On 11th and 12th of July, 1986, Queen performed at London’s Wembley Stadium. The tour, aptly named The Magic Tour, which would be the band’s last tour with their original line-up, took in 26 dates around Europe’s stadiums, in support of their then latest album A Kind of Magic.
Powerful live acts with stunning productions were what people usually and rightly thought of Queen, but they also often did not get to see the huge production value of the band’s after show parties. One such party, however, was fortunately captured on camera. The Kensington Roof Gardens was where the band held their party in 1986. Billed as Dicky Hart And The Pacemakers, Queen was joined by the likes of Cliff Richard, Samantha Fox, Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Spandau Ballet, and even the now disgraced and dishonoured Gary Glitter.
“I sang with Freddie Mercury at a party once and that was fantastic. I couldn’t believe it when he pulled me up. It was their private party in Kensington. As soon as you got into the lift there were naked women painted green, like a forest. They had midgets with little trays of drinks. You just knew it was going to be a brilliant party. Queen took the stage and they jammed for about an hour [the party itself went until about 9am]. It was amazing. And Gary Glitter got up, too! He pulled me up and asked me what songs I knew. And you know when you can’t think? I asked if he knew Touch Me and he laughed and said, ‘What about Go Johnny Go?’ We ended up singing that together. It was amazing to do a duet with Freddie.” – Samantha Fox.
Lionheart is the second studio album by the English singer-songwriter Kate Bush. It was released in November 1978, just nine months after Bush’s successful debut album The Kick Inside. Lionheart reached no. 6 on the UK Albums Chart (her only album not to make the top 5) and has been certified Platinum by the BPI.
The first single taken from the album, “Hammer Horror”, missed the UK Top 40. However, the follow-up single, “Wow”, was released on the back of Bush’s UK tour and became a UK Top 20 hit.
These vintage photos of Kate Bush during cover session were taken by Gered Mankowitz for her album Lionheart in 1978.
Beginning in the late 1970s and early 1980s there were new movements within the German punk scene, led by labels like ZickZack Records, from Hamburg. It was during this period that the term Neue Deutsche Welle (New German Wave) was first coined by Alfred Hilsberg, owner of ZickZack Records. Many of these bands played experimental post-punk, often using synthesizers and computers.
In the 1980s, many new punk bands became popular in the scene and developed the so-called “Deutschpunk” style, which is not a generic term for German punk rock, but an own style of punk music that included quite primitive songwriting, very fast rhythms and politically radical left-wing lyrics, mostly influenced by the Cold War.
Because of repressions by the state of East Germany, there was only a secret punk scene that could develop there. One of the most popular bands were probably Schleim-Keim, who also got popular in West Germany. Only in the last years of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) did the government allow some bands like Feeling B or Die Skeptiker from East Berlin, but those bands were criticized in the scene for cooperating with the government. Some of these bands applied for and received “amateur licenses” to allow them to perform in state-sanctioned venues, while still maintaining connections with the underground East German punk community.
Harald Hauswald’s pictures show everyday life in the GDR in all its facets, between SED dictatorship and underground opposition. Hauswald, who was born in Radebeul, went to East Berlin himself after an apprenticeship as a photographer and became part of the scenes he documented there. With all clarity, his photographs, taken from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, articulate the dignity of those portrayed, the transformation of East Berlin’s urban space, and the work of oppositional groups and youth cultures in an East German republic marked by decay.
Bluesmass, Berlin, 1983
Punks in East-Berlin, 1985
Alternative church congress (church from below), Berlin-Friedrichshain, 1987
Punkrock concert in a church hall of the protestant church, Karl-Marx-Stadt, Saxony, 1985
The Monterey Jazz Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Monterey, California, United States. It was founded on October 3, 1958 by jazz disc jockey Jimmy Lyons.
The festival is held annually on the 20-acre (8 ha), oak-studded Monterey County Fairgrounds, located at 2004 Fairground Road in Monterey, on the third full weekend in September, beginning on Friday. Five hundred top jazz artists perform on nine stages spread throughout the grounds, with 50 concert performances.
In addition, the Monterey Jazz Festival features jazz conversations, panel discussions, workshops, exhibitions, clinics, and an international array of food, shopping, and festivities spread throughout the fairgrounds.
These vintage photos were taken by Baron Wolman that show attendees of the Monterey Jazz Festival in California in September 1969.
“I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)” is a pop song that originated as the jingle “Buy the World a Coke” in the groundbreaking 1971 “Hilltop” television commercial for Coca-Cola and sung by The Hillside Singers. “Buy the World a Coke” was produced by Billy Davis and portrayed a positive message of hope and love, featuring a multicultural collection of teenagers on top of a hill appearing to sing the song.
The popularity of the jingle led to it being re-recorded in two versions; one by The New Seekers and another by The Hillside Singers, as a full-length song, dropping references to Coca-Cola. The song became a hit record in the US and the UK.
The idea originally came to Bill Backer, an advertising executive working for McCann Erickson, the agency responsible for Coca-Cola. Backer, Roger Cook and Billy Davis were delayed at Shannon Airport in Ireland. After a forced layover with many hot tempers, they noticed their fellow travelers the next morning were talking and joking while drinking Coca-Cola.
Backer later wrote: “In that moment, (I) saw a bottle of Coke in a whole new light… (I) began to see a bottle of Coca-Cola as more than a drink that refreshed a hundred million people a day in almost every corner of the globe. So (I) began to see the familiar words, ‘Let’s have a Coke,’ as more than an invitation to pause for refreshment. They were actually a subtle way of saying, ‘Let’s keep each other company for a little while.’ …So that was the basic idea: to see Coke not as it was originally designed to be — a liquid refresher — but as a tiny bit of commonality between all peoples…”
According to Bill Backer, the audience understood that Coca-Cola “could be a little social catalyst that can bring people together, talk things over, and sometimes communications get better if you’re just sitting over a bottle of Coke and looking people in the eye.”
Bad Weather Ruins Two Commercial Shoots
Phil Messina, the agency’s producer, planned the filming of Gabor’s visual concept on the cliffs of Dover. Hundreds of British schoolchildren and 65 principals were cast to lip-sync the song. Three days of continuous rain scrubbed the shoot. The crew moved to Rome.
New young people were cast and taught by Davis to lip-sync the song. The opening shot of the commercial had to have that “right” face, which was filled by a young lady on vacation in Rome from Mauritius.
The production was delayed by more rain. Finally, late in the day, the crew completed the climactic helicopter shot. The next day revealed that the young people looked as though they had really been in a rainstorm. The film was unusable, the budget was spent and the young people were released to go on their way.
Because of Bill Backer’s confidence in the hillside concept, Sid McAlister, the account supervisor on the Coke account, went to bat on another budget to re-shoot the spot, and McCann Erickson tried again. The new budget eventually topped $250,000, a staggering amount in that era.
Harvey Gabor directing the 'Hilltop' shoot in Rome, 1971.
Several Hundred Thousand Dollars Later, Success
Five hundred young people were hired for the chorus from embassies and schools in Rome. This was a substantial reduction from the original rained-out chorus. A British governess Davis and Gabor found pushing a baby carriage in the Piazza Navona was hired for the lead female role. The Italian film company Roma Film filmed the commercial and this time the weather cooperated. Close-ups of the young “leads” were actually filmed at a racetrack in Rome, separate from the larger chorus shots. Some of the distinctive camera angles were forced on the crew as they tried to avoid power and telephone lines.
“I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke” was released in the U.S. in July 1971 and immediately struck a responsive chord. The Coca-Cola Company and its bottlers received more than 100,000 letters about the commercial. Many listeners called radio stations begging to hear it.
A New Pop Version Is Recorded
Billy Davis wanted to produce a record version of the commercial with the New Seekers, but the group’s manager claimed they didn’t have time in their schedule to do so. Davis allowed a group of studio singers to record the new song lyric to “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke.” They called themselves “The Hillside Singers” in order to identify with the TV image. Within two weeks of the release of the Hillside Singers recording, it was on the national charts. Two weeks after that, Davis was able to convince the New Seekers to find the time and record their version of “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (in Perfect Harmony),” the new title for the song version of “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke.”
He took them to the studio on a Sunday and produced the record which became the Top 10 hit, followed by the Hillside Singers’ version as No. 13 on the pop charts. The song was recorded in a wide range of languages and sold more sheet music than any song in the previous 10 years.
The Coca-Cola Company donated the first $80,000 in royalties earned from the song by writers and publishers to UNICEF under an agreement with the writers.
“I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke” has had a lasting connection with the public. The commercial has consistently been voted one of the best of all time and the sheet music continues to sell today. The song version is being sung in school glee clubs and church choirs and played by high school bands all over the world. Thirty years after Bill Backer was stranded by fog, Coca-Cola is still more than a beverage. It is a common connection between the people of the world.
Silver Apples jammed with Jimi Hendrix, counted John Lennon as a fan, and produced extraordinary electronic music — with nothing but a drum kit and a pile of electrical junk.
The band, electronics wizard Simeon Coxe and ace drummer Danny Taylor, deserve to be remembered as one of the handful of generally groundbreaking acts in late 1960s American rock. The New York-based duo’s June 1968 debut was perhaps the earliest album to incorporate breakbeats, found sounds and atonal noise into (more-or-less) conventional song structures, and at its best their beat-heavy electronic music still sounds dazzling and other-worldly.
Their achievement is all the more impressive when one considers the sheer logistical complications (and frequent electric shocks) involved in mobilizing their battery of oscillators, generators and synthesizers. Their two albums—Silver Apples (1968) and Contact (1969)— are uneven, but both contain astounding music, with flourishes that may be mainstream now, but must have sounded completely out-there at the time. As with most visionaries, they were little appreciated while in business, and not much original press concerning them exists.
These amazing photos of electronic duo Silver Apples, taken by Syeus Mottel, come from two performances in New York City in the spring of 1968: a rooftop music industry gathering, and a public performance in Washington Square.
Glastonbury Festival is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, in England. In addition to contemporary music, the festival hosts dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret, and other arts.
Leading pop and rock artists have headlined, alongside thousands of others appearing on smaller stages and performance areas. Films and albums recorded at Glastonbury have been released, and the festival receives extensive television and newspaper coverage.
Regarded as a major event in British culture, the festival is inspired by the ethos of the hippie, counterculture, and free festival movements. The majority of staff are volunteers, helping the festival to raise millions of pounds for charity organizations.
After the 1970s, the festival took place almost every year and grew in size, with the number of attendees sometimes being swollen by gatecrashers.
“This was my first Glastonbury. My first festival of any kind actually, and it was a muddy, wet one. A bunch of us set out from Carmarthen, no tents, just sleeping bags, a few quid, a supply of Golden Virginia and Rizzlas. It turned out to be a fantastic, traumatic, unforgettable experience!”
In a 1987 interview, actor John Moschitta Jr., also known as “Motormouth” John Moschitta and the Fast Talking Guy, opened up to reporter Marcus Jones about his career up to that point, the commercials he’s done and his 10 minute school.
But the highlight of the interview was when Jones handed the album sleeve of the new Michael Jackson album and asked him to recite the words from the title track “BAD.” Moschitta did so in about 20 seconds.
Moschitta appeared in over 100 commercials as “The Micro Machines Man” and in a 1981 ad for FedEx. He provided the voice for Blurr in The Transformers: The Movie (1986), The Transformers (1986–1987), Transformers: Animated (2008–2009) and two direct-to-video films.
Moschitta had been credited in The Guinness Book of World Records as the World’s Fastest Talker, with the ability to articulate 586 words per minute. His record was broken in 1990 by Steve Woodmore who spoke 637 words per minute and then by Sean Shannon, who spoke 655 words per minute on August 30, 1995. However, Moschitta questions the legitimacy of those who claim to be faster than he is.
The polka is originally a Czech dance and genre of dance music familiar throughout all of Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the nineteenth century in Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. The polka remains a popular folk music genre in many European and American countries, and is performed by many folk artists.
Polka is a music and dance style that originated in Europe in the 1830s and came to American society when people immigrated from Eastern Europe. A fast style in 2/4 time, and often associated with the pre–World War II era, polka remains a dynamic “niche” music in America.
While you would never call the polka genre “self-serious”, some musicians have really taken it to the limit. Here’s a selection of 13 of the strangest polka album covers through past eras.
1. James Last – Happy Polka 2 (1972)
James is really selling the whole “Happy” part of the “Happy polka”.
2. Li’l Richard & His Polka All Stars – Wine, Girls and Goodtimes (1976)
The fact that the girls that Li’l Richard (not Little Richard) is canoodling with look as though they are related to him takes this cover from “seedy” to “full on disturbing”.
3. Los Forasteros de Monterrey – Polkas Pa’ Echar Estilo (1975)
This is the only known attempt to combine the allure of a Bond girl, the grit of Fistful of Dollars, and the unabashed goofiness of polka music.
4. Tijuana Sauerkrauts – Happy Polkas Recorded in Munich (1973)
This is a real “You got your braunschweiger in my salsa / You got your salsa in my braunschweiger” situation. Polka goes South of the border!
5. Whoopee John – The Great One
Like Elvis, photographers could only shoot Whoopee John from the waist up, as he was deemed “too suggestive” to young girls.
The Go-Go’s made history in March 1982 when their brilliant debut album, Beauty and the Beat, climbed to the top of the Billboard 200 chart. They duly became the first all-female group who wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to score a number one album in the US. Nearly 40 years later, no other instrument-playing all-female band has managed to match their achievement, sadly, though The Bangles came close in 1986 when their Different Light album peaked at number two.
Formed in Los Angeles in 1978, the Go-Go’s initially consisted of Belinda Carlisle (vocals), Jane Wiedlin (guitar, background vocals), Margot Olavarria (bass), and Elissa Bello (drums). They were formed as a punk band and had roots in the L.A. punk community. The band began playing gigs at punk venues such as The Masque and the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles and the Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco.
Charlotte Caffey (lead guitar, keyboards, background vocals) was added later in 1978, and in the summer of 1979, Gina Schock replaced Bello on drums. With these lineup changes, the group began moving towards their more-familiar power pop sound. The group frequently met at a Denny’s on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and it was there that they chose the band's name.
During late 1979, the band recorded a five-song demo at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles, and in 1980, they supported the British ska revival groups Madness and The Specials in both Los Angeles and England. The Go-Go’s subsequently spent half of 1980 touring England, earning a sizable following and releasing the demo version of “We Got the Beat” on Stiff Records, which became a minor UK hit.
In December 1980, original bassist Olavarria fell ill with hepatitis A and was replaced with Kathy Valentine, who had played guitar in bands such as Girlschool and the Textones. Valentine had not previously played bass guitar.
The band’s 1981 debut album, Beauty and the Beat, is considered one of the “cornerstone albums of US new wave”, having broken barriers and paved the way for a host of other new American acts. Released in July 1981, the album entered Billboard’s Top LPs & Tape chart in the issue dated August 1, 1981. The album yielded two of the Go-Go’s three biggest Hot 100 hits – “Our Lips Are Sealed” (no. 20) and “We Got the Beat” (no. 2) – and, after a long and steady climb, reached number one in the chart dated March 6, 1982. The album stayed at the top for six consecutive weeks, eventually selling more than two million copies, making it one of the most successful debut albums of all time.
The Go-Go’s broke up in 1985 but reconvened several times through the 1990s and beyond, recording new material and touring. They received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2011. Though the band’s 2016 performances were billed as a farewell tour, the band remains active on an ad hoc basis. The Go-Go’s was nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021.
During the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905), a French postcard company produced a set of several postcards mocking General Oku Yasukata, whose name is a near-homophone for the phrase “au cul” — French for “of the ass”.
Though not involved in the fighting, the French were allied with Russia: hence the petard- humor directed at the Japanese. Unhappily for European leaders, not to mention Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, the Japanese nonetheless prevailed.
