Toronto Radio Time Machine; Live Aid 1985

QUEEN ~ "WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS";




THE WHO ~ "LOVE REIGN OVER ME";


37 years ago this week on July 13 1985; Live Aid, a benefit concert for the people of Ethiopia then suffering through a terrible famine and the largest benefit concert in the world at the time, took place with two simultaneous shows in London and Philadelphia as well as being broadcast worldwide in TV. Smaller concerts were also held in the Soviet Union, Canada, Japan, Yugoslavia, Austria, Australia and West Germany and parts of these shows were also aired.

DIRE STRAITS & STING ~ "MONEY FOR NOTHING";


Best known now (musically at least) for sets by Queen (that kicked off their comeback), a Black Sabbath reunion with Ozzy, a Led Zeppelin reunion (with Phill Collins), a Who reunion, Dire Straits (with Sting) and U2. The sets by U2, Dire Straits and Simple Minds helped make them major stadium stars, although in the case of Simple Minds it would not last. In checking out the line-up I see there were several last minute additions not on the poster including Black Sabbath (with Ozzy), Tom Petty, Madonna, The Hooters, Tina Turner, Paul McCartney, Cliff Richard, Four Tops, RUN DMC, George Thorogood w/Bo Diddly & Albert Collins, BB King (via satellite from Holland) Prince (ditto), Loudness (from Tokyo), Autograph (from Russia), Kool & The Gang (from a studio), Pat Metheny, CSNY, The Beach Boys, Joan Baez, Teddy Pendergrast (in his first appearance aftr being paralyzed in a car accident) and Dylan with Keith Richards & Ron Wood closing the show. Most acts did from one to three songs bout a few got slightly longer sets. Phill Collins actually played both shows as he palyed London then hopped on the Concorde and flew to America to play with Zeppelin. As I recall the set with Dylan, Keith Richard and Ron Wood was a complete trainwreck as was the Zeppelin set as it was obvious none of them had bothered to rehearse.

U2 ~ "SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY";


The concert was a by-product of the "Do They Know It's Christmas" single the previous year arranged by Bob Geldoff and Midge Ure and the following singles in America ("We Are The World") and Canada "Tears Are No Enough"). I was too young to have actually seen any of these bands but as a New Wave kid watching on TV I was primarily there for U2, Simple Minds, Pretenders, Ultravox and Adam Ant in that order.

SIMPLE MINDS ~ "DON'T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME";


In Toronto one oddity was that the only radio station that simulcast the entire concert was the tiny campus station CKLN (rival CIUT did not go on air until the next year) using their cable feed. CKLN had been on air since 1981 and was by this point known as a station which played underground and avant garde music and most of the bill was totally mainstream but among the New Wave acts who had been on the CKLN/campus charts only a few years earlier; U2, Simple Minds, the Pretenders, Ultravox, the Boomtown Rats, Tom Petty, Elvis Costello, Style Council, Adam Ant, Sting (in the Police), the Cars, Alison Moyet (in Yazoo), Paul Young (in the Q-Tips), Tears For Fears (including as the Graduates), Run DMC and Judas Priest plus Bowie, Bryan Ferry, Paul Simon's "Graceland" & Neil Young's "Trans" albums. Although by 1985 some of these acts certainly still got some airplay on CKLN along with other campus stations that were less aggressively avant garde than CKLN.

THE PRETENDERS ~ "MIDDLE OF THE ROAD";




By contrast here are the actual CKLN Charts for July/85; The Jesus & Mary Chain (and it's early wall-of-feedback era too, Hell Yeah!), Nick Cave, Black Flag, the Barracudas, Deja Voodoo, REM, Talking Heads (their last decent album), Discharge, Robert Fripp, Jah Wobble, Psychic TV, Rain Parade, Primal Scream, A Certain Ratio, Del Amitri, the Redskins (best name for a Marxist Mod band ever), Slaughter (the Toronto Thrash band not the later US Hair Metal band), Living Proof, Suzanne Vega, Roy Orbison's comeback album and the soundtracks for "Repo Man" & "Return Of The Living Dead". About the only bands here that could have possibly been asked to play Live Aid would have been Talking Heads if they had not essentially stopped touring by that point and maybe Robert Fripp with King Crimson who also were not touring. I could possibly see Suzanne Vega doing "Luka" in a studio via satellite. REM had not yet made the jump to stadium status by that point. Mind you it would have been cool if early Jesus & Mary Chain and Deja Voodoo had played. And by cool I mean a glorious clusterfuck of historic proportions. I don't think the TV audience was ready for that.

THE JESUS & MARY CHAIN ~ "NEVER UNDERSTAND";


BLACK FLAG ~ "NOTHING LEFT INSIDE";


BLACK FLAG ~ "LOOSE NUT";


DISCHARGE ~ "NEVER AGAIN";


THE BARRACUDAS ~ "SUMMER FUN";


THE REDSKINS ~ "KEEP ON KEEPING ON";


A CERTAIN RATIO ~ "SHACK UP";


DEJA VOODOO;




DEJA VOODOO ~ "STRANGE";


DEJA VOODOO ~ "CEMETARY";


BLACK SABBATH ~ "WICKED WORLD";

BLACK SABBATH ~ "THE WRIT";


BLACK SABBATH ~ "WARNING";


BLACK SABBATH ~ "F/X";

Throwback Thursdays Retro Zines; Rear Garde Magazine Dec.1988

Rear Garde ~ December 1988;
In this issue of the Montreal zine; Interviews with The Butthole Surfers, All, Band Of Susans, Chris Spedding, Sham 69, Jr Gone Wild, Death Angel, The Look People, False Prophets, Adrian Sherwood, Carlos Perron of Yello, Rin Tin Tin, the Stratejakets, video director Scott Dobson and a short profile of Netwerk Records.

SHAM 69 ~ "IF THE KIDS ARE UNITED";


Record reviews of; SNFU, Sudden Impact, Suicidal Tendencies, Razor, The Feelies, Parts Found In Sea, DRI, Warzone, Anthrax, Metallica, Rollins Band, Skinny Puppy, Monty Cantsin, The Nils, Brian Setzer, Itsa Skitsa, Uncle Sam, Nick Cave, Dinosaur Jr, Bad Brains, That Petrol Emotion, MDC, Alternative Inuit, Chronic Disorder, Scruffy The Cat and more.

Concert Reviews of; Sham 69 & The Infamous Basturds, Blue Rodeo, Rise, The Purple Taods & Fail-Safe, DEath Angel & SCUM, One Free Fall & Chinese Backwards, Motorhead, Slayer & Overkill, Yellowman and the Festival Of Independent Music in Toronto featuring Rumble On The Beach & The Throbulators, Prairie Oyster, Cottage Industry, CaveDogs, Half Japanese, The Rheostatics & THe Crawlin Kingsnakes Carlos Perron of Yello and Greg Kroll of Prairie Oyster.

Playing in Montreal that month were;Voivod w/The Cro-mags & Violence, Three O'Clock Train, Groovy Aardvark, Go Four Three & Me Mom & Morgentaller, Sons Of Freedom, Itsa Skitsa, Testament & Raven, Split Second, The Pursuit Of Happiness, Screaming Tribesmen, Omar & The Howlers w/ MacLean & MacLean, Emo Philips, Bundock, Bowser & Blue, Celine Dion (of course), Myles Goodwin (of April Wine), Waylon Jennings, Jeff Healey, Sharon Lewis & Bram and The Deja Voodoo BBQ w/Deja Voodoo, The Gruesomes, Ray Condo, Shadowy Men, Supreme Bagg Team, House Of Knives & EJ Brule.

DEJA VOODOO ~ "YOU'RE NO FUN WHEN YOUR HEADS ALL MUSHY";


In other news;Jr Gone Wild and Raging Slab undergo lineup changes, The Doughboys, Fail-Safe, House Of Knives, Deja Voodoo, Shadowy Men, Dik Van Dykes, Rise, Ripcordz and American Devices have been in the studio and Fail-Safe singer has a new spin-off band named Bliss.

CRSG Top 33 & 1/3 Charts;
This Week ~ Artist ~ Album ~ Label ~ Cancon

1. ~ My Dog Popper ~ 668 The Neighbour Of The Beast ~ Cargo ~ cc

2. ~ Schooly D ~ Smoke Some Kill ~ Jive

3. ~ Skinny Puppy ~ Vivisect ~ Netwerk ~ cc

4. ~ Rapeman ~ Budd ~ T&G

5. ~ Various Artists ~ Fast & Bulbous ~ Imaginary ~ cc

6. ~ Colour Me Psycho ~ Pretend I'm Your Father ~ Raging ~ cc

7. ~ The Shuffle Demons ~ Bop Rap ~ Stony Plain ~ cc

8. ~ The Rollins Band ~ Life Time ~ Texas Hotel

9. ~ Big Stick ~ Crack n'Drag ~ BYO

10. ~ The Pixies ~ Surfa Rosa ~ 4AD

11. ~ MDC ~ 1980-1987 ~ Radical

12. ~ Front Line Assembly ~ Corrosion ~ Mute ~ cc

13. ~ Fred Line ~ Radio Car Jerome ~ Shimmy Disc

14. ~ Beurier Noir ~ Operation Sampam ~ Bondage ~ cc

15. ~ Various Artists ~ Real Authentic Sampler ~ Ras

16. ~ Test Dept ~ Terra Firma ~ Sub Rosa

17. ~ Various Artists ~ Human Machine ~ Homestead

18. ~ White Zombie ~ Soul Crusher ~ Caroline

19. ~ Scruffy The Cat ~ Boom Boom Bingo ~ Relativity

20. ~ The Young Gods ~ Amore ~ Play It Again

21. ~ Denis Brown ~ Inseparable ~ WKS

22. ~ Fred Frith ~ The Technology Of Tears ~ SST

23. ~ The Gathering ~ Let It Shine ~ World

24. ~ Moev ~ Yeah Whatever ~ Netwerk ~ cc

25. ~ Die Kreusen ~ Century Days ~ T&G

26. ~ Jean Derome ~ Confiture De Gagaku ~ Victo ~ cc

27. ~ Shelly Hirsh ~ Singing ~ Apollore

28. ~ Varoshi Fame ~ EP ~ Afterbirth ~ cc

29. ~ Pere Ubu ~ The Tenement Year ~ Enigma

30. ~ Lambs Bread ~ International Love ~ LBI

31. ~ Peter Blegved ~ Down Time ~ ReRec

32. ~ Elliot Sharp ~ Larynx ~ SST

33. ~ Jad Fair & Kramer ~ Roll Out The Barrell ~ Shimmy Disc

1/3. ~ Ray Condo ~ Mondo Combo ~ s/r ~ cc

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JR GONE WILD ~ "I DON'T KNOW ABOUT ALL THAT";


Also printed were the charts for Montreal's other campus station CKUT which are notable for the lack of crossover hits with CRSG

The CKUT Top 35; No. ~ Artist ~ Album ~ Label ~ Cancon
1. ~ Fishbone ~ Truth & Soul ~ CBS

2. ~ Sarah McLachlan ~ Touch ~ Netwerk ~ cc

3. ~ Miriodor ~ Miriodor ~ Cuneiform ~ cc

4. ~ Various Artists ~ Stay Awake ~ cc

5. ~ Katie Webster ~ Swamp Boogie Queen ~ Alligator

6. ~ Various Artists ~ Sound Sampler ~ Nettwerk ~ cc

7. ~ Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds ~ Tender Prey ~ Mute

8. ~ Ambitious Lovers ~ Greed ~ Virgin

9. ~ Laibach ~ Sympathy For The Devil ~ Mute

10. ~ That Petrol Emotion ~ End Of The Millennium ~ Virgin

11. ~ Grant Hart ~ 2541 ~ SST

12. ~ The Cocteau Twins ~ Blue Belle Knoll ~ Polygram

13. ~ Skinny Puppy ~ Vivisect ~ Nettwerk ~ cc

14. ~ Dinosaur Jr ~ Bug ~ SST

15. ~ The Three Johns ~ The Death Of Everything ~ Caroline

16. ~ Conspiracy International ~ Core ~ Nettwerk

17. ~ Shinehead ~ Unity ~ WEA

18. ~ The Daylights ~ King ~ 109 Records

19. ~ Trio Bulgarka ~ The Forest Is Crying ~ Carthage

20. ~ Space Negros ~ Ethnic Musaz Of The 60's ~ Arf Arf

21. ~ Klinix ~ Fever ~ Antler

22. ~ Asher D & Daddy Freddy ~ Ragamuffin Hip Hop ~ Music Of Life

23. ~ Windmill Saxophone Quartet ~ Very Scary ~ Pathfinder

24. ~ Pigfarm ~ Hold Your Nose ~ X ~ cc

25. ~ Ornette Coleman ~ Virgin Beauty ~ Portrait

26. ~ Young Gods ~ L'Amourir ~ Pias

27. ~ Various Artists ~ A Vision Shared, Tribute To Woody Guthrie & Leadbelly ~ CBS

28. ~ Rin Tin Tin ~ Give Meech A Chance ~ Shake ~ cc

29. ~ The Lime Spiders ~ Volatile ~ Caroline

30. ~ The Sons Of Freedom ~ The Sons Of Freedom ~ Slash ~ cc

31. ~ Scott Johnson ~ Patty Hearst ~ Nonesuch

32. ~ Monty Cantsin ~ Ahora Neoismo ~ Maldoror

33. ~ Ludwig Von 88 ~ Special Olympique ~ Bondage

34. ~ Illusion Of Safety ~ More Violence & Geography ~ Complacency

35. ~ Marc Almond ~ The Stars We Are ~ EMI



THE BAND OF SUSANS ~ "PAINT IT BLACK";

Throwback Thursday Retro Zines; Rear Garde Magazine ~ September 1988

Rear Garde ~ September 1988; By this time the Montreal based magazine was nationwide at least in theory. Thus no more Montreal CRSG top 30 charts.

This month included interviews with the Circle Jerks, Razorbacks, Cowboy Junkies, Alex Chilton, Ludwig Von 88, Sudden Impact, MDC, Alternative Inuit, Scum, Pig Farm, Vilain Penguin, Johnny Arse & the Dogs, A.O.D, 76% Uncertain and a Festival International Rock De Montreal.

THE CIRCLE JERKS ~ "LIVE FAST DIE YOUNG";


Reviews of records by; Teenage Head, Razorbacks, Joan Jett, J.F.A, Smashed Gladys, Ramones, Tragically Hip, Montrose, Testament, Flotsam & Jetsam, Burning Spear, Big Youth, Tracy Chapman, Nerosis, Iggy Pop, Cynics, Art Bergman, Camper Von Beethoven, Ludwig Von 88, Nina Hagen, Dils, Heresy, No Mind, Problem Children, Lost Patrol, Mystic Eyes, Beyond Possession, Purple Toads, Corpusse, Jello Biafra, Georgia Satellites, Surf Punks, Paradox and Weddings, Parties, Anything.

THE RAZORBACKS ~ "SATURDAY NIGHT";


Concert reviews of; the Circle Jerks & 7 Seconds (Hey; I saw that tour), MDC, Three O'Clock Train & the Griffens, One Free Fall & the Tragically Hip (saw them too, thought they looked and sounded like UIC), Camper Von Beethoven & Screaming Watusis, Savage Garden, Nina Hagen (saw her as well, meh), Jerry Jerry & the Sons Of Rhythm Orch.

Appearing in Montreal that month were The Lyres, Fifth Column, Govt.Issue, No Mind w/ Pig Farm, Band Of Susans, Doughboys, The Boys, Heimlich Maneover, Fluid Waffle, Ray Condo, 54-40, Hall & Oates, King Diamond w/ Flotsam & Jetsam, Lillian Allen, Scorpions, Das Damen, JJ Cale, Pere Ubu w/ John Cale, Celine Dion (of course), UZEB, The Blushing Brides, Warzone and "Hell 88" featuring The Nils, Jr Gone Wild, Sons Of the Desert and Talk Shop

DEJA VOODOO ~ "YOU'RE NO FUN WHEN YOU'RE HEAD'S ALL MUSHY":


In other news Psyche Industry and BYC Records have merged to found Cargo Records, Deja Voodoo, The Gruesomes, TalkShop, Three O'Clock Train (after serious lineup changes) and the Hodads are in the studio, the Dundrells broke up and the National Campus Radio Org announces a new developement fund. Oh; and I started writing for them.

Blink and you'll miss it.

As mentioned in an earlier post Toronto radio station CKLN was finally, deservedly ordered off the air in April. Refusing to take "fuck off" for an answer CKLN's stubbornly inept management recently announced that hey had gotten permission to broadcast again as a "micro broadcaster" with a less than 1 watt signal. No that's not a typo, not even one whole watt with a range of about 700 feet. No that's not a typo either, 700 feet. Wow. That should carry clear across the street. Thus reaching that much coveted "people who happen to be driving by for a split second" demographic. They could literally reach more people by putting the speakers out the window.

My reconstruction of the conversation in a car of loyal CKLN listeners driving down to listen in on their car radio;
(sounds of static)Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.."You're listening to.." Bzzzzzzzzzzzz
1st CKLN fan; "Wait! Back up!"
(gears shift and..)Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...."CKLN.." Bzzzzzzzzzzz"
1st CKLN fan; "Wait! Go forward!"
(gears shift and...)Bzzzzzzzzzzzzz...."88.1fm" Bzzzzzzzzz
2nd CKLN fan; "This is stupid"

I'm guessing they are going to have to play a lot of really short songs.

That's where I can help. No really, I can offer some free advice here. The genre of "absurdly short punk songs" is much beloved if inherently limited one. Remember the first album by DRI where half the song were less than 30 seconds long? Actually some were less than 20 seconds long. Then Napalm Death once took this sort of thing to it's logical conclusion by having a one second song called "you suffer". In the immortal words of Napalm Death singer/guitarist Justin Broadwick;

"We played that song in front of 30 local kids, like, every weekend. We played that song 30 times."

There is even a word for this; "Micro Thrash". Therefore in the spirit of radio brotherhood I offer up for further research some bands known for songs 90 seconds long or less (this list is by no means exhaustive);

The Accused
Adrenaline O.D.
The Angry Samoans
Black Flag
The Circle Jerks
The Descendants
Destroy All Monsters
Discharge
D.R.I.
The Feederz
The Germs
Glue Gun
Government Issue
The High Fives
Minor Threat
The Minutemen
The Mr.T Experience
The Misfits
The Mono Men
Muck and The Mires
The Mummies
Napalm Death
The New Bomb Turks
Operation Ivy
The Ramones
Rancid
7 Seconds
REO Speedealer
Screaching Weasel
Social Unrest
State of Alert
The Subsonics
The Teen Idles
T.S.O.L.
The Undertones
Verbal Abuse
The Vibrators
Voorhees
Wehrmacht
Wire

Need some Can Con? No problem;

Beyond Possession
Bloodshot Bill
Bored Stiff
The Brutal Knights
Cub
Death Sentence
Dementia 13
DOA
The Evaporators
Danko Jones
Deja Voodoo
Thee Goblins
The House of Knives
The Leather Uppers
Maow
Maximum RnR
Molested Youth
The Rocket Reducers
The Sadies
The Screamagers
Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet
The Sick Boys
The Smugglers
The Sophisticatos
The Subhumans
The Ugly
The Vapids
The Viletones

These actually range in quality from the obviously stoopid and proudly goofy to those who surprisingly managed to come up with proper songs, with a beginning, middle and end, sometimes even a solo, in under 90 seconds. Some of these are classics, all should be required listening for any aspiring rocker. Less is more.

THE MISFITS ~ "RETURN OF THE FLY" (this video has a long intro which pads out the song length which is only about 90 seconds);



WIZO ~ "The Count";



FIZZY BANGERS ~ "SHORT ATTENTION SPAN":



DEJA VOODOO ~ "STOP";



DUANE EDDY ~ "SOME KINDA EARTHQUAKE";



SHADOWY MEN ON A SHADOWY PLANET ~ "INTERLUDE/COUNTDOWN" (TWO SONGS);



MAOW ~ "MS. LEFEVRE";



THE GRUESOMES ~ "MY BROKEN HEART WILL NEVER MEND";



THE JAM ~ "BATMAN THEME";



THE ANGRY SAMOANS ~ "THEY SAVED HITLER"S COCK";



THE VIBRATORS ~ "YEAH YEAH YEAH";



THE CYNICS ~ "BUSINESS AS USUAL";



T.S.O.L. ~ "SUPERFICIAL LOVE";



THE NEW BOMB TURKS ~ "I WANT MY BABY DEAD";




THE DESCENDENTS ~ "I DON'T WANNA GROW UP";



THE VANDALS ~ "TO ALL THE KIDS";



WIRE ~ "FEELING CALLED LOVE";



THE MINUTEMEN ~ "POLITICAL SONG FOR MICHEAL JACKSON TO SING" (live);



THE FORGOTTEN REBELS ~ "ELVIS IS DEAD";



THE UNDERTONES ~ "SMARTER THAN YOU";



ADRENALINE O.D. ~ "SUBURBIA";




CAUSTIC SODA ~ WELCOME TO DUMPSVILLE, POPULATION YOU";



MR.T EXPERIENCE ~ "SPEEDRACER";




THE RAMONES ~ "CRETIN HOP";



THE CIRCLE JERKS ~ "WASTED";



DEAD KENNEDYS ~ "I LIKE SHORT SONGS" (live);



BLACK FLAG ~ "REVENGE";



SCREECHING WEASEL ~ "I HATE LED ZEPPELIN";



OPERATION IVY ~ "BOMBSHELL";



7 SECONDS ~ "NOT JUST BOYS FUN";




GLUE GUN ~ "THE SCENE IS NOT FOR SALE;



DEATH SENTENCE ~ "FEEL FUCKED";




BEYOND POSSESSION ~ "NO RELIGION";




DRI ~ "Who am I?";




DISCHARGE ~ "HEAR NOTHING SEE NOTHING SAY NOTHING";



VOORHEES ~ "KEVIN KEEGAN";



NAPALM DEATH ~ "YOU SUFFER";



And then here is of course an entire compilation called "Short Music for short people" which has 99 songs 30 seconds and under.

Want some thing a little less punk and obnoxious? How about Elvis Presley, Duane Eddys, Hank Williams, Ersal Hickey, Chan Romero, Mac Wiseman, Ray Campi, Link Wray, Arch Hall jr, Cliff Richard, Glenn Glen, Merle Travis, Roscoe Holcomb, Hobart Smith, The Byrds, Bluecaps and The Swingin' Blue Jeans? There are also demos from Johnny Horton, Willie Nelson, Elvis (again), Cliff Richard (ditto), and Buffalo Springfield. Then there's the Alan Lomax collections which have some really short tracks by blues, folk and gospel singers including Josh White, Jimmie Strother, Moses Clear Rock Pratt, May Fortune and others.

Of course CKLN could also just play some of those Cabaret Voltaire, SPK, Throbbing Gristle, Nurse with Wound, Ramleh and John Cage records that sound like static anyway.

I actually did that once; while doing an overnight show I played John Cage's "HPSCHRD" which is basically 20 minutes of three or more harpsichords playing randomly buried under mountains of distortion. Eventually somebody called in;

Caller; "Are you on the air"
Me; "Probably"
Caller; "It sounds like I'm going under a tunnel and I'm not"
Me; "Well let's see (turning up volume);

JOHN CAGE ~ "HPSCHD";



Me; "Sounds fine to me. I'll be playing some Cabaret Voltaire later, you may want to stick around for that."

Hey it was 3:30 in the morning.