BIOGRAPH TIMES: The Intro to Part Three

Comment by Rebus: 

To close out the decade, in 1979 the Biograph finished in the black for its fourth consecutive year. At this point the boys in D.C. and Rea had little sense of the daunting challenges the 1980s would fling at what had become the theater's stability. 

Once again, television was the culprit. During the early-1980s the killer combination of cable TV and video rental shops began putting the repertory cinemas in the USA out of business. 

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On top of the competition from cable television and home video players, the culture, itself, was changing. More specifically, it seemed college students of the '80s were much less interested in hanging around arthouse cinemas than their '70s counterparts had been. Thus, with coming of the new decade, the 18-to-34-year-old market's taste in entertainment and interest took on a different shape from what had been the style in hippie times. 

Neither the punks nor the yuppies of the new decade cared all that much about classic old black and white films. Plus, that demographic's attitude about political issues took a sharp right turn. 

The election of Ronald Reagan in November of 1980 only exacerbated those trends, which were baffling to me. Curiously, at the same time, the live music scene in the Fan District was thriving. New punk/hardcore bands were popping up like mushrooms. 

So there was a resistance element to the 1980s part of the story. Richmond also sprouted a 'zine scene in this time. The first issue of "Throttle" came out in January of 1981; that was the first of 133 issues (1981-1999). During its initial five or six years of publishing, while covering the contemporary music scene, "Throttle" had a substantial following and a reliable advertising base. 

A few other small press magazines that focused mainly on the band/club world came and went during this same era. Among them were: The Beat, Soundzine and Clue. Keeping a rock 'n' roll magazine going beyond its initial burst can be almost as hard to do as keeping a repertory cinema open for business. 

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