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Subject: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these bands
Does anyone from Philly/S Jersey remember the local bands Robert Hazard & the Heroes, the A's, the Hooters and Beru Revue? They were all huge in the early '80's. I remember the radio station WMMR used to promote all these bands big time. I miss them, although I know Hazard still performs around Philly from time to time.
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
I remember the Hooters very well and enjoyed their album "Nervous Night". I don't know who the other bands are but to be fair, I'm also not from Philly or South Jersey.
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
Ladybug316, you may not know Robert Hazard, but you probably know his work. He wrote Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Want to Have Fun. All those bands were awesome.
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
I'm not from Philly/NJ, but I remember the Hooters very well. Heard of the band before the restaurant! I really liked "All You Zombies" when it came out in 1985, though "And We Danced" was their biggest hit (I think).
Coincidentally, I just listened to Robert Hazard last night. They included "Escalator of Life" on New Wave Hits of the '80s. The chorus:
We're riding on the escalator of life
We're shopping at the Human Mall
We're riding on the escalator of life
Won't be happy 'til we have it all!
sounds very goth, like Sisters of Mercy, unintentionally, of course. The song predates the goth sound a bit. I never realized Robert Hazard wrote "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun."
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
Yep, the Hooters were a local Philly band before they made it big. Interestingly enough, two of the founding members were with Hazard's band before the Hooters were formed.
Robert Hazard's music had a very unique sound that set him apart from what other bands were doing at the time. And yeah, Hazard wrote Girls Just Want to Have Fun and recorded it as a demo in 1979, but his version was never released. Around the early '80's Cyndi Lauper was very into the Philly music scene, and although I don't know how it all went down, she somehow hooked up with Hazard, recorded the song, and we all know what happened next. Hazard released his own album in the Philly area in 1982, and the thing sold like wildfire. Everyone knew who he was. To this day, he's still referred to in articles as "Philly legend Robert Hazard..." RCA signed him, made him over to fit their mold, and as a result, he lost his original sound that made him so popular in the first place. He was then dropped by RCA, but still performs and releases his CD's independently. You can check him out at www.roberthazard.com
That's probably more than any of you want to know! LOL
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
Hey IM FROM PHILLY TOO!I remember the Hooters and Robert Hazards "Esculator Of Life"
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
I appreciate all the info, Pennsygirl, thanks! :)
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
I am from Philly, yes I remember!
Yep- Robert Hazard "Escalator of Life" LOL
The Hooters- there was a contest amongst Philly area schools to win a concert by the Hooters at their school!
The metal band Cinderella started out here too.
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
Hey Philly area people, remember the venue called the Chestnut Cabaret? Nice place, had some big people there sometimes!
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
Hall & Oates started out in Philly, but that goes waaay back!
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
I remember the Chestnut Cabaret too! Of course, I was too young to go to Philly bars back at that time, I did most of my bar hopping in S. Jersey, where I was old enough to drink.
You know, recently a local Philly DJ/Promoter was trying to get a "Philly concert" together which would have featured Hazard, the A's, the Hooters and Beru Revue all playing on one night...and all the bands together would have performed Alan Mann's (another Philly native) Christmas song. But as it turns out, all the bands involved were acting like jerks and the whole project was scrapped. It's too bad too, I would have loved to make the trip down and seen all those great bands again. I told my husband I would have parked myself in front of the stage and felt like I was 19 again! LOL
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
Methinks Steely Dan was from New Jersy, know anything about it?
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
Sorry, I can't help you with that one.
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
Quoting:
Does anyone from Philly/S Jersey remember the local bands Robert Hazard & the Heroes, the A's, the Hooters and Beru Revue? They were all huge in the early '80's.
End Quote
Tsk tsk, I'm sure Tommy Conwell and the Young Rumblers are feeling pretty insulted right about now! ;-)
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
Quoting:
Methinks Steely Dan was from New Jersy, know anything about it?
End Quote
Yes, they are. :)
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
Ah how can I forget!?? I met Tommy Conwell once!
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
Anyone remember the band The Flaming Caucasians, and I think The Dead Milkmen started in Philly.
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
I think The Dead Milkmen started in Philly.
I don't know much Philly, but I did go to South Street in the '80s, so I could get the reference to Zipperhead in "Punk Rock Girl" 8)
Don't forget the pretty art school synthies Book of Love!
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
I remember the Flaming Caucasians, the Dead Milkmen and Tommy Conwell and the Young Rumblers. The early to mid 80's had alot to offer in the Philly music scene. Another name on the scene was George Thoroughgood (and the Delaware Destroyers). Although George was from Delaware, he played Philly clubs too.
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
Hell, I remember! I was born and raised and still live in Northeast Philly. That is also where Britny Fox started. Anyone remember the Empire rock club at Cottman and the Blvd?
Tim
RATT-n-ROLL
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
"Hell, I remember! I was born and raised and still live in Northeast Philly. That is also where Britny Fox started. Anyone remember the Empire rock club at Cottman and the Blvd?"
OMG! I remember the Empire, never went there (wasn't into metal) but my high school classmates did!
I went to, and still live near Washington High School by the way!
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
Quoting:I was born and raised and still live in Northeast Philly. End Quote
A little off topic, well a lot off topic, but I've been doing some research on mental institutions. What do you know about the old Philadelphia State Hospital at Byberry. That's in in north Philly. "Urban explorers" have documented its deteriorating campus since it was ordered closed in 1990. Pretty horrifying stuff.
We used to live a few towns away from the Danvers State Hospital in Mass., a similar facility, closed in 1992. The film "Session 9" was shot there.
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
I remember the Empire Rock Club! My gosh, what memories this post is bringing back!!
BTW, I also remember driving by Byberry several times. That place looked like it was closed down before it ever did. It was always a creepy place in my opinion.
I used to live in Levittown, a Philly suburb, and never really relished a drive past Byberry in my way to Philly for whatever.
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
Is Zipperhead a place in NJ or Philly, is there a real mall where the song took place, and fudge-banana swirl ???
Quoting:
I think The Dead Milkmen started in Philly.
I don't know much Philly, but I did go to South Street in the '80s, so I could get the reference to Zipperhead in "Punk Rock Girl" 8)
Don't forget the pretty art school synthies Book of Love!
End Quote
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
Zipperhead is/was a clothing boutique on fashionable South Street in Philly. I don't remember exactly where it is/was because I was only there once fifteen years ago!
Is the Pennsylvania Levittown from the same postwar plan as the Long Island Levittown?
The Byberry hospital has become a favorite for the urban explorer subculture, as well as vandals and wannabe satanists. The country is dotted with abandoned asylums. Denistitutionalization began in the '60s and reached its apex in the '80s. Many hospitals continued to run at a scaled down capacity before closing completely. The process is still going on. Byberry is slated for razing this coming spring. The community of Somerton is pretty sick of the eyesore and the trouble it attracts.
Man, those urban explorer photos are creepy. I'm either to smart or too chicken to go snooping around in a place like Byberry! :o
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
Both Levittowns were built and planned by the same man, Bill Levitt, but the Pennsylvania Levittown is different because it was the first "self contained community" in America, meaning you never had to actually leave Levittown to get whatever you needed. Levittown Pa is actually featured in a book called Housing in America, because it was the prototype for almost every suburban community today. Levittown Long Island was built before the one in PA.
Byberry is a pretty creepy place, I think the only other I've seen that would surpass it is the Trenton Psychiatric hospital in Trenton, NJ. That place looks like something out of gothic times. I used to pass it everyday on my way to work when I lived in Pennsy and worked in Trenton. When I used to date a guy that was a firefighter, he told me that one day he had to go and check the fire alarms in the building. He said that he had never seen some of the stuff he saw in that place and that no sane person would ever want to set foot in there. Nothing scared this guy so I can imagine what the place was like. Just looking at it would make one want to run screaming.
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Trenton Psychiatric was actually founded by Dorothea Lynde Dix. She was a social reformer who pioneered in the 19th century what we now know as mental hospitals. Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride developed the Gothic-style known as the Kirkbride Plan. Neither Byberry or Trenton is along this plan, but many from the 19th century are. The plan consisted of a large main administrative building adjacent to wings on either side for the wards. The ornate Gothic style was popular in Victorian-era architecture. That's why so many asylums now loom so menacing, like sets for horror movies.
The idea shared by Dix, Kirkbride, and others was that housing the mentally ill in beautiful buildings surrounded by the beauty and fresh air of the countryside would be therapeutic.
Prior to the mid-1800s, the mentally ill were confined to jails, or almshouses, or were left to wander aimlessly. Violent cases were caged or chained to walls. Therefore, the reforms by Dix and Kirkbride were seen as very humane.
Unfortunately, almost as soon as they were built, the asylums suffered from overcrowding, understaffing, sadistic doctors, abusive attendants, and general squalor. These problems would plague the institutions until they closed.
Deinstitutionalization repeated the lie about humane reforms, and led to all the problems the mentally ill suffer today. Don't get me started!
A lot of people think these old asylums are haunted. I'm a skeptic about the supernatural, but I do believe people can detect the misery and pain "trapped" in those buildings. Like Mr. Halloran says in The Shining: "A lot of things happened here, and not all of them was good...When something terrible happens, it leaves a trace of itself behind, like when somebody burns toast." With the decades and decades of suffering and abuse in insane asylums, it's no wonder we get the creeps just seeing the old places. There's also an air of tragic failure about them. Such grand structures, such great intentions, now abondoned leviathans left to rot!
Your Trenton Psychiatric is still open, but who knows for how long?
I would not willingly enter one of these state hospitals still in operation. I remember a few of my teachers took classes on "field trips" to the Danvers State Hospital! They stopped when some of the patients protested about being put on display like animals in a zoo. The teachers felt they had some kind of educational mission, but I think they were quite misguided.
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
Well, I'm going to get back on topic again. I grew up in South Jersey and absolutely remember the Hooters and Robert Hazard (do you remember the video for the song - they actually were riding an escalator - or the video for All You Zombies - I never understood that one). Tommy Conwell was great too, I just heard he is doing middays on WYSP. Since it is so close to Christmas - I'll throw out another question - anyone remember DeBella playing "I want a Jaguar" back when he was at WMMR? I have been listening to him (now in MGK) but I didn't hear it this year.
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
Small world! I live in the Bells corner section. Near Jacks deli on Bustleton ave. Class of 84 Lincoln. My ex graduated from Washington in 87 I beleive.
Tim
RATT-n-ROLL
OMG! I remember the Empire, never went there (wasn't into metal) but my high school classmates did!
I went to, and still live near Washington High School by the way!
End Quote
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
Byberry hospital is very spooky. As a matter of fact a friend of mine was just there not to long ago, at night. Scared the crap out of her. I want to check it out before they knock it down. I go buy it alot. It reminds my of the scene from prom night where the kid gets knocked out of the window. From what I here it is infested with ghosts. Personally I beleive in that kind of thing. I would to investigate.
Tim
RATT-n-ROLL
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
Yes, Tommy is doing middays on WYSP. I remember I Want A Jaguar. I haven't heard that in years.
Tim
RATT-n-ROLL
Quoting:
Well, I'm going to get back on topic again. I grew up in South Jersey and absolutely remember the Hooters and Robert Hazard (do you remember the video for the song - they actually were riding an escalator - or the video for All You Zombies - I never understood that one). Tommy Conwell was great too, I just heard he is doing middays on WYSP. Since it is so close to Christmas - I'll throw out another question - anyone remember DeBella playing "I want a Jaguar" back when he was at WMMR? I have been listening to him (now in MGK) but I didn't hear it this year.
End Quote
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
Quoting:(do you remember the video for the song - they actually were riding an escalator - or the video for All You Zombies - I never understood that one).End Quote
That's what I miss about '80s videos--the literalist interpretation of the song. Best example: Hall & Oates, "Private Eyes." The band were dressed in trenchcoats, fedoras, and sunglasses, and WATCHING YOU! H&O are still embarrassed about that one! ;D Oh, and there was Asia, "Heat of the Moment." They showed a flame, and then an hourglass, and then, well, you get the general idea.
Zombies...
"All you sitting in high places, THE PIZZA'S GONNA FALL ON YOU!," that's what it sounded like when I first heard it!
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
Tim,
There's a magazine and website called WeirdNJ that is devoted to abandoned local, strange sites. They have some really good articles about Byberry. I remember when Byberry was still open and the grounds were mowed and you can see the sign on the lawn- "Pennsylvania State Hospital". People used to escape from it a lot!
About 'MMR- I remember the "Jaguar" bit, I was a devotee to the "Morning Zoo"!
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
Someone mentioned "Zipperhead"- its still there on South St, I was down at South St this summer!
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
Quoting:
There's a magazine and website called WeirdNJ that is devoted to abandoned local, strange sites. They have some really good articles about Byberry. I remember when Byberry was still open and the grounds were mowed and you can see the sign on the lawn- "Pennsylvania State Hospital". People used to escape from it a lot!
End Quote
BYBERRY, RFD
I saw the weirdNJ site. I recently went on a jag of looking at all the Urban Explorer websites I could find. There's a lot of fascinating stuff out there. I'm pretty vulnerable to the power of suggestion, so I get really creeped out a few times. Apparently one of the main Byberry explorers is a girl named Shanna who is only sixteen years old. From what she's written, I can tell she's no dummy, but I can't figure how someone that young can deal with psychological repercussions of spending so much time snooping around that joint.
The escapees were probably harmless patients. Most mentally ill people are more likely to get done to than do to others. It's likely all who escaped knew one thing, they weren't getting any better on the inside!
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
Great! Thanks, I'll check it out.
Quoting:
Tim,
There's a magazine and website called WeirdNJ that is devoted to abandoned local, strange sites. They have some really good articles about Byberry. I remember when Byberry was still open and the grounds were mowed and you can see the sign on the lawn- "Pennsylvania State Hospital". People used to escape from it a lot!
About 'MMR- I remember the "Jaguar" bit, I was a devotee to the "Morning Zoo"!
End Quote
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
I had no idea Tommy Conwell was doing radio now! I read an article awhile back that said he went back to school and was an elementary school teacher. Too bad I can't get WYSP where I am, I'd be interested to tune in.
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
This 60s group called the Orlons did a song called "South Street," some lyrics: 'East Street, West Street, North Avenue, but South street's the best street, da da da da da da.' Also Zipperhead is mentioned in Punk Rock Girl by the Dead Milkmen, it must be a mall or something. Also, I think the Pixies are from Jersey.
Quoting:
Someone mentioned "Zipperhead"- its still there on South St, I was down at South St this summer!
End Quote
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
Hi Pennsygirl, actually the Hooters were formed years before the Heroes. John Lilly and rob Miller (i guess that is who you are referring to) were actually 3rd or 4th generation Heroes. Hazard actually started playing with the Heroes around town in 1977.
Subject: Re: Anyone from Philly/S. Jersey remember these ba
Hi unclebobo,
Thanks, I did know that. Lilly and Miller were replaced in 1982, when Hazard removed "the Heroes" from the marquee. They joined Eric Bazillion (not correct spelling) and Rob Hyman of the Hooters. Rob Hyman wrote Cyndi Lauper's follow up to "Girls just wanna...", the song Time after Time.
Hazard spent years in Philly trying to make it with a reggae band before he formed his own band.