E93: Nick Kent on the NME + Iggy Pop audio + SOPHIE R.I.P.

In this episode we welcome the legendary Nick Kent as our very special guest. Unarguably the most famous British rock writer from the golden era of '70s rock journalism, Nick tells Barney, Mark & Jasper how he began writing for the underground Frendz and then for Nick Logan's super-hip New Musical Express. Recollections of Syd Barrett, Brian Wilson and the Rolling Stones lead inevitably to tales of self-indulgence and self-destruction — and eventually to Nick's sometime drug buddy Iggy Pop, who is heard speaking in March 1977 about his beloved proto-punk band the Stooges and about his new Bowie-produced solo album The Idiot. The conversation turns briefly to Nirvana and Kurt Cobain before we pay our respects to departed Animals guitarist Hilton Valentine and then — led by a very eloquent Jasper — to the extraordinary electronic producer and trans icon SOPHIE. Among the new library articles Mark highlights are pieces about Cream's Eric Clapton, Charlie Gillett's Sound Of The City, Fun Boy Three and 12" disco master-mixer Tom Moulton. For reasons that will be obvious to many of you, Nick pitches in after Mark quotes from Barry Cain's 1978 Record Mirror interview with PiL's John Lydon and Jah Wobble. Jasper wraps up the episode with passing remarks on Simon Reynolds' 2017 retrospective on Donna Summer's epic 'I Feel Love'... Many thanks to special guest Nick Kent; his novel The Unstable Boys is published by Constable and out now. Pieces discussed: Nick Kent on David Bowie, Nick Kent on Brian Wilson, Nick Kent on Iggy Pop, Nick Kent on Kurt Cobain, Chris Salewicz on Nick Kent, Iggy Pop audio, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Dave Grohl, The Animals, SOPHIE, Sly Stone, Jimi Hendrix, New York Dolls, Eric Clapton, Graham Nash, Sound of the City, Public Image Limited, Fun Boy Three, Tom Moulton, Donna Summer & Giorgio Moroder and Jon Bon Jovi.