Bob Geldof. A Searingly Honest and Incendiary Interview. 2001.

 

From the introduction to this podcast. Joe Jackson July 18th, 2020.

 

For one thing, it is based on my eBook, Bob Geldof: The Joe Jackson Interviews Plus. The ‘Plus’ in the title refers to the fact that the eBook contains the uncensored versions of the two major interviews we did, first in 1989, then in 2001, and a fragment of memoir. Growing up in Dun Laoghaire I knew Geldof, albeit from a distance that was largely defined by the fact that he came from the so-called right side of the tracks and I came from the other side. Even so, our paths crossed on countless occasions in local teenage meeting places such as Murray's Record Centre, Bamboo Café, at parties. We also had a mutual friend called Peter Finnegan. And later again Bob and I met in the dole office. I have fond memories of us talking about bands like The Animals and Bob saying he wanted to be a Rockstar. I wanted to be a writer. By 1977 he had become a Rockstar I was a photographer for Irish rock magazine Hot Press. I photograph Geldof on stage in Dalymount park and at the launch of the first album by The Boomtown Rats. All of this is probably why towards the end the second part of this 2001 interview – it will follow in another podcast - Bob says he is uncomfortable being interviewed by me because I know too much about him, although that comment may have more to do with the instinctual insights into his psyche which I gleaned during this interview. Afterwards, he phoned my editor and said that I had been a “bit too hard on” him, to which the editor, replied, “Joe was only being as hard on you as you were on interviewees when you worked  for this magazine!” But it would appear that Geldof doesn’t agree with my contention that by pushing him as hard as I did it led to, arguably, the most mercilessly honest interview he had given and or has given since. Nor has Bob spoken to me since this interview, professionally or, on a personal level. Did I push him too hard? You decide. The interview coincided with the release of his album, Sex, Age and Death. The typescript of the original article – never published in full in any magazine – can be seen at joejacksoninterviewer.com. The eBook is available wherever you buy your eBooks.