5 YEARS AGO

June 2005 Issue #252

Cover: Mach 5, Certainly Sir, the Everyday Visuals, Nobody’s Home

Bands: The Rudds, Darkbuster, the Downbeat 5, Ho-Ag, the In Out, Ad Frank, the Charms, Taxpayer, the Raging Teens, Presure Cooker, Chicken Slacks, Valhalla Kittens, Midnight Creeps, the Bon Savants, Scamper, the Clickers, Count Zero, Tanya Donelly, Big Bear, Helms, the Jody Grind, Doctor X

Gossip & Stuff: Dr. Frog runs a full page ad and leads with a quote from Northeast Performer—“Downright terrible!” Well, they are the only band I ever saw that would slowly destroy their keyboard during the show. *** There’s a true/false section that states Eric Van (ex-Noise editor) now runs stats for the Boston Red Sox. …And? Oh come on—is it true or false? Oh, at the bottom of Dr. Frog’s it says “From the band: All the other bands are festering dog crap; we are great.” *** What about Carl Biancucci getting into hi-tech gadgets? Remember, this is 2005—he thinks he’s gonna go to Caldors to buy an eight-track cartridge so he can listen to Grand Funk while cruising down to Paragon Park on Saturday night—he also wants American troops out of Vietnam NOW! Well, I saw Carl last week and he had a cell phone—but it was as big as a case of cigarettes and had a long antenna on it. He was trying to call in a request to WCOZ.

10 YEARS AGO

June 2000 Issue #202

Cover: Darkbuster (Rumble champs)

Bands: Chandler Travis Philharmonic, Freezepop, Upper Crust, Scissorfight, Three Day Threshold, the Gentlemen, Mr. Airplane Man, Heavy Stud, Heidi, Quick Fix, the Damn Personals, the Sheila Divine, Rock City Crimewave, Quintaine Americana, Lovewhip

Gossip & Stuff: Ahh, the year 2000 when the money did flow—the issue starts out with four pages of ads! *** Cynthia von Buhler is having a problem with people using photos of her without her permission. Are these the kind of photos where the body doesn’t exactly match the head? *** Darkbuster’s Lenny Lashley has his guitar stolen right after his band won their first night of the Rumble. And somehow I was a suspect because I opened up a used instrument stand. *** The band Missing Joe’s career comes to a screeching halt because in a reviewed I said they were safe. The almighty T Max has spoken—I’m sure all the band’s fans threw ripe fruit at them in respect of my all-powerful opinion. *** The gossip column talks about winning. Bob Dubrow from WMBR at the age of six was chosen Butch for a Day on the Bozo Show. Imagine being dressed up like a homeless person with a dangling wig of dreads… I’m not sure if I’d consider that winning. No, it wasn’t like Mr. Butch. Oh, you mean the other kind of butch? *** Joe Coughlin (the Noise) at different times has won a Raleigh “Chopper” bicycle, a Denon stereo system, and an acoustic guitar that he quickly sold for $200. He’s gotten lucky with me, too.

15 YEARS AGO

June 1995 Issue #151

Cover: Doc Hopper (Rumble champs), Mark Hamilton (WZBC DJ), Dana MacDonald (T.T. the Bear’s booker)

Bands: Morphine, Tree, the Moors, One of Us, Opium Den, Curtain Society, Crown Electric Company, Concussion Ensemble, Slide, Mistle Thrush, Extreme, Green Magnet School, Laurie Sargent, Powerman 5000, Orbit, Women of Sodom, Gigolo aunts, Bim Skala Bim, Bentmen, Birdsongs of the Mesozoic

Gossip & Stuff: Ad Frank stars in Prometheus Bound/ Hercules Unchained performed by the Acme Theatre. *** The soundtrack for the movie The Darien Gap features Willie Alexander, Bim Skala Bim, Fuzzy, Quivver and more local bands. *** Chris Doherty’s new band, Klover, gets signed before they play their first gig. *** The Tam shows that it is way ahead of its time by being smokeless (Massachusetts banned smoking in public places in 2004). *** Writer Boon Sheridan says that when the Boston Red Sox are on a wining streak the city of Boston can almost be a happy friendly place. Is that still true? Well, this came from a time before the Sox won two World Series, so now it takes a lot more than a inning streak to change the disposition of the entire town. *** There a photo of John Eye at one of his early shows when he was into slicing his chest open with a razor blade.

20 YEARS AGO

June 1990 Issue #96

Cover: Slaughter Shack (Rumble champs)

Bands: Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Volcano Suns, Think Tree, the Bags, the Zulus, the Cavedogs, Voodoo Dolls, the Titanics, Condo Pygmies, the Slaves

Gossip & Stuff: I love this photo on the cover of Colin, the lead singer of Slaughter Shack. He’s bottom-lit and silhouetted to eliminate the background and the text is flowing off the page. Everything says this is a big band to see. And I don’t want anyone to forget that I predicted in print that Slaughter Shack would win the Rumble. *** AJ Wachtel (the Beat) lands a job at the New York Times that he holds onto for a couple of years. *** Eric Martin (the Neats) builds his own guitar. *** The Bosstones officially change their name to the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and are picked up by Taang! *** Dumptruck breaks free of their two-year legal battle with Big Time Records. *** Newbury Comics, Looney Tunes, Nuggets, Planet Records, the Garment District, and T.T. the Bear’s are all recognized as “best of” by Rolling Stone magazine. *** The Lemonheads and Jerry’s Kids have songs on the soundtrack of A Matter of Degrees that stars John Doe (X). *** How the hell did you get away with saying that Michele Haber (the Bristols) was a transvestite? Well, she was probably making a joke and I took it out of context to make it a true fact that everyone should know. Luckily she later got an operation and is now a complete physical female.

Coming Up!