Pop: The History Makers with Steve Blame

This week on POP; The History Makers with Kevin Hegge, Doc. Director of TRAMPS!: The Death of Punk. The New Romantics. The Art of Survival - it's about the fashionistas who had clearly been impacted by the punk movement of the late 1970s, and who have themselves had a long-lasting impact - their influence on fashion, music, film, and the club scene, is still felt today. fashionistas who had cl...

Dieter Meier from YELLO talks about how YELLO came about, his long-term partner in the band - Boris Blank, the departure of Carlos Peron, the hits, about his love of Billy Mackensie's voice, and of course their Rhythm Divine track with Shirley Bassey. And he talks about the role co-incidence has played in his life, the highs and the lows, his art, his ranch in Argentina, and his latest venture...

Sue Tilley was a regular on the nightclub scene in London during the 1980s and early 1990s. She was friends with Leigh Bowery who became a fashion designer, artist, and muse, and Boy George described him probably the best as 'modern art on legs'. Leigh introduced Sue to artist Lucian Freud who he also sat for. One of the two paintings of her. titled Benefits Supervisor Sleeping - was at th...

On this week’s podcast, a look at Stockholm’s clubland between 1992 and 1995. It was an era in Stockholm that mirrored the Blitz era of London, a group of creatives coming together, the future famous designers, photographers, actors, musicians, and video and film directors. Stefan Holm Mardo leads us through this era, his book No Limit; Stockholm Clubland 1992-1995 - the story of how Stockholm bec...

Rusty Egan’s influence on New Romantic music is often overlooked and underplayed. He was the drummer in Rich Kids where he met Midge Ure, and after collaborating in a few other bands, he eventually formed Visage with him. He brought on board Steve Strange and Billy Currie who was in Ultravox with Midge joined. They were the seminal fashion/music band of the early 80s, combining a heavily styled lo...

Suzi Quatro's self-titled album was released in 1973. Since then, she has sold 55 million records worldwide. Her singles, 'Can the Can', and 'Devil's Gate Drive' were among her massive hits in Britain, Europe, and Australia. It was almost 50 years ago that this solo rocker broke through the glass ceiling and opened the door for other female rockers. Tina Weymouth (Talking H...

HiFi Sean (Sean Dickson) was the singer and main writer of The Soup Dragons, who charted in Europe in 1990 with 'I'm Free', an indie dance cover of the Rolling Stones hit. Later, in 1992, their track 'Divine Thing' was a top 40 hit on the Billboard chart in America. After their first album, 'This is Our Art', the band developed their sound in a more dance and less indie...

⁠On Electronic Music Cities week - today, Wolfgang Flür. He spent most of his adult life in Düsseldorf. ⁠ ⁠Born in 1947 in post-war Germany, Wolfgang Flür made his name in the band Kraftwerk, a band that was formed in Düsseldorf. The last time I met him was in 1997 when he released his first post-Kraftwerk album with his band Yamo. His latest album, Magazine 1, is a masterpiece, a mixture of old a...

On Electronic Music Cities week - WestBam, was born in Münster but spent his adult life in Berlin. ⁠ German DJ WestBam talks about his early life in Münster and his unconventional upbringing. This episode is an insight into an artist born into a culturally privileged background, but who, like many children do, rebelled against his hippie-era parents. He also talks about how he developed a manifest...

On Electronic Music Cities week - Mark Reeder, born and Manchester but moved to Berlin where he still lives.⁠ ⁠Mark Reeder has become the go-to man for the Berlin music scene. He moved to the then-divided city from Manchester in 1978 and quickly ensconced himself in what was then the West Berlin scene. He played in various bands, arranged the legendary performance in the then East Berlin for Die T...

On Electronic Music Cities week - Martyn Ware, who was born and brought up in Sheffield. ⁠ ⁠In this podcast interview, Martyn talks about growing up in Sheffield, his family, and Meatwhistle - the youth club where he met Ian Craig-Marsh, and their first experimental beginnings which were to turn in the Human League. Martyn Ware talks about the early days of the British Electric Foundation (BEF) an...

Why have certain cities around the world developed as Electronic Cities? This is the question that a new book, Electronic Cities aims to answer. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠This week on POP; The History Makers, I'll be looking at certain European Electronic Cities with one of the book's editors, Sébastien Darchen, who holds a Ph. D. in Urban Studies.⁠ ⁠⁠Electronic Cities looks at the connection between music and...

This is Music Video Week and I am dropping three interviews in one week. All world-famous video directors. Geniuses who changed the world of MTV. As someone who was a host on MTV Europe in its heyday, these are directors who changed my world. Jonas Åkerlund Jonas Åkerlund is one of the great music video directors of the modern era. He has worked with Madonna, Prodigy, Rammstein, Lady Gaga, and man...

This is Music Video Week and I am dropping three interviews in one week. All world-famous video directors. Geniuses who changed the world of MTV. As someone who was a host on MTV Europe in its heyday, these are directors who changed my world. Second Interview! Kevin Godley Kevin Godley is one of the most creative and experimental people in the music industry. He was part of the 70s band 10cc which...

This is Music Video Week and I am dropping three interviews in one week. All world-famous video directors. As someone who was a host on MTV Europe in its heyday, these are directors who changed our world. First up! Steve Barron He was the Music Video Director of 80's Icons He directed Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean', a-ha's 'Take on Me', Dire Straits' 'Money for...

In the full-length, highly entertaining interview with Neville Keighley aka Belouis Some, he talks about his early influences and the early recordings which led up to his first album. It's an amazing story of someone who clearly was extremely driven, and eventually achieved his dream of worldwide success in the mid-eighties with 'Some People' and 'Imagination', He also talks ab...

Steve Kilbey is one of the most prolific songwriters around, having released in the region of (roughly) 70 albums and 1,000 songs in his career. ⁠ This podcast interview concentrates on Steve's early life and the period in the 1980s where The Church achieved first Australian then worldwide success. Of course, no interview with Steve is complete without talking about Under the Milky Way from th...

When Londonbeat hit the top of the Billboard charts in February of 1991, Jimmy Helms realized a dream that he had been working for his whole life. He was approaching his 50th birthday. He had achieved chart success earlier, in 1973, with ‘I'm Gonna make you an Offer’, a song inspired by the most famous phrase from the Godfather movie. Helms has simply one of the greatest soul voices ever. In h...

Here pictured with Andrew Ridgely - Simon Napier-Bell. George Michael: Portrait of an Artist is a wonderful, revealing, and moving documentary on iTunes and Amazon (if not in your territory yet it will come soon). Directed by Simon Napier-Bell who co-managed Wham! in the 1980s, he was responsible for their concert in China - the first by a western band. The documentary features interviews with onl...

Record producer, film composer, DJ, and judge on Deutschland Sucht den Superstar - Germany’s version of Pop Idol - Mousse T. has achieved worldwide success with his written and produced tracks Horny '98 and Sexbomb, his collaboration with Tom Jones. His songs are infused with house music and an element of fun, but when you talk to him, you realize there is much more to Mousse T. He’s affable,...

On July 23rd, 2022, Madeline Bell was 80 years old. She started her career in the mid-1950s and has since become one of the best-loved singers to have come out of the UK. She was a backing singer for Dusty Springfield, and as a session musician has been featured on tracks where she worked with the likes of Joe Cocker, Elton John, the Stones, and even John Lennon. Her distinctive voice took her to...

Between 1985 and 2002 the Scottish band Del Amitri released 6 studio albums, five of which charted in the UK. Their biggest single 'Roll to Me' reached the Billboard top 10 in 1995. After 2002, when the band split, the lead singer and main songwriter, Justin Currie went on to release 4 solo albums. Not long ago the band reformed, with both Currie and Iain Harvie, and released their 7th stu...

Back in 1989, when I was at MTV Europe, Papa Dee had been labeled as the next break-out artist from Sweden. His early career was full of promise, from execs who were determined to make him the next big thing in Europe and the States. But although he didn’t reach the international career heights of Shaggy, whom Clive Davis saw him as, he still maintained a long and successful career in Sweden, and...

In this podcast interview, Alexander Bard from Army of Lovers talks about his childhood in Motala, Sweden, listening to pop music in secret in his bedroom, his time in the States, and how he got into sex work in Amsterdam. The perfect mix to prepare him for his time in the cross-dressing Barbie, to success in the band Army of Lovers. There he teamed up with Jean-Pierre Barda and La Camilla, their...

A milestone in sampling culture, Pump Up The Volume started as an original basic idea by Ivo Watts-Russell. He was the label boss of the two bands that he brought together to make the track, Colourbox - an electro outfit and A. R. Kane, an indie band. But what made the track a phenomenal success were the samples, scratching, and effects that C.J Mackintosh and Dave Dorrell provided. Dave Dorrell i...