212-OPEC-SID

August 1, 2020 9:57 AM

In the pre-internet days, a notorious punk hotline was one of the few ways hardcore teens and metalheads could get up-to-the-minute information about upcoming shows in NYC and the surrounding suburbs.
posted by pxe2000 (15 comments total)

It would be neat to see a list of 80s/90s-era NYC answering-machine services. Here are two:

The Apology Line

TMBG Song of the Day

In the 90s you could buy a bootleg cassette tape compilation called "Free When You Call From Work".

And there must have been a joke of the day service. 80s tech as art
posted by morspin at 10:59 AM on August 1, 2020 [5 favorites]

Here in Boston we had Holy Tire Iron, and I would love to see them get a similar write up. Sadly, the person rumored to be Reverend Ray died in 2013.
posted by pxe2000 at 11:07 AM on August 1, 2020 [1 favorite]

In SF we had The List, available at independent record stores. It’s available online, sad to see the last update was April.
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 1:46 PM on August 1, 2020 [3 favorites]

Are You a Poser? Take Sassy’s 1998 quiz.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 3:16 PM on August 1, 2020 [3 favorites]

Back in the late 70's here in the Bay Area (located in Marin country,) was the political or otherwise incorrectly named Dial-a-Spaz. It was a 20 minute loop, that changed almost every three days, that featured this guy's own rants, sounds, music, and samples of recordings people left on his answering machine. After a couple of years, he finally offered all his equipment and training in how to use it for free to anyone who promised to continue this dada-esque phone theater. No event info there, it was the event, punk phone.
posted by njohnson23 at 4:08 PM on August 1, 2020 [5 favorites]

Back in the early-to-mid-70s here in Indy, we had what was known as the Zip Line. It was a local number that, for whatever technical reason, was like this vast empty space where multiple people could drop into. You could have dozens of people on the line at once chatting with everyone else. The thing had a really weird echo-ish spacey audio quality that made it seem like you’d fallen into a very deep hole with about a hundred of your best friends. I’d love to know what technical glitch in the phone system made the thing possible.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:28 PM on August 1, 2020 [5 favorites]

I called the line once. That is not my music scene, but a friend insisted that I call. I thought it was like sports phone for punk rockers
posted by AugustWest at 6:38 PM on August 1, 2020 [1 favorite]

someone in the av club comments posted the correct spelling of poseur
posted by brujita at 7:02 PM on August 1, 2020 [4 favorites]

We just had the time & temperature.

And we liked it!
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:05 PM on August 1, 2020 [2 favorites]

You know, now that I start thinking about it, Zombo.com needs an 800 number.
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:06 PM on August 1, 2020 [6 favorites]

This rules. I love weird phone shit.

It's not quite in the same vein as OPEC SID, but metal band A Pregnant Light has been running a hotline ("Kiss Me Thru the Phone") all year. On the 13th of each month a new song gets made available, and you can call in and listen. You can also leave a voicemail. 1-888-491-0069.
posted by heteronym at 8:20 PM on August 1, 2020 [3 favorites]

In L.A., back in the day, the key number was 310-CUT-FOOT. And astonishingly, it looks like it may still be around in some fashion.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 11:04 PM on August 1, 2020 [1 favorite]

> Back in the early-to-mid-70s here in Indy, we had what was known as the Zip Line. It was a local number that, for whatever technical reason, was like this vast empty space where multiple people could drop into.

Sounds like a telco internal test number. Fairly common back in the day for small groups to abuse such as party lines.
posted by Enturbulated at 6:21 AM on August 2, 2020 [2 favorites]

Back in the late 80's "modern rock" station Live 105 (who played bands like New Order and Kraftwerk when they were still relatively "underground" in the U.S. as well as cult folks like Dominatrix, etc.) had a news hotline where you would call in and get daily news on said modern rock/acts. Which was actually pretty useful considering (1) obviously we didn't have the internet back then to look this info up and (2) as noted even bands like New Order barely rated ink or airtime on more mainstream-oriented outlets. Don't know when it was discontinued (probably when the station started going more "alternative" in the early 90's and "Blue Monday" started to fade from their playlists).
posted by gtrwolf at 12:12 PM on August 2, 2020

Oh wow, I remember the Holy Tire Iron. I was so delighted the time a clip of my message got used I think the question was whether you'd seen more people or more trees.
posted by rmd1023 at 3:32 PM on August 2, 2020 [1 favorite]