The Look

This is a real classic! This song is actually called Joyride, although the guitar in the video definitely has something that looks suspiciously like a "look."

Roxette really put the ugly ric on the map in a whole new way with this video. Way to go, guys!


Gold on white... I muse on the implications of this, both aesthetic and allegorical. Although it kind of looks like gold on some kind of off-blue affair.

I wonder if he still has that guitar.

Red and Black 4001

I found this today on eBay and it's actually what made me want to start the blog.

Bonus points for the mismatched knobs and the thumb-rest. That's classy, man!

There's a bunch more pictures at the actual auction.

Hi! This is what this blog is:

Hi, everybody! I'm supposed to be grading papers now, but I'm procrastinating. I decided I'd start a blog about one of my obsessions.

Rickenbacker makes beautiful guitars. I want one. They play, sound, and usually look incredible.

They are also expensive. A few years ago I decided I could probably afford one if I settled for one that only played and sounded great, and had one of the unfortunate and short-lived color schemes Rickenbacker experimented with in the '80s and early-'90s. Once I'd seen a few of these on auctions sites, I started to become fascinated with the hypnotic grandeur of their awfulness.

This got me in the habit of emailing my friends whenever I found pictures online of a truly ugly ric, but all my friends are now sick of this. So I'm just going to start this blog and post them here from now on.