| Author | Message | ||
     Fred Tadrowski Member Username: Ftadrowski Post Number: 117 Registered: 03-2015 |
I wrote this for my own benefit but I thought I should share. I tried to attach a pdf scan of the magazine to my post, but I do not believe it is possible. Last week I was cleaning out my mom’s garage and found my stack of Matter music magazines. My mom passed away last year and I only had short time between an estate sale that put the house in quarantine for two months due to Covid-19 and someone coming in to put everything in a dumpster. Matter magazine lasted less than four years (1983 to 1986) starting out being published in Evanston, IL and ended up out of Hoboken, NJ. Besides focusing on the Chicago and Hoboken scenes, there was a special emphasis about bands from Boston, Athens, and Minneapolis/St. Paul. Steve Albini had a column titled Tired of Ugly Fat? in every issue that was always entertaining, and Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo was the last copy editor of the magazine. Another regular writer was Gerard Cosley, future co-owner of Matador Records. I discovered many bands reading issues of this magazine, but it was the record review section of the July 1983 issue that changed my life. It was the reviews for the Replacements Hootenanny and the Go-Betweens Before Hollywood. My memory told me that both records received rave reviews, but Before Hollywood was rated from A- to C+ by the reviewers. It is amazing that Steve Albini gave it a B. At the time I used to listen to Steve Albini as a DJ on the underground Antidote Radio program, so I knew enough that a band like the Go-Betweens would not be his cup of tea. Antidote Radio used to sponsor “Difficult Music Nights” at the local clubs playing stuff like Test Dept. and Throbbing Gristle. Steve Albini wrote: “I still don’t understand how anybody could get very excited about such ordinary music posing as a great advance in pop, but it is rather charming. I can’t imagine any of these songs being played loudly, though, and that hints at a severe limitation in scope.” Maybe it was those words that sold me on the Go-Betweens. Soon afterwards I drove across Chicago to a record store in the suburb of Skokie that stocked independent labels and imports and purchased both records. Later the April/May 1984 issue had the Go-Betweens on the cover with two articles on the band. Magazines like Matter played an important role in the pre-internet era and sometimes it would take months of searching record stores to find that import that you read about. There were different factions and battles fought about sound and style, but it was the songs that were the most important to Grant and Robert. Some of the most awful sounds were also created in the 80’s. We live in such a different world today with music having no real sense of danger or rebellion maybe because my parents were pre-rock ‘n’ roll (the last generation) and it also was the era of Reagan and Thatcher. Back then growing up, music was a matter of life and death. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9411 Registered: 05-2005 |
Great post, Fred. I’d love to see those PDFs. Did each album have multiple reviewers? | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9414 Registered: 05-2005 |
My Go-Betweens origins myth is here, btw, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre e/2018/jan/08/how-i-fell-in-love-with-th e-go-betweens | ||
| Fred Tadrowski Member Username: Ftadrowski Post Number: 118 Registered: 03-2015 |
I put a pdf scan of the Before Hollywood review and the two articles on the Go-Betweens in this dropbox for the next 6 days. I believe the Laura Levine photo at Maxwells, New Years Eve 1983 was first used for this article. https://www.dropbox.com/transfer/AAAAANf Bkk0DKV6PI7A2zeaOWV2a8L9NlYJm4cO9VsC6SM7 YpuzrFGE | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4420 Registered: 03-2005 |
Thank you for those scans, Fred. I really enjoyed reading both articles. As for Steve Albini, well who cares? | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9419 Registered: 05-2005 |
Thanks, Fred. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9426 Registered: 05-2005 |
Do you think Grant was pulling the journalist's leg with the jingle claim? | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1362 Registered: 04-2005 |
Thanks a lot for taking the time to scan those articles and make them available. Great to read. I've started scanning all mine, but it's taking a while...mainly as everything that is bigger than A4 size I have to do furtively do at work ! |