Upside Down: The Creation Records Story is a roller coaster of film, which tells the incredible tale of one of the most important independent record labels of the past fifty years - Creation Records. 

This excellent film reveals how the gallus Glaswegian Alan McGee started the label with a £1,000 bank loan in the 1980s, and went on shape music in the 1980s and 1990s, as he made Creation home to such talents as The Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream, Medicine, The Pastels, Teenage Fanclub, BMX Bandits, Super Furry Animals, The Boo Radleys, Saint Etienne, Momus, My Bloody Valentine, 3 Colours Red and Oasis - who were signed for £40,000.

McGee originally thought Liam Gallagher was the band’s drug dealer, as he told the Sun:

“I was up in Glasgow seeing my dad and I wasn’t sure I’d even go to the gig. I got there early by mistake. Oasis were on first, before most people arrived. There was this amazing young version of Paul Weller sat there in a light blue Adidas tracksuit. I assumed he was the drug dealer and that Bonehead, the guitarist, was the singer.

“It was only when they went on stage I realised it was the lead singer Liam Gallagher. I knew I had to sign them.

“Noel and I talked after the show and just said ‘done’ and he turned out to be a man of his word.

“I was lucky to be there. We didn’t send out scouts. Most of my signings were because I happened to see new bands. That couldn’t happen any more. If a new band as much as farts it’s all over the internet.”

Upside Down: The Creation Records Story brilliantly captures the creativity that came out of the chaos of the legendary McGee’s drug-fueled reign as President of Pop.

“I was on one continuous bender from 1987 until 1994. Until Oasis came along the Creation staff were more rock and roll than the bands we signed. Then Oasis came along and things got even crazier.

“I was permanently off my head on cocaine, ecstasy, acid and speed. We’d be awake for three days.

“We went one further than having dealers hanging around. We just employed them instead.

“But they were different times. If you behaved now like we used to people would phone the police.”

Upside Down: The Creation Records Story is now available on DVD, with a short cinema release, details here.
 

 
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Morrissey brands Royal Family ‘benefit scroungers’
Rare interview with Morrissey on The Smiths, politics, song-writing and his autobiography

(via The High Definite)

 
I think this is a very objective viewpoint for them to take…
 

 
From Andy Cobb by way of Fishbowl LA

 
No indie DVD label is as dedicated to the preservation and promotion of “outsider cinema” quite like our friends at Severin Films. Nope, no one does “so bad that it’s good” titles like they do—witness their mind-numbing Birdemic:Shock and Terror release. Need I say more?

“Either by way of budget constraints or warped vision,” says Severin’s marketing director Evan Husney, their releases “represent a piece of a cinematic underbelly from a universe all its own.”

Now Severin, in association with The Intervision Pictures Corp. are going to be releasing some of the cultier cult films from the nearly 850 movie catalog owned by pioneering VHS distributor, Larry Gold, Sr., who died earlier this year of a heart attack. First in that slate is the DVD release of SLEDGEHAMMER, a shot-on-videotape, no-budget slasher flick from the 80s:

The plot is familiar: A group of friends comes to party at a backwoods house where a legacy of brutality awaits. But within this minimalist ’80s mélange of food fights, feathered hair and abusive slow-motion lurks a relentless synth score, bizarre sexual subtexts and a disturbing shape-shifting behemoth killer. The result is 85 minutes of fever-dream depravity.

The “fever dream depravity” that is SLEDGEHAMMER was directed by David A. Prior and starring Ted Prior (his brother) and Linda McGill

At some point I had a VHS copy of this that someone gave me, but it wasn’t something I paid much attention to. I probably never did more than scan through it on fast forward before passing it on to another otaku pal of mine. That was probably a mistake. One night at Cinefamily, here in Hollywood, I saw a scene from the film and I immediately thought “Oh, that was probably that SLEDGEHAMMER thing I used to have” and regretted that I never watched it.

Severin sent me the video clip last week, along with the DVD of SLEDGEHAMMER. My mistake for not paying closer attention to this absolutely BERSERK little number when I had the chance! Just look at that clip. How could you not want MORE?

Don’t answer that, but If you are interested to win a copy of the SLEDGEHAMMER DVD be the first one to answer this question in the comments (only the FIRST person with the correct answer wins):

What popular magazine featured “extensive” coverage of SLEDGEHAMMER star Ted Prior in 1984?

 
It’s actually rather hypnotic.

(via Boing Boing and Xeni Jardin)

 
Expect a deluge of really bad Osama bin Laden death songs. Here’s one by a rapper from Phoenix, Arizona calling himself Hot Rod. He was at one time a protege of 50 Cent.

“My musical ear has expanded. Now the music I make is fuckin’ incredible and I can’t wait to unleash it to the world.” Hot Rod.

Mr. Rod, put it back on the leash.
 

 
Via The Daily Swarm

 
Here’s Augie f*cking Garrido, head coach of the University of Texas baseball team and someone who is full of f*ck. He’s also quite possibly the world’s best f*cking movtivational speaker. Don’t believe me? Watch a clip of Augie f*cking Garrido flipping the f*ck out from Richard Linklater’s 2009 documentary, Inning By Inning: A Portrait of a Coach.

 
(via BuzzFeed and with thanks to Gavon Laessig)

 
“The safer you play, the longer you stay.”

Public service announcement from French safe sex organization AIDES is a wonderfully witty and effective way to get your message out there.

The video is an animation of a poster that can be seen in all of its glory here.
 

 
Via copyranter

 
New from Adam Curtis, director of the controversial documentaries, The Power of Nightmares and Century of the Self. This looks quite tasty, but still till no announced air date.
 

 
Thank you kindly, Michael Backes!

 
Oh shit, Gang Gang ! It’s everything time. Yes, I’m excited. Gang Gang Dance is one of the most potent bands going these days, hitting so many of my pleasure receptors at once. A band that understands mystery and darkness, groove and texture. Savor it, there’s no other band like ‘em.
 

 
Apparently the Fab Four consisted of John Legend, George Michael, George Lennon and Larry.

 
(via Nerdcore)

 
The mummified body of Yvette Vickers, a B-movie actress beloved by fans for her role as the mistress in Attack of the 50-Foot Woman (and an early Playboy playmate) was discovered at her Benedict Canyon home in Los Angeles. According to police, Vickers had not been seen for some time. A neighbor became suspicious and decided to investigate on April 27th. The state of decomposition may indicate the body was there for close to a year. From the Los Angeles Times:

Vickers had lived in the 1920s-era stone and wood home for decades, and it served as the background for some of her famous modeling pictures. But over time it had become dilapidated, exposed in some places to the elements.

Susan Savage, an actress, went to check on Vickers after noticing old letters and cobwebs in her elderly neighbor’s mailbox.

“The letters seemed untouched and were starting to yellow,” Savage said. “I just had a bad feeling.”

After pushing open a barricaded front gate and scaling a hillside, Savage peered through a broken window with another piece of glass taped over the hole. She decided to enter the house after seeing a shock of blond hair, which turned out to be a wig.
The inside of the home was in disrepair and it was hard to move through the rooms because boxes containing what appeared to be clothes, junk mail and letters formed barriers, Savage said. Eventually, she made her way upstairs and found a room with a small space heater still on.

She was looking at a cordless phone that appeared to have been knocked off its cradle when she first saw the body on the floor, she said. Savage had known Vickers but the remains were unrecognizable, she said.

She remembered her neighbor as an elegant women in a broad straw hat, dressed in white, with flowing blond hair and “a warm smile.”

“She kept to herself, had friends and seemed like a very independent spirit,” Savage said. “To the end she still got cards and letter from all over the world requesting photos and still wanting to be her friend.”

Savage said the neighbors felt terrible.

“We’ve all been crying about this,” she said. “Nobody should be left alone like that.”

Truly, a sad and lonely way to die.

Thank you, Douglas Hovey!

 
These photographs by Frank Marshall of heavy metal devotees in Botswana, Africa are simply amazing, oozing style and attitude.

Botswana metalhead Tshomarelo Mosaka describes the scene:

Metal is given very extreme respect and great dignity in Botswana. A metal gig here is like a religious ritual among the metallers, they become very, very delighted or even crazy sometimes whenever there is an upcoming gig. They will spend weeks preparing their leather pants, boots and other metal attire – it’s like they are preparing for war!”

One of the only white metal musicians in Botswana, Giuseppe Sbrana, shares his take on where the scene’s fashion sense comes from: 

A good example of where we get the style from is Motorhead’s Ace Of Spades cover. Also, many metalheads in Botswana are cowboys from the villages and farms, so they mix the cowboy image with a biker metal look. Many wear hunting knives and parts of dead animals. We drink from the hollowed-out cow horns.”

Cue the Ennio Morricone.
 

 
Some serious Misfits influence in this photo:
 

 
The names these cats have given themselves are hardcore poetry: Bone Machine, Morgue Boss, Bound By The Moon, Coffinfeeder, Venerated Villain and my favorite Apothecary Dethrok. I’m buying some leather and changing my name to Malcolm Sex Formal D. Hyde Sinister Minister.

Be your own hero, anytime anywhere. Dudes, you rock!
 

 
See more of these wild photographs and read the entire article over at Viceland:
Atlas Hoods: Botswana’s Cowboy Metalheads

 
Poet, musician, film maker, photographer, publisher, world traveler, spiritual seeker and cosmic New Yorker, Ira Cohen has died at the age of 76

Author of dozens of books of poetry and “The Hashish Cookbook” (under the pseudonym of Panama Rose), Cohen also published the works of his friends William Burroughs, Gregory Corso, Paul Bowles, Brion Gysin, Jack Smith Harold Norse and many others.

Cohen made many pilgrimages to India and Kathmandu (where he ended up living for several years) and chronicled his journeys in extraordinary photographs. His travels took him to Morocco, Tunisia, Afghanistan, Spain, Japan…but all roads eventually lead back to New York City’s Lower East Side.

As a film maker, Cohen developed a style distinctly his own by photographing images reflected in Mylar plastic. The Invasion Of Thunderbolt Pagoda and Brain Damage were directed by Cohen in the late 1960s using this mirror effect. The Invasion Of Thunderbolt Pagoda was released in 2006 on DVD by the folks at the late lamented Arthur Magazine. Cohen conjured some of the same cinematic spirits as his peers Jack Smith and Kenneth Anger.
 

Jimi Hendrix photographed by Ira Cohen
 

In certain artistic and literary circles, Mr. Cohen was a touchstone. “Ira was a major figure in the international underground and avant-garde,” Michael Rothenberg, the editor of Big Bridge magazine, an Internet publication, said in an interview. “In order to understand American art and poetry post-World War II, you have to understand Ira Cohen.”

If you spent any time in downtown New York’s art scene during the past five decades you would have undoubtedly crossed paths with the open-hearted and wise gentleman who described himself as a “multi-media shaman.” Ira Cohen stayed relevant throughout his life, never square and never predictable. He was magic. His sphere of influence only grew larger as he grew older. His International reputation as a world class artist and wizard continued to flourish right up to his death on April 26.

Here’s an excerpt of The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda which features a score by the original drummer of the Velvet Underground, Angus MacLise.
 

 
A trailer from a film on Ira Cohen and scenes from his film “Brain Damage” after the jump…

 
The Dangerous Minds Radio Hour kicks off it’s 21st episode with special guest DJ Comet of Mod Cinema who excitingly rummaged through his musical collection to
bring rare tracks from France, Australia, Germany, Brazil, UK, Japan, and the good ol’ USA.
 
Francoise Hardy “L’amour en prive”
The Gibsons “City Life”
Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra “Oh, Oh, Oooh, Ei Ei Ei - Wo Immer Es Auch Sei”
The Doves “I’ll Cry If You Make Me”
Gal Costa “Lost in the Paradise”
Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf “Talk About a Girl”
Bertrand Burgalat “Pleased Me”
Alan Brackett & Scott Shelly “Best Times”
Steve Martin “Love Songs in the Night”
Connie Stevens “Tick Tock”
The Rotary Connection “Memory Band”
Dee Edwards “Why Can’t There Be Love”
M.E.D. “Can’t Hold On” (instrumental)
The Tremeloes “I Swear”
Oh! Penelope “Lait Au Miel”
Judy Mackenzie “New Song”
Pascale Audret “Affole-Toi Marie”
Cliff Wagner “Red Spots”
Lee Hazlewood & Ann Margret “Sweet Thing”
Chris Stamey “the Summer Sun”
Astrud Gilberto “Number One to the Sun”
Lyn Murray “Love Hate Love”
 

 
Download this week’s episode
 
Subscribe to the Dangerous Minds Radio Hour podcast at iTunes
 
Video bonus: Four years after Detroit soul group The Dramatics broke into
the Top 10 with their hit song Whatcha See is Whatcha Get they appeared
as themselves in the very strange 1975 Blaxploitation film Darktown
Strutters.