Super Rock #2

Well, we had to get to Super Rock #2 at some point, right? Once I discovered the small plethora of punksploitation mags that came out in ‘77’-78, I made it a life goal to make sure I owned every one of them. Even Super Rock #2. (the others I’ve discussed are here, here, here, here and here). I will also have a New Wave Rock #1 report coming soon – I think those had been the final two punksploitation items I’d been lacking, a situation which has recently been successfully addressed. 

To call the cover of Super Rock #2 “problematic” is severely understating the case, given that it’s a preview of a (pretend) gang-rape pictorial in which the Dead Boys are the perpetrators. The editors, Jeff Goodman and Christine Chestis, are falling all over themselves in the opening editorials congratulating photographer Glenn Brown on his fine work here documenting the depravity. Sure, his photos of the Dead Boys playing live are pretty outstanding, but that band was about nothing but the posing and the mastering of the “look”. “Modern Day Periodicals” of New York, NY (a name reminiscent of a mafia money laundering holding company) have a bit to answer for here, but….I suppose it was different times folks, different times. Just keep telling yourself that.

Right up front we’ve got two different gossip columns mixing up punks, rockers and Blondie (Deborah Harry, apparently, refuses to party and likes to sleep instead). They’re trying so hard for breadth that they overlap in their highly uninteresting stories about Iggy & Bowie, the Stones, the Ramones and Linda Ronstadt. But here I am thinking on my first read of Super Rock #2 that this is still mostly going to be a punk rock magazine, only to immediately stumble upon a Q&A with Natalie Cole, Nat King’s daughter, followed by a piece on Abba and then one on Fleetwood Mac. The incongruity between the cover and its contents is highly jarring. 

So on that note, maybe my favorite piece here regards Lynyrd Skynyrd: all the fights they get into, their glutton-for-punishment groupies, and their generally high levels of pure stupidity. Some real crackers, these boys, and I mean that in the nicest way. I recently heard “What’s Your Name” playing somewhere and totally loved it, after loathing it as a child when it’d come onto my AM dial. The article talks about their newest upcoming song, “That Smell”. Whew, it sure does. Alas, this piece was published mere months before the band’s dissolution in the face of some pretty unspeakable tragedy.

The Ramones interview conclusively proves Dee Dee was no, um, rocket scientist either, but you didn’t need me to tell you that. Hannah Spitzer, who does the Ramones piece and whom we’ve highlighted previously, gets all the true punk-ish stuff in this issue: Iggy, Ramones, Dead Boys and the Television pieces (she loves Marquee Moon and calls it “real rock…with bone-tingling tightness” – I agree!). Bit of a reach here, but does anyone know anything about Ms. Spitzer beyond her fine work in the punksploitation mags? Maybe she’s still with us? Hannah, get in touch with the ‘Hemorrhage, we need to talk…..!

Love the full-color poster stuff in the middle of the magazine, starting with one of Keith Moon – also soon to taste tragedy – and Joe Cocker together, wearing goofy hats. Guaranteed to be left in the magazine intact! There’s also a hideous Grace Slick poster as well, same story. These went on no one’s walls, ever. Can’t say the same for the Bay City Rollers piece & photos, but you look at them now and hey, they were really funny-looking fellas, weren’t they? I’m just old enough to remember Roller-mania, epitomized by the repeat on-the-hour play of “Saturday Night” on KROY Sacramento when I was a child, and their ubiquity in every female-targeted pre-teen mag. Sha Na Na are here too, pimping for their soon-to-launch TV show, which I also watched at age 10. Look folks, we only had six channels in the 1970s. You’ll perhaps want to watch an episode yourself, right now. 

So no, it’s not really a punk issue except when Hannah Spitzer’s around, for the most part. There are other things here on Willy and Toots DeVille; Talking Heads, in which the bass player is referred to as “Martina Weymouth”, the first time I’ve ever heard that anywhere; John Cale, Foreigner, Flame, Split Enz (who sport some exceptionally ridiculous haircuts), Derringer, Starz, Piper (helmed by Billy Squire); Harry Chapin, Kraftwerk, and Nite City, a Ray Manzarak outfit whom I’m utterly delighted to have never heard. Topping it off are some great Ebet Roberts photos of NY underground nightlife denizens. As with Rock Scene, there’s way more to an issue of “Super Rock” than you might have bargained for, and as with Rock Scene, after a flirtation with punk, they mercilessly tossed it fully and totally aside.