IN ONE EAR

June 1978

‘What this magazine needs is a rock column.’— Les Wiseman ‘What this magazine does not need is a rock column.’— Mac Parry

Yet, a year later, my rock music column, In One Ear, first appeared in Vancouver magazine. It started off conservative, with the likes of Jerry Doucette and Nick Gilder. But as the column gelled it became more of a punk Creem North. I was a fan of Lester Bangs and patently emulated him. Years later, his book Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung was the text for my pop-music writing course at the University of Victoria. The punk and new wave genres had boomed and Vancouver’s former blues-can status was enlarged to include cutting-edge bands. The Stranglers, Siouxsie, DOA, Subhumans, Cramps, Ramones, Frank Zappa, Iggy Pop all got in with ‘those swell album reviews.’ Over 35 years later, I still get recognized from that column. As one music industry insider put it (about our November 1981 issue): ‘I love that I can read the cover story about [then-mayor] Art Phillips and then I can turn back to In One Ear, where I can read about Wiseman up to no good with heroin-addict guitarist Johnny Thunders until five in the morning.’— Les Wiseman, editor and writer, 1978 to 1989