Personal memories of those we lost in 2022.
Chris Bailey of The Saints. Only really when I got to Australia did I grasp how much this band meant to music lovers here.
Terry Hall of The Specials. Son of a Coventry car worker, like me. More successful singer in a band than me.
Jeremiah Green of Modest Mouse. Recall listening to The Moon and Antarctica for the first time on a bike ride. A long journey for people with drumming to think about, so to speak.
Martin Duffy of Felt. On the podcast I announce the demise of Lawrence, the lead singer in Felt. Not my finest moment. My apologies to him if he’s listening or reading.
Daryl Hunt of The Pogues. Sitting outside a pub in the summer in the late ‘80s. A car pulled up and A Pair of Brown Eyes was playing on the car stereo. Big smiles on the face of the driver and passenger.
D H Peligro of The Dead Kennedys. Went to see them once but accidentally left before they came on stage.
Jet Black of The Stranglers. An old friend from university was quite simply obsessed by The Stranglers when he arrived. By the time he left he never listened to them. We all do a lot of growing up during those years, but The Stranglers have their place.
Cathal Coughlan of Microdisney and The Fatima Mansions. Hugely underrated Cork stalwart of the alternative scene.
Julee Cruise and Angelo Badalamenti. From a time when the arrival of Twin Peaks on TV was a major water cooler conversation event. The irritating types in the office went round for a few weeks saying ‘Damn fine cup of coffee’.
Mark Lanegan of The Screaming Trees and other bands. A man whose voice was matched by his features, in the best possible way.
Ricky Gardiner from Iggy Pop’s band. Going round to see my friend Stuart when I was 16 and him playing me Turn Blue. Didn’t realise it was about heroin withdrawal.
R Dean Taylor. One of the first artists I recall hearing on the radio in the late ‘60s.
Mike Bryson of Bogshed. Derek Pringle, English test cricketer, was a fan of the band which immediately endeared him to me. His bowling was never that good though. Derek’s not Mike’s.
Wilko Johnson of Dr Feelgood. Remember seeing them on a kids’ TV show in the mid ‘70s and being impressed by his starey eyes. Magpie the show, maybe?
Nicky Tesco of The Members. One-hit wonders, but that’s one more hit than 99% of bands.
Andy Fletcher of Depeche Mode. There was always a darker undertow to the surface sweetness of DM I quite liked.
And not forgetting Ronnie Spector. Dennis Wilson listened to Be My Baby thousands of times.
Tracklist:
This perfect day, The Saints
Stereotype, The Specials
Dramamine, Modest Mouse
Primitive Painters, Felt
Thousands are sailing, The Pogues
Holiday in Cambodia, The Dead Kennedys
Hanging around, The Stranglers
Only losers take the bus, Fatima Mansions
Falling, Julee Cruise
Deus ibi est, Isobel Campbell, Mark Lanegan
Neighborhood threat, Iggy Pop
There’s a ghost in my house, R Dean Taylor
Tried and tested public speaker, Bog-shed
Milk and alcohol, Dr Feelgood
The sound of the suburbs, The Members
See you, Depeche Mode