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The Stereophile started as one of the first underground audio magazines in 1962. It was founded by J. Gordon Holt who started the magazine after growing tired of pandering to the demands by advertisers. The Stereophile was started as an answer to audiophiles' need for an honest, reliable information. The magazine reviewed audio components by listening to them, a strange concept in those days. The first issue featured 20 pages free from advertising, a review of the Weathers cartridge, and an article by “Lucius Wordburger,” a pseudonym J. Gordon Holt would write under, on how to write an ad.

The magazine continues to do the work it set out it started over 55 years ago now with thousands of equipment reports going back over 40 years on its website that is updated daily with blog posts, music opinions, show reports, news and a digital version of its magazine as well as print.

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Ringo Starr, formerly of the Beatles, released his third solo album Ringo in 1973. The album, which reached number two on the Billboard 200 Chart, was well known for including appearances by fellow Beatles John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison. Ringo included the single "Step Lightly," which was written by Starr and contained the sound of his own tap dancing.

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Sweets from a Stranger is the fifth album by British new wave band, Squeeze, released in May, 1982. The album was mildly successful, spawning a minor hit in the song, ‘Black Coffee in Bed,’ which would hit in the Top 40 in the U.S. while it failed to chart the top 50 in the U.K.

The band was formed in Deptford, Long, England in 1974, coming to prominence in the late 1970s. Band members, Christ Difford, Glenn Tilbrook and Jools Holland named the band after a disreputable Velvet Underground album. The band was heavily inspired by the Beatles and the Kinks. The band was joined by Harry Kakoulli and Paul Gunn, the original drummer, was later replaced by Gilson Lavis. The release of Packet of Three lead to a recording contract with A&M Records. They had a tough time gaining a foothold in the U.S. and didn’t hit the U.S. Top 40 until a decade after their debut album. Squeeze went on to build a dedicated following that stayed with them in the late 1990s with many of their songs becoming pop classics of the new wave era.

By the time the band was close to releasing their fifth album, they were exhausted. Like many groups of the era, the group had been performing nonstop for close to a decade and had gone through a number of members. After going on tour to support the album, the band broke up going their separate ways. The band reunited in 1985, releasing some of their most commercially successful work.

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Blackout is an album released by the Scorpions in 1982. It was their eighth studio album. The Scorpions are a German hard rock and heavy metal band who were popular throughout the 1970s, '80s, and '90s. They are known for their songs like "Rock You Like a Hurricane" and "Wind of Change." The band includes Klaus Meine on vocals, Rudolf Schenker on guitar, Matthias Jabs on guitar, Francis Bucholz on bass, and Herman Rarebell on drums. The band is considered to be one of the greatest rock bands, having been called "the heroes of heavy metal" by Rolling Stones Magazine.

Color photograph of Sid Vicious

John Beverly, also known as Sid Vicious (1957-1979) was an English musician best known as being a member of the rock group Sex Pistols. Vicious joined the Pistols in 1977 as a replacement to Glen Matlock. Despite being hospitalized during the recording of their only studio album, resulting in his bass only being featured in one song on the album, Vicious would eventually perform three cover songs for the soundtrack to The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle, a fictional documentary of the Pistols. 

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The High Road is a live extended album by the English rock group Roxy Music. The album was recorded in 1982 and released the following year. Two of the song on the album are covers, including John Lennon’s “Jealous Guy” and Neil Young’s “Like a Hurricane”. The songs on the album are not the same as the ones on the bands High Road video and DVD, despite having the same name and art. 

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“Rockin’ in the Free World” is a song by Canadian musician, Neil Young. The song was released on his 1989 album, Freedom. Two versions of the song were released, one of which was primarily acoustic and the other electric. The lyrics of the song criticize the George H. W. Bush administration and references Bush’s infamous “thousand points of light” remark during his 1989 inaugural address. The song inadvertently became the anthem of the fall of communism due to the lyrics “rockin’ in the free world”. 

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The Instant Punk Kit was available by mail in the late 1970s. It included a button, jewelry, and a punk handbook. 

The funk and punk rock music genres merged together to form a dance hybrid genre in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Funk-punk was influenced by the "no wave" movement that came out of New York during this period which was based on the rejection of commercial new wave music. The joining together of funk and punk has been referred to as a no wave mutant disco hybrid of music. 

Photograph of Patti Smith holding two doves in her hands.

Patti Smith Group released Wave, their fourth studio album, in 1979. The album's lead single "Frederick" was dedicated to Patti Smith's then-future husband, Fred "Sonic" Smith of the band MC5.

Wave received mixed reviews from critics, and Patti Smith Group disbanded following its release. Smith remained in semi-retirement following her marriage and the birth of her children until 1988, when she released the solo album Dream of Life. 

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John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English singer, songwriter and actor.  He was the main vocalist for the heavy metal band, Black Sabbath from 1968-1970.  Following Black Sabbath, Ozzy had a successful solo career, releasing 11 albums, 7 of which received multi-platinum certifications. 

Controversy followed Ozzy since his departure with Black Sabbath.  Special interest groups, especially during the Satanic Moral Panic of the 1980s, have accused him of glorifying Satanism, suicide and the occult through his music.  He is also notorious for his past hedonistic lifestyle and intoxicated misconduct. 

The button's text most likely alludes to two incidents where Ozzy bit the head off animals.  In 1981, after signing his solo record deal with CBS records, Ozzy bit the head off of a dove.  Later, in 1982, he bit the head off of a dead bat while performing a concert in Des Moines, Iowa.