1977
Noah’s Barks pages relating to the year 1977.
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House
AKA: Hausu House is so fun and unique that I’m almost surprised it hasn’t found major mainstream popularity. I never would’ve heard of it if not for the internet. For how zany and psychedelic the entire experience is, I found parts of it exhausting. It gets better about that as it goes, but the parodying… (read more)
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Rabid
From a director known for his unrestrained writing and penchant for controversy comes an inconsequential zombie flick that a David Cronenberg fan may want to believe is a little more clever than it appears. It’s not, though. That was Shivers, which came out before this. Rabid lacks both Cronenberg’s intelligence (the science of the horror… (read more)
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Star Wars
I expected to not care much for this having not grown up with it, but Star Wars deserves its enormous hype. To this day, the only other film I’ve seen with such wholly unique and original set design is Brazil. Every scene contains a plethora of new wonders, yet the script never shies away from… (read more)
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Suspiria
The plot of Suspiria is pretty whatever—even Dario Argento has done better. But he’s certainly never topped Suspiria‘s astonishing, shrieking assault of color and sound. It’s some kind of unwritten law that the less your horror movie focuses on dialogue, the better off you probably are. Argento targets his thrills at the senses, not silly… (read more)
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Eraserhead
David Lynch’s Eraserhead is accomplished in the sense that it really feels like a nightmare come to the screen, complete with a randomly shifting narrative and odd symbolism that’ll turn any viewer into a dream interpreter, but the horror is weakened significantly by the fact that the dialogue is overly camp and many scenes are… (read more)
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Cheap Trick – “Cheap Trick”
The debut, self-album by Cheap Trick is a fantastic power pop album brimming with smooth melodies, catchy choruses, perfect-key harmonies and perverse fun. Whether it’s the stomping chant-a-long “ELO Kiddies,” the punk roar of “He’s a Whore,” or the dreamy ballad “Mandocello,” all these qualities consistently shine through this eclectic album. For all of the… (read more)
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Sex Pistols – “Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols” (1977)
The Sex Pistols were a mostly manufactured band designed by their manager Malcolm McLaren to capitalize on the burgeoning punk movement. As such, he dictated their image, names, and attitude to create both the embodiment of punk yet, at the same time, the antithesis of punk. With so much of the Sex Pistols image being… (read more)
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David Bowie – “Heroes”
Bowie’s vocals possess his typical rock swagger, and Robert Fripp’s erratic guitar work and Brian Eno’s backing synthesizers all combine perfectly to make "Heroes" one of the most schizophrenic pop rock albums ever made. Move over Ziggy Stardust; this is real music from Mars. (read more)
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David Bowie – “Low”
Evidently, every time I come back to Low by David Bowie, I’m a little less impressed. It’s a condensed, lightened version of textures that were already thoroughly explored in the Berlin School movement. I don’t see the point. When he pulls the reigns in a bit more and develops a sort of ambient pop sound… (read more)