Rock's Backpages

E218: James Brown on Sounds + NME + Loaded + the KLF


Listen Later

For this episode we're joined in our Hammersmith HQ by James ("The Hardest Working Man In Show Business") Brown.

The former NME star and founder of "lads' mag" progenitor loaded takes us back to his Yorkshire boyhood in Headingley. He recalls his parents' record collection, the first gigs he attended as the class "smart-arse" at Lawnswood School... and his acclaimed '80s fanzine Attack On Bzag!

Our guest's account of how he came to contribute to Sounds leads to clips from the late Andy Gill's 1991 audio interview with the KLF, the maverick duo of Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty whom James championed in the paper's pages in 1987.

After waxing nostalgic about his days at the NME, James gives us the origin story of the hugely successful loaded ("for men who should know better") and talks us through the publishing phenomenon it triggered. A discussion follows of '90s sexism and its connection to the misogyny of today's "Manosphere".

Many thanks to special guest James Brown. Animal House: Music, Magazines, Mayhem is published by Quercus and available now from all good bookshops. Zine Age Kicks is available through James' Instagram, @jamesjamesbrown.

Pieces discussed: The Beastie Boys: Keep Taking The TabloidsMark E Smith, Nick Cave & Shane MacGowan: The Three Horsemen Of The ApocalypseThe KLF audio and The decline of lads' mags: Unloaded, and now the party is over.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Rock's BackpagesBy Barney Hoskyns, Mark Pringle, Jasper Murison-Bowie

  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5

4.5

43 ratings


More shows like Rock's Backpages

View all
Desert Island Discs by BBC Radio 4

Desert Island Discs

2,057 Listeners

Backlisted by Backlisted

Backlisted

597 Listeners

THE ADAM BUXTON PODCAST by ADAM BUXTON

THE ADAM BUXTON PODCAST

1,202 Listeners

Sodajerker On Songwriting by Sodajerker

Sodajerker On Songwriting

391 Listeners

Full Disclosure with James O'Brien by Global

Full Disclosure with James O'Brien

276 Listeners

Nothing Is Real - A Beatles Podcast by Beatles Pod

Nothing Is Real - A Beatles Podcast

376 Listeners

Life of the Record by Life of the Record / Talkhouse

Life of the Record

221 Listeners

Rockonteurs with Gary Kemp and Guy Pratt by Gary Kemp and Guy Pratt

Rockonteurs with Gary Kemp and Guy Pratt

314 Listeners

Word In Your Ear by Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold

Word In Your Ear

76 Listeners

The Rest Is Politics by Goalhanger

The Rest Is Politics

3,087 Listeners

Kermode & Mayo’s Take by Sony Music Entertainment

Kermode & Mayo’s Take

347 Listeners

The News Agents by Global

The News Agents

1,002 Listeners

The Rest Is Entertainment by Goalhanger

The Rest Is Entertainment

878 Listeners

Origin Story by Podmasters

Origin Story

111 Listeners

Strong Message Here by BBC Radio 4

Strong Message Here

63 Listeners