Matt McGee ([email protected])
Tue, 8 Dec 1998 23:28:51 -0800
Interesting side note to this story -- as stated below, the author of this
cartoon strip fronts the Mekons, which is the band that headlined the Dark
Space Festival way back in 1979, a 24-hour concert which saw U2 play the
3:30 am slot.
Matt
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The New York Times
December 3, 1998, Thursday, Late Edition - Final
HEADLINE: The Pop Life; Cartoons Dare To Mock Icons
BYLINE: By Neil Strauss
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES
The discipline of pop-music cartoon strips is a small and sad one, but one
of the best has always been "Great Pop Things." Running for 10 years in
alternative weekly newspapers, this pen-and-ink history of rock-and-roll
has informed readers that Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones ate so much
candy that "his entire body rotted away from the teeth downwards," Madonna
"tried to change organized religion" by "wearing her underwear outside her
clothes," Bob Dylan's music opened the way for new singer-songwriters who
"were usually discovered feeling sorry for themselves on the stairs at
parties" and Bono of U2 "retired from music to make LP's."
For those who don't live in the cities where the comic strip is regularly
published (Los Angeles and Chicago, mainly), this smart, skewed, pun-filled
and just plain inaccurate history of rock-and-roll has always been out of
reach. This month, its best strips have been anthologized for the first
time in the United States as a book, "Great Pop Things: The Real History of
Rock-and-Roll From Elvis to Oasis" by Verse Chorus Press. (In 1992, Penguin
in England released a hard-to-find anthology that the creators weren't
happy with, then retained the rights to the comics until last year.)
Steve Connell, who runs Verse Chorus Press and is a publisher of the music
magazine "Puncture," said he was attracted to the comic strip by "the
attitude of complete irreverence to things that are normally approached
with great reverence -- phenomena like U2 especially, which begs to be made
fun of."
The strip is drawn by Jon Langford (of the 20-year-old rock group the
Mekons) under the pseudonym Chuck Death. A friend from his hometown of
Newport, Wales, Colin B. Morton, writes the text.
"Some people have a problem with the comic strip," Mr. Langford said.
"Morrissey picked up a copy and threw it across the room and said his chin
was too big. He was quite angry. But others, especially less popular bands,
have used the comic as a T-shirt and view being included in it as an
honor."
The criteria for being included in "Great Pop Things" are usually
arrogance, a lack of self-awareness and being a pop-culture phenomenon,
which has made for lots of comics about Morrissey, Madonna and U2. Unlike
Morrissey, U2 has never responded to the barbed, mocking insults the comic
has hurled at them. "That's one of the things that gall me," Mr. Langford
said. "We relentlessly pillory them for being one of the most obnoxious and
pompous of rock bands. But they've never gotten back to us. I'm sure they
could break our legs if they wanted to."
The strip originally ran in Record Mirror in England in 1988 and, according
to Mr. Langford, his inspiration has never ebbed. "Just when we think we've
run out of ideas, David Bowie will say he's going to relaunch 'Ziggy
Stardust,' " he said. "Or the Sex Pistols will reform and we'll go, 'Wow,
we can get five strips out of that; that's like 500 bucks.' There's no
bounds to the ridiculousness of pop people."
But does Mr. Langford feel hypocritical in making fun of all these popular
and semipopular musicians when he is one himself? "They've got more money
than me, but they're not as good-looking or talented, so I should ridicule
them," he explained, not without sarcasm. "So it was partially inspired out
of greed and hatred."
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_________________________________
Matt McGee / [email protected]
@U2 Web Page Curator
http://www.atu2.com
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