// Category Archive for: Retrovirus

Concrete Blonde, Bloodletting 20th Anniversary Edition

By Noreen Sobczyk

Did you ever notice that Johnette Napolitano rarely, if ever, gets mentioned in those Top Women of Rock lists? Even if Concrete Blonde never had a good song on any album besides Bloodletting (which, rest assured they did), this album alone is enough to put her in the Top 20. Napolitano has the swagger, songwriting talent, and the vocal ability to assure her space as, perhaps not the Queen of Rock, but as a high-ranking member of the royal court.

On Bloodletting, Napolitano shows her vulnerability, desires, and strengths in spades on classic songs like the dysfunctional love song “Joey” (the band’s biggest commercial success); “Tomorrow Wendy” (a cover of the heartbreaking Andy Prieboy song about a friend dying from AIDS); and “Bloodletting (The Vampire Song);” one of the best vampire songs ever written, arguably second only to Bauhaus’ “Bela Lugosi’s Dead.”
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Sextreme Ball 2010: My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult/Lords Of Acid

By Christian Lipski
Photos by Deborah Lipski

Praga Khan’s girlfriend
tempts the audience

Dante’s, Portland OR
July 14, 2010

Touring together for the first time in 15 years, Lords of Acid and My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult are the main events on the Sextreme Ball 2010 tour, which began in Seattle on July 13. Both bands were part of the techno music movement of the late ’80s/early ’90s, and judging from the first two sold-out shows, both are still popular among the electronica crowd.
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The Cure, Disintegration Deluxe Edition

By J Howell

Oh, to revisit the heady days of 1989. . . as a young person, two things (at different times, and both seemed to recur often) were the focus of my adolescent adulation. These were head and shoulders above everything else (and made a killing from my obsessive need for more and more merchandise): Star Wars and The Cure.

Before I give myself an opportunity to digress on the efficacy of the Lucas Merchandising Machine, let’s talk about The Cure. Rhino has just released a curated-by-Robert-himself reissue of Disintegration in three discs: the first, a remaster of the record; the second, a collection of rarities; and the third, an expanded version of Entreat, a live record from the “Prayer” tour following Disintegration that was originally released in 1990.
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Hitting The Penthouse And Pavement: Whatever Happened To Ian Craig Marsh?

By Emily Carney

Confession: I am a massive fan of the early output of the Human League (Reproduction and Travelogue era) and Heaven 17. I still have my vinyl copies of Penthouse and Pavement, The Luxury Gap, and How Men Are at my disposal. If anyone needs some surprisingly undated anti-capitalistic-fat-cat synthesizer masterpieces, please locate these albums right now.

At any rate, the small contingent of Heaven 17 fans which still linger to this day are well aware that the group still exists with two of its iconic three-man lineup—Glenn Gregory, the Rutger Hauer-esque, smooth-as-hell lead singer; and Martyn Ware, the mustachioed evil synth genius who had an ax to grind with one Phil Oakey (you know, the asymmetrically-haired one from the Human League).

But my question is, what the hell ever happened to my personal favorite member of H17, Ian Craig Marsh?
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Top Five Funniest Evil Mad Scientists

By Lisa Anderson

The Evil Mad Scientist is a familiar figure in popular culture, and is found most often in science fiction, horror, or superhero tales. Evil Mad Scientists are not to be confused with their more benevolent counterparts, like Emmett Brown of Back to the Future. While the Evil Mad Scientist can be a figure of great terror, when this archetype is used for comic effect the results can be hilarious. Following are five of the best examples.
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Tuneage And Telly: When Music & TV Collide!

By Mandy Mullins and Jaime Sparrowhawk

Nothing like syndicated sound and vision on the small screen!

TV careers certainly haven’t killed radio stars; they often spawn them, and vice-versa. Myriad meldings of tune and telly set the scene for pop-preoccupied music mavens Mandy and Jaime, whose latest dispatch promises to be their longest, most eclectic and giddily madcap yet. Do not adjust your sets!

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The Remakening: Movies That Should Be Remade

Intro by Less Lee Moore

A February article on Horrornews.net proposed a list of 13 movies that need to be remade. While I didn’t agree with all of the films listed, it got me thinking.
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The T.A.M.I. Show, Collector’s Edition DVD

By Noreen Sobczyk

Perhaps you’ve seen some incarnation of this historic program via bootlegs, but this is the first time The T.A.M.I. Show (Teenage Awards Music International) has seen an official release. Little Steven has been quoted as saying “It’s the greatest rock movie you’ve never seen.” That may be debatable, but The T.A.M.I. Show sure is a treasure.
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Gavin Friday: Thief of My Heart

By Julie Finley

I remember it like it was yesterday. It had to have been the end of 1991 as I was still in tenth grade, and I remember there being snow on the ground. It was probably shortly after Christmas, because I can’t recall having enough money to buy more than one album at a time; even if they were used & in the bargain bin, I still rarely had over $10 on me at any given time. I usually starved myself in high school by not spending at least some of my lunch money just so I could buy whatever music I could, because I had priorities.

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Growing Old With The State

By Jesse Roth

Bopping along through the 1990s, I found myself immersed in a rather enjoyable childhood. I was growing in all the same ways my elementary-aged kid peers were, while also straddling the fence between juvenile pleasures and my desire to feel more grown-up. This divide applied almost everywhere in my life, from musical tastes to imagining that I was living a twenty-something life like my idols on MTV and other teen/adult-friendly fare. At this same juncture in life, I was also refining my sense of humor, discovering what made me laugh beyond the physical comedy I enjoyed in cartoons, Three Stooges shorts, and the very early Woody Allen films (such as Take the Money and Run) my family had introduced to me.
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