Identity

I always hated the term ‘new wave’ (punk for people who don’t like punk). And I always hated those ‘women in rock’ articles you used to get. And still do. But I quite enjoyed a recent Radio 4 show called Women of the New Wave.

The great rock’n’roll swindler

Thirty-odd years ago, when I was a teenager, I thought Malcolm McLaren was old. Things look different when time passes. Today, I think he was young. Too young, anyway, to be dead.

I’d be lying, though, if I said I was mourning. I’m just thinking... Was he a visionary or a charlatan? Or something else?

Noggin the Nog meets the Undertones

I don’t often listen to Desert Island Discs but I made a point of doing so last week. I wanted to hear Frank Cottrell-Boyce and find out more about the man who wrote the radio series One Chord Wonders.

He came across as a gentle and generous soul: the sort of person who gives Christianity a good name. He also described Oliver Postgate as a kind of proto punk (it’s the DIY ethic). I liked that.