55 min listen
E158: Charles Shaar Murray on the NME + John Lee Hooker + Robbie Robertson
FromRock's Backpages
ratings:
Length:
67 minutes
Released:
Aug 14, 2023
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
In this episode we welcome NME legend Charles Shaar Murray, beamed in from his adopted Ipswich to reminisce about his career from Oz magazine to his John Lee Hooker biography Boogie Man.
We start by discussing Charles' 1970 interview with the mighty Muddy Waters, his "favourite singer since I was 12 years old". Our guest talks about the Oz "School Kids" issue and the other underground publications for which he wrote before he was recruited by New Musical Express in the summer of 1972.
We hear how "CSM" became NME's unofficial David Bowie correspondent and how — under Nick Logan's editorship — the paper radically broadened its rock remit to embrace film, literature and politics. Taking the story into the early '80s, we discuss the continuing passion for blues that led to years of research for Boogie Man. Clips from Tony Scherman's 1992 audio interview with its subject Mr. Hooker prompt our guest's memories of coaxing information out of the veteran bluesman.
From John Lee and Muddy Waters we turn our attention to a Canadian guitarist who fell heavily under their spell: Robbie Robertson, whose death we learned about the night before recording this episode. After we hear audio of the Band man talking in 1991 about his "musical brother" Levon Helm, we discuss what the proto-Americana quintet meant then and now. We also pay tribute to punk artist Jamie Reid and Mexican-American cult hero Rodriguez.
Wrapping up the episode, Barney quotes from late '70s interviews with Ted Nugent and Bruce Springsteen, after which Jasper talks us out with his thoughts on pieces about Monie Love and Beyoncé...
Many thanks to special guest Charles Shaar Murray. His books, including Boogie Man: The Adventures of John Lee Hooker, are available from all good bookshops.
Pieces discussed: Muddy Waters, David Bowie, Crosstown Traffic, John Lee Hooker, John Lee Hooker audio, Robbie Robertson, The Second Coming of Robbie Robertson, Jamie Reid, Rodriguez, Ted Nugent, Bruce Springsteen, Monie Love and Beyoncé.
We start by discussing Charles' 1970 interview with the mighty Muddy Waters, his "favourite singer since I was 12 years old". Our guest talks about the Oz "School Kids" issue and the other underground publications for which he wrote before he was recruited by New Musical Express in the summer of 1972.
We hear how "CSM" became NME's unofficial David Bowie correspondent and how — under Nick Logan's editorship — the paper radically broadened its rock remit to embrace film, literature and politics. Taking the story into the early '80s, we discuss the continuing passion for blues that led to years of research for Boogie Man. Clips from Tony Scherman's 1992 audio interview with its subject Mr. Hooker prompt our guest's memories of coaxing information out of the veteran bluesman.
From John Lee and Muddy Waters we turn our attention to a Canadian guitarist who fell heavily under their spell: Robbie Robertson, whose death we learned about the night before recording this episode. After we hear audio of the Band man talking in 1991 about his "musical brother" Levon Helm, we discuss what the proto-Americana quintet meant then and now. We also pay tribute to punk artist Jamie Reid and Mexican-American cult hero Rodriguez.
Wrapping up the episode, Barney quotes from late '70s interviews with Ted Nugent and Bruce Springsteen, after which Jasper talks us out with his thoughts on pieces about Monie Love and Beyoncé...
Many thanks to special guest Charles Shaar Murray. His books, including Boogie Man: The Adventures of John Lee Hooker, are available from all good bookshops.
Pieces discussed: Muddy Waters, David Bowie, Crosstown Traffic, John Lee Hooker, John Lee Hooker audio, Robbie Robertson, The Second Coming of Robbie Robertson, Jamie Reid, Rodriguez, Ted Nugent, Bruce Springsteen, Monie Love and Beyoncé.
Released:
Aug 14, 2023
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
E21: Tribute to Scott Walker + Jimi Hendrix + ABC with Keith Altham: In this week's episode, Barney Hoskyns and Mark Pringle are joined by special guest Keith Altham to pay tribute to the late Scott Walker, an artist he interviewed many times for New Musical Express. They consider Walker's early years as a teen idol and as a Walker Brother, followed by his bold '60s solo albums and his radical re-emergence in the '80s. Keith talks about touring with Scott and Jimi Hendrix – and about introducing the NME to the concept of "humour". The three of them listen to a clip from an interview with Martin Fry and Mark White of '80s icons ABC about Trevor Horn's production of debut album The Lexicon of Love. Mark then introduces selections from the week's new additions to the RBP library, including Mick Jagger talking to Dawn James in 1965, Anne Briggs "zooming down a whirlpool to annihilation", David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust album, My Bloody Valentine live at London's Clarendon, John Mellencamp's s by Rock's Backpages