The Joe Jackson Interviews

"Tom Jones, Elvis said you stick a sock down the front of your trousers, do you?" The most explicit Tom Jones interview ever!

Tom Jones, said to me, near the end of this 1989 interview, "talking to you is dangerous. It's like talking to a mate in a pub. I have to remind myself that you are an interviewer and I better watch what I say." I now suspect he was maybe referring to exchanges such as this when I repeated comments Elvis apparently made about the explicitly sexual nature of Tom's stage act circa 1968. Listeners, be warned. This chat is itself explicit, and may offend - if you lack a sense of humour!

BB King talks about U2, Elvis, racism in music, and in America, in general, Memphis, and extending the blues symphonically.

I love the music of BB King, have, since I was a teenager. I also happen to be indebted to some black people in New York who befriended me, and fed me, when I was down and out as a student in New York. All of this, plus a profound sense of the racism perpetrated on blacks in America,  made me determined to open the eyes of readers of The Irish Times to such subjects in 1993. Incidentally, I met BB in Dublin and he joked "I thought any guy with a name like 'Joe Jackson' was going to be black!" This is a fun and one of my fave phone interviews with a hero of mine

Jon Bon Jovi 1993 apologises for using on stage the word "faggots," talks about, sex, AIDS, songs, gangs and rock 'n' roll

This is an interview I did over the phone in 1993 for The Irish Times. I had to take Jon Bon Jovi top task for using the word "faggots" during a stage show, but we also talked about his gay fans, gangs, male bonding, Elvis, Bono, becoming a father and the greatest high of all, he says, finishing writing a song!

Neil Diamond: "Why I hated making 'The Jazz Singer' and hated making music videos!" Neil talks about the movie and Laurence Olivier, "Larry."

This is a section from my upcoming podcast, Neil Diamond The Joe Jackson Interview 2002 Part Three. I am working on editing the master tape but feel that many fans of the movie 'The Jazz Singer' would like to hear Neil talk, with barely suppressed anger, about how much he hated making that movie! He also talks about "Larry" Olivier, whom he describes as "the greatest actor of his time." Me, I'd opt for Brando! Enjoy.

Noel Gallagher 1996. A working class hero is something to be. "This is why this f***ing band (Oasis) is important."

As one of my Podcast singles, coming in at less than five minutes, here, from a 1996 interview I did with Noel Gallagher in Dublin, while Oasis was here to do gigs, we have Noel and me talking about the social importance of rock 'n' roll working-class heroes such as John Lennon and himself. If on,y for that reason Oasis should get back together!

A Phone Call with Garth Brooks. 1992. Garth on fatherhood, critics of country music, the universality of song, and Mick Hanley

It is claimed that I helped 'break" Garth Brooks in Ireland, thanks to a series of interviews we did from 1989-2003. But who am I to say if I did or not! Either way, this is a phone interview we did for The Irish Times and in it, he discusses becoming a father, music snobs. country music, critics and the songs of Mick Hanley.

The Neil Diamond Story Part Two. Neil talks about songwriting as a balm, his moodiness, marriages, children and a war with his record company

This is the master tape - minus music - of an interview I did with Neil in his recording studio in 2001. Neil may as well be in a psychiatrist's chair! He talks about his music as a travelling salvation show, if he is a hard task master, I Am I Said, keeping the heart open, moodiness, songwriting as a balm, failure at marriage, the pain he feels and pain he causes, the love for his children and father, Angel Above My Head, and the war with Sony, and much more.

I Am I Said. The story behind one of Neil Diamond's greatest songs. A Joe Jackson Podcast Single

While working on the master tape of the second of three podcasts in my series, Neil Diamond 2000: The Joe Jackson Interview, I came across this clip which as a stand-alone may be of interest to not only fellow Neil Diamond fans but also to songwriters. It tells of the genesis of one of his greatest songs. 

Tom Jones. "Elvis was not homosexual, I didn't have an affair with Priscilla and I never worked for the Mafia."

This chat grew out of an interview I was having with Tom Jones in 1992, for The Irish Times. It was more about Elvis than Tom at least at the start, so it has never been published or heard until now. I knew Tom had been a friend of Elvis I asked him about recent rumours that Elvis had an incestuous relationship with his mother, that Elvis was secretly gay and discovered peddling pills to black musicians at Sun Records. Then we talked about the mob in terms of Las Vegas. This is Tom Jones as you never heard him before - unless it was in my interviews with the man! 

Tom Jones 1992 talks about Linda, his image as a "stud," the feminist response to his work and obsessive female fans.

This is part two of a two-part podcast based on an interview I did with Tom for The Irish Times in 1992. Towards the end of the interview I apologise for asking "cheeky and challenging" questions and it says, "it's best, it makes it interesting!" Toom Jones clearly had no problem addressing questions such as his reputation as a 'hammer man", the feminist response to his work, if he was a "bastard" to women, and if fans are reduced to passive fantasists.  This is a Tom Jones interview unlike any other - apart for the others we did!