Jonesy’s Jukebox

One of the first radio shows we were to be on was the famous Jonesy’s Jukebox...103.1 and I have to tell you it’s something else – anyone who is a regular listener will know the form – Steve plays everything and anything that takes his ear….. and says anything he likes…. This is not formula radio……….

Now we’ve both known Steve ever since..oh, even before punk broke, probably meeting in about 1975, but when it did we still used to all hang out at each others places.  One of my most vivid memories is of Steve coming round one evening to this house Mick and I were renting, just off London’s Portobello road, I remember it was called “Simon Close”… After a while Steve said do you mind if I play some records, staring at the massive collection of vinyl we had there.. and that’s why I remember that evening, because he played the most off the wall, brilliant and eclectic selection of tracks – the boy had taste beyond cool…….(as well as being one of the best guitar players I ever heard) ……….

So 20 years later I heard he had this radio show in L.A and he had taken his personality and taste to America and stories of the crazy Brit were already legend…

We’d seen Steve play with the reformed Sex Pistols in London, the week before we left for the States and it felt real good to put my arm round him (even if his somewhat expanded girth meant I needed a slightly longer arm than I remembered – as he was the first to admit – “Yeah Tone I’ve turned into a fat bastard”). Anyway, we promised he would be the first show we would appear on after touchdown in the U.S.A………………..

I love those big trucks you ride about in in L.A (well they feel like trucks to us from the U.K to Americans they’re just regular taxi busses) and I was ready for a big first day, but it still felt surreal driving through the L.A haze and dealing with the first days jetlag …….

It was strange to see Steve in the studio when we arrived, with his headphones hanging around his neck.. I looked in amazement at the selection of CD’s he had laid out on the desk, even a CD of old U.K television background music sitting alongside a Ducks Delux and Pub Rock compilation album …..  “Stay as long as you like” he greeted us… well I’ve been on a lot of radio shows but the next 2 hours seemed to fly by as we just chatted about everything from the situation in Sudan to the time Steve taught me to play Pistols songs on guitar many years before (I had Johnny Thunders and Steve staying at my apartment for a month in the early eighties..and no, they were not that good at tidying up before you ask – but they did play fucking great guitar in my front room……….

Steve played everything that day at the radio station from Elvis to Pinky and Perky, via the Chipmunks for comparison…..  talked in his matter of fact casual, oh so brilliant way, sometimes drifting into silence… we all remembered stories, provoked and laughed a lot and I loved every record he put on.. it was the total opposite of ‘we’re here to the sell the product ‘ talk you often get, or the regular questions – you never knew what would come next –   2 great hours being cool with an old friend, we didn’t even see the hands on the clock pass and of course never got round to picking up the two acoustic guitars we’d brought with us….. So that’s why people tune in every day…..

Why can’t all radio be like this……