I got a lovely phone call from Mike Kellie from The Only Ones thanking me for a live review I wrote in this months Classic Rock.I must admit that I was rather taken aback.It’s only happened once before in over thirty years,when Joe Perry from Aerosmith
sent me a hand written note to say that he enjoyed our interview.Do you guys and gals have an similar tales to share?
5 Responses to Please and Thankyou
Not quite though I once got a note from Blackie Lawless of WASP castigating me for saying his IQ is the same as his shoe size
On July 25 1970, three months into my job on Melody Maker, I reviewed my first Who concert at the Civic Hall in Dunstable. Having already seen them a few times (and been a fan for around five years) by this time, and being as how they were at the top of their game in 1970, I gave them a rave review – “They lived up to their name as the most exciting stage act in the world,” I wrote, or something to that effect.
A week later the phone rang on my desk.
“Hello.”
“Is that Chris?”
“Yes.”
“Keith here. Keith Moon. From The Who.”
Indeed, I thought. Is there any other?
“I’m just ringing to say thanks for the nice review of the group you wrote.”
“Er… it’s a pleasure, Keith. I love The Who.”
“So do I. We must have a drink sometime, dear boy.”
“I’d love to.”
“Meet me in La Chasse, or the Speakeasy. Come and say hello.”
“I will, I promise. Bye.”
I was flabbergasted. I hadn’t been at MM very long but I’d written positively about a few other acts, yet none had called to thank me. Now here was Keith Moon, a member of a band that was far and away the most skilled and successful of all the bands I’d reviewed, calling up to thank me for a good review. Neither he nor The Who actually needed a good review to help their career at this stage – unlike some of the others – yet Keith saw fit to call. I was immensely impressed, and this certainly helped cement my love for this great band.
I got a phone call once from Terence Trent d’Arby. Does that count? And I heard on the grapevine that Bono appreciated my review of “Pop” in Rolling Stone. (On relistening to it the other day, I’m not sure that writing for Rolling Stone – whose pet band U2 surely were for a long way – didn’t slightly affect my judgement. It’s not very good, though that song about the dress is quite pretty.)
No-one ever thanked me, but I had 2 lovely incidents with The Stranglers. Having applied the critical flamethrower to them in print, I was some time later having a very nice conversation with Hugh Cornwell at The Hope And Anchor. After about ten minutes he asked my name. Oh, the emotions that flitted across his face! Then with a grin he very gently slapped my cheek with the rolled up Time Out he was holding. Later on, I was in the UA office with Andrew Lauder having another intersting chat, this time with JJ Burnell. After some time Andrew remembered his manners and introduced me. JJ shot me an evil glare and stormed out of the room. We laughed.
I’ve heard back from a few people over the years, but one that particularly sticks with me is John Mellencamp. Back in January 2007, I’d reviewed Freedom’s Road on the Sound & Vision website and sent the link to his publicist. Two days later, I was told John had actually read it and said, quote, “that guy got it,” and then he asked to meet me. He was doing radio interviews from his hotel room in NYC the following week, so I cabbed it uptown to sit down and chat before he went to do The Daily Show. We had such a lively discussion about how much we both love vinyl that he had Sterling Sound Studios press me my own personal acetate of Freedom’s. He also told me a great story about how one of his sons, who was learning guitar at the time, asked which Hendrix album he should listen to on vinyl to learn how to play his stuff — I believe John lent him Axis: Bold as Love for that.