Saturday, October 10, 2015
25 Years Ago Today...
Nick Hornby famously wrote in his first novel High Fidelity that his number 1 dream job would have been -
“NME Journalist, 1976-1979. Get to meet the Clash, Sex Pistols, Chrissie Hynde, Danny Baker, etc. Get loads of free records — good ones, too. Go on to host my own quiz show or something.”
I have never been a journalist, but I did
work at New Musical Express at that time, and twenty-five years ago to this
very day, 10th October 1990, I left my job on NME.
I had started work at NME on 2nd
January 1977, working in the advert production department, and it was a pretty
good fourteen years I had there if I am honest, only damaged by the last 12
months or so when office politics got in the way. In Hornby
terms, my job was a dream job - I did get to hang around doorways and corridors
and meet with various members of famous punk and new wave bands; I worked and
played football with the Baker-boy; I got a few free records but more
importantly (to me) free entry into numerous live gigs (thanks John Curd!); and
I even used to host our inter-departmental Question of Sport quiz sessions; but
mostly I just loved my job – what more could you ask for?
I had some absolutely fantastic times at
NME, working with and meeting some amazing people, many of whom I am still in contact
with. Hopefully most of those I can
still regard as friends (even if it’s just on Facebook!), but I will never
forget those that I have simply lost touch with, or those who are no longer on
this earth.
When I started at NME, Mike and Penny Proctor
were there, along with the dearly departed Frank Lamb, and the infamous Brian B
(also no longer with us). I met Tony Parsons and Julie Burchill on their first
working day (Patti Smith gig at Hammersmith Odeon), and got to catch the train
from St Pancras to Kettering printers every Tuesday with Monty Smith, Phil
McNeil, Jack Scott, Nick Logan, Charlie Murray (AKA Blast Furnace), and many
others. The turnover of staff in the advert department was quite high I think,
and many came along, sometimes left a massive impression (on me, at least), and
left. I fell in (mostly unrequited) love with many of the women who worked
upstairs at Kings Reach Tower or around the corner in Commonwealth House – Wendy, Maz and
Sunie, Tracy Bennett, Jilly Horne and Claire Davies, Alex K-W, Carolyn Hine,
Julie Snow and Barbara Daisy - an almost
endless list! My drinking buddy for many years was Tony O, and I made friends
with others who worked in the Carnaby Street editorial offices – Fiona Foulger
and Steven (Seething) Wells (both now sadly deceased), Julia Murphy, Gary
Crowley, and The Redskins Chris Dean (AKA X Moore) – and I even helped a couple of
colleagues - Kate Hooper, and Karla Faerber - get jobs in the editorial
department.
The Christmas parties were legendary, from
Dingwalls to the Astoria, via Heaven. Rubbing shoulders with your music and
comedy heroes and drinking for free! One year Robbie Coltrane stepped on my toe,
and another year I witnessed Mick Hucknall being thrown out for being a naughty
boy in the toilets. One summer, we had a celebratory afternoon boat cruise along the Thames after a particularly good set of sales figures were announced, and
James Brown and others took turns to
play Dare by swinging from the boat rails with feet dangling in the river just
below. That was a week before the Marchioness disaster! The things people would
do when they had a belly full of free booze!
We even made a Christmas single one year (left),
recording it at the Stiff Records studios in North London. Of course it was never officially released
(though it does remain in the Stiff catalogue), but still it is the only
official recording I have ever made.
We played a bit of football at NME too –
games against The Jam, Hawkwind, Madness, and The Style Council, and had many decent
matches versus various record labels. We
entered a five-a-side football league and won it for two consecutive years
until organizers Sparta Florida changed the rules, made it six-a-side and
refused to play us! I do still have the title winning trophies and also very happy
memories of fouling Andrew Ridgley!
I also ran an annual NME pool tournament
for a few years, and organized the games at the Dog & Trumpet, a local pub
at one end of Carnaby Street.
When it was time to leave NME – and it was
the right time to say goodbye to the job I had loved – myself and co-worker
Barry Cooper had a terrific leaving do in the Doggets, Coat and Badge pub on
Blackfriars Bridge. We booked out the top bar, issued the maximum number of
tickets we were allowed, and bought in a couple of hundred quids worth of Becks
beer and white wine to get the party started. We were blessed with some lovely
sunny autumn weather. One of the guys who had taken over some of our work
against our wishes arrived uninvited, and Barry and I turfed him and his wife
out unceremoniously, with him swearing profusely at us. Served him right! We
then went on to have a great nights drinking, and left close to midnight, with
many a tearful goodbye.
I have never been back to the NME offices,
but it is a period of my life that I will never forget.
