I know that the first thing that crossed your minds when you saw the headline was Chris Moyles in a casket but what I am writing about today is about the demise of the radio dj in general.

Since the 1950s the Disc Jockey has had a very important role in the discovery and development of new talent. I bet every one of you can remember at some point listening intently to the radio for that exclusive play of a brand new song – your finger poised on the record button of a cheap mono tape .. Just me then?

tape recorder

The beauty of radio is that it was always accessible to everyone and the dj was there to tell you who it was and when it comes out.

As a teen my second favourite thing to do under the sheets was to listen to Radio 1 in the evening with Kid Jensen early evening as the appetiser and John Peel late evening definitely the main course. In retrospect I am surprised how well they complimented each other.

The BBC could influence the chart position of a single by refusing to play it .. Everyone can remember God Save the Queen by the Sex Pistols being banned from the airwaves during the queens jubilee year but what was the first song banned from airplay by the Beeb?

It was the bad boy of jollywood himself . George Formby with when Im cleaning windows with its smutty lyrics that the Beeb banned (strange but true)

The blushing bride she looks divine
The bridegroom he is doing fine
I’d rather have his job than mine
When I’m cleaning windows george formby

The role of the dj took a sinister turn when Mike Read (no not that one) went all religious on us and refused to play Relax by Frankie goes to Hollywood. Of course if you tell the kids that they can not have it they want it all the more (ztt records did the perfect marketing job by bringing out a new remix almost daily until it was number 1)

Homosapien by Pete Shelley was banned by the Beeb (for “explicit reference to gay sex”) as was Spasticus Autisticus by Ian Dury, which was written for the international year of the disabled persons! But my favourite BBC ban has to be Sir Cliffs millenium prayer which was banned for being crap.

The role of the dj is under threat due to new technology. When the analogue signal is turned off we will all have to get our TV and radio via digital (why do all dab radios look so retro?)

dab radio
On dab at the moment there are stations that have no dj and the information about artist and title appear on a tiny scrolling led. Future models will have an mp4 style screen that can show information on the artist, including pictures of the cover and where to purchase/download.

But its the internet where radio is growing fastest but it is not always radio as we know it. Podcasts and build your own radio stations are popping up all over the net and its now easy to find obscure foreign stations.

So is it the end of radio djs?

I personally doubt it because I am a lazy sod who can not be arsed to lift my head towards the radio to see who the current artist is and as long as there are people like me there is a market for it.

Also radio listening figures are on the up, mainly due to mobile phone use. There are more specialist stations around -it is easier for me to listen to a radio station that plays my kind of music than for me to keep changing my mp3s.

Also i am a born again radio listener due to 96.2 the revolution. And because I am lucky enough to live within the 96.2 revolution frequency I can, as long as I dont venture too far, drive about listening to the best radio station ever all day long.

revolution radio

Its a station based in Oldham and do yourself a favour and give it a go as Mike Joyce said only last week. Its a music station made by music fans for music fans – if quims had a radio station i would hope that it would sound like this.

I apologise if this sounds like an advert but i have found a new enthusiasm for the radio that i thought i would never have again.

Here is what to expect

A 96.2 day starts with John Warburton 6am 10 am (comedian and co author of Shaun Ryders autobiography)

Then comes Phil Beckett 10am 2pm with the rebellious jukebox (a 2 hr slot at mid-day named after the fall song where he plays anything from The Snake by Al Wilson to Leaders Of Men by Warsaw . All chosen by the listeners and broadcast on daytime radio)

Late afternoon comes former mock turtles lead singer massive Bowie fan Martin Coogan 2pm-6pm (his famous brothers Steve and Brendan also do work for the Revolution)

Early evening comes Cottee 6pm 10pm(or on a Monday Manis manic Monday takes place .. stone roses/primal scream bassist showcases up and coming bands live)

Other djs include Mike Joyce (ex smiths), Alex Carter and Jeff Hordley (both off emmerdale . Seth must be spinning in his grave), and a host of other music fans.
This is not just a radio station it is a labour of love to which we are all invited. (They played all 22 mins of Autobahn by Kraftwerk last week and are the only station I know where it is not a surprise to hear ivor cutler played back to back with the clash)

Just look at the play lists etc on the website

http://www.revolutiononline.co.uk (THE BEST RADIO STATION
EVER)

Mike Dewsnip

“OK BOYS, START UP THE CAR…….”

IMG_0988

In the early 80’s I used to drink in a pub called the ‘The Duke of York’ in Eccles. They served wonderful beers like ‘Ram Tam’ and ‘Timothy Tailors Golden Best’. I met Mike, an old school friend of my brother Dave, in there one night and we all piled back to his place for more beer and some music. Mike was a few years older than us and had done it all. He was a bit of a hippie, had lived on Kibbutz where a job killing Turkeys had made him Veggie (long before the advent of bird flu) and travelled in the USA. He was now living with Clare in Walkden doing a bit of painting and decorating.

The nights at his place would start off with records Clare liked (Early Bowie, Fischer Z, B52s and the like) and then as the evening progressed, Mike subtly changed the tone with something like Hawkwinds ‘Space Ritual’ and then start on the Frank Zappa. Now this always caused upset as Clare HATED Zappa and as these evenings became more frequent – we grew to LOVE Zappa, the humour, the amazing guitar solos…..’Joe’s Garage pt1′ is still one of my favourite albums.

One night whilst indulging in aural delights, we got talking about The Glastonbury Festival. He showed me an old programme of when he’d been there and looking at the number of bands who played there made my head spin – “we’ve got to go!”

Glastonbury2 1985

And so in 1985 we did. 6 of us piled into Bom’s new van and off we went. In those days you just drove onto the site and parked pretty much where you liked and set up camp next to your car. That year was a muddy one…..Very muddy! On the Friday we thought “it can’t get worse than this” and then it rained overnight and was like slippery sludge everywhere and we thought “it can’t get worse than this” and then the sun came out on the Sunday and it was like walking through treacle….

Glasto85

In those days I tried to see as many bands as I could and missed out on most of what else was going on – which is alot!. That year I got to see The Bunnymen, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Steel Pulse, Green on Red, The Colourfield, James, New Model Army, 3rd World, Boomtown Rats, Style Council, Midnight Oil…..etc…etc…..

Bunnymen85

James
After seeing the Pogues on the main stage I went to meet Mike at the 2nd stage where I caught the end of a set by Jonathan Richman – He was fantastic!

jojo85

And so was born a new obsession for Mikes after hours bashes – ‘Rockin and Romance’ by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers became the must have LP in our circle and we never tired of dancing around to ‘The Beach’, ‘UFO Man’, ‘Chewing Gum Wrapper’……I could sing them all for you now. The soundtrack to my early 20s. Others have come and gone (Zimbabwe guitar maestro Diblo D’bala, The soundtrack to ‘Santa Sangre’, Austrian Yodelling, Marty Robbins, The Cramps, the background music from Camberwick Green) but none spread joy like Jojo did.

In Sept 85 Digger moved to London and Mike gave him a farewell party (and a jesters hat….don’t ask). This photo was taken of us singing to Rockin and Romance and Mike sent it to Jojo.

Digs farewell

This started off some correspondance between Mike and Jojo

Jojo mikey

So that when he came to Manchester to play – he knew who we were. He came out and danced with us before the gig “Hey I know you guys”. With Frank Sidebottom in support – you couldn’t go wrong! Jojo was promoting his ‘Having a party with…’ LP and didn’t play guitar all night – just played sax. By the end of the gig our hands were raw with clapping, our feet sore with stamping and our voices gone with singing – A magical evening

jojo

We even went down to London the next day to catch them at The Town & Country Club in Kentish Town. They were being filmed for some BBC prog or other. Once again we waited to get to the very front (Jojo sang off mike so often it was the only way to hear it all). Their version of Affection was just sublime. Think he almost had as good a time as we did. He often toured on his own after that and could be a bit melancholy which was a real shame ‘cos when he’s on form – there’s no where better to be………..GO JOJO!!!!

Bob the Chiropodist

“You call Glastonbury ‘Glasto’, you’d like to go there one day – when they’ve put up the gun towers, to keep the hippies away”

Half Man Half Biscuit – Corgi Registered Friends
Gasto85Glastonbury Festival June 1985

Bobs 40th birthday bash

Favourite LPs Party Poster

I reached the ripe old age of 40 in November 2004. Nothing clever about that I thought so rather than celebrate not dying before my 4th decade started, I thought Id like to celebrate something a bit more personal, a REAL achievement!

The first gig I ever went to was to see the Stranglers at Manchester Apollo in 1979. I loved that band! From the first day my brother Ste brought Rattus Norvegicus into the house and I heard that first burst of synth twiddle from Dave Greenfield and JJ Burnels driving bassI was hooked.

I used to wait for a bus to school with a bunch of others on the steps of the Windmill night club in Swinton & one day, just before my 15th birthday, one of the lads says Do you know anyone who wants a Stranglers ticket for next week?. Oh My God! A Sign!! My folks were enlightened enough to allow me to go (and drive me the 20 mile round trip from Little Hulton to Ardwick.thanks folks xx).

Stranglers ticket

Without doubt THE most exciting/pivotal night of my life. I may have been on my own and in row T in the rear circle (only one row from the very back of the place) BUT the thrill when then walked on. They were there. Hugh, JJ, Dave and Jet this band that meant so much to me..it seemed to last five minutes before they were off and I was shouting myself hoarse for an encore (which WAS 5 minutes if I remember correctly). I saw JJ on a rerun TV Documentary about Concorde this morning hes still cool as fuck but back then wow!

Anyhow, realising that it was the 25th anniversary of my first ever gig, I decided to celebrate that instead, by putting a gig on of my own. I asked people to submit a photo of themselves with their favourite LP and made a powerpoint presentation of them that ran throughout the evening (thanks to the baby hippo). I also asked for peoples top tens and got about 30 CDs worth great fun to listen to in the car.

I invited some famous people thinking If you dont ask.. and of course none of them came, but two did reply. David Gedge sent me this postcard

gedge postcardgedge postcard 2

The other one, who phoned me up to say he couldnt make it, was John Peel. Im going to be in Peru, on holiday and doing a bit of work. It was in Peru the week before the party that he died which gave the whole event a tinge of sadness.

Various friends played live music – Thank you Martin and Gail, Carlos, Simon and Andy and Ramon, North South Divide and Lee sang me a Bic Runga tune with Carl accompanying. There was a disco by yours truly in-between and the Blondie tribute band Atomic from Leeds played a blistering set to a very receptive crowd. A great night was had by all.

There are some photos of the evening here

Bob

S i o u x i e a n d t h e B a n s h e e s : T h e
a u t h o r i s e d b i o g r a p h y ( S a n c t u a r y
P u b l i s h i n g) .

Y o u c o u l d s e e t h e b l a c k g l o v e . B a n g r i ght i n
t h e m i d d l e o f t h e p i c t u r e a n d t h e t o p o f h i s
r o c k a b i l l y q u i f f , s l i g h t l y o b s c u r i ng t h e m a i n
e v e n t , S i o u x s i e S u e .

T h i s t o o k m e b a c k i n t i m e t o m e e t i n g the l a d s i n
t h e b o o z e r o n t h e i r r e t u r n f r o m L o n d o n .

W h a t w a s i t l i k e t h e n?
B r i l l i a n t , r i g h t a t t h e f r o n t 
W h a t d i d t h e y p l a y?
B l a h y B l a h y B l a h y H o o .
B e t y o u w o r e t h o s e d a f t f u c k i n g g l o v e s 
T o o F u c k i n g r i g h t y o u c h e c k y b a s t a r d 

W h y d i d n t I g o? W h a t s t h i s g o t t o d o with a b o o k
r e v i e w? W e l l i f y o u r i n t e r e s t ed r e a d o n

T h e b l a c k h a n d e d g l o v e b e l o n g s t o m y m a t e .
H i s 1 5 m i n u t e s o f f a m e , w e l l 1 5 s e c o n d s o f f a m e
o n t h e v i d e o o f t h e B a n s h e e s a t t h e R o y a l A l b e r t
H a l l , a b u i l d i n g n a m e d b y Q u e e n V i c t o r i a a f t e r
h e r d e a d h u s b a n d, u n a w a r e t h a t a f u t u r e Q u e e n
o f P u n k w o u l d o n e d a y p l a y t h e r e w i t h h e r B a n s h e e s .

T h e r e a s o n w h y I d i d n t g o d o w n t o w a t c h t h e B a n s h e e s a t t h e A l b e r t H a l l , ( s o r r y R o y a l A l b e r t H a l l ) w a s t h a t,
u n l i k e m y m a t e s, I h a d f a l l e n s l i g h t l y o u t o f l ove w i t h
t h e m . O t h e r l i f e c o n c e r n s t a k i n g o v e r (H o w D a r e I) .

T h i s b o o k i s s e t i n t h e f o r m of a d i a r y, a l l n i c e l y
c h r o n o l o g i c a l a n d n e a t . I t g i v e s i n s i g h t t o t h e
f u l l h i s t o r y u p t o t h e t i m e o f p u b l i c a t i o n ; t h e r o w s ,
the c h a n g e s a n d the r e a s o n s why.

T h e s t o r y o f a g i r l w i t h s h o r t d y e d h a i r who grew int o a g i r l w i t h a b i g h a i r s t y l e t h a t t h o u s a n d s o f y o u n g p u n k e t t es
c o p i e d b r i n g i n g t h e r e o w n s l i g h t c h a n g e t o
t h e m s e l v e s. A s t y l e f r o m B r o m l e y t o C e n t r a l L o n d o n
t o I s r a e l t o J a p a n a n d B a t m a n .

S o m e w i l l n o d o u b t t h i n k t h a t t h e r e l e ase o f t h e
b r i l l i a n t p o p s i n g l e H o n g Ko n g G a r d e n w a s a s e l l o u t .
W h a t a m i s e r a b le f u c k i n g l i f e t h e s e p e o p l e m u s t h a v e
h a d .

I f y o u r e l i k e m e , t h e n y o ull r e a d u p t o w h e n y o u m o v e d o n (in my case a b o u t 1 9 8 3) r e f l e c t i n g i n a s h a r e d e x p e r i e n c e
o f l i f e a n d a b a n d t h a t m a t t e r e d . D a r k , m y s t i c a l a n d a
f e w m o r e p o p p y t y p e s o n g s .

There are c o n t r i b u t i o n s f r o m S i o u x , S t e v e S e v e r i n ,
B u d g i e , M c G e o c h , K e n n y M o r r i s a n d o t h e r s . B i t s o f h o m e b a c k g r o u n d t o s e t t h e s t o r y . A v e r y a m u s i n g s t o r y o f
t h e m m e e t i n g u p a f t e r t h e i n f a m o u s s p lit*. W h a t t h e y
d i d t o g e t s i g n e d . T h e G r u n d y i n t e r v i e w (y o u d i r t y
f u c k e r ).

W h y w e r e t h e B a n s h e e s i g n o r e d b y t h e g r e a t B r i t i sh
P u b l i c ? A g i r l a n d b a n d w i t h a t t i t u d e a n d u n b e n d i n g
s e l f b e l i e f m o s t d e f i n i t e l y h e l p e d .

T h a n k s f o r t h e m e m o r i e s , a t t i t u d e (a n d
t h e 1 0 2 D a l m a t i a ns p h o t o g r a p h) .

B i l l y S t u t t g a r t
*Siouxsie + Budgie went to the Lakes on holiday. At breakfast there was only one other couple in the dining room.guess who…..