Epilepsy: Stigma Remains

Dublin held host recently to the European conference on epilepsy. There are around 6 billion people across Europe who suffer with this neurological disorder, costing €15 billion a year to treat. A recent study indicated that up to 37, 000 people in Ireland have the disorder.

Epilepsy is a very diverse disorder with many variations and types.
Idiopathic Generalised Epilepsy usually begins during childhood or adolescence and can be very difficult to spot on MRI scans and EEG’s. It may be, but is not necessarily the case that there is a history of it in the family.  People with Idiopathic Generalised Epilepsy usually suffer from one of the following types of seizure;
Myoclonic seizures (sudden and very short duration jerking of the extremities)
Absence seizures (staring spells)
Generalized tonic-clonic seizures (grand mal seizures)
Like childhood absence and a large number of juvenile myoclonic epilepsy sufferers, Idiopathic Generalised Epilepsy sufferers can outgrow having seizures. However those who do not are usually treated with medication.

Idiopathic Partial Epilepsy also known as Benign Focal Epilepsy of Childhood, can have a family history and starts between the age of five and eight. It is never diagnosed in adulthood, is usually outgrown by adolescence and is considered to be one of the mildest forms. It is usually diagnosed with an EEG, and seizures often occur during sleep. Usually the seizures are partial motor and secondary generalised (grand mal).

Symptomatic Generalised Epilepsy is caused by brain damage which is usually caused by injury during birth. It is usually coupled with mental retardation or Cerebral Palsy. Encephalitis, Meningitis and other brain diseases can cause this type of epilepsy, as can certain inherited brain diseases like adrenoleukodystrophy (ADL). Sufferers are susceptible to myriad seizure types like; myoclonic, tonic, absence, and atonic. They are also quite difficult to control.

Symptomatic Partial Epilepsy is the most common type which occurs in adulthood, but it also occurs in childhood. There are a range of causes for this type; sclerosis (scarring of brain tissue), strokes, trauma, cysts, infections, tumors, or congenital brain abnormality. Because they are microscopic, many of these abnormalities often escape detection from MRI scans. It is possible to treat this form of epilepsy with surgery. It is often possible to remove the damaged area of the brain without effecting the function of the remainder. This surgery is often very successful for people who could not control their seizures with medication.

While leaps and bounds have been made in recent years regarding treatment, there is still a huge amount of misunderstanding and stigma. In the dark ages, people with epilepsy were assumed to be possessed by Satan or some other demonic spirit, and so were usually burnt. Thankfully in following centuries, epileptics were merely viewed as idiots. In fact the main character in Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel “The Idiot”, Prince Lyov Nikolaevitch Mishkin suffers from epilepsy (as does Smerdyakov, the murderer from his final work “The Brothers Karamazov”). Funnily enough, as an epileptic himself, Dostoevsky disproves this assertion. As do; Charles Dickens, Vladimir Ilyitch Ulyanov (Lenin) and according to Aristotle even Plato and Socrates.  In times gone by, people with epilepsy would be kept hidden by their families, and the fact of their existence was a cause for shame.

Although most people no longer believe that people who suffer from epilepsy are “idiots”, there is a fairly prevalent belief that they are “freaks” or that they are in some way defective. This is very common among, but not limited to children. “Sadly, stigma surrounding the condition still exists and myths and misconceptions established and perpetuated over generations will continue unless we actively commit to make a difference.” Said Minister for European Affairs, Lucinda Creighton.  American expert Dr Vicky Whittmore of the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Maryland, has said reducing or even eliminating some of the causes of epilepsy may be made possible by world and European bodies working together on the issue.

There are many sufferers of the disorder who do not receive treatment, while according to Dr Whittmore treatment is ineffective for 30 – 40% of those who do receive it. Many of the medications that treat epilepsy cause side effects like tremors and yellowed whites of the eyes. “Needed expertise is not always found in the same country. Working together we can improve the lives of individuals with epilepsy.” Said Whittmore. She has also said that four very important things can be achieved by international collaboration;
 1.A more focused effort to understand treatment-resistant epilepsy,
2. Better treatments with fewer side-effects
3. New strategies to prevent the onset of epilepsy for those at risk
And
4. Improvement in the lives of individuals with epilepsy

 

“We Die Young”

Alice ’N’ Chains (Later to become Alice In Chains) was formed in Seattle in 1986 by Layne Staley (who overdosed on heroin and cocaine in 2002 after years of seclusion and mammoth drug abuse). The original concept was that of a “speed metal” band that dressed in drag, thankfully that concept never really took off! At a party in 1987, Staley met a homeless, down and out Jerry Cantrell who had just lost his mother. A merrily drunk Staley invited Cantrell to live with him at the 24 hour recording studio “The Music Bank” where Staley was living. After two slightly co-dependant projects (Staley’s “Funk” band that Cantrell did stand-in work with and Cantrell’s “Glam Rock” band which featured Mike Starr and Séan Kinney, that Staley did stand-in work with), Alice ’N’ Chains was formed and released a three track demo in 1987. The band featured Staley (Lead vocals, occasional guitar), Jerry Cantrell (Lead guitar, occasional vocals), Séan Kinney (Drums, percussion) and Mike Starr (Who unfortunately died on March 8^th this year from a toxic mix of methadone and anti-anxiety medication) on bass. Starr was replaced in 1993 by Mike Inez. Between 1987 and 1996 they released three studio albums, three E.P.’s, and two live albums, as well as many bootlegs, compilations and two DVDs in the years to follow.

Their sound was raw with a hybrid mixture of heavy and melodic music, Cantrell’s soft voice counterbalanced Staley’s “Sing to a scream” style (Though Staley could also sing softly). More often than not, the atmosphere and message of the music had either a melancholic or livid quality to it. In fact when the video for “Them Bones” was featured on Beavis and Butt-Head, Butt-Head noted “These guys are pissed off!”. Beavis agrees saying “Yeah. They got a bad attitude”. Butt-Head then goes on to say “This is the coolest video I have ever seen in my life”. It could be supposed that Alice In Chains were Beavis and Butt-Heads favourite band, as they are the only band to be featured four times on the show, and whenever their videos came on Beavis and Butt-Head would shout “Yes!”. The main lyrical themes of the band were very heavy, with depression, drug abuse/addiction, and suicide being the most frequently recurring topics. Despite this, the music is not always gloomy, Staley could be singing about heroin addiction in an almost jovial manner while Cantrell’s guitar riffs would have a nice rhythm to them, “I Know Something (’Bout you)” from their debut album Facelift being a perfect example. Their musical versatility was as exceptional as their vocals range, Cantrell could play very fast, heavy riffs and solos like those from songs like “Them Bones”(Dirt), “We Die Young”(Facelift), “Man In The Box”(Facelift) or “Dam That River” (Dirt). But at other times he could play slow, melodic chord progressions and solos like those on “No Excuses”(Jar of Flies), “Got Me Wrong” (Sap), or “Brother”(Sap). Songs like “Down In a Hole” and “Rooster” from their second album Dirt (1992) fuse Cantrell’s guitar playing versatility with Staley’s vast vocal range to create a hybrid of heavy and melodic music (one of the main characteristics of “Grunge“).

Their first album Facelift was released in 1990 following their two Alice ’N’ Chains demo’s from 1987, The Treehouse Tapes in 1988, Heroin (AKA “Sweet Alice”) in 1989 and the E.P We Die Young the following year. Some of the tracks from these early recordings found their way onto Facelift. Notably “Sea of Sorrow”, “We Die Young”, “Sunshine” and “Real Thing” to name but a few. The songs from this unsigned era that didn’t make the cut would still be played live from time to time. Video’s were made for “Sea of Sorrow”, “Man In The Box” and “We Die Young”, but there were problems. There are actually two video’s for “We Die Young” as mistakes had apparently been made during production. The video for “Man In The Box” was not good in my opinion (though the song is), because of close ups on Staley’s face that seem a bit cheesy in a way that suggests angst. He is wearing sunglasses at this point (most likely to hide his eye-balls. Staley once claimed that he barely remembered recording the album as he was on drugs most of the time), which, coupled with the fact that he is inside a chain-link animal pen shaking the cage with his hands as he roars the vocals, seems very juvenile and “Teen-angstish” to me The band did not direct these videos). “Sea of Sorrow” had a similar feel to it, but was much simpler, done in black and white and mainly showed the band playing their instruments or Staley singing. At first the album was not very successful, but once MTV gave “Man In The Box” prime time airplay, it sold  400,000 copies in the U.S in just six weeks and  “Man In The Box” reached number 18 in the Mainstream Rock charts, as well as “Sea of Sorrow” reaching 27. Facelift went gold within the year and is now certified triple platinum. Steve Huey of Allmusic called it “One of the most important records in establishing an audience for Grunge and Alternative Rock”.

The following year saw the release of their five track E.P “Sap”, the name of which came from a dream that drummer Séan Kinney had while the tracks were being recorded. In this dream the E.P was called “Sap” because of the emotional nature of the songs. The album featured various members of other groups from Seattle, notably on the tracks “Brother”, “Am I Inside” and “Love Song” Ann Wilson from the band Heart contributed excellent vocals. Particularly on the track “Brother” in which she harmonises the choruses with Staley and Cantrell. Cantrell contributed a lot more vocals for “Sap” then he did for “Facelift” or the demo’s. Also featured as guest vocalists on the track “Right Turn” are Chris Cornell of Soundgarden, and Mark Arm of Mudhoney (The track is attributed to “Alice Mudgarden” in the credits). Cornell, Cantrell, Arm and Staley all sing in the song. That year the band did a cameo in the Cameron Crowe film “Singles” as a pub-band and contributed their highly acclaimed single “Would?” which would be released on their next album “Dirt”, to the films soundtrack. After the inclusion of the track “Got Me Wrong” in the 1994 film “Clerks”, “Sap” was re-released along with the E.P “Jar Of Flies” as a double-album, and “Got Me Wrong” reached number 7 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts.

In February of 1992 the band returned to the studio to lay down the new tracks that they had written on the road. Perhaps due to it being written while touring, which can often be harsh, testing a persons will and leaving them burnt out, the tracks which were to comprise the album “Dirt” are much darker, angrier and more morbid. Six out of twelve of the tracks are about addiction (Staley claims never to have intended to glorify and promote heroin use. The lyrics were just brutally honest, he was aware of what he was doing to himself, but was powerless to stop. Its just that the lyrics weren’t  sung in a lamenting tone), and other topics include war(Vietnam), depression and suicide. During the recording of the album, the entire band were abusing drugs and alcohol heavily, Staley even injected heroin in front of everyone and was under the influence of the opiate, along with cannabis and painkillers while recording the vocals for “Down In A Hole” and “Angry Chair” (a song which, along with “Hate To Feel” Staley composed entirely on his own). Séan Kinney and Mike Starr were both battling alcoholism, and Jerry Cantrell found refuge from his clinical depression brought about by the deaths of his mother and his friend, in an oblivion of alcohol and anti-anxiety medication like “Xanax“. “I was going through a tough time” Cantrell recalled “…everyone was, but that’s what made the album stronger and more intense”. “Dam That River” was written by Cantrell following a fight he’d had with Kinney which resulted in Kinney breaking a coffee table over his head. Possibly the most powerful song on the album is “Rooster”, a song chronicling the horrors Cantrell’s father had endured in the Vietnam war, “Rooster” had been his nickname. The video for the song makes it all the more powerful as it begins with Cantrell’s father describing the horrors of war. At one point he says “I watched my friends die”. As the music begins, the interview ends with Cantrell’s father blinking back tears as he says that it was the worst experience of his life and that he hopes nobody else has to go through it. The song “Would?” was written by Cantrell partly in memory of his late friend Andrew Wood, and partly as an attack on judgemental people, it reached number 5 on the billboard charts and was rated 88^th best hard rock song of all time by VH1. “Dirt” was released in September 1992, reached number six on the billboard charts, and is certified quadruple platinum. Since its re-issue in 2002 it has sold 3.03 million in the U.S.A alone and was named the 5^th best album of the last two decades by Close-Up magazine. During the “Dirt” tour in 1993 Mike Starr left the band and was replaced by Mike Inez (formerly of “Ozzy Osbourne”). There are opposing accounts as to the reasons behind his departure.

In 1993 the band entered the studio with their acoustic guitars to “see what happened” as Staley put it. He went on to say “We never really planned on the music we made at that time to be released, But the record label heard it and they really liked it”. He went on to say that he really enjoyed recording it because, unlike his previous works, he could remember doing it. The seven track E.P “Jar of Flies”, which was written and recorded in one week was released on January 25^th 1994, and reached number 1 on the Billboard 200, the first E.P in history to do so. It boasted a collection of great songs, one of which “No Excuses” finally cracked the number 1 spot on the Mainstream Rock charts. Unfortunately Staley who had managed to get clean, started using heroin again and a tour with Metallica was cancelled by the rest of the band a day before it was set to start.

The band went on hiatus until 1995 when they released their self titled album “Alice In Chains”, (often called tripod as the album cover is an image of Cantrell’s three legged dog “Sunshine”). It was released on November 7^th 1995, reached number 1 on the Billboard 200 and is now certified double-platinum. Staley contributed more to this album than he had on any of the previous ones, while Cantrell sang the lead on a number of songs. The most successful single of the album “Again” was written by Staley, it was nominated for “Best Hard-Rock video” at the 1996 MTV V.M.A’s and, in 1997 was nominated for a Grammy award for “Best Hard-Rock performance”.

1996 saw Staley’s penultimate live performance with the band, which was an “Unplugged” show done for MTV, the consequent album and DVD of which are both certified platinum. Later that year following the death of his ex-fiancée Demri Lara Parrott, Staley became a recluse. Apart from a handful of occasions, he shut himself in, away from the world. He died of a cocktail of heroin and cocaine which he had injected, this is known as a “Speedball”, on April 5^th 2002 at the age of 34. Alice In chains then disbanded, they released a number of compilations and greatest hits albums, but did not perform again until 2005. They reunited to perform a benefit show for victims of the Asian tsunami the previous year. Guest vocalists included Ann Wilson (Heart), Phil Anselmo (Pantera), Pat Lachman (Damageplan), and William Duvall (Comes with the fall). The show was dedicated to the memory of Layne Staley and “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott (Pantera).

In 2008 William DuVall replaced Staley on lead vocals, and the new “Alice In Chains” entered the studio to record the album “Black Gives Way To Blue”. The title track of which is an ode to Staley. The album was released in 2009 and was met with moderate success, but it pails in comparison to the material of the Staley era. They supported Metallica in Marlay Park in Dublin in August 2009 among other tours and a new album may possibly be in the works.

On March 8^th 2011 (less than a month shy of being nine years to the day of Staley’s death), former bassist Mike Starr died at his home in Salt Lake City, Utah, at the age of 44 from a combination of methadone and anti-anxiety medication. On March 20^th, at Experience Music Project in Seattle, a private memorial attended by Jerry Cantrell and approximately 400 fans was held for him.

The Day Seattle Died

The late 80s and early 90s in Seattle, Washington, saw the rise of a new genre of heavy rock/metal called “Grunge”. Of the many bands that rose from this scene, the most prominent were Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden and Alice In Chains (the best of the genre in my opinion). The founder, lead vocalist and occasional rhythm guitarist of which was Layne Staley.

Layne Staley was born in Kirkland Washington on August 22, 1967 and died in Seattle, Washington on April 5th 2002 at the age of 34, after well over a decade of heavy drug abuse. (So heavy that Charles R. Cross, author of Kurt Cobain’s biography “Heavier Than Heaven” had his obituary on constant standby in the 90’s). He overdosed from what is known as a “Speedball”, an injected cocktail of  cocaine and heroin. At the time of his death, Staley who was 6’1, weighed just 86 lbs. His parents were Nancy McCallum and Phil Staley. At the age of seven, Staley witnessed the disintegration of his parents marriage and their eventual divorce when he was eight. His mother remarried and young Layne was told his father was dead.  In his last ever interview in 2002 shortly before his death Staley recalled: “I got a call saying that my dad had died, but my family always knew he was around doing all kind of drugs. Since that call I always was wondering, ‘Where is my dad?’ I felt so sad for him and I missed him. He dropped out of my life for 15 years“. At the age of 16, Staley tried, without the knowledge of his family, to find his father. “I did it for a long f***ing time.” Staley said. “And what I found over the years was not good, so I changed my mind about wanting to see my dad again”. At the age of 21, just as his career was taking off, Staley was contacted by his father, who had seen his photograph on a magazine cover. “He said he’d been clean of drugs for six years,” said Staley. “So why in the hell didn’t he come back before? I was very cautious at first. Then the relationship changed. My father started using drugs again. We did drugs together and I found myself in a miserable situation. He started visiting me all day to get high and do drugs with me. He came up to me just to get some s**t and that’s all. I was trying to kick this habit out of my life and here comes this man asking for money to buy some smack”. Possibly the most bitterly ironic aspect of this unbelievable story is that, at the time Staley recounted this, his father had gotten clean, while the drugs he had encouraged his son to use had ravaged him beyond repair.

Staley never had a good relationship with the press, interviews were rare and when he did give an audience he would give one word answers and make the journalists job as hard as he could! (This stemmed from the constant fallacies and cheap-shot’s printed about him). He became reclusive from the mid 90s until his death, making the odd appearance and musical project, (Like Alice In Chains’ self titled album. Mad Season a super group involving Mike McCready of Pearl Jam and Barrett Martin of Screaming Trees. And Class of ’99 featuring Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine among others) but for the most part he hid away. His decline was summed up perfectly by Mark Arm of the band Mudhoney who said: “I remember seeing him in ’95…he turned up and was totally green, and my stomach turned at that point – watching somebody on a track that they couldn’t get off”. The following year (1996) saw Staley’s final two live appearances with Alice In Chains, the excellent Unplugged show they did for MTV, and on July 3^rd that year he performed for the last time in Kansas City, Missouri. The drug related death of his ex-fiancée Demri Lara Parrott in 1996 saw Staley sink yet further into his drug fuelled abyss. Shortly after, in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Staley said “Drugs worked for me for years, now they’re turning against me, now I’m walking through hell.”

He recorded two tracks with Alice In Chains in 1998 and unexpectedly phoned in to a radio station to join in a discussion with his estranged band mates who were on the show in 1999. Unfortunately, from that point on Staley became a complete recluse, rarely leaving his home in Seattle, except when he dropped into a local pub in his area where he would just sit alone and nod off without buying drinks. He would spend his time alone at home, creating art and poetry, or just lolling in a drug induced oblivion. “I invested a lot of money on treatments, I know I did my best, or what I thought would be right.” said Staley in 2002. “I changed my number. I don’t wanna see people anymore, and it’s nobody’s business but mine”. Séan Kinney (Alice In Chains) lamented Layne’s state in an interview after his death “I kept trying to make contact…three times a week like clockwork I’d call him, but he’d never answer. Every time I was in the area, I was up in front of his place yelling for him. Even if you could get in his building he wasn’t going to open the door. You’d phone and he wouldn’t answer, you couldn’t just kick the door in and grab him, though there were so many times I thought about doing that. But if someone wont help themselves, what really can anyone else do?”.

In 2002 just three months before his death, in his last ever interview with Argentinean writer Adriana Rubio, a nauseous, feverous and gap toothed (from heroin abuse) Staley summed up his condition like this: “I know I’m dying, I’m not doing well. This f***ing drug use is like the insulin a diabetic needs to survive. I’m not using drugs to get high like many people think. I know I made a big mistake when I started using this s**t. It’s a very difficult thing to explain. My livers not functioning and I’m throwing up all the time…it’s the worst pain in the world. Dope sick hurts the entire body…I know I’m near death, I did crack and heroin for years, I never wanted to end my life this way, I know I have no chance. Its too late”

Though Staley died on April 5^th, it was not until the 19^th that his absence was noticed by his accountants (no money had been withdrawn from his account in two weeks), who contacted his mother, she in turn alerted the police. The following day police kicked in the door of the “27^th greatest Heavy Metal vocalist of all time” (according to Hit Parader magazine), and found the remains of the singer, slumped, needle in arm on the couch. He was surrounded by a small amount of cocaine, two crack pipes and various other drug paraphernalia. Apparently the day before his death, Staley had spent some time with ex-band mate Mike Starr (who died of an overdose of methadone and anxiety medication on March 8^th of this year), as it was Starr’s birthday. Starr claims that Staley was very ill but refused to call an ambulance, Starr insisted, but Staley threatened to sever all ties with him if he did. As a frustrated Starr stormed out, Staley called after him “Not like this, don’t leave like this” (He knew he was going to die). Up until his death earlier this year, Starr had apparently been racked with guilt and blamed himself for Staley’s death because he did not send for an ambulance.

An informal memorial was held at the Seattle Center on April 20^th that was attended by Jerry Cantrell, Séan Kinney, Mike Inez and Mike Starr of Alice In Chains, as well as Chris Cornell of Soundgarden and at least 1,000 fans. Though he had so many problems, Staley was an amusing character and a great musician and performer. He would often heckle the crowd with tongue in cheek, one such incident occurred in Nottingham where Staley greeted the crowd with “Well hello Nottingham…rumour has it, Robin Hood was a faggot!”. Then at another point he responds to a fans request for a Sammy Hagar tune: “No Sammy Hagar requests…do I have a f***ing mop-top on my head?”. Or his response to Metallica’s insensitive, idiotic on stage digs at his drug addiction, miming “shooting up” as Alice In Chains had pulled out of a tour with them because Staley had to go to rehab (the crowd boo‘d them and a fan threw a shoe at James Hetfield!). Staley made fun of them on stage for selling out yet again by cutting their hair and wearing eye make-up, “Have you seen the new Metallica?” he asked the crowd “…Mascaraca”. A foundation called the “Layne Staley Fund” was started by Staley’s mother and a drug counsellor, the aim of which was to help people with drug addictions. Benefit concerts have been held annually around August (Staley’s birthday) by musicians he was friends with, and although the fund has disbanded, a show is set for this summer in Seattle. Many bands and artists have written tribute songs for Staley, including Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Zakk Wylde of Black Label Society as well as Staind and Cold among others. Alice In Chains reformed and in 2009 released the album “Black gives way to blue”, the title track of which was an ode to Staley. Today, Tuesday April 5^th marks nine years since Layne Staley’s tragic departure and “The Day Seattle Died”.

Whole Lotta Photos – Jimmy Page Bio

Many celebrities write autobiographies, more still have biographies written about them. Katy Price, Oprah Winfrey, Kurt Cobain… the list is endless. Classic rock hall of fame residents, Led Zeppelin and Jimmy Page alone have several. Unfortunately, none of these were authorised by him or the band. Most of these biographies contain ridiculous fables and fallacies. Lead guitarist and founding member (after the dissolution and reformation of The Yardbirds) Jimmy Page, has finally decided to tell his story himself, in his own unique way.

True to the nature of the man himself, this autobiography is in no way standard or ordinary. Also, true to the nature of Led Zeppelin, it sold out prior to its release! The innovative guitarist has arranged 650 photographs (some of which he took himself and have never before been seen ) over 500 pages. They have been arranged in chronological order by Page, with very short footnotes. The book titled “Jimmy Page”, paints the picture of his turbulent, and hugely successful career. The first photo is of himself as a twelve year old choir boy. This was the first step in his career. The caption reads “It might get loud”! A phrase he regards as a “goofy” catchphrase to sum up the evolution of his musicianship.

It is a limited edition, collector’s item, bound in leather, wrapped in silk and signed and numbered by Page himself. It has been published by Genesis publications, with just 2,500 copies released on September 27^th this year at the staggering price of £495. This is not all that surprising, considering other limited edition biographies of famous people sell for a lot of money (the $299 biography of the late, great Layne Staley, of “Alice In Chains”, being a prime example).

The reclusive 66 year old, who’s childhood ambition was to cure cancer, has always insisted on talking about his music during interviews, rather than his personal life. This is partly because of his shy nature, but also because of his interest in Aleister Crowley, the occult and his sexual escapades that made Caligula look like a character from George Orwell’s “1984”! This ambiguity has led to very odd rumours like, playing “Stairway To Heaven” backwards produces satanic messages! The book adheres to the same music oriented style.

When asked in a recent interview with Led Zeppelin.org why he chose a photographic autobiography instead of a traditional one he replied: “I’ve been approached to do an autobiography, but I thought that was the least attractive way of doing a book. So I thought it would be quite interesting to do a photographic autobiography.” Vintage Jimmy Page, always eager to be different and above the norm. On the subject of setting the record straight rumour-wise, the guitar virtuoso said “No, I didn’t think that was necessary, you’ve got so many people that give authoritative accounts who were never anywhere near the place.” He then goes on in true Zeppelin fashion to say: “There’s only one thing as far as I’m concerned that remains constant and true, and that’s the music. So if you want to use your imagination, please apply it to the music rather than things that maybe surrounded it.”

There have been rumours recently of Led Zeppelin reuniting with the late, great John Bonham being replaced by his son Jason. Perhaps this new book could be the event that sets the ball rolling, or “the rock” as Robert Plant might say.

Colaiste Dhulaigh’s Mature Students

Ever since the Celtic Tiger was declared dead in June 2008 there have been massive job losses and a large number of skilled people emigrating to find work. Another feature of the recession has been massive numbers of adults returning to education due to the lack of jobs. These people are known as mature students. A mature student is anyone over the age of 23 who applies for a place in a college or university. There is no upper age limit for applicants, so anyone over the specified age is eligible to return to education.

There are quite a few mature students currently furthering their education at the Coolock campus of Colaiste Dhulaigh. Their ages range from their late 20s to 60s. One of these mature students is former accounts technician, Pauline O’Farrell, aged 46 of Coolock. Pauline is currently studying Art and Design and Portfolio Preparation. When asked why she decided to return to education she said: ”I’m doing something I’ve always wanted to do, but never got the chance, until I was made unemployed.” 60 year old fellow Art, Design and Portfolio Preparation student Matt Dunne agrees, saying: “When I was younger I never had the chance, college just wasn’t an option.” Before he lost his job, Matt mainly worked assembly lines in different factories. He maintains that the transition from factory worker to student was reasonably difficult because there is “a lot more involved than I realised.” Pauline, on the other hand, found the transition relatively easy as she has always attended night classes while she was employed. However, she goes on to say that her social life has suffered as  a result of college life and the expenses that go with it. Expensive equipment is also a factor.

Both Matt and Pauline agree that it is a good thing that the recession has given them the chance to re-educate themselves. : “It’s the one positive point of the recession” says Pauline. Although they both agree on this and believe more adults would benefit from returning to education, they don’t believe that government support for them is adequate. Although the government does encourage people to return to education, the support more or less ends there. Pauline also believes that the government try to encourage people to re-educate themselves in order to reduce the dole queue.

U.C.D Wetser Watch

The objectification of women and the issue of alleged sexism has been quite prominent in the news recently, in the wake of the Price-Waterhouse-Coopers scandal and the 50th anniversary of The Sun’s page three. Also in the news recently were a number of stories concerning a Facebook group, hunting for attractive, young, female U.C.D “freshers“. This group is called Wetser Watch, wetser sounds like the kind of word a posh person trying to sound common might use, instead of the term “damp yoke”. This group has apparently been encouraging male students at U.C.D to go to the different events on “freshers week”, and spot the talent, as well as regularly posting pictures of pretty, female “freshers”. “The coming of the Freshers is a glorious time for all of us, we wanna hear about the best new wetsers roaming Belfield!” was their start of year message to the student body. The message is fairly tawdry and lecherous, but its all done in good fun(though doubtless there are countless perverts who belong to the group, which has 979 members). A much worse concept would be, the least attractive “freshers” being singled out and humiliated. I’m sure there are girls out there that would be proud to be hailed as one of U.C.D’s most attractive “freshers”(although the term wetser is fairly derogatory, not to mention idiotic and corny).

The recent scandal at PWC, in which the photos of 13 new female employees were Emailed around and rated by a number of male employees based on looks in a “top 10 list”,  may cause people to react more negatively to the relatively innocent Facebook group. During the “Weekend Woman’s Hour” on BBC Radio 4, on Saturday November 20th, the group, which included at least one feminist, spoke about the 50th anniversary of The Sun’s page three. Page three of The Sun, in case you were not aware, contains a photo of a topless female model. The women discussing the issue were not fans of this tradition at all, one woman even suggested that, :”Many women are offended when they see a man turn to page three”.

The objectification of women is nothing new, from the days of the ancient Greeks and before, women have been treated as status raising possessions. This is evident in Homer’s “The Iliad”, when king Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles fight over a girl, who had been awarded to Achilles as a prize, after her town was sacked and her husband murdered! When you compare this kind of objectification to that of the PWC scandal, Wetser Watch or page three of The Sun, it makes them look a lot more flattering. And they are, with the possible exception of the PWC incident, as I am unaware of how flattering the ratings were. Wetser Watch and The Sun’s page three put these women on a pedestal because they are in awe of the women’s beauty. Although Wetser Watch may have a disrespectful name and the overall tone may be full of bravado and machismo, its all a little game. I would bet good money that, if one of these girls who has been objectified, were to confront the young man who posted her picture on the sight, he would fumble and stutter that he only did it because he thought she was “very pretty” or something similar. Whereas, when he was with the boys, he would have been spewing all kinds of macho crap about the things he would do to said girl. Obviously there are some who would say exactly what they were saying around the lads, to the girls face…and she’d probably love him for it!

It would be quite interesting to see what it would be like if the roles were reversed. One double standard that goes in women’s favour is that, if an older woman likes younger men, she’s a “Cougar”, and looked on with admiration by women and, in many cases, interest from men, or just indifference. But if an older man likes younger women, he’s a “pervert” or a “dirty old man” in the eyes of just about everyone except some young men, there is no positive name for such a man. Most men would not be bothered by the idea of women objectifying them, they would just hope to be rated well and plenty wouldn’t even be bothered either way. What would the male equivalent of a wetser be? A stiffser? A hardser? An erectser?!

The girls posted on Wetser Watch should not be too offended because, at the end of the day (as David O’Leary would say), they are up there because they have been deemed to be attractive by their male peers. And in reality, there are plenty of girls who dress provocatively to catch men’s eyes and get their attention, which is fine in my estimation, and that of just about any man I know. Former U.C.D student Melanie Morris wrote in the Herald that “Students have been up to sexual pranks since the memory of man. And rightly so”.  She even regards “freshers” to be, “The easiest and most intriguing prey”. So the “bra-burners” may stop their winging, because it’s all in good fun.

Sic Semper Tyrannus

On Saturday January 8th 2011, Arizona state senator, Gabrielle Giffords, was shot and seriously wounded by a twisted gunman. The attack took place outside a supermarket, while she was conducting a political meeting with the voters of Tuscan, Arizona. She received severe injuries to her brain and eye. Political assassinations and attacks are nothing new, especially in the land of the free and the home of the brave. From old “Honest Abe” Lincoln, to the corrupt James Garfield, and countless others. Andrew Jackson was the first president to be the victim of an attempted assassination in 1835. Of the 44 U.S presidents, four have been assassinated, Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy. Also, attempts have been made on the lives of others, for example: Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Trueman, Richard Milhouse Nixon twice, Gerald Ford twice, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Herbert Walker Bush(George Bush Snr), Bill Clinton and George W Bush.

Political attacks are not just limited to the U.S.A either. Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand (whom the awful band is named after), was assassinated in 1914 by Serbian militants from a group that came to be known as “Young Bosnia”. The motive behind the attack was to eliminate him, as he was the apparent heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian throne, this assassination is what sparked “The Great War” (WW1), which in turn caused World War Two. Or Even Benazir Bhutto, former two time Prime Minister of Pakistan, who was assassinated in 2007. Bhutto had survived a similar attempt on her life not long before, in which at least 137 people died. If You’re willing to split hairs, even the ambush and murder of Michael Collins at Béal Na Bláth could be viewed as a political assassination despite the fact that it was during the civil war. Look at Adolf Hitler, who survived several attempts on his life. Even Joseph Stalin butchered his way to the top of the U.S.S.R after Lenin’s death. He even had Leon Trotsky, Lenin’s natural successor stabbed to death with an ice pick while he was hiding from Stalin’s agents in Mexico. Also, he staged a farce of a trial in which Lenin’s other successors, Zinoviev and Kamenev were imprisoned on charges of the murder of Sergei Kirov, another old school Bolshevik. After years of re-admissions to the party on a low level, they were once again put on theatrical “show trials” and eventually executed. This was known as “The Great Purge”, where Stalin eliminated the competition, much like Hitler’s “Night of the long Knives” (Though that was motivated by paranoia).

These’s type of attacks, as this most recent one illustrates, are not always aimed at people in  positions of serious or supreme power. Often they are pre-emptive attacks, with the aim of nipping a problem in the bud. Some prime examples of this are: Dr Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, Malcolm X, Mahatma Ghandi and George Wallace (Who stood for the very opposite of King, Ghandi, Bobby Kennedy and Malcolm X. And is unfortunately, the only one of the five who survived). This seems to be fairly prevalent, the attempts on good peoples lives almost always succeed, like Jack and Bobby Kennedy, Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King. Whereas a loud mouthed bigot like George Wallace Survives, plus an evil, bitter snake like Richard Nixon. Not to mention a lying, senile, B-actor like Ronald “I wish I was John Wayne” Reagan. Reagan, along with his vice-president and predecessor H.W Bush, sold arms to hostile nations through disgraced Colonel Oliver North. This was their excuse  to go and bomb said nations because, according to them “We still live in a dangerous world”. Meanwhile these proud advocates of justice and integrity were, at the same time, dropping napalm on villages full of women and children in Central America (Nicaragua, Panama etc). And these are the men who survive, while great men like Ghandi and King are murdered in cold blood. And finally George W Bush, who needs no explanation. (Too bad Dick Cheney didn’t accidentally shoot him in that famous hunting accident! Apparently they were hunting quail… Dan Quayle I hope).

It seems to me that political attacks of these nature happen a lot more in countries like the U.S.A and those in the middle east and other developing countries. In the case of the middle-east etc, it is possibly due to the cultural and political landscape coupled with the low value of life there. Whereas in the U.S.A, it stems from the ridiculous “Right to bear arms” which is written into their constitution. I believe that if Irish citizens could stroll into a supermarket and say, “Give me 20 blue, the Irish Times and a .44 Magnum please” and have it handed to him/her with a smile accompanied by “And would you like to try our store brand assault rifles? They’re on special today.” The way an American citizen would, then the Dáil would resemble the Bastille in 1789! “The people are starving” Marie Antoinette: ”Well, let them eat cake”. Mary Harney would say “Well they’re not having any of my cake!” Buzzards would be circling and screeching overhead while Brian Cowen cowers in his office, transfixed in horror at the sight of the raven perched above his office door as it croaks “Nevermore”.

The Rolling Stone Has Gathered Moss

The old proverb, accredited to Syrian born, Latin writer of the 1st century B.C, Publilius Syrus, states that “A rolling stone gathers no moss”. This means that, a person who moves from place to place constantly, has no real roots. A more modern definition is that a vagabond rarely develops any ties or responsibilities.

Both ancient and modern meanings of this maxim can be applied to the music magazine that derives its name from the expression. When Rolling Stone was first published on November 9th 1967, many thought it related to the Bob Dylan song “Like a rolling stone”, or the band The Rolling Stones. However, the magazine explained its title thusly, :”It’s not just about music, but about the things and attitudes the music embraces. To explain it any further would be bullshit, and bullshit gathers moss.”

How the old proverb relates to this publication is this, Rolling Stone has lost its roots. It is no longer the great bastion of alternative Rock and Roll music and culture that it once was. Basically it has gathered moss in the form of mainstream Pop, Hip-Hop etc. Lady GaGa, Kanye West and Justin Bieber on the front page being prime examples. The second way in which it relates to Rolling Stone is the fact that it has abandoned the people it had ties and responsibilities to. These people being fans of alternative music and “counter-culture”.

In this context, both modern and ancient meanings apply. In one way it is like a rolling stone, in that it has no roots, but in another way it isn’t, as it has gathered moss. There has been a steady decline since the hey-day of co-founder and editor Jann Wenner, when Dr Hunter S. Thompson and his alter ego Raoul Duke were running amok in Las Vegas, the 1972 presidential campaign trail and anywhere else he/they could run up huge bills with other peoples money(or no money at all). Since then Wenner has been turning into Rupert Murdoch, acquiring a monopoly of new publications etc. through “vertical integration”.

In the 2003 documentary filmed between 1996 and 1997, “Breakfast with Hunter”, about Dr Hunter S. Thompson, while exploring the Rolling Stone headquarters on the 25th anniversary of his cult classic “Fear and loathing in Las Vegas” which was first published by Rolling Stone, Thompson recalls the old days. “It is odd you know” he drawls, :”Here we are sitting in the Rolling Stone boardroom…it looks like some kind of a plastic cubicle out of 2004.” He then goes on to say: “25 years ago we were operating out of a loft in San Francisco…you know, shunned as…’Dope Creatures’. I guess that’s really what it was.” Moments later he sprays Wenner in the face with a fire extinguisher. You wouldn’t find the likes of “Fear and loathing in Las Vegas” in today’s modern Rolling Stone, These days you are more likely to see a feature about Eminem or Christina Aguilera.

They still feature content about the likes of The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix, but to be fair, in “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”, Hunter S Thompson and his accomplice/attorney, Oscar Acosta(the 300 pound Samoan) actually laugh at John Lennon, Acosta says, :”That poor fool should have stayed where he was, punks like that just get in the way when they try to be serious.” John Lennon and “The Beatles” were never alternative rock and roll, they just jumped on the “Hippie” bandwagon. As for Hendrix, the reason Rolling Stone have latched on to him is due to the circumstances of his death, it’s all a status thing. “The Grateful Dead” and “Jefferson Airplane” were the true counter-culture bands of that era. This status obsession is evident in Rolling Stone’s “100 greatest guitarists list”, of course Hendrix is number one. He was amazing, but not the best ever, Chuck Berry is number six, which is ridiculous. He was a great innovator and entertainer but most of his riffs sound the same, “Johnny B Goode” and “Roll Over Beethoven” being very similar as well as, “School Days” and “No Particular Place To Go” being barely discernable on first hearing them. Kurt Cobain of Nirvana is number 12, which is just because of his status and death, Cobain had to speed up his solo for “Smells like teen spirit” on the turntables in the studio. He was average at best. Easily the top two Jimmy Page, of Led Zeppelin, and Eric Clapton are number nine and four respectively. Further proof of the decline is the fact that in 2003, they were 2nd and 3rd respectively, and have not been replaced by any guitarist who wasn’t around then.

In his song “Like a rolling stone”, Bob Dylan constantly says, :”How does it feel?”, “Nice and thick” might be Jann Wenners response regarding his wallet. It’s not all that surprising that Rolling Stone has declined so much, it just got too big for its boots if you’ll pardon the cliché. It has become a hulking, stagnant mass. The rolling stone has gathered mould only 43 years after its birth. But this was inevitable, when a publication gets as big as Rolling Stone, it is hard to stay underground. For instance, Kerrang!, the British magazine, was dedicated to heavy metal and hard rock in the beginning, with the “New Wave Of British Heavy Metal(N.W.O.B.H.M)” in the late 70s/early 80s. Bands like Iron Maiden and Diamond Head were featured. These days they feature the likes of Slipknot.

“No Job For A Grown Man”

In the early 1990s, Ray D’Arcy hosted a children’s show on RTE 2, called Den TV or The Den. Co-hosting with D’Arcy was an array of different puppets, Zig and Zag, Socky, and Dustin The Turkey were the most prominent ones. One day Zag appeared on the show with a ventriloquist dummy he had apparently found in a bin behind a magic shop, this dummy was called Podge. For a while Zag did some awful skits with Podge until one day of his own accord, Podge said to Zag, :”Aren’t you a smelly, stupid, ugly alien?” From then on Podge came into his own as an evil character who bullied Zig, and got him into trouble, trying to persuade him to steal a bike that was a competition prize etc. D’Arcy and his other co-presenters were oblivious to all of this and Podge would move in the background or be seen plotting and generally getting up to devilment, as he might say. Podge eventually revealed his evil and took over The Den in a coup d’état of sorts, before being defeated by the magician who gave him life. From this time on Podge would appear from time to time, usually around the holidays (especially Christmas), and try to spoil the festive fun. He would dress up in disguises and fool D’Arcy and the gang, before taking them out one by one and tying them up, he even kidnapped Santa Claus. After a while his identical twin brother Rodge was introduced. He posed as a policeman in order to free Podge after he had been caught by the Den gang. The two continued to show up around the holidays to cause trouble.

This all ended in 1997, when the dastardly duo, who were conceived and performed by Mick O’Hara and Ciarán Morrison, made a pilot. The pilot was a ten minute skit called “Lazybones”, in which Podge tells the story of the sinister and untimely death of a lazy man. The show was picked up by RTE, and A Scare At Bedtime was born. The show ran from 1997 until 2006 spanning nine seasons, the episodes were almost always structured in the same way, Rodge says something, which reminds Podge of a tale, which he launches into, usually to scare Rodge into staying home and prevent him from having any fun. Up until the last couple of seasons, the story would always be told from the twins bedroom in Ballydung Manor. The names of the characters and places in the stories would usually be related to bedroom, and or bathroom activities. For instance, names like Carmel Sutra and Lorcan Piles, or places called Lesbania or Ballybollick. There were recurring characters, like Penos, the lawyer, taxi-driver etc and detective Spunk Murphy of the Limerick C.I.D. Every so often their alter-egos, Fester and Ailin would be featured on Ballydung Radio, the terrible twins radio station, with songs about tropical diseases, Halloween antics involving fireworks and orifices, or murdering Santa Claus to mention but a few. They would also be joined on occasion by their cat Pox, whom Rodge stuffs for dinner one Christmas, and Spunky the cigarette smoking, Russian, communist, monkey who steals groceries for Rodge and smuggles them back for him. Granny O’ Lepracy (who is allegedly in league with “The Quare Fella”) is mentioned often, but is only ever seen once through the door in a silhouette.

The evolution of Podge and Rodge, from childish, bit-part villains on The Den, to foul mouthed, lecherous gobsheens is summed up perfectly by the creators :”When we started you couldn’t say the word ’arse’ on television, but by the end we were cursing like Mary Coughlan TD on a plane to Brussels.” The show also featured the late king of Irish talk radio Gerry Ryan as himself, and a yet-to-be-discovered PJ Gallagher as a dishonest taxi man who swindles hapless tourists, “Town, is it? I’ll take ye to town alri’!”. In the year 2000 the duo received the IFTA award for best entertainment programme and were commissioned by UK Play to do a Ballydung Radio music/comedy show and hosted a TV blooper show for the BBC, called Podge And Rodg’es TV Bodges. They also hosted the re-launch of RTÉ 2 in 2004. They have also sold out live performances in Vicar St, won other awards, hosted the Meteor awards in 2007 and published The Ballydung Bible the same year. The later episodes of A Scare At Bedtime are not up to the standard of the earlier shows, they tried to spice up these episodes by having Ireland’s answer to Ronnie and Reggie Kray, leave the bed and even the house, but by that point they were scraping the bottom of the barrel. In 2006 they scrapped A Scare At Bedtime in favour of The Podge And Rodge Show. This was a talk show which featured mostly B-list celebrities being ridiculed by the twins. Although it did have its moments, it never really impressed me. In 2009 they took an old Scare At Bedtime gimmick, The Stickit Inn (not to be confused with The Slipit Inn) and made a new show out of it, Podge And Rodge’s Stickit Inn. This show started off as a celebrity pub quiz, but regressed into a hybrid of The Podge And Rodge Show, and the Ballydung Radio show they did for UK Play.

Recently, they appeared on their old nemesis Ray D’Arcy’s 2FM magazine radio show to promote their new A Scare At Bedtime DVD box-set, featuring all 150 episodes including 50 which have never been seen. Also featured in this box-set are the infamous “outrageous outtakes” which were a gimmick that featured at the end of every “best of” video-tape collection that were released while the show was still running. On the D’Arcy show they performed a live episode from the series about grave robbers in which they incorporated D’Arcy and his co-presenters into the tale, having them act out parts. They also mentioned that they have a new show coming out soon. I think that part of the reason I like A Scare At Bedtime is the fact that, I had seen the two on The Den as a child and loved their characters. So when A Scare At Bedtime came out when I was seven, I naturally loved it. Partly because of the fact that I already liked the characters, but mostly for the dirty words (half of which I didn’t understand). And while I can now see how juvenile some of the content is, I still like it for the nostalgic aspect of it, as well as the fact that most of it is still funny.

So, if like me, A Scare At Bedtime is a part of your childhood (for good or ill), then buying the box-set is definitely worth your while. It costs no more than €30 and has lots of great extras like Fester and Ailin’s crappy jukebox and the original pilot. In less than 20 years, the Ballydung boys have done more than most real people, so much for ventriloquism being “no job for a grown man”.

Beavis and Butt-Head set to return to rescue MTV from its reality rut

In 1992 Mike Judge created a short animation about what he described as, two out of control, bottom percentile, 14 year old boys, who do not have any other friends, and have inside jokes that keep them laughing constantly. The short was called “Frog Baseball”, and featured two young teens  blowing up insects with fireworks, humming Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man”, Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the water”, and playing baseball with a live frog. The short ends just as they’re about to play baseball with a poodle. These two teenagers were called Beavis and Butt-Head. Judge gave the short to someone he knew at MTV, and the show was picked up. When the short was played for a focus group, the people in the group liked it so much that they asked if they could buy a copy of the short, something the group co-ordinator had never seen in her 10 years conducting focus groups. Two episodes were played a few days in a row and the reception was phenomenal, Judge received offers for a film within days of the first airing of the episodes.

Butt-Head is the stronger, more “intelligent” of the two, and tends to boss Beavis around. They are big fans of rock and heavy metal music, Beavis wears a Metallica t-shirt, while Butt-Head wears an AC/DC one. In every episode they critique a few music videos, more often than not they slate the videos and make fun of the musicians. Notably they have slated Yoko Ono, Vince Neil (formerly of Motley Crue), Vanilla Ice, Poison, The Beatles and New Kids On The Block, Butt-Head even insults Metallica, causing a fist fight between himself and Beavis. They also gave some bands and artists great reviews in which they would become very excited, in particular, Alice In Chains, Gwar, Pantera, The Beastie Boys and even Snoop Doggy Dogg. The two are pubescent and their primary objective is “scoring” (losing their virginity), but the fact that their chat up lines consist of “Hey baby, wanna like…you know…uhuhuhuhu”, coupled with their awful appearance, tends to hamper them. Judge compares the lads “scoring” to Charlie Brown’s football being pulled away at the last minute. There is a host of secondary characters, many of whom are very funny. Some of these characters include Todd the older delinquent that Beavis and Butt-Head idolise, despite the fact that he beats them up, throws them in the boot of his car and drives at high speeds over bumpy roads. Also there is the hippie teacher Mr Van Driessen who is famous for his songs “Men Have Feelings Too”, “Touch a Mountain” and “Lesbian Seagull”, Stuart the little geek who follows them around, the alcoholic principal on the verge of a nervous breakdown Mr McVicker, Coach Buzzcut, the Vietnam vet who is the only one who can even slightly control the two, and the blue-print of Hank Hill (from Judges other show King Of The Hill) Tom Anderson, who the two always trick and harass, cutting down his tree causing it to crash through his roof and painting Megadeth and Anthrax across the front of his house. These characters are all based loosely on people he knew growing up.

Beavis & Butt-Head boasted a team of writers that have proven themselves many times before and after the show. For instance, David Peltan edited Hunter S Thompson’s “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”, Larry Doyle was a writer for The Simpsons back in their glory days of the early 90s, Etan Cohen wrote for King of the Hill and writers who co-wrote Shrek and Fraiser also wrote for the show. The show was attacked in the media with allegations of promoting violent behaviour, these people didn’t seem to get that it was satire. One of the controversies was Beavis shouting “Fire!”, this was banned from the show for some time. Also, journalists who had never seen the show wrote scathing articles, citing an episode about them lighting a cat on fire which didn’t even exist. There was a group of primary school students who wrote letters to the show (Probably on the instructions of a teacher). In these letters, the kids demanded that they take the show off the air and threatened them with guns. Mike Judge talks about how ridiculous it is that these people let their children watch the show, despite the disclaimer, then bitch at the creators afterwards. On the other hand, journalists that had seen the show and understood it like Howard Rosenthal and Tom Shales gave them great reviews. Shales of the Washington Post said that the reason the show is appealing is that “At some point in their lives, everyone has known these guys”. Other prominent fans of the show include David Letterman, Howard Stern, Bernardo Bertolucci, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore and Stephen King to name but a few. Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the creators of South Park speak of Beavis and Butt-Head as being a very harsh, scathing portrayal of where the youth of America were at the time, and a warning that this is where they might have been going. They also said that if any show inspired South Park, it was Beavis and Butt-Head. They compare it to the blues in that, it’s the same thing over and over, but it’s still great. Evette Kaplan who worked on the show, says that people who respond to the show are usually in one of two categories, either they are the characters themselves and don’t realise its satire, or they know its satire and appreciate the humorous exaggerations. Larry Doyle maintains that a lot of what goes on in the show would not be as funny if it weren’t for Mike Judge voicing the characters. It is character humour, a lot of the time they’re just doing normal things, but the fact that Beavis and Butt-Head are doing these things is what makes it funny, like washing Mr Anderson’s dog or painting his house. Also, as the show went on the characters evolved and Mike Judge began to ad-lib lines on a regular basis. This came about from his boredom with doing the music videos, he began to stop talking about the videos themselves and had the two talk about random, funny stuff. From time to time he would have them do ridiculous dances to the music as well, two of which, he named “The Bunghole” and “The Double-Inverted Nad Twist”.

 

Around season six Mike Judge began to feel that the show was getting stale, his contract was for eight seasons, but he was able to negotiate his way out of the last season by making an animated film, “Beavis and Butt-Head do America” in 1996. The film was a box-office hit grossing $20.11,000,000 in its first weekend and $63.11,000,000 in North America alone. It featured Bruce Willis and Demi Moore as semi-main characters and David Letterman did a cameo as Butt-Head’s father. Cloris leachman, Greg Kinnear and Robert Stack also did guest voices. The film received roaring reviews from the New Yorker and New York Times, won the BMI Film Music award and the soundtrack boasted Issac Hayes, AC/DC, Ozzy Osbourne, White Zombie and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The plot is very simple, their TV is stolen and while trying to find a new one, they meet a man who mistakes them for two hit-men and offers them $10,000 to “do” his wife. Beavis and Butt-Head misinterpret the situation and go to Vegas to “do” her, she realises their mistake, tells them she’ll “do” them when they get to Washington, and unbeknownst to them plants a nuclear weapon in Beavis’ shorts before putting them on a bus to Washington. It’s not long before they’re wanted by the F.B.I. Season seven which was released the following year in 1997 was the final season, they also released an album “The Beavis and Butt-Head Experience” which featured a duet of “I got you babe” with Cher, as well as the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Megadeth, White Zombie and others as well as an original solo track called “Come to Butt-Head”.

They have been compared to Cheech and Chong and The Three Stooges in that, while they’re repetitive, it’s still very funny, and as David Letterman said, many people just want to be there with them and laugh at them, Snoop Dogg reckons that they would survive in Compton because of their craziness (though he’s not even from Compton himself). Both Mike Judge and Larry Doyle have spoken in the past about doing more episodes, either keeping them suspended in time as adolescents, or putting them in their 50s, Judge maintains that it is almost impossible to imagine them in between. A couple of years ago, Steve-O from Jackass released a god-awful rap album, Mike Judge made a special Beavis and Butt-Head critique of one of the videos that was hilarious even after the years of hiatus. MTV have apparently asked Judge to make new episodes as an excuse for them to play music videos again, and with the rumours of new episodes being confirmed by certain sources earlier this month, I for one am confident that it will be as good as ever, though there is always that nagging, apprehensive feeling of doubt, look at what happened when they revived The Twilight Zone in the 80s. Only time will tell though, so if you’re a fan, keep an eye on MTV for brand new episodes.  “Musicians” like Justin Bieber should prepare for the most scathing, insulting criticism of their careers.