The Case for Clutter - pt. 2

Last night I had dinner with my mom, who gave me a bag of stuff that could have easily been thrown out. I'm glad it wasn't because free flyers that you used to find at record stores have been replaced by fan-club emails, tweets, and expensive posters. Not all clutter is created equal, but this clutter is pretty great--roughly collected between 1986 and 1988. Above: New Order on the Low Life tour with the Abcedarians opening. Somewhere along the line, they went disco. I think they were peaking with Low Life. After this, I saw at the big, seated, outdoor venue of Irvine Meadows on the Brotherhood and Substance tours, which were great but, of course, not the same.


Above: One of my first Ramones shows, at the "world famous" yet scary and skins-infested Fender's in Long Beach. Wow. What else do I need to say? The Vandals opened. (Joe, do you want a copy? I have extras.) Below: Until Dee Dee left, The Ramones were a summer event, where my brother and I would see them two or three times every year. And did Social Distortion open for everyone at the Palladium or what?


Below, Peter Murphy at Fender's. It was his first solo tour. Remember his great cover of Pere Ubu's "Final Solution"? Holy crap, Scratch Acid and a very young Jane's Addiction opened. Good thing the ex-Bauhaus singer was a master showman or his boring, I mean atmospheric, solo stuff would have just died after those two crazy sets.


The show below... I still have issues with. All my friends went, but I stayed home and to go Christmas caroling with my girlfriend, her friends, and "all the boyfriends." I was the only guy there and it was over by 8:00. Lesson learned. I got to see Love and Rockets on their next two tours Earth, Sun, Moon and the self-titled one, and they were more rocking albums, but it would have been great to see L&R on that first tour, still under the influence of Pink Floyd and playing Tones on Tails songs.


The first time I saw the Butthole Surfers was on a bill with Specimen and the Toy Dolls. What a schizo lineup! I was a fan of the British goth and funny punk bands, but was totally ambushed by the Surfers. Gibby came out in a pus-pack loaded dress with clothespins in his hair that flew around in a strobelight. He also lit his hands on fire. Hearing "The Shah Sleeps in Lee Harvey's Grave" for the first time still haunts me to this day. When they played the Roxy, they stripped down a lot of the theatrics but it was possibly the loudest show I had ever attended. I was just about to go to the doctor when my ears finally stopped ringing a week afterward.


The Variety Arts Center used to have some pretty cool shows. At this point, I think the Buttholes had added psychotronic videos ("Mechanized Death," "Red Asphalt," various industrial films) and a painted go-go dancer. I have never taken drugs, and this band is one reason why. They were out of their minds and amazing, but I knew they could only implode.


Below: After the Dead Boys imploded, Stiv Bators played a post-punk, garagey, and kind of goth band called the Lords of the New Church with members of The Damned and Sham 69. I think the cover of "Live For Today" was pretty great, and "Open Your Eyes" and "Dance with Me" were amazing, dark songs, too. I actually saw them at the Scream club, with was appropriate for their theatrical look that crossed over into glam.


The Mission were another goth/post punk band that was seen around L.A. a lot. They had ties to the Sisters of Mercy and The Cult (who had moved to L.A. to become rock stars), and the sound was really epic. John Paul Jones even produced their second album. There was a pretty huge scene with little bands from England like Red Lorry Yellow Lorry and Fields of the Nephilim getting treated like rock stars. (And I saw most of them!)


Zodiac Mindwarp really doesn't deserve two flyers because they're not close to the level of The Ramones, but that first one doesn't really count. More evidence of post-punk moving toward glam rock or metal, kind of lead by the Cult. Fun show at a cool venue where I also saw Hüsker Dü, Paul Weller, Redd Kross...


All that was leading up to Guns 'N Roses. I know members are from Indiana, Washington, etc. but L.A. was where the new rock was happening. The first time I saw GNR was at Fender's opening for Cheap Trip, who were at their nadir in popularity. Once again, totally ambushed by a great band. They were glammed out with bandannas and sparkles, but totally ripped. Amazingly their original songs ("Move to the City," "Reckless Life") were as good as the covers ("Mama Kin"). Next time we went to Zed, Greg bought a cassette of their live EP.


I think it was in 1988 when my brother and I went to see Guns 'N Roses opening for The Cult on the Electric tour at the Long Beach Sports Arena and then driving downtown to see Janes Addiction at Scream. That was three of the hottest bands in the universe in one night.


Looking back, 1988 was a pretty great year to be in Los Angeles. Just think, not only were Janes Addiction and Guns 'N Roses about to dominate the world, but the Chili Peppers, X, fIREHOSE, and other bands had already emerged from punk to represent the City of Angels in a big way. Rollins was carrying on the legacy of Black Flag while bands like Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. lined up to be on Ginn's SST label. NWA and Ice-T were at their creative peaks. The Dodgers beat the A's. We had Magic and Cap winning back-to-back championships AND Gretzky joining the Kings at the Fabulous Forum. Was there ever a better place to be? Will it ever be like that anywhere ever again?