Led Zeppelin, Gods of Panic

Arthur magazine has unearthed an old article on Led Zeppelin, written by none other than William S. Burroughs. 

An Air of Mystery

When I was a kid rock 'n' roll was almost invisible. You had a handful of magazines - Creem, Rolling Stone, Circus - and a couple of late night concert shows - Rock Concert, Midnight Special. 

But you hardly ever saw rock bands on prime time TV, just the pre-approved soft rock and disco acts that the WWII Generation still running the networks didn't feel threatened by. It began to pick up at the end of the 70s with cable and syndication, but in the interim it created an incredible air of mystery around these bands.

 

Die Antwoord: The Thompson Evil Twins

 

 One of the strangest trends of the past few years has been the grafting of the old Marilyn Manson aesthetic (itself taken from earlier Industrial video antecedents, performance art and fashion photography) onto disposable pop and dance music artists.

Dude Looks Like a (Ugly) Lady

Mötley Crüe: Dionysian/Korybantes/Galloi

Twisted Sister: Dionysian/Korybantes/Galloi 

Mythos: Although most of the original UK glam bands flopped in the US, they struck a nerve with hardcore fans who'd mix the glam attack with more conservative memes from affiliated bands like Kiss and Alice Cooper and concocted a new strain of bubbleglam metal for the Material Age.

 

Jefferson Airplane's Crash Landing

An author's worst enemy is the dreaded word count. Which is why the Internet can be the author's best friend. The reason I bring it up is that I had to trim a section on the Jefferson Airplane after doing a tremendous amount of work on it (especially in the editing stage- it's a lot more difficult to say less than more).