The Joe Jackson Interviews

Sedaka's claim in that headline will be disputed on all counts! But every since I was a kid I've admired the man and his music, from the early days of Oh Carol to 70s LPs such as The tra-La Days Are Over. It may not be hip to like Sedaka, but to hell with hip! We should all define hip for ourselves. 

This is a radio interview I did when Dino died. I always thought he was far. more cool than Sinatra. And he didn't lick up to the Mob! 

It's coming up to Bowie's birthday - same date as Elvis's - so I am reposting this little tribute I did to the man and his genius in 1997

It's coming up to what would have been Elvis's 89th birthday, and I still believe Bas Luhrman got him wrong and did the story of his spiritual quest a disservice. Here's an edited version of a radio show I made five years ago 

Happy Christmas to all my podcast listeners. Here's a repost of a bit of fun I had with Leiber and Stoller, two of rock's greatest songwriters who wrote for Elvis the Christmas classic Santa Claus is Back in Town  

An exchange with Leonard during our 1988 interview that should be taken on board by all singers. Find, then sing in, a voice that is true and true to you. 

I became a music interviewer to meet and talk with my music heroes. I have always loved the work the Jordanaires did with Elvis ever since I heard the gospel album His Hand In Mine. I'll do a podcast about that. But here, Gordon Stoker tells a little-known story about Blue Christmas and Millie Kirkham, who sang the "high part" and hated it!  Happy Christmas to my podcast listeners. 

I knew Bob socially as a kid growing up in Dun Laoghaire. I photographed the launch of the Boomtown Rats' first album and interviewed Geldof for the first time in 1989. I also interviewed Paula Yates while they were married. Bob has hated me since this interview in 2000. Maybe he has every right to, given this line of questioning. You decide. 

This is an "outtake" from the Sinead, Chriusty and Shane podcast I posted earlier. I agree with Christy. 

This podcast anthology, with clips from three previous podcasts of mine, is my attempt, at the end of 2023, the year in which we lost Sinead, Chrirsty and Shane, to bring it all back to where it all began - their music. And that space in which they will live forever.  Amen. 

Now that Fairytale of New York is back in the charts let's not forget the late Kirsty McColl, who adds her own musical magic to that timeless Christmas classic. In 2020 when I originally posted a podcast of just her talking about the song, I realised I was doing her memory a disservice, so I immediately followed that podcast with this. Repost. 

Today, December 8th 2023, here in Dublin, Shane MacGowan's funeral will take place. To mark this tragic moment I am reposting this 2020 podcast based on my 1993 interview with the late Kirsty McColl, who says, ironically, "Shane will probably outlive us all." May Shane and Kirsty rest in peace. By the way, I am also reposting the full Kirsty interview. 

The third and last podcast I am sharing with people to mark Shane's passing. Here, we talk about the music that moved him - the likes of Lou Reed, Ronnie Drew, Hendrix, Elvis, Coletrane, etc - poetry in song form and his belief that Smokey Robinson is a better song poet than Dylan. Oh, yeah, Shane also insists that intellect is overrated and that most rock critics get it wrong! Excuse me while I d...

I uploaded the first part of this 1994 interview as a podcast in 2020. I reposted it two days ago when I got the tragic news that Shane had died. May his soul rest in peace. This "singles" podcast is part two of three podcasts from that Irish Times interview. I am delighted that so many people in Ireland in particular, have listened to and downloaded the first Shane interview and put him at the to...

First, Sinead O' Connor. Now Shane. It is truly heartbreaking to be reposting at a time of their deaths podcasts I made when both were alive - especially given that each was someone I knew, albeit only socially. We all partied together in Dublin at one point. Here, you have Shane this time 29 years ago, sitting in the tea rooms of Dublin's Shelbourne Hotel, talking with me about the music he loved...

A bit of fun I had on Irish radio back in 1994, which annoyed some people who didn't want to know that their favourite rock songs may have gay connotations to be gay. Seems silly to deny it now.  

I introduced Tori Amos to the works of Dory Previn and wish Dory had not been written out of most histories of rock, even histories of women in rock. If anyone wants to make a documentary about her, I have the taped interviews.

This is a programme I made for my radio series, The joe Jackson Tapes Revisited, but which was never broadcast. It's based on an Irish Times interview I did with Christie in 1993, and that is a moral warning to anyone wanting to enter the music business. 

A near-death experience can change a person's life. Mine was five years after this interview. I pass on this podcast, hoping it might illuminate the lives of some listeners. 

I made this podcast a few years ago. Elvis has gotten many new fans since then. During this interview with Sam Philips, founder of Sun Records, we talk about the rumour that Elvis was really discovered after he peddled his mother's diet pills to musicians at Sun Records. 

The Beatles are back at No. 1; it seems like a good time to repost this podcast of my 1987 interview with PJ Proby, who recalls partying with  John Lennon - until drugs replaced booze!

As I say in the intro to this podcast, I haven't heard this tape for thirty years. I found it fascinating. I hope fellow Beatles fans do too - love it do! 

This is part of a revealing chat I had with George Martin thirty years ago when the Beatles' Red and Blue albums were released. He explains how the Beatles ended up having EMI by the "short and curlies." 

There is a lot of hype around this week about the Beatles "last single, Now and Then, a song that, in my opinion, has a decidedly underdeveloped lyric and is far from the best of the Beatles. In this podcast, George Martin talks about his role as their record producer. 

Paul Weller remains as popular as ever. Here's a chat we had about the music he loved and the music he made. It was recorded in his studio in 2000