From a Whisper to a Scream (1987) aka The Offspring

This horror anthology was directed and co-written by Jeff Burr. Burr went on to direct numerous horror movie sequels, such as: Stepfather II (1989), Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990), Puppet Master 4 (1993), Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter (1994), and Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings (1994).

The film's stories are introduced by horror icon Vincent Price, a Tennessee town historian speaking to a reporter played by Susan Tyrrell. Familiar genre faces Clu Gulager, playing a grocery worker with an eye for his female boss, and Cameron Mitchell, as a Civil War era Union soldier, are found in two of the film's segments. Martine Beswick, Rosalind Cash (who would make her final film appearance in the 1995 horror anthology Tales from the Hood), and Lawrence Tierney (known to many as gangster Joe Cabot in Reservoir Dogs) also have roles in the movie.

the trailer

the feature

Butthole Surfers - Nov. 1987 - Los Angeles

Butthole Surfers

Variety Arts Center
Los Angeles, CA
11/7/1987

The beautifully demented sights and sounds
from a stop during touring
in support of their 1987 release
Locust Abortion Technician.

1) -noise-
2) Something
3) Rocky
4) Sweat Loaf
5) Ricky
6) Graveyard
7) Paranoid
8) 100 Million
9) Backass
10) scream sequence
11) Julio
12) Cherub
13) Gary Floyd
14) Psychedelic Jam
15) Pittsburgh To Lebanon
16) Johnny Smoke
17) Jimi
18) 22 Going On 23
19) X-Ray

The Day My Kid Went Punk (1987)

First shown in October 1987, this ABC Afterschool Special stars Bernie Kopell (Doc from The Love Boat) and Christine Belford (also known for playing a Mom in the movie Christine and on Beverly Hills 90210) as the puzzled parents of a teen who goes "punk" in a way that only the folks behind ABC's Afterschool Specials would imagine. 

Unintentional yucks abound.

Voivod - 1987 - Paris

Voivod 

opening for Kreator 

1 December 1987  

at the Rex Club 

Paris, France 

Butthole Surfers - 1987 - Atlanta

Butthole Surfers

15 May 1987 

Rollick (formerly the 688 Club), Atlanta 

Videographer - Barry Mills

I was lucky enough to witness the Locust Abortion Technician tour when the Butthole Surfers played Chicago about a month before the show featured below. 

Over the years I have attended a lot of live shows but that one remains my all time favorite. The combination of incredible music plus the over the top visuals; such as the fog machine pushed into the red line, the heavily odd movies projected either behind the band or onto banks of fog, and the painted naked dancer with glued on facial hair, created an alchemy the likes of which was a true mind-scrambler.

The Dante Quartet!!! (1987) Stan Brakhage

With Dante's The Divine Comedy serving as inspiration, Stan Brakhage's short The Dante Quartet!!! took six years to complete and was released in 1987. Broken up into four parts, titled Hell Itself, Hell Spit Flexion, Purgation, and existence is song; the film's creation was a laborious process with Brakhage painting directly onto existing film stock. He would add thick, extra layers on top of the emulsion; incorporating his own hand crafted design to the stock.

Wikipedia offers this additional insight on The Dante Quartet!!!: "Adrian Danks, writing for Senses of Cinema, described the film as offering 'an obscure, off-centre and idiosyncratic perspective that is difficult to conceive – at least initially – as anything other than a glorious celebration of the experiential and material possibilities of film stock and projected light.'"

Big Black - CBGB - 1987

The three piece (plus drum machine Roland) Big Black created some amazing noise skronk during their tenure from 1981 to 1987. Even though my time living in the Chicago area overlapped with their existence, I never got to see them live mainly because I was under twenty-one and never obtained a fake i.d. Here is some footage from 1987 when they played CBGBs on their final tour in support of their Songs About Fucking record.

Suicidal Tendencies - Detroit - 1987

Here's footage of Suicidal Tendencies 

in Detroit on 25 September 1987, 

which is also around the time I saw them 

in Chicago.

Sonic Youth - 1987 - Atlanta

Sonic Youth

September 16, 1987 @ Metroplex, Atlanta

Videographer - Barry Mills

Saw this tour in Chicago at the Metro and it remains one of my top ten favorite live shows.

1. Schizophrenia 
2. Tom Violence 
3. White Kross 
4. Kotton Krown 
5. Stereo Sanctity 
6. Brother James 
7. Pipeline 
8. Tuff Gnarl 
9. Hot Wire My Heart 
10. Beauty Lies In The Eye 
11. Expressway To Yr Skull 
12. Pacific Coast Highway 
13. Ticket To Ride 
14. Beat On The Brat.

Repulsion - 1987 - Flint, MI

Rare footage of the legendary, proto-grindcore band Repulsion from November 1987 performing at The Fallout Room, in the basement of the Capitol Theatre in Flint, Michigan.

Uploaded by allegrocode

Butthole Surfers - 1987 - Los Angeles

Butthole Surfers 

April 1987 

Variety Arts Center, Los Angeles, CA 

Witnessing the Butthole Surfers as they brought their Locust Abortion Technician tour to Chicago in late April of 1987 remains one of the most absolute favorite live performances I've ever attended. The sights and sounds blew my mind and I quickly realized this was not just another hardcore show and the naked dancer, smoke machine, weird films projected behind the band, etc. proved this point repeatedly.

Thanks to 1966Sickman (+ Credits to: Hothcanada, Notsaved & weldermatt) for posting the clips below which document the Butthole Surfers as they highlighted songs from the then newly released Locust Abortion Technician record at a show in Los Angeles in early April 1987.

Set list:
[01]. U.S.S.A.
[02]. Sweat Loaf
[03]. Julio
[04]. Creep In The Cellar
[05]. Psychedelic Jam
[06]. To Parter
[07]. Johnny Smoke
[08]. Pittsburg to Lebanon
[09]. Graveyard
[10]. No Rule
[11]. The Shah Sleeps in Lee Harveys Grave
[12]. Mark Says Alright
[13]. Roky
[14]. Jimi
[15]. Comb

Possessed - 1987 - Baltimore

Formed in 1983, Possessed were an early and heavily proficient thrash/death/black/crossover/etc. metal combo from the San Francisco Bay area. Initial membership shakeups eventually lead to this line-up: Mike Torrao - guitar, Larry LaLonde - guitar, Jeff Becerra - vocals + bass and Mike Sus - drums; which put out three releases - Seven Churches (1985), Beyond the Gates (1986) and The Eyes of Horror (EP) (1987). Their sound moved from Satanic themed hyper-fast death brutality towards a more thrash infused style.

After Possessed broke up, guitarist Larry LaLonde joined San Francisco metal band Blind Illusion in 1988. Soon after in 1989 he and Blind Illusion's bass player, Les Claypool, started up long running funk metal act Primus.

Here's some footage of Possessed playing Baltimore in 1987.

Seance

Holy Hell


Swing of the Axe


Burning in Hell


The Exorcist


Fallen Angel



Satan's Curse
from the Seven Churches lp

Sonic Youth - 1987 - Madison, Wisconsin

Saw a bunch of memorable shows during the course of 1987 and October found me right up front, elbows on the stage at the Cabaret Metro in Chicago to witness Sonic Youth touring in support of their phenomenal record Sister. It was a harmonic convergence of sorts as a happening band showcased songs from what would go on to be my absolute favorite of their releases while also putting on one of my most highly regarded live performances. Waves and sprays of guitar launched power left quite the impact on me and my naked ears, as this was before I discovered the necessity of ear plugs.

The footage below comes from the 13 October 1987 show at Headliners in Madison, Wisconsin, one day before Sonic Youth made the scene at the Metro. There are also some bonus clips from Atlanta in September, earlier on the Sister tour.

Big thanx to SONICchout for posting all these great clips from 1987.


Stereo Sanctity


Pipeline/Kill Time


Catholic Block


Tuff Gnarl


FULL SET LIST FOR MADISON SHOW
Schizophrenia
Tom Violence
White Kross
Kotton Krown
Stereo Sanctity
Brother James
Pipeline
Catholic Block
Tuff Gnarl
Beauty Lies In the Eye
I Wanna Be Yr Dog
Expressway
PCH
--
Loud Mouth
I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You
Today Yr Love, Tomorrow The World
Beat on The Brat




plus these bonus tracks from
earlier on the Sister tour
16 September 1987
at the Metroplex in Atlanta, Georgia

Hotwire My Heart


Beauty Lies in the Eye


PCH


Ticket To Ride/Beat On The Brat

Robert Williams art and interviews

Robert Williams is an incredible artist working a hyper colorful palette of fluid surrealism. I've enjoyed his artwork for years, although I could never afford an original painting the closest I've reached is having a framed print of a January 1987 exhibition at New York City's Psychedelic Solution. He is a contemporary of other mind blowing underground artist's such as R. Crumb, Spain and S. Clay Wilson.

Working in oil painting, comics and other mediums, Robert Williams has published many trade paperbacks of his extensive selections. Titles such as: The Lowbrow Art of Robt. Williams, Tortured Libido, Visual Addiction and Zombie Mystery Paintings are a few of these collections and feature introductions from twisted notables like Lydia Lunch, R. Crumb and Dr. Timothy Leary. His artwork has also graced cd and record covers of multiple musical acts, most notably the original cover to Guns'n Roses Appetite for Destruction or Ludichrist's Powertrip.




Below are two interviews with the man himself, the first from 1987 and the other more recent but of unknown date.

from Impact Video zine #1 - 1987



interview from sunsetstrip.com

The Confessions of Robert Crumb (1987)

This 1987 BBC program on Robert Crumb mines similar subject matter also covered in Terry Zwigoff's later documentary Crumb. Robert Crumb describes his background, neuroses, turn-ons and artwork with a reflective and self deprecating attitude. He also wrote the script.

Descendents - July 1987 - St. Louis

Great footage of the Descendents (Karl Alvarez - bass, Stephen Egerton - guitar Bill Stevenson - drums and Milo Aukerman - vocals) from 1987 at the venue Mississippi Nights in St. Louis. Saw them that same summer in Chicago days before on this same tour and they put on a great show. It was one of the all ages hardcore shows in the main room of Medusa's and M.I.A., Short Dogs Grow and Chicago's own Lost Cause opened the bill.


A product of the early L.A. punk scene along with the likes of Black Flag and the Minutemen, the Descendents played their brand of hardcore with a notable pop influence to the music and lyrics. This is evident on their covering The Beach Boys number "Wendy" on their 1986 release Enjoy. Many songs highlight either troubles or infatuations with women, while others are very jokey. The music is fast paced and over caffeinated pop punk perfection.

Coolidge


Clean Sheets




Hurtin' Crue


Descendents


Cheer


Myage


I Like Food


Wendy


Pervert


Van


Sour Grapes


Kids On Coffee


I Don't Want To Grow Up


Surburban Home


Good Good Things


I'm Not A Loser


Catalina


Get The Time


Silly Girl


Enjoy / Midnight Madness

Butthole Surfers – 14 August 1987 - Germany

In April of 1987, the Butthole Surfers performed at the Riveria Night Club in Chicago supporting the just released record of dark psychedelic punk genius - Locust Abortion Technician. I'd heard about their way out live shows and been all over the Rembrandt Pussyhorse, Cream Corn and Psychic... Powerless... Another Mans Sac records; so I was keen on attending after learning of the gig. Wisconsin's Killdozer and Appliances SFB opened what remains quite possibly my favorite live performance ever.


My memories of that show are very similar to the footage below. The two drummers tribal pounding generated a thick and solid balance to the distorted vocals and perfectly shrieking guitar. I think their dancer was set up between the drummers at the Chicago set. Some of the background movies are the same. The gory mid 60s drivers ed movie Mechanized Death (which I had viewed just a few years earlier in my high school drivers ed class) played at both shows, along with a variety of other unsettling oddities. An insane amount of experiences for a rock show - the movies, sound machine, interpretive dancer and the most crucial element - the music combined with unforgettable results.


Big thanks to stereopaul1 for posting these clips on YouTube. Here's the Butthole Surfers bringing their beautiful madness to Bremen,Schlachthof on 14 August 1987.