Episodes

  • Pete Seeger 1998 tells Joe Jackson What happened when Dylan went electric at Newport. A Podcast single
    Feb 16 2025

    I wrote a book called Nanci Griffith's Other Voices: A Personal History of Folk Music. For it, I did a half-hour phone interview with Pete Seeger - from Ireland to America – hence the sound ain't great - and for a few minutes, we discussed Dylan's legendary gig at Newport. Pete says he got pissed simply because the crowd couldn't hear the words of Maggie's Farm!

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    4 mins
  • Sinead O' Connor. "Louis Walsh can really do damage with his mouth." A Podcast Single
    Feb 16 2025

    While digitising my Boyzone interview tapes that led to the Sky documentary Boyzone No Matter What, I came across this short clip at the end of an interview, I was taping on the phone with Sinead. She had read and loved my Keith Duffy interview and had choice words to say about Louis Walsh - in 2001.

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    4 mins
  • Keith Duffy: "Louis Walsh stabbed Boyzone in the back to promote Westlife." Tapes from The Joe Jackson Archive, used in Boyzone No Matter What
    Feb 8 2025

    Another uncut clip from the audio tapes that led to Boyzone No Matter What. The revelation of the series to many viewers seems to be that manager Louis Walsh was the "villain" of the story. I believe there is more to it than that. But these tapes were part of the research for the series, and here's Keith in 2001, ripping into Louis, whom he says he loves nonetheless. Keith told me the same thing at the premiere of the series recently.

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    12 mins
  • Keith Duffy: "Ronan loved to play God. He broke my heart. " Boyzone No Matter What. The Joe Jackson Tapes uncut.
    Feb 7 2025

    The tensions between members of Boyzone may be new and news to the millions of people watching the Sky Documentary Boyzone No Matter What, but they are not to me. The documentary originated in my archive of tapes. Here's a clip that didn't make the final edit. Me and Keith back in 2001.

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    15 mins
  • From Boyzone Our Story to No Matter What, the Sky Documentary. The Jackson Tapes
    Feb 2 2025

    The new Sky Arts documentary No Matter What originated in my archive of 1,400 celebrity interviews. I also wrote the book Boyzone Our Story and interviewed the lads in-depth from 1994-2002. Here is the first set of interviews I did with lads when all, apart from Mikey, were still in their teens. I warmed to some more than others from the start, and when I met Shane, Ronan and Keith at the recent premiere of No Matter What, my feelings remained the same. Fame changes people, sadly

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    47 mins
  • Marianne Faithful R.I.P. Memories of Marianne and a remarkable 1989 phone interview
    Jan 30 2025

    As I say in the intro to this podcast, hastily put together on 'the evening of the day' I heard Marianne had died, she was one of the most fascinating women I met, in, or beyond the world of celebrity interviewing. She also was an infinitely superior artist to certain rock stars with whom she was endless compared and who I won't name.

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    24 mins
  • Leonard Cohen light-heartedly mocks Bono for getting wrong the words of Hallelujah
    Jan 25 2025

    I love this phone chat I had with Leonard. It was our third interview and showed me and - when published in The Irish Times - that Cohen had a great sense of humour. But I am guessing that Bono doesn't like what he said. Lighten up, man!

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    3 mins
  • Leonard Cohen 1985 talks about Love and Hate. The first Joe Jackson Interview
    Jan 25 2025

    It's coming up to forty years since I, as a Cohen fan, and writer, not journalist, conned my way into meeting Cohen by getting a commission to interview him for a rock magazine. It left me feeling so transcendent I decided to become an interviewer! Incidentally, the editor in question said it was crap and that I should have asked Leonard more about "sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll." Yawn! Cohen told me he thought it was "a great interview" then added, "Thank you, man." I was only a kid!

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    7 mins