Marionette

...’Outrageous, crass and unorthodox, Marionette take the trash aesthetic to its extreme. A single titled ‘My Baby Sucks Real Bad’ is due for imminent release, but Zell is trying to halt its progress because “it makes us sound as if we can play’....
(Dave Roberts, Sounds ‘Lipstick Killers’ article, March 26, 1983).
... ‘We’re untogether, we can’t be bothered, we haven’t rehearsed in six months... but we’re still stars’ they seem to be saying. And, by God, they are.’...
(Geoff Barton, Sounds live review, June 14, 1983)
...’Tales of disgust and depravity have echoed for aeons, building a picture to be either realised or shattered into lipstick-encrusted pieces. Tacky threads loosely draped over shoulders, hair tousled to immaculate imperfection, the picture became a dream.’...
(Dave Roberts, Sounds live review, July 23, 1983)
...’Superbly tasteless and unpretentious, and in these busy days of the awesome return of rock credibility, it was a relief to see some solid gold bozos remind us how essentially stupid it all is’.....’just imagine an Aerosmith for the under-fives’... ‘See Marionette at all costs!’...
(Ralph Traitor,Sounds live review, September 24, 1983)
...”Labelled ‘glam’? I don’t like it, but it’s obvious we’ve gotta be put into some category. I think we’ve got the attitude of a punk band. We’re the Sex Pistols with lipstick!” - Ray Zell....
(Roger Holland, Sounds Marionette feature, October 22, 1983)
...’How can Marionette, a band who “swagger around the stage like brained bears” be worthy of much acclaimed Sounds publicity?’.....
(Sepp Ticwilly, Sounds letter page, November 5, 1983)
...”If I wanted to be successful I wouldn’t be doing this” - Ray Zell...
(Carol Clerk, Melody Maker ‘Ballroom Blitz article, December 3, 1983)
...’Gettin’ Sticky (Over The Girl Next Door)’ notches up a thrilling score on the old sleazeometer’...
(Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, ‘Rock Pretty’ various artists album review, Jan 26, 1985)
...’You Better Believe It’ is all New York Dolls/Lou Reed rock ‘n’ roll pounding, complete with discordant riffs and outta toon vox, as those Marionette boys whip up the proverbial storm’....
(Howard Johnson, ‘Rock Pretty’ various artists album review, Kerrang!, Feb, 1985)
...’They’ve got more rock ’n’ roll spirit in their bottle tops than 90 per cent of more critically acceptable outfits’.... ‘Go see ‘em, a good night is definitely on the cards. But make sure you take along some earplugs for the bits between the raps!’...
(Malcolm Dome, Kerrang! live review, Feb 1985)
...’Rock ‘n’ roll rhythms ground irreverently down into their lowest common denominators’... ‘Marionette do it dog style!’...
(Roger Holland, Sounds live review, June 1, 1985)
...‘Tongues thrust right through powdered cheeks, they swagger a brash path through town, guitars grinding from the crutch, wrecking every bar they come to and ‘screwing’ every ‘bitch’ they meet. Crass. Stupid. Marionette are ridiculously offensive, shatteringly brilliant’...
(Roger Holland, Sounds FIVE STAR ‘Blonde Secrets & Dark Bombshells’ album review, July 6, 1985)
...’Marionette stand (I hope!) for mischief. Take this record seriously and you’ve sold your soul to the devil before your time’.... ‘A classic’...
(Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, ‘Blonde Secrets...’ album review, July 13, 1985)
... ‘Blonde Secrets & Dark Bombshells by Marionette is terrific, like Motley Crue playing the Pistols’....
(Mark Ashby, a local paper - unfortunately its name not listed on cutting, 1985)
KKKKK or K
(Dave Dickson’s rating for ‘Blonde Secrets...’, Kerrrang!, 1985)
...”Ola! I’m writing because I’m completely amazed by your LP ‘Blonde Secrets...’ - I didn’t think anything this gutsy existed outside NYC’... ‘Bands to look for from here are Poison and Guns N’ Roses...”
(Craig Pagan, Long Beach, letter from America, August 23, 1985)
...”I remember a gig when Marionette supported Wrathchild in a pub in Hednesford, I had never witnessed such a trashy rock ‘n’ roll gig - if my memory serves me well, I think you insulted every single punter in that club”....
(Johnny Dee, myspace comment to Ray Zell, October 30, 2006)
...”I remember when Tracii Guns turned me on to Marionette... I musta played that tape till it broke”...
(C.Hazard, Funhouse - myspace message to Ray Zell, Jan 16, 2007)

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