all came through the PA.” Shayne Carter describing the Doublehappys’ first drummer, Herbie Fuckface, Aug 1984. “It was mainly directed at me, and also at the crowd the Enemy used to attract. We used to smash a bit of glass and stuff.” Chris Knox on the Enemy being banned from Dunedin’s Cook, Nov 1979. “In Britain a couple of years ago they’d call someone like us pretentious and you’d get someone like Graham Parker or Elvis Costello who weren't called pretentious but to me they were just English guys singing with American accents and we were the ones who were meant to be pretending. Just what we were supposed to be pretending I don’t know." Simple Minds’ Jim Kerr, Oct 1982. “They never liked it, they never made any secret of that. But radio is not

necessarily for the people who run it. Our programme was supposed to be for a small section of people who want it, who want to follow something that’s current rather than something that’s popular, that’s entertainment.” Barry Jenkin after Radio New Zealand axed his Allnight show on the ZM network, Dec 1983.

“It’s like if they don't want you to do 100 miles per hour in a car why does it have 100 on the speedo? Why does it do 100 miles per hour? Why not just plan 'em to 60? But they keep putting it there and people keep driving at it ..." Lem my of Motorhead explaining why Motorhead set their amplifiers on ‘lo’, August 84. "What ...?” Lemmy again, same issue, on being asked if he ever worried about his hearing. “What's the matter with feeling good? Is feeling good not hip?” Joni Mitchell on the state of things, April 1980.

'They're the best band in the world. Our ambition is to have them support us." The Stones on the Clean, April 1982.

“Bloody awful job. You'd go around and knock on some geezer’s door. He'd come out. ‘Wot you want?’ 'I got a petition for your divorce' He'd hit you. Makes working in a band seem pretty tame." Lee Brilleaux, singer for Dr Feelgood, talking about his days as a private detective, August 1979. “One person's melodrama is another person’s housework." Howard Devoto of Magazine, Sept 1980. “I would actually like to be able to find something I like because Jim Kerr is a football fan and when the band warmed up at a festival in Holland a couple of years back they played me and my wife at football. My wife is very hard on the tackle and she goes in with every expectation of leaving the bugger crippled but I was really impressed with the way Jim Kerr rode her tackles." Legendary English DJ John Peel on Simple Minds, March 1984.

So why did you come to New Zealand? “Money.” Is that why most people come to New Zealand? “Well looking around here, I'd have to say yes." Lou Reed at his jolly press conference, Nov 1977.

"Neil, as you know, is a very talented young lad, only 18 years old, who we are going to mould and lovingly shape. He is playing mainly rhythm and acoustic guitars,

mandolin and he's also singing a lot to thicken out Tim's slightly poppish voice. Good lad that.”

Eddie Rayner in RIU No.l, June 1977, writing home about Neil Finn, who had just joined Split Enz.

“Primarily both left for the same reason they both wanted to be able to spend more time with their wives and children. They also both were tired of touring and its trappings. You can probably understand how tiring it can become after virtually two and a half years on the road. I could also mention other factors such as the punchup between Tim and Phil in Atlanta but I won’t.” Eddie again, same article, on Phil Judd and Mike Chunn’s reasons for leaving the band.

“I loved working with inexperienced musicians. The whole Swingers thing has been far more

stimulating than Enz. A lot for that reason. You'd be

surprised how frustrating it was, working with Enz. We were all paranoic. Practises would be devastating. We’d end practises nervous

wrecks and not talk to each other for days. Working as a three-piece is plain sailing." Phil Judd talking about working with the Suburban Reptiles, the Enemy and then the Swingers, Feb 1980. In the right light, Dave McArtney looks like Willy DeVille. Jeremy Templer on Dave McArtney, with Hello Sailor in LA, Oct 1978.

John: “In Aussie, a rage is when you’re all at a party, standing around trying to be cool. And some fuckwit rips open a bag of Cheezels and throws them all over the

room. Everyone goes let’s have a rage. Rip the place to bits! ”

Des: “Yeah, smash chairs and hippies. The skinheads come and the police come and everyone gets dragged away. That's a rage. Whenever we haven't got enough food, we go to a Melbourne party where there’s supposed to be a rage and while everyone's smashing things, we slip out the back with all the food." John: “Yeah, trays of steaks, loaves of bread and wine." Johnny Cook and Des Hefner defining the Aussie concept of a “rage”, April 1980.

“I think he's a prick, hate his music, can’t stand his phony stance. I’m sure when he goes to bed at night with his third-rate groupie and his money that he’s thinking about wars in Johannesburg. He’s another one selling a bill of fake goods if ever I saw somebody phony bastard.” Iggy, Pop on Elvis Costello, Aug 1979.

“I don’t think in terms of money anymore. I used to, y’know, we all have our master plan. The Dance Exponents lived mine and did it so well, the big bite from Mushroom ... a big bite would have made it so much easier for us. But if we persevere, things will definitely happen. Split Enz are the great example, you just have to keep believing your day will come." Andrew Fagan, Mockers, April 1984. "I see myself as a victory for the mediocre singer” Andrew Fagan, Aug 1984. "Morley’s just the press officer. He uses our ideas for the advertising and we tell him what to do." The impression I’ve gained is that he’s the tactician behind every move. “You must be joking. He's too drunk and asleep in the corner of the office to be guiding us.” So what does he do exactly? “Gets drunk a lot. Lies on the office floor in pools of vomit.”

He must be getting very rich? "No, he’s just getting very dirty." Frankie singer Holly Johnson on Paul Morley, Dec 1984.

“I just don’t think rock music gets people anywhere or progresses at all. There are limitations to pop music but rock even more so and I

don't think it has got any po litics at all. You know, for all it professes to be, I think it is quite apolitical and liberal as well and I don't like all that liberal shit. It doesn't advance people and the atti tude is just so traditional and a lot of time it is quite reactionary as well. Rock has a habit of institutionalising people. Bands like U2 had the 70s to learn from and they learned fuck all.” Paul Weller, July 1984.

“Why am I so fucking angry? Because I have to put up with a bunch of idiots all the fucking time. You are so fucking caught up in the fucking hip world, you make me sick! Well dressed? You wouldn't know well dressed if it bit you on the dick! You

fucking read something. You obviously haven’t given any thought yourself. I am sure every record you have in your collection, you wouldn't have a clue what it was about 1 " Megastar Johnny Cougar in NZ on a “promotional tour”, answering Murray Cammick’s question "Why is this well-dressed man angry?” in reference to the picture on the cover of his album, Sept 1978.