Music Maps Podcast

Jon King joins us to talk about the early years & formation of the Gang of Four - formed at Leeds University while Jon studied art.

Jon was born in South London but moved to a village near Sevenoaks in Kent & while the King household rarely featured music, Jon grew up listening to Motown & Trojan Records before discovering Bob Dylan & the Velvet Underground.

Another notable formative experience was bumping into John Lennon on Sevenoaks high street, the Beatles were in the area to film the video for Strawberry Fields Forever. Lennon also purchased the circus poster which inspired Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite on the same visit.

Once up in Leeds, Jon blagged a trip to New York under the guise of needing to see Jasper John’s paintings in the flesh. While there he attends CBGBs & sees Richard Hell & the Voidoids, the Dead Boys & the other seminal New York bands.

Gang Of Four’s first gig takes place in the basement of the Corn Exchange in Leeds & not long after Buzzcocks manager Richard Boon invited them to open for them on tour.

The bands debut single Damaged Goods comes out on Fast Product Records but the band soon sign with EMI.

The band’s debut album Entertainment! is released to universal acclaim & leads to a deal with Warner Brothers in the US & similar praise from the likes of Greil Marcus & Jerry Wexler.

It takes anything from 5 to 40 hours to prepare each episode of Music Maps - if you’d like to make a contribution to help us cover the costs & time of producing these episodes for you, you can do so at this link: ko-fi.com/musicmaps

It is hugely important for us to get positive reviews & star ratings - if you have enjoyed Music Maps & can spare the time to do either we would hugely appreciate it.

You can see our upcoming live events here: https://rocknrollbookclub.co.uk/events

Instagram: @rocknrollbookclube17

X: @simonmusicmaps

Facebook: E17rockbookclub

Hosted, Produced & Edited by Simon Cardwell
Music by Andy Maxwell

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Take a deep dive with us into the end of the Beatles, Paul McCartney in the 70s, Wings Over America, Mary Had a Little Lamb, feuding with John Lennon & more with writer Tom Doyle whose McCartney biography Man On The Run is out now.

The Beatles come to an end & Paul takes refuge at High Park Farm in Scotland, taking a little time to consider his next move.

Amid the Paul Is Dead rumours, Paul releases his debut lo-fi solo album McCartney followed not long after by Ram - credited to he & Linda.

It is Linda who plays a key role in getting him back into music & she ends top in his next band, Wings.

There are some nasty public exchanges with John Lennon culminating in the acerbic How Do You Sleep on Lennon’s Imagine album.

Wings first tour is a series of unannounced gigs at universities around the UK & Wildlife becomes their debut album.

Red Rose Speedway follows not long after but its James Bond theme Live & Let Die which becomes their first huge success.

Not long after Wings decamp to Lagos, Nigeria to record what becomes Band On The Run, but not before losing 2 members, completing the album as a three piece (Paul, Linda & Denny Laine).

Paul begins to reconnect with John Lennon & the other Beatles by the middle of the decade & also begins to play Beatles songs for the first time on the hugely successful Wings Over America tour - feeling he has enough new hits to blend in with the older material.

Following a drugs bust in Japan, Wings Peters out without a formal announcement, leaving a charity gig at Hammersmith Odeon in late 1979 as their last gig.

John & Paul are on better terms by the end of the decade with their final conversation coming in October 1980 on the occasion of John’s 40th birthday. Would the Beatles have re-formed had John lived into the 1980s?

It takes anything from 5 to 40 hours to prepare each episode of Music Maps - if you’d like to make a contribution to help us cover the costs & time of producing these episodes for you, you can do so at this link: ko-fi.com/musicmaps

It is hugely important for us to get positive reviews & star ratings - if you have enjoyed Music Maps & can spare the time to do either we would hugely appreciate it.

You can see our upcoming live events here: https://rocknrollbookclub.co.uk/events

Instagram: @rocknrollbookclube17

X: @simonmusicmaps

Facebook: E17rockbookclub

Hosted, Produced & Edited by Simon Cardwell
Music by Andy Maxwell

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we welcome Melissa Auf der Maur to hear about her new book Even The Good Girls Cry - out now on Atlantic Books.

Our starting point is Montreal as Melissa recounts growing up listening to The Cure & The Smiths, studying photography & seeing Hole & Smashing Pumpkins in one week in 1991 - both bands she would later join.

On her first meeting with Hole, Melissa in forced to un-invite the band to stay at her apartment after the roommate objects after seeing Courtney Love in Straight To Hell alongside Joe Strummer.

After picking up the bass at age 21, her first band Tinker open for the Smashing Pumpkins in Montreal after Melissa writes a letter to Billy Corgan.

Shortly after the opportunity arises to join Hole - at first Melissa is hesitant but is soon won over after being flown to L.A. to meet the band.

She took photos the whole time - ending up with an archive of over 15,000 pictures - some of which will feature in a new photo book in the Autumn.

Hole are offered the chance to appear on The Simpsons - however their management inexplicably turn it down & the Smashing Pumpkins, Cypress Hill & Sonic Youth appear in their place.

The band are under pressure to deliver on 1998’s Celebrity Skin album as they juggle their schedule around Courtney Love’s burgeoning acting career.

Melissa leaves Hole shortly after a notable appearance at Glastonbury in 1999 & joins the Smashing Pumpkins - her favourite band.

She plays over a hundred shows in just under a year - with gigs often running as long as 3 hours, with over a hundred songs to learn.

Melissa reconnected with Courtney Love, Patty Schemel & Billy Corgan subsequently & today owns & operates Basilica Hudson an arts centre in Hudson, New York.

It takes anything from 5 to 40 hours to prepare each episode of Music Maps - if you’d like to make a contribution to help us cover the costs & time of producing these episodes for you, you can do so at this link: ko-fi.com/musicmaps

It is hugely important for us to get positive reviews & star ratings - if you have enjoyed Music Maps & can spare the time to do either we would hugely appreciate it.

You can see our upcoming live events here: https://rocknrollbookclub.co.uk/events

Instagram: @rocknrollbookclube17

X: @simonmusicmaps

Facebook: E17rockbookclub

Hosted, Produced & Edited by Simon Cardwell
Music by Andy Maxwell

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join us for our first episode on one of the seminal bands of the 90s - Nirvana with legendary music writer Everett True. His book Nirvana - The True Story is out now.

Kurt Cobain & Krist Novoselic meet in Aberdeen, Washington but it’s in Tacoma & Olympia where the band really comes together.

We hear about Kurt’s early influences including The Melvins, The Raincoats, The Pastels, Teenage Fanclub, Young Marble Giants, Bikini Kill & various releases on local label K Records.

The first gig billed as Nirvana takes place at the Community World Theatre in Tacoma.

Nirvana sign to Sub Pop Records in Seattle & their debut single Love Buzz comes out as part of the Singles Club series. We hear about the influence of other local bands Mudhoney & Soundgarden.

The debut album Bleach is made for $600 & Everett conducts his first interview with the band not long after.

The band tour the UK starting at Newcastle Riverside & Everett himself joins them onstage at a gig in Nottingham.

Original drummer Chan Channing leaves Nirvana & is replaced by Dave Grohl as the band sign a major label deal with Geffen Records & producer Butch Vig comes in to help realise the sound of Nevermind.

Shortly after the band debut a new song named Smells Like Teen Spirit at the OK Hotel in Seattle. The song title famously comes after Kathleen Hanna scrawls ‘Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit’ on an apartment wall.

The band headline the Reading Festival in England in the summer of 1992 as Everett wheels Kurt Cobain onstage to start the gig.

It takes anything from 5 to 40 hours to prepare each episode of Music Maps - if you’d like to make a contribution to help us cover the costs & time of producing these episodes for you, you can do so at this link: ko-fi.com/musicmaps

It is hugely important for us to get positive reviews & star ratings - if you have enjoyed Music Maps & can spare the time to do either we would hugely appreciate it.

You can see our upcoming live events here: https://rocknrollbookclub.co.uk/events

Instagram: @rocknrollbookclube17

X: @simonmusicmaps

Facebook: E17rockbookclub

Hosted, Produced & Edited by Simon Cardwell
Music by Andy Maxwell

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we celebrate 50 years of The Undertones with guitar player Damian O’Neill.

Damien kept diaries during the early years of the band & reads extracts for us throughout & he tells us about joining the band age 15 & their first gig at a local scout hall. From there The Undertones honed their craft playing regularly at The Casbah in their hometown of Derry, Northern Ireland.

His older brother John O’Neill starts to write songs & they record their debut release The Teenage Kicks EP - after which John Peel plays it & becomes a fan - resulting in the songs success & an appearance on Top Of The Pops.

The day after their TV debut the band return to Derry for a triumphant homecoming gig at The Rocking Chair, a local pub.

Damien tells us about briefly touring with Joy Division & The Rezillos & their ill fated attempt to stage a festival in their hometown headlined by The Clash. The festival is cancelled after Joe Strummer receives a letter from local political loyalists.

In return for the cancellation, the Undertones get to open for The Clash on a US tour in the Autumn of 1979.

Damien also tells us about his favourite Undertones tracks, his brother John getting arrested on tour & previews the upcoming 50th anniversary gigs later this year.

It takes anything from 5 to 40 hours to prepare each episode of Music Maps - if you’d like to make a contribution to help us cover the costs & time of producing these episodes for you, you can do so at this link: ko-fi.com/musicmaps

It is hugely important for us to get positive reviews & star ratings - if you have enjoyed Music Maps & can spare the time to do either we would hugely appreciate it.

You can see our upcoming live events here: https://rocknrollbookclub.co.uk/events

Instagram: @rocknrollbookclube17

X: @simonmusicmaps

Facebook: E17rockbookclub

Hosted, Produced & Edited by Simon Cardwell
Music by Andy Maxwell
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.