Aired on UK’s Channel 4 at the height of the NWOBHM movement, Bad News follows the misadventures of the identically named fictional band of rock star n00bs (played by the cast of the UK cult TV show The Young Ones) as they’re documented by an irritable film crew.
Released the year before This Is Spinal Tap caused an international sensation, this gem has been forgotten in most quarters having been dwarfed by the success of Spinal Tap.
Admittedly, Bad News is totally amateur next to This Is Spinal Tap but if you abstain from drawing comparisons you’ll find high entertainment value in this humble TV effort.
Children, you already know what eating too much candy does to your teeth, but do you know what snorting it does to your brain? It turns you into a fan of Jeffree Star’s music! So stay away from the stuff. It’s lethal. Try snorting peas and carrots instead.
“Before you know it, some weak-chinned chippy in a stovepipe hat and goggles will turn up on Martha Stewart’s Living to show everyone at home how to hot-glue clock gears onto their toaster oven/tea kettle/labial folds.”
Thus Meredith poignantly described the slow demise of the Steampunk aesthetic in this thread. Pictured above, an eerie and all too real display of how true her words ring, but in an industrial tone [I think?]. Below, the same concept executed well, for contrast.
Hear me, and hear me well – we love you, but the first person to glue cogs/clock arms/vintage keys/etc. to their face gets a raygunnin’ straight to HELL.
I work as a photography coordinator and photographer at suicidegirls.com. The fashion merecenaries among you might know I have a mostly-weekly fashion feature there called What’s Zo Wearing? [so named by a former lead editor]. I say “feature” instead of “column” because the amount of writing I do varies week to week. Occasionally I get verbose, but, more often WZW is a collection of outfit photos and tips on where to get these or similar items.
There are some hits and there certainly are some unfortunate moments, especially in retrospect of over a year, but hopefully there is something for all to dig. Coilhouse will be syndicating What’s Zo Wearing? every Sunday, 2 am Pacific.
To give you an idea of what to fear each Sunday I’ve included some of my favorite outfits behind the jump, and a few more in our Flickr stream.
Most times when you see goths on reality TV, they end up getting bleached and doused in pink blush and all you can do is feel sorry for them. And maybe point and laugh. When a reality show takes normal people and tries to goth them up, I think it’s even worse. I won’t give too much away, so you’ll have to watch the clip and see for yourself.
The brilliant songwriter was fond of slathering himself in various forms of goop and leaping into his audiences, as well as “playing instruments with his head”, but apparently the world just wasn’t ready for that sort of thing back in 1982. Despite being a huge influence on later luminaries of the gothic/industrial movement, Fad Gadget remains relatively obscure.
Oh no! They are making fun! Oldie but goodie, this site takes images of several unfortunate MySpace “hair artists” and reveals their superhero alter egos. I wouldn’t laugh so hard if I didn’t know that every single member of the Coil-staff could easily wind up in the next edition of this. Easily.
Below is a collection of the top 5 TV commercials that feature goth characters (and one special bonus, after the jump!). Whether or not you’re goth, these are hilarious. Most of these were made by large corporations such as Dell and Kodak, but surprisingly, one of the most well-produced and high-budget-looking commercials below was done by a gothic clothing company! Of course, that commercial is not American, but European. Here it is:
The tagline at the end of the commercial translates to “clothing your mother hates.” Even though the US is not yet at the advanced level of advertising goth clothing on TV, there are some progressive outlooks on goth culture in the commercials after the jump below:
A delightful page dedicated to Unidentified European Instrumentsfound during a search for old gypsy photos. Click on, dear readers, for wonderful vintage pictures of musicians wielding strange guitars.
typical nu-gypsy dance extravaganza photos. I’ve actually been to a performance like this as a kid in Moscow.
Not a single actual vintage Russian gypsy photo was to be found, however. I’ll resume this later, in the meantime there is a launch celebration to attempt.
Finally! UGGs and Crocs weren’t sufficiently powerful on their own, so there is now this delicious blend of both!
Sloppy and sweaty! mmfft.
The herds of peroxide-silicone-fried chicken-flesh types [velour leisure suits proudly stuffed into UGGs or flopping around lost duckling-style in micro-shorts and Crocs] now have another option for comfort and Hawt Glamour Fashion! Rejoice. Rejoice while you can…
