OldStand: Rolling Stone, January 12, 1989
Take our ink-stained hands and join us at the OldStand, where Jon McMillan goes to remind everyone what an honest-to-goodness music magazine is supposed to look like.
Rolling Stone's second issue of 1989 was a mixed bag. We start with a lame cover story on Mel Gibson (as vapid as the star himself, although somewhat less alcoholic and definitely less anti-semitic), but it's balanced out by a profile of And Justice...-era Metallica (Jason Newsted: "Metallica is going to be one of the bands you look back on in the year 2008, that people will still listen to the way I still listen to Zeppelin and Sabbath albums"). Was he right, or did everything post-Sandman sully the glow? Either way, it's a good look back at the band as fan-driven phenomenon, when Lars was more into viral tape-trading than copyright beefs.
Have you figured out R.E.M.'s Biggest Album Yet? Gold star if you guessed Green, which gets a grudging 3.5 stars (wonderful album, but The Pursuit of Happiness pulled three -- was this the beginning of star inflation at the Stone?). Also, I know the art of dirty politics predates the late 80s, but for those of you who want to understand just how America arrived at its current level of partisan vitriol, there's a helpful interview with the original Hatchet (and axe) man Lee Atwater. Sure he helped Karl Rove cheat his way to the College Republican presidency in the 1970s, slandered Dukakis in the 1980s, and gave George W his first office in the White House in the 1990s, but it's totally cool because he plays the guitar! Douchebag is not a word I throw around lightly, but Atwater was the originator and the emancipator, and never has the term been more appropriately applied.
But, as with most publications 19 years and older, the best things in this issue are the advertisements, specifically a full-pager featuring a mail-in offer for Charlemagne's sword. Why would Rolling Stone readers want to purchase a replica sword? Maybe because it's 38-and-a-half inches from tip to pommel. (That's what she said!! -- Michael Scott)
After the jump: Rod Stewart eats Mick Jagger's shrimp, Daydream Nation beats Let it Bee (no, it's not a typo) by half a star, and this whole David Byrne thing starts getting ridiculous.
The better to knight your Dungeon Master with, my dear.
"Hillary and Obama at the Democratic Convention...I haven't seen a gathering this awkward since the time Dennis Miller hosted that Cuervo Pool Party."
Check out the mysterious circles: albums to buy, or people to kill?
Perhaps the only thing Anita Baker and When in Rome have in common.
They dissed Weird Al's sandwiches, but he took his revenge...in polka medley form.
Their acne was so much more badass than George Michael's fans' acne.
Screw you, Rob Tannenbaum, for convincing me to download Voice Of The Beehive off of iTunes.
For posterity, Oldstand iron-man David Byrne.
Posted at 6:16 PM in OldStand
Tags: Bono | David Byrne | Dennis Miller | Mel Gibson | Metallica | Rod Stewart
Interesting how an element of Daydream Nation was referred to as 'grungy' back in 1989. Nice foresight, RS. What have you done since?
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I loved that Voice of the Beehive record back in the day...though watching the video to "I Say Nothing" makes me wonder why:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=H6atSynsQm8
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That IS what she said!
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Great feature, keep em coming.
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You are so right about Lee Atwater - what a dick he was. The charts are interesting, too - only a dozen or so of the albums remain outright classics, but at least the industry was still vibrant compared to today.
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check out conan o'brien in the upper left of the metallica pic
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So you saw that too, huh? I recently bought this old issue and noticed that, not knowing for sure if it was Conan. Any other verification of this?
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Atwater "slandered" Dukakis? Willie Horton, the rape/death penalty question, the tank photo--Dukakis "slandered" himself straight to defeat.
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@ hawaiianoises
Nice call on the Conan-a-like. Wonder if it's really him?
@ Bugs
Dukakis pissed plenty on his own shoes and yes, technically, the Willie Horton episode was an exploitation rather than a slander, but I was referring more to the rumor he started about Dukakis being treated for mental illness. Not directly attributed to Atwater, of course, but that was kind of his MO (later perfected by Rove et al in 2000 vs. McCain and 2004 vs. Kerry). There are about other names (Ferraro, Turnipseed, etc.) that would also make the sentence true. Apparently he recanted and apologized for a lot of this stuff before he died (of a brain tumor, in 1991), but if you happened to be sickened, as I am, by attack-dog, innuendo-driven politics where what's acceptable is whatever you can get away with, a lot of the blame gets laid at Atwater's door. Google his comments about Regan's "Southern Strategy" if you want to read more.
Whoops - sorry about the rant. Got a little fired up there! All music next time, I promise.
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is it just me or is the cover is reminiscent of the festival circuit this year?
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Another great OldStand as usual. But don't go dissin' The Pursuit of Happiness. That was a great album from a woefully underrated band.
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I think on that whole chart, I had U2, the Waterboys, and REM -- a bleak period for music, if you ask me. Of course, that was during my family's Great Transition from vinyl to those newfangled "Compact Discs" that RS had a special chart for.
That "College Music" chart reminded me that I've been trying to find that Scruffy the Cat record since I lost my tape of it a decade ago. My older brother's band covered the single "My Baby She's Alright" (which was on 120 Minutes every week for a year, it seemed), and I recall that the whole record was some pretty good Southern indie rock.
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very cool
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A bleak period? Seriously? Maybe for pretentious rockists... but I'm picking up "Appetite," "Open Up and Say Ah," "Faith"... not to mention the fantabulous one hit wonders on there (remember when one hit song could get you at least double platinum?)
Oh, btw... the circled albums are the greatest hits compilations.
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The only cool thing about my High School was that one of the librarians was into music, thus we had an extensive collection of music periodicals on file, dating from the early 80's to the then present (1997 or so) I definitely remember this issue, specifically because I constantly looked Sonic Youth up in those giant red tomes that list every magazine article printed in a given year. I remember back then that I didn't think the review did the album justice, and I'm still not sure it does. Total Trash on "School's Out"? *That's* a bit of a stretch. And the "feral kinetic rhythm section" thing still jumps out at me as an odd thing to bring up. For a band so adventurous with their guitars, the drums are inevitably pretty much the beat to "Schizophrenia", or the beat to "Schizophrenia" plus a 16th note swing. Fast or slow. It seems like that comment was just thrown in to acknowledge that a Bassist and Drummer existed.
I don't know about the charts being bleak. I can look at the Top 50 and name, in most cases sing some lyrics to, at least one song on every album in the list. And in the case of Mannheim Steamroller and Kenny G, I can hum a melody. Not to say that the music was great, but it didn't seem like a bleak time... But I do have that Stay Awake record; Tom Waits covering "Heigh Ho" and The Replacements do "Cruella de Ville", y'all are sleeping!
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Aye, Voice of the Beehive...time has not been kind to ye...
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"The top ten band you won't hear on the radio"
Ha! I wish...
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Oldstand is just the greatest idea ever. This is unbelievably cool.
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