In April 1981 I’m sure it felt like a pretty big deal that NY Rocker had weathered the storms of punk and post-punk and come out on the other side of five years of publishing. They’d have a few more to go, though the end was quite a bit more ignominious than anything happening there from 1976 through 1982. So this issue, celebrating said 5-year anniversary, is a pretty nice one to have around, particularly because it’s not all onanistic back-patting but rather a normal monthly NY Rocker issue, tarted up with a little deserved looking back. 

On that front, there’s a cool piece called “Whatever Happened to the Class of ‘76?”, focused on the Manhattan/CBGB/Max’s whoosh that gave the mag and underground music much of its initial jolt. Tom Verlaine, in 1981, is said to be “a study in career suicide”. The Ramones’ lack of commercial breakthrough is thoroughly bemoaned, though some hope is held out for their new 45 “She’s a Sensation” (it didn’t chart, not even close). Suicide are “finally on the verge of the commercial success they so richly deserve” (I don’t remember said success). There’s definitely some bellyaching that Patti Smith is now in Detroit being a mom and raising a family, likely written by “a young person” who perhaps hadn’t yet considered having children now or ever.

They also track down “The De-Classe of ‘76” as well: those who disappeared. This includes acting editor for NY Rocker issues #2, 3 and 4 Craig Gholson, who says he got out early in the game because he “became disinterested in the music. I wanted to write about Television. I didn’t want to have to write about the Dead Boys”. Amen and godspeed, Craig. The “early days” reminiscing continues with a piece of Kristian Hoffman memories, a great Roberta Bayley photo spread of all the key ‘76-’77 NYC players and best of all, a reprint of Lester Bangs’ Peter Laughner obit from the September 1977 issue. It’s a phenomenal piece, readable here and also in one of the Bangs books, and it’s highly ironic for its depictions of Bangs trying to reason with Laughner to not drink and drug himself to death. and not letting him up into his apartment because Laughner was becoming “bad news”. I say highly ironic because I read the Bangs bio and, well, black kettle/black pot and all that. 

As far as the 1981 stuff in here, well, there’s news of a Plasmatics indecency arrest in Milwaukee, and The Specials being fined in London for “encouraging fighting” at their gigs, which was highly preposterous. The Plasmatics were indecent, though, on every level. I remember both of these incidents, but man, growing up in the suburbs as I did among the rubes, any time my musically unsophisticated peers wanted to reference whatever was happening in punk and “the new wave”, it was often The Plasmatics that they reached for. The 6 o’clock news had probably done something on them blowing up a school bus, or Wendy’s nipple tape, or this arrest. The hoi polloi, the great unwashed – they usually knew about Devo (total fags), the Plasmatics (that chick’s a dyke) and the Dead Kennedys (probably gay).

Now – on the proverbial flipside, NY Rocker #38 features a cool visit to the Brooklyn abode of Miriam Linna and Billy Miller of The Zantees to admire their record collection, jukebox and retro dishware. Bill Landis of Sleazoid Express weighs in with a fantastic primer essay, “From Tack to Gore: The Exploitation Film in America”, so good it makes me want to order that book I just hyperlinked to. In the reviews section, reviewer David Blither tries to grapple with the landmark ½ Japanese½ Gentlemen/Not Beasts triple LP box set, and far from finding it wanting, walks away from the experience with the zeal of the convert. Love that thing. And Howard Wuelfling gets a ton of great shit to review: a pile of Cleveland 45s like Pressler-Morgan, X_X, The Styrenes and Cleveland Confidential, plus the debut Bad Brains, a Wipers single and even the Lesa (Aldridge) 45. What would you say if I told you 1981 was one of the top three years in rock music history? NY Rocker #38 is another in a long line & litany of verifiable and documented proof points, so I shall provide no quarter on my stance.