E STREET

out of time

HERE'S AN OBSCURE piece of pop culture history I'll guarantee no one will get.

Unless, that is, you were (like me) unfortunate enough to live in Australia in the early '90s. Not that it was all bad - there was the sexy, utterly bonkers, late night soap E Street.

For a young, barely teenage Garçon Stupide (in the first flush of puberty) E Street was a gift. It had it all - boys, sensational plots, boys, power mad bitches with shoulder pads... And boys. Then there was Mr. Bad. A few years ago, Coronation Street was pretty pleased with its serial killer storyline, but that wasn't a patch on the utterly loopy convolutions of the Mr. Bad story. Whole swathes of regular cast members were killed over the course of a year. There were surreal flashbacks. And black and silver facepaint. Mostly though, E Street was about the boys, particularly Marcus Graham's yummy Wheels, and his buff (mute) best friend Joey Valentine. Shirts came off at least once an episode, and heaving male chests were bared. They just don't make them like this anymore...