“Danskins In The Dark.”
 
Raw footage of Bruce Springsteen lip-syncing and hip swinging to “Dancing In The Dark” for a video that, until now, never saw the light of day. Jeff Stein had been hired to shoot the video, but when Bruce saw the rushes he wasn’t happy. Brian De Palma replaced Stein and shot a radically different version of the video: live footage of Springsteen performing the tune with an appearance by Courtney Cox.

In the Stein footage, Springsteen seems to be taking a cue from George Chakiris in West Side Story or John Travolta in the Sylvester Stallone directed sequel to Saturday Night Fever, Staying Alive, which was released a few months before this video was shot.

Springsteen’s mid-80s flirtation with synthy new wave music was a real blow to the guy’s street cred and may be a glitch he’d just as soon forget.

This could have made for a nice exercise video: “Sweating In The Dark: New Jersey Aerobics with the E Street Muscle.”

 
The version that made it to the airwaves:

 
Update: Special bonus video after the jump…

 
This rocks on so many levels I can’t even begin to list them all. So, let’s forget about the multiple dimensions of pop culture bliss unfolding before our eyes and ears and just bask in the glow of Neil Sedaka doing a ska tune while bikini clad girls go-go to the latest dance craze, The Jellyfish (no vertebrae required), in the viciously seductive Sting Of Death from 1966.
 

 
For this one, I bow at the feet of PCL Linkdump.

 
More goodness for you weekend hippies.

The Universe is psychedelic. Just take a look.

Or just close your eyes.
 

 
This wonderfully insightful documentary on one of the 20th centuries most significant discoveries will make you long for the day when pharmaceutical-quality LSD is once again made available to adults who want to experience it. As humanity seems to be on a de-evolutionary course, the responsible and conscious use of LSD may be one of the only genuinely effective antidotes to what ails us.

Forget Prozac, Klonapin, alcohol and TV, let’s legalize Hofman’s potion and re-awaken the beauty at the core of who we all are.

And for you naysayers who still think LSD was some badass hippie shit with little or no redeeming qualities, get off your computers now. Without acid, this technology we’re using at this very moment would probably not exist as it does in its present form. Suggested reading: click here.
 

 
A rock star and outspoken social critic in his homeland of Czechoslovakia, Petr Novak’s musical career was cut short by an oppressive political regime and his own self-destructiveness. In the 1960s and early 70s, Novak symbolized for Czech youth the free spirited hippie culture and surging rock rebellion rising up in Eastern Bloc countries. Novak became a threatening presence to the Communist invaders in the Prague Spring of 1969, a time when Novak was a high profile figurehead for change. He was considered by many to be a Czech John Lennon.

While Novak managed to exist within the parameters laid down by the conservative ruling class, his spirit had been shaken and he eventually descended into alcoholism and drug use. He continued to release albums of rapidly diminishing quality until his death in 1997 at the age of 52.

Novak was a huge fan of The Beatles and London’s pop scene and the English influences can be seen and heard in his fashion sense and music. In a ballsy move he actually named his first band The Beatles, which he later re-named George and The Beatovens.  But, Novak was something quite unique and comparisons to the British Invasion bands and the Mersey Sound are mostly superficial. Novak has more in common, to my ears, with French artists like Serge Gainsbourg, Jacque Brel and British crooners like Scott Walker and even David Bowie. There’s also gothic and progressive elements in his work that foreshadow bands like The Teardrop Explodes and Echo and The Bunnymen, the other Mersey sound.

Petr Novak operates in his own zone and I find his music and these videos compelling enough to wonder if it might not be a good time for a record label to release a compilation of his material. As it is, I can’t find any of his music other than on expensive out-of-print vinyl.

Here’s a short video history of Petr Novak. Some of the clips are visually quite stunning.
 

 
Click here to see the full chart on the New York Times website.

A timely and handy chart for the understanding what’s going on with the deficit negotiations in Washington.

Remember that during the Clinton administration there was actually a SURPLUS coming in that went towards paying down the national debt. George Bush thought this was a bad thing—that the government shouldn’t be bagging surpluses—then promptly gave the average person the cost of a can of soda a day while giving billionaires major tax cuts and starting two costly wars. I think this chart makes it pretty obvious who fucked up this country. Who could deny otherwise? There’s no competition!

No wonder there’s nothing left for schools, roads, seniors, universal healthcare, the out of work and the sick… Isn’t this just infuriating?

H/T Joe.My.God.

 
Stencil spotted on the streets of Maryland.

(via High Definite)

 
Holy shit! If these classic shots of Iggy and the Stooges performing at Farmington High School in Oakland County, MI on December 5, 1970 don’t send a special thrill up your leg, there is nothing I can do for you, pal.

These shots were posted by Jim Edwards, lead singer of Michigan legends, The Rockets, on his Facebook page. Here’s what he wrote:

“I got these slides from a guy at work. He walks up to me and says, ‘You’re a musician, right? I got these old slides from a show at my high school, Wanna see ‘em?’ I held the first one up to the light and nearly shit myself!”

He must’ve used Kodachrome because these haven’t faded a bit. Also on the bill that night were headliners Mitch Ryder’s Detroit and a band called The Coming. This was James Williamson’s very first gig with The Stooges, at this point a quintet.
 

 

 
Iggy with split pants! If something like that happened today, he’d be in jail.
 

 
Above, a young James Williamson plays his first live gig with the Stooges.
 

 
Short-term Stooge Zeke Zettner on bass, Iggy and drummer Scott Asheton.
 

 
Above: What were these kids thinking?
 

 
A great shot of Ron Asheton.
 
Many more (and larger) photos at Jim Edwards’ Facebook page.

Thank you very kindly, Syd Garon!

 
Now wouldn’t this be ironic, especially after his recent comments?

Back in March 1996 under the headline “Meat Is Magic!” Select magazine ran a story that claimed celebrated vegetarian, “Mozzer eats meat!”

Morrissey eats meat?

Yes, Mozzer eats meat!

But how did they know?

How do we know? Because he does so at George & Niki’s in Camden. It’s also caff-by-appointment for Björk, Meanswear, Goldie and Blur…

George & Niki’s? What’s that then?

Forget The Good Mixer, George and Niki’s Golden Grill caff in the heart of cosmopolitan Camden has become the palatable place to be for London’s pop glitterati.

“There’s this place in America where the five states meet,” says George. “This is its London equivalent. we get regulars, nutters, kids and then we get the pop stars.”

The Golden Grill has stood on the same sight for 50 years - three generations of the Georgio family - serving roasts, fry-ups and quality vegetarian alternatives. Select, in an attempt to unveil the covert culinary habits of pop celebrity, spent an afternoon in the company of Niki, George and their rocker-coiffed assistant of 13 years, Vange (“Just call me Vange. That or Elvis.”) The results…

Vange: “Yeah, this bloke called Morris…Morris? The rocker bloke. Lovely man.”

Morrissey.

“That’s him! Comes in about once a month. A roast he has, yeah a roast dinner!”

Er…not the vegetarian option?

Vange: “Nah! Roast dinner. Lots of gravy.”

“Roast dinner”? “Lost of gravy”? Incredible. One can only imagine what the tabloids would do for a picture of Mozzer with his mouth chockfull with meat.

But surely Vange was obviously confusing Mozzer with er, Morris….Morris… Hm. Not many pop stars with Morris as a first name.

Click on the above image to see larger version of the article.
 
Previously on Dangerous Minds

Back to the nineties: Fabulous scans of ‘Select’ music magazine

Morrissey compares Norway massacre to KFC

 
With thanks to Tommy Udo and Tara McGinley
 

 
Redditor canaznguitar says, “Found this orange growing inside my orange yesterday.”

It’s O R A N G E C E P T I O N!