Video killed the rock star
QUESTION Was the career of U.S. rocker Billy Squier ruined by a music video?
MTV and arena rock star Billy Squier had a string of hits, much played on radio stations too, in the Eighties until his career was cut short by an embarrassing, over-the-top music video.
Born on May 12, 1950, in Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts, William ‘Billy’ Hailslip Squier was inspired to become a musician by Eric Clapton’s music.
His career took off with his second solo album 1981’s Don’t Say No, which sold more than four million copies in the U.S. His hot streak continued with 1982’s Emotions In Motion, which spawned the hit Everybody Wants You.
But he hit a roadblock with his next release, 1984’s Signs Of Life, produced by Jim Steinman, famous for his work on Meatloaf’s Bat Out Of Hell.
Though the album sold well in the U.S., the video for the single Rock Me Tonite was so hilariously bad it is credited with sinking Squier’s career.
Directed by Kenny Ortega, who had worked with Madonna and Michael Jackson, it was inspired by Richard Gere’s American Gigolo film.
Squier flails around a pastel-lit bedroom and writhes on satin sheets before ripping off his shirt and grabbing a pink guitar to join his band to play the song.
Rock Me Tonite made Squier a figure of ridicule, though absurd videos were hardly unusual at the time.
He continued to release albums into the Nineties, but without much success. The rock audience had moved on to unpretentious bands such as Foo Fighters.
Jim Cotton, Sheffield.
QUESTION What is considered the most likely explanation for the mystery of the abandoned sailing ship Mary Celeste?
MARY Celeste was an American merchant brigantine, a two-masted sailing ship, discovered adrift and deserted in the Atlantic Ocean off the Azores Islands on December 5, 1872. There were ten people aboard when it left New York on November 7: Captain Benjamin Briggs, his wife, daughter and seven crew.
An investigation first considered mutiny to be the most likely explanation as rope and canvas was scattered on the deck, the compass had been smashed and in one cabin, a cutlass was found smeared with what could have been blood.
Similar stains were on the starboard deck rail near a cut that looked as though it had been made with an axe.
This lead to the theory that some of the crew had murdered the captain and his family and then escaped in the single lifeboat, which was missing.
But this did not explain why valuables, including jewellery and an expensive Italian sword, had been left behind. The British Admiralty eventually admitted it had no explanation for the mystery.
There was no structural damage to the ship, yet it had been abandoned in haste, so perhaps they were afraid of something that might happen.
The Mary Celeste’s cargo was 1,701 barrels of industrial alcohol, nine of which had leaked. Captain Briggs had never carried such a cargo before and was likely unfamiliar with its chemical reactions.
He had come from the cold weather of New York to the much warmer region of the Azores and the barrels, shaken by stormy weather, may have started to leak fumes into the hold. It’s possible Briggs feared the vapours could poison the crew or the barrels might explode.
One of the barrels had been opened, probably during an inspection. If that had taken place by candlelight, it could have caused the fumes to burst into flame, which may have convinced the captain that the ship could explode at any minute.
He may have ordered everyone into the lifeboat. It’s likely Briggs intended to stick close to the ship, using a long rope, but perhaps this had snapped.
It would not have taken much wind to send the Mary Celeste sailing away from the crew and rough waves would have prevented them from catching up, leaving them to face death in a lonely ocean. Emilie Lamplough, Trowbridge, Wilts.
QUESTION What became of the Ocean Cleanup machine invented by a teenager?
IN 2011, 16-year- old Dutch teenager Boyan Slat came across more plastic than fish while diving in Greece.
Shocked by this, he designed a school science project investigating ocean plastic pollution and why it was considered impossible to clean up. A key problem is that this type of litter moves with the ocean currents, making it impractical to pursue with boats and nets.
Slat came up with the idea of building a passive system using the ocean currents to his advantage. He has secured more than £20 million from crowdfunding, private investors and the Dutch government to implement the Ocean Cleanup.
The system uses a boom to capture plastic and keep it in areas where a boat can pick it up. The pipe moves with the waves and currents using floating anchors and there is a gap where sea life can pass through unimpeded.
The first Ocean Cleanup system is being deployed in an area between Hawaii and California known as the Great Pacific garbage patch. Ocean currents have combined to collect 79,000 tons of plastic in the patch, which is the size of Texas.
While 94 per cent of the 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic is made up of microplastics, this accounts for only 8 per cent of the overall mass. The bulk of the debris is discarded fishing gear. Slat is targeting particles above 1cm in diameter.
If the project is successful, barriers will be deployed across the oceans in other rubbish traps and could be adapted for river mouths. Jacob Karel, London N12.
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