Email Author John Blanco

1990 Stories by John Blanco

• BABY LOVERAVE-UPS LEADER JIMMER PODRASKY'S SON RISES, EVEN IF POP'S ROCK DROPS

  published November 14, 1990

  When most proud papas want to show off their offspring, they pop a home video into the VCR or pull out a stack of wallet-size photos.... More >>

• SOUL SEARCHIN'

  published November 7, 1990

  Flashback to the late Sixties: A prepubescent Dan Murphy is drooling over the cover of an album from his parents' collection. It's a... More >>

• BROOD INDIGOFOLK-POP'S GROOVY GIRLS THROW A SOMBER PARTY

  published October 31, 1990

  Every time she scanned the Billboard chart in the summer of '89, Indigo Girl Amy Ray had to chuckle. Perched near the top of the pops,... More >>

• BLACK FLAG WAVINGHIS MUSIC'S MATURED, BUT IS HENRY ROLLINS JUST AN OVERGROWN PUNK?

  published October 17, 1990

  A couple dozen black-clad kids are moping around outside Tempe's Asylum nightclub. It's a full five or six hours before the Rollins Band... More >>

• RETURN TO GENDER SCRAWL DEMOLISHES THE GIRL-GROUP MYTH WITH A

  published October 10, 1990

  Scrawl guitarist Marcy Mays straddles a barstool at Tempe's Sun Club, sipping a beer and reflecting on the small-potatoes status of her... More >>

• LOBOTOMY'S UP!SCATTERBRAIN'S GUT-BUSTING DEBUT IS A HEADBANGERS' BALL

  published September 19, 1990

  Pick up a copy of Scatterbrain's debut album, Here Comes Trouble, and you'll probably find a label slapped on the disc instructing... More >>

• PUNK'S FOR THE MEMORIESA FRANK DISCUSSION ON PHOENIX'S GRAND SLAM SCENE

  published August 29, 1990

  When Mad Gardens closed its doors in early 1984, the Valley's punk community was up in arms. Many slam-dancing teens had spent some of... More >>

• PUNK PANTHERS

  published August 29, 1990

  Ever wonder what happened to some of the Valley's former punk V.I.P.'s? While a few still are fixtures on the scene, others packed... More >>

• BLONDE HAS MORE FUNDRUG-FREE CONCRETE CROONER JOHNETTE TAKES A STRAIGHT SHOT AT STARDOM

  published August 8, 1990

  Concrete Blonde's first single, "Still in Hollywood," used to serve as something of a theme song for the band. The 1987 alternative-radio hit was... More >>

• EMBOLDENED OLDIESSTILL ROCKING AT AGE SIXTEEN, THE RAMONES ARE NO YOUNG PUNKS

  published August 1, 1990

  Back in the glue-sniffing, brat-beating early days of his band, Marky Ramone would've never believed it was possible. But here it is,... More >>

• SOLE KING COLEPRETTY BOY LLOYD CAUSES A COMMOTION ALL BY HIMSELF

  published July 18, 1990

  For a while there, you could scarcely pick up a magazine without seeing Lloyd Cole hawking high-priced liqueur in his series of... More >>

• THINKING GLOBALLY, ROCKING LOCALLYPHOENIX'S DEAD HOT WORKSHOP LEADS AN ACTIVIST'S LIFESTYLE

  published June 27, 1990

  It's almost one in the morning at Asylum's Greenpeace benefit concert, and there's not an eco-freak in sight. There's no sign of the speakers,... More >>

• THIS SALSA'S MADE IN NEW YORK CITYNEW-WAVE WONDER DAVID BYRNE PASSES LATIN

  published June 6, 1990

  Who would've guessed that beneath the milquetoast exterior of David Byrne burned the heart of a hot-blooded, hip-swiveling, Jose... More >>

• SIZZLE SHTICKTHE NEWEST RED HOT CHILI PEPPER PICKS UP THE PACE

  published May 30, 1990

  When Hillel Slovak died in 1988 after spending his last couple of years in a heroin haze, everyone knew the Red Hot Chili Peppers'... More >>

• RECORDINGS

  published April 25, 1990

  Where the Heck Is Mr. Fun? (Or Up and Down the Donut With Frank) (Local tape) Galen Herod has always come off like a lovable spaz on... More >>

• THE DUKES OF DORKTHEY MIGHT BE GIANTS ARE THE LAST NERDS IN HIPNESS

  published April 18, 1990

  A couple of weeks back, a strange new noise infiltrated unsuspecting suburban homes all over the country. Every household with a... More >>

• Caterwaul in the Cradle

  published March 7, 1990

  It was supposed to be a fun postconcert gathering of friends and groupies. Caterwaul had just finished playing two shows to enthusiastic... More >>

• Snotty City

  published February 21, 1990

  It's not your average pop band that writes heartfelt paeans to Karen Carpenter, chronicles the traumas of "Teen-age Dogs in Trouble," or... More >>

• Thin Icelanders

  published February 14, 1990

  When the Sugarcubes first splashed onto the music scene back in the summer of 1988, you'd have thought we were witnessing Christ's... More >>

• From Rude to Subdued

  published January 31, 1990

  When the Reid bros., William and Jim, started the Jesus and Mary Chain back in 1984, they had a modest little goal in mindÏnamely to piss ... More >>

• A Pixie and his Caddie

  published January 24, 1990

  Most performers set out on solo tours to indulge mammoth egos or to achieve that elusive goal called "artistic fulfillment." Black Francis did it... More >>

• Grapes Juice

  published January 17, 1990

  Aside from your multiplatinum Tracy Chapman records, acoustic folk albums aren't exactly Top 40 fodder in this post-Peter, Paul, and... More >>

• Style Counseling

  published January 10, 1990

  Double truck, no jumps You say you don't know Love and Rockets from Loggins and Messina? Can't tell the Sugarcubes from Supertramp? Well,... More >>

• Sucking In The Seventies

  published January 3, 1990

  Surely the meeting of the king of Seventies rock, Robert Plant, and the clown prince of Eighties rock, Cult singer Ian Astbury, has to... More >>