Do you remember when you used to say things you thought were brilliant, but which turned out years later to be really stupid? Aren’t you glad that nobody else really remembers these things? Say, do I really want to bring some of these articles back to the light of day?

Embarrasments? Let me count the ways: “Pete Townshend still hasn’t learned to write a melody.” What was I thinking? I know it would be another year or two before I had the vaguest idea of what the word “melody” actually meant, but there I was tossing it around as if I could insult a songwriter of Townshend’s caliber. And right after that, I point out “he still thinks every song has to have a slow bridge in it.” Oh, how sad that I’ve gotten my wish, and it has come to pass that songs don’t even usually have bridges at all anymore, let alone a sense of dynamics.

Then, let’s turn to the Welders story. There I was, trying to defend these women against the complaints from some misguided souls that, as mere girls, they were incapable of rocking out. But, did I have to do it with some thinly guised homophobic insult about “the confused sexuality” implicit in that point. I know, I know, as homophobia goes, that’s pretty minor, but I twinged when I saw it after 27 years.

And, then there is the insistence that the Who were a New Wave band. As I glance through the next few issues of Jet Lag, I see that by June, 1980, I was at the tale end of my New Wave requirement phase. Still, it’s really hard to remember that once upon a time I was this xenophobic about anything, let alone a movement as restrictive as “New Wave.”

Lou Reed once sang about a life being saved by rock’n’roll, and I’ve always believed that’s what happened to me. And, certainly, it took my identification with New Wave to push me out of my loner shell and become a social being. The 100 or so fans of that music who showed up at various local band performances in 1979 and 1980 made up the first network of friends and acquaintances I ever really had. Once unleashed, I never looked back, and both my musical taste and my interest in humanity expanded far beyond that initial connection.

Anyway, the fourth issue of Jet Lag is a St. Louis-centric issue, and it featured more writing by me than most of the early ones. John designed that cover, if I recall correctly, and I think it looks pretty cool, right down to the little “We’re Looking Good” sticker in the middle of it.

Checking out the early Local Band News pages is like taking a time machine for those of us who were there. Bands were forming every time you turned around back in 1980, as were places to play (as you’ll see in issue #5). Radio remained a major interest for us – this was seven full years before KDHX came along to give St. Louis a real musical voice that could be heard twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, in all parts of the metropolitan area. So, we reported on what we heard on the radio at the time.

Look at the well-informed young music critics, snagging an interview with the one guy in Squeeze who only lasted a short time, bassist John Bentley. It is interesting to hear him say how much he wants the band to be truly successful, I must admit.

I have no idea who Leo DeJanero was. A lot of the early writers in Jet Lag were people who met John, gave him a piece or two, often under an assumed name such as this one, and then disappeared. But, the page with reviews of the Clones and the Nukes shows that we were at least covering what we considered a controversial type of band at the time. These two bands had virtually no original material, but played quite good versions of New Wave hits of the day. Another embarrassment of mine is that, back then, I thought that meant they shouldn’t be mentioned at all, but I’m glad now to be reminded of the times I saw these guys.

I don’t know if the Welders ever played another gig after this article appeared. Frankly, I don’t think they’d played for a year before it appeared, but I was sincerely a fan. The Zanti Misfits was a local band I loved, loved, loved, and can still bring to life in my head, despite the fact they only wound up recording two songs (about which, you’ll read in a future issue). Their photo appears in number 5, not this issue.

“Articulate, polite, and serious” was a quote about the Retros from, if I infer correctly, an article in St. Louis magazine. There’s the in-joke for the month.

The back cover was a collage of ads ripped off from various English newspapers, Melody Maker, Sounds, and New Musical Express. At the time, we all thought those papers knew more about music than just about anybody, though, honestly, we only rarely read them. Money was very much an object back in 1980, as I was paying for going to school and working very limited hours as an usher at Busch Stadium for Cardinals baseball and football games.

View Issue #4