The surprising origins of the KISS merchandising machine that generated $100 million in the 1970s
It’s a common misconception that the band KISS had a master plan from their earliest beginnings. We recently told you how the marketing of the…
Music Archives: 07/2018
Exercise with Iggy Pop and Nash the Slash on cable TV, 1982
All these years listening to Iggy Pop’s 2 Record Set—the brilliant New Values LP plus bits of Soldier and Party—I just assumed Iggy was singing…
This disturbing yet upbeat 1980 song by all-female post-punk band LiLiPUT features a rape whistle
The all-female Swiss group Kleenex (later LiLiPUT) were one of the most playful acts of the post-punk era. The unit formed in Zurich in 1978,…
Terry Riley and La Monte Young in a documentary about their teacher, Pandit Pran Nath
Poster by Marian Zazeela for a raga cycle performance at St. John the Divine, 1991 (via The Hum) William Farley’s In Between the Notes profiles…
John Mellencamp was once a glam rocker, covered Bowie and the Stooges in the 1970s
To learn that John Mellencamp was not only in a glam rock band in the early 1970s, but also covered David Bowie’s “The Man Who…
Stockhausen made a music box for each sign of the zodiac
In the mid-seventies, Karlheinz Stockhausen composed the 12 melodies of Tierkreis (or Zodiac), one for each star sign. He assigned the 12 notes of the…
Harlan Ellison’s stoner rock song
(via Pinterest) Harlan Ellison was not a head. In his review of 2001: A Space Odyssey, set in Canter’s Deli at three in the morning,…
The Despair of Monkeys and Other Trifles: An interview with Françoise Hardy
I recently read the Feral House publication, The Despair of Monkeys and Other Trifles: A Memoir by the great French singer/songwriter Françoise Hardy and got…
A Teatime Dub Encounter with Iggy Pop & Underworld by Irvine Welsh
Photo credit: Rob Baker Ashton A Teatime Dub Encounter with Iggy Pop & Underworld by Irvine Welsh You know the drill. I’ve idolised Iggy Pop…
Avalanche Bob is the yodeling outsider musician promoting the ‘snowboard revolution’
If you’re a frequent listener of The Best Show, then you may already know Avalanche Bob. He’s one of those unknown “regulars” who relentlessly calls…