Friday, July 16, 2021

"Cutting Edge of Rock"

 Friday Frights takes center stage this week to deliver a powerhouse shock rocker hit from the October 1989 indie issue of (lol) Tipper Gore's Comics and Stories #1. Illustrated by Ken Landgraf-- who actually used to follow THOIA years ago, though I'm not sure if he ever made it over here to AEET-- this is a rather slicing bit of commentary on the "gimmick" bands from back in the day. So get up, leave your seat, and move your feet to the beat of The Electric Dead, as they show you how their lurid light show can seriously become horrifically heavy. Turn it up, maaan...

6 comments:

Brian Barnes said...

Somebody was in a band that was involved with this -- especially noting that merch was pretty much what kept most of the bands afloat!

Got to give THOIA reader and comic artist Landgraf a bit of extra credit -- the instruments and stage setup aren't bad at all, that usually where a lot of artists on "rock" stories go horribly wrong, something strange about the instruments or their position or how they are played. Though no drummer in a big hit making rock/metal band in the 80s would be caught dead with a kit that small :)

Nice job Ken, if you are out there, especially with the gore panel which is the whole point of this!

Doc Briar said...

Lindsay was quite the entrepeneur. Performer,manager, lighting director, accountant,...nothing was beyond this cat!
His sad demise inspired the hit song "The Day the Music Fried".

Mr. Cavin said...

Well that oughta save the band! I mean, simply everybody's gonna show up at the next concert now. Drummers are such psychos.

I think I remember this on the newsstand. My local shop had a healthy respect for undergrounds, indies, and locally made stuff. I was lucky in that, by the time I was twelve or thirteen, I was able to browse and honest-to-god comic book shop instead of having to buy whatever I could find off the spinner rack at Eckerd Drugs or wherever. I came up with a healthy idea of what all was out there, and kind of incidentally saw a lot of stuff just like this for sale. Awesome stuff.

Thank god it's Frightday!

Wendy said...

And this was a not-so-gentle reminder to never tell Mr. Karswell to "shape up or ship out". Is this the *real* reason you're not playing in a band anymore, Steve? Hmm???

JMR777 said...

That was a great finale for the band, but what can they do for an encore?

or

Reagan's Star Wars program finds a use after all.

"Every one knows drummers are a dime a dozen!" The members of Spinal Tap nod in agreement, except for their latest drummer of course.

Eric said...

David Gilmour regretted he never got the chance to do this to Roger Waters....