Marshall McLuhan
Marshall McLuhan is the greatest prophet if all the things we’re experiencing today. I’ve read Jules Verne, Arthur C. Clark, Orwell, Huxley and Asimov - no one comes close to the influence McLuhan is to my life and to this society. Of course, McLuhan was a theorist, not a fiction writer, but still, books like 1984 had a major impact in the way we foresaw life and society some decades ago, so I guess the comparison is valid. Global village, the medium is the message, the concepts of archetypes, and even the famous 15 minutes of fame, wrongly credited to Andy Warhol - it all came from him.
I discovered McLuhan relatively late in my life - I was 16, 17. It’s probably the only important author that the library my father left me was missing. And he was incredibly important to me, particularly this book, The Medium is the Massage (an invetory of effects). Not a typo, it’s Mass-age alright, see? It made me understand some disorganized feelings and theories I had about people and life, besides pointing me to several interests like Semiology and Media. Obviously, it has a magnificent typography composition, with blow-up images - some of them created with letters. I remember being so excited about this book that I started reading it again after finishing it for the first time. McLuhan became an obsession for a few years, I was calling bookstores all over the planet to find second hand copies of the titles I haven’t read yet. Folks, there was no Amazon.com at that time ok? And then, one night, I was watching late movies on the telly when Annie Hall started. I’ve always been a fan of Woody Allen, I was excited. Halfway through the film he cites McLuhan and invites him into the story. Glorious moment that was - everything made sense. Viva McLuhan.
The KLF
The KLF is one of many names Bill Drummond and James Cauty use, in their incessant quest to break paradigms and conventions. There wouldn’t be enough space in any media to talk - or write - enough about them so I won’t even try. I’ll stick to my story with this incredible art collective.
Mary ‘Queenie’ Lyons - Soul Fever
It was 1990 and my personal heroine was going though hard times. We needed money, and my mum decided to sell my father’s record collection. This bald man came to the house to put a price on it and I didn’t want to let it go. My mother said I could choose one record, and I got this. It wasn’t my favorite, but it was too hard for me to go though his musical estate and choose one. The same records I used to listen with him, with big ass white headphones. So I picked to first one in the row and kept it to me. Never listened to it, until this day.
Substance | New Order
New Order’s Substance was definitely a major inspiration. Graphically & musically. The 12″ mixes compilation opened my eyes to several things, including… well, 12″ mixes. Their importance, their characteristics and their energy. The dub versions, and their uniqueness. Also, the liner notes with the original release dates, the appreciation for cataloguing, trainspotting and collecting. Why was Sub-Culture so different from my Low Life record… oh it’s a new version! The typography, the black and white cover, and the art inside it was also very very influential. The blue and dark red images made us kids think it was a ‘N’ and an ‘O’ respectively. I was eleven and this was my 1987 xmas gift.