Neil’s an old friend from our days back at Smash Hits in the early ‘80s. The first Pet Shop Boys demos were played on the office tape machine, though he was a bit self-conscious about “the one with the rap on it”, and he’s one of the few people who’s seen the music press from every angle - as a reader in the ‘70s, as a writer and interviewer and as a musician on its front covers. We had so much great material from this wide-ranging conversation that we’ve turned it into a two-part podcast. Here’s a taste of what you’ll find in this first half ...
… the NME article he and his brother pinned to their bedroom wall.
… the event at a Sex Pistols show “which stopped me going to gigs for about three years”.
… the first time he saw his name in print.
… interviewing Marc Bolan in his “fat phase”.
… a barbed chat with Morrissey.
… the pop press shift from “super-showbiz to super-counter-culture”.
… Television, the Clash and other music he discovered through the NME.
… meeting John Taylor 35 years after interviewing him.
… the pop decade when “something extraordinary happened every day”.
… his mother’s horrified reaction when he left Smash Hits to start the Pet Shop Boys.
… the Human League in their Imperial Phase.
… Phil Collins showing him round Abba’s studio in Stockholm.
… and why ‘80s pop stars were “the most controlling”.
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PSB tour dates: https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/pet-shop-boys-tickets/artist/735852
Order the new Pet Shop Boys album ‘Nonetheless’ here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/nonetheless-Deluxe-2CD-Shop-Boys/dp/B0CTKKBBVF
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The evergreen record that’s 50 years old & Jeremy Thorpe at a hippie commune
Richard Coles has faced every audience imaginable, one armed with pea-shooters
For Jah Wobble driving tube trains was even more thrilling than playing Glastonbury
Steve Wright and other great radioheads, McCartney’s bass & the non-profits of Python
Max Décharné reboots the golden age of the Teddy Boys
Guy Garvey remembers the Grumbleweeds in panto, Santana fantasies & a song nicked from Roy Castle
Lulu, when Prince did a bad thing and how the Beatles changed the shape of the human head
Musicians and their mothers and the records we could never sell
Tom Hibbert (the world’s funniest music writer) and why Madonna should be sued
TV's greatest musical moment - and are we still allowed to laugh at hopeless old rock bands?
Graham Gouldman knows where to alphabetically file 10cc records
Annie Nightingale (“the great goth auntie”), choirs on pop records & the music they sent into space
Jim Gordon - the supernatural gift and tragic fate of “the greatest rock drummer” with Joel Selvin
Great albums now 50 years old, the best gag ever & the haircut that launched folk-rock
Noel Coward, Gallagher & Squire’s superpower summit & the art of the Bob Dylan backbeat
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Denny Laine, the Move’s catastrophic court case & the man who's made 700 albums in 2 years
The Beatles as seen by their roadie, co-conspirator & friend Mal Evans – and Kenneth Womack
A drink to Shane MacGowan, Spinal Tap rebooted and lunch with Randy Newman
Pauline Murray’s kids have finally found out what Mum did in the Punk Wars
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