Aw, man… Dawn Griffin of the webcomic “Zorphert & Fred” has done a great job of capturing a fine stoner moment… mostly when you freak out at something simple like a couple alien dogs walking by. I mean, come on, we have fire breathing pet dragons and mystic frogs… what’s a couple aliens? Nice job Dawn! Also, I love how you managed to come up with a great way to draw the shag carpeting that was so popular back in the 70s… I officially “hate” you now, damnit!
So, do me a favor and go check out Zorphert & Fred. You head on over there now by clicking here!
Oh, man, WHO on Earth, speaking of aliens, has NOT heard Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid”? It’s been played a billion times on the radio and it is THE song Sabbath has to play in their concerts… though I imagine they are quite tired of it by now after nearly 40 years! That’s right, the guys in Sabbath are older than me, so there…
🙂
HAHAHAHA! VERY nice work Dawn!
Great guest strip from a great artist 🙂 on another great webcomic 😀
SABBAFF! Paranoyg! SAAaaa….baff! (falls, poleaxed, to floor, ears bleeding).
Black Sabbath released the seminal “Paraoid” originally on “Vertigo” records in the UK. Vertigo records featured a label with close-spaced, progressively smaller black circles, each offset from a common center nominally at the spindle hole (UK, small spindle hole) all on a white background. The small transcription deck-style spindles looked like a ball bearing in the middle of the record when running
So.
When you span ’em up, in this case to 45RPM, what you got if you were daft enough to look at the record was the illusion of a small silver ball hovering in the middle of a wildly oscillating banded tube into which you were peering. This, combined with the loud headbanger style of the musical fare, coupled with anything one might have foolishly injested before cueing the record could cause hypnotic vertigo to develop followed by stereo-wrecking “hi-fi dives” into the turntable unit.
By 1975 the stereotypical Sabbath fan walked and talked like a Monty Python “gumby” yelling (eardrums gone, d’y’see) “SAB-AF!” and mispronouncing “paranoid” for no readily apparent reason. See: New Musical Express, most issues, 1974-1977.
But they’re all gone now. An extinct breed.
mmmmnnnnghyyyyySAAABBAAAAFFF!
“Far out, man… I hit my head on a Sabbath record!”
“WHAT?! THIS TONEARM IS STUCK IN MY EAR!!”
Very cool story Steve! I can also imagine staring at the spinning record label would cause an unpleasant regurgitating effect as well for some folks…
Who knew listening to Sabbath would be so hazardous to your health?
🙂
Haha! How completely appropriate. XD
“Also, I love how you managed to come up with a great way to draw the shag carpeting that was so popular back in the 70s… I officially “hate” you now, damnit!”
Whatsamatter, Byron? Are you saying you got shagged? XD
RE: Pam Harrison – Any relation to George…? 🙂 To quote an infamous 60s British agent: “Behave!” I’m just jealous Dawn came up with it first…
You (I mean a “collective” you, not you personally) have never felt rug-burn like the kind from shagging on shag carpet… leaves all types of little lines on your, or your partner’s, butt (depending on where everyone is situated).
TMI? 🙂 And now most certainly will be the punch line of an upcoming comic for sure!
Looks great, Dawn! Good job 🙂
The dudes in Sabbath are older than Byron? Hah! Lena has to pay me five bucks! She didn’t think anyone was older than Byron!
I’VE never had rug-burn from shag carpet….? I better not answer that one on the grounds it might incriminate me. Remember, I was around in the 70s, too…albeit a little underage for some of the stuff YOUR characters get away with…;)
“Any relation to George…?”
EVERYBODY asks me that!!
RE: Kevin – I’m so old my first guitar amps were powered by steam…
RE: Pam Harrison – re: related to George… I figured it was an old joke, but George Harrison was my first ever concert in 1973 and my first introduction to the “purple haze” of 70s rock concerts. The Chicago pigeons flew upside down on concert days…
So, as a HUGE Harrison fan, I had to pipe in with that joke. But wouldn’t it have been ironic if you WERE… 🙂
heh nice work dawn i will check out your comic now
heh i sing paranoid for karaoke
I think it was the Stranglers that also had mind trick inducing picture. It was of the 4 band members heads, it came with a warning the ‘if played at speeds of 78rpm or more could have bad side effects’ (or something like that (hell it was a long time ago)) Of course EVERYONE did it didnt they and yes, it made you feel dizzy – although that could have been substance abuse
And did anyone else repeatedly play ‘White Noise – Electric Storm’ because it apparently ‘did strange things’ I did and it didnt 🙂
This was a great surprise! Nice work, Dawn!
RE: Pete – No, but I did ONCE play the Beatles’ “Revolution #9” completely backwards hoping to hear some of the things people said were there. Imagine spinning a record backwards manually for like 5 or 6 minutes (however long that damn song is). Talk about wow & flutter… I heard NOTHING but a bunch of damn gibberish. So much for Satan talking to me on rock and roll records… Not even one “Kneel before Zod!” Nope, nothin’
🙂
Wasn’t it Cheech & Chong who had a bit about playing Black Sabbath at 78 rpm & seeing God? (& maybe you had to be in an altered state of conscoiusness, too – I don’t remember as I was often in an altered state of conscoiusness while listening to Cheech & Chong…) I know that when I heard “Master of Reality” for the first time as a fresh-faced 14 year old when it came out in ’71 at regular speed & in a regular state of conscoiusness, I thought I’d seen God, or at least heard Him! That lp made more of an impression & had more influence on me, than any before or since. It is the “if you were stranded on a desert isle & could only have one album” piece I would pick.
[Backwards] I’m surprised you didn’t tear out the stylus of your cartridge – standard transcription deck cartridges weren’t designed to be fed in “push” mode and could rip out if they hit a scratch. There were specially cantelevered cartridges built to withstand that sort of shenanigan but they were very hard to find in those pre-interwebs days.
So, Byron, talking of HI-Fi, cartridges and styli, three questions:
a) Magnetic or Ceramic?
2) Eliptical or Round?
%) Diamond or Saphire?
Steve (M.E.S. for what it’s worth).
RE: Unclemac – Believe it or not… my parents would not let me buy any Cheech & Chong OR Black Sabbath ablums until MUCH later (like 1975 when I was going to college). Man, strict…
But I believe you’re right about the C&C bit… now I gotta go find that on iTunes!
Yes, Master of Reality is one helluva album… I’d want on the island ONLY if there were ample cannabus plants to go with it… and a record player…
🙂
RE: roxysteve – I use to be a DJ in high school and had a turntable that allowed me to cue up songs, and thus also play them backwards… I don’t recommend it to the average bear…
I had an Onkyo A7 amp that had TWO turntable inputs… and I always used Shure Magnetic cartridges with eliptical diamond stylus. Ceramic cartridges were for wussies… I considered myself a decent audiophile considering I spent most of my money on recording equipment or beer back in the day.
I recently got the ENTIRE National Lampoon magazine collection on DVD (PDF files) and noticed the ads were nothing but Cars, Cigarettes, Booze and Stereo components… and that sums up the late 70s for sure!
🙂