The Joe Jackson Interviews

The Christie Hennessy Story as You Never Heard It Before. 1993

This is a moral tale with a warning for all musicians, in terms of the music industry and whether you do or don't like the music of Christie Hennessy. When I did this interview for weekly 'The Joe Jackson Interview' slot in The Irish Times in 1993, I was bound by legal restrictions from telling the full story of the sometimes spirit-crushing things that happened to the nevertheless irrepressible Christie Hennessy. I still am, but not to the same degree. Either way, if you need your eyes opened and, in the end, your spirit raised, check this out. 

President Michael D Higgins Unleashed. 1993.

This may be the single most controversial interview in the illustrious career of the much-loved current President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins. In it, he proves, conclusively, that he is not a man to be crossed. At the time, seemingly systematically, he was under attack from various columnists in the Irish newspaper, The Sunday Independent. For-the-record, here I must say that I myself worked for the same newspaper years later. However, circa 1993, Michael D had been attacked in print, savagely - in The Sunday Independent and elsewhere, as he explains during the interview - by the likes of Eilish O Hanlon, Eamon Dunphy, and Gerry Adams. Speaking to me ( for a two-part interview which I edited down to a one-hour programme in my radio series,  The Joe Jackson Tapes Revisited, in 2016) he finally retaliated in kind. It is unlikely that we will hear again Michael D unleashed to the same degree. This is an unedited and uncensored podcast of the 2016 radio programme

Dermot Morgan Uncensored and Enraged. 1994.

This interview with the man-who-would-soon-be-Father-Ted, Dermot Morgan, took place in 1994 only weeks before he went to the UK to start the latter TV series. 75% of this, at times explosively controversial material, has never been in the public domain, the reasons for which will be apparent as you listen. In the podcast, perhaps for the first time Dermot, understandably enraged at points, tells his version of how and why his successful radio shows, such as Scrap Saturday, were "sidelined" by RTE, perhaps as a result of political pressure, and why he was forced to go to the UK to make Father Ted. It is a no-holds-barred interview, exactly as it happened, with colorful language and merely minor fades at four points, which I made purely for legal reasons, and some of which Dermot suggested in 1994. The full typescript of the print interview is available at joejacksoninterviewer.com

 

I hope to do part two -if some of the people Dermot and I talk about, don't send out a hit squad to silence me! Enjoy the show

Roger McGuinn. The Music That Made Me Want To Make Music. 2001.

I did this interview in The Clarence Hotel, in Dublin in 2001, and to me, as a kid who as with millions of my generation, loved Mr. Tambourine Man, by The Byrds, even if I hadn't a clue what the hell Dylan's lyric was all about, it was fascinating to sit with Roger McGuinn and hear his reading of what it meant. He also talks in an equally fascinating fashion about his early days working with the much-underrated Bobby Darin, discovering The Beatles, how that influenced the sound of The Byrds and so much more. This surely is a history of rock. 

Paul Weller. The music that Made Me Want To Make Music. 2000.

I did this interview in two-parts in Paul Weller's recording studio in Surrey. For we did an interview for The Irish Times and then this interview for a radio series called Under The Influence, which now used a podcast series called The Music That Made Me. In this podcast, he talks about his love for The Kinks, The Beatles, The Who, The Small Faces, Smokey Robinson and explains how they directly influenced his own songwriter - and style, even in terms of his look. Weller's latest album at the time was Heliocentric. 

Bob Geldof. A Searingly Honest and Incendiary Interview. 2001.

 

From the introduction to this podcast. Joe Jackson July 18^th, 2020.

 

For one thing, it is based on my eBook, Bob Geldof: The Joe Jackson Interviews Plus. The ‘Plus’ in the title refers to the fact that the eBook contains the uncensored versions of the two major interviews we did, first in 1989, then in 2001, and a fragment of memoir. Growing up in Dun Laoghaire I knew Geldof, albeit from a distance that was largely defined by the fact that he came from the so-called right side of the tracks and I came from the other side. Even so, our paths crossed on countless occasions in local teenage meeting places such as Murray's Record Centre, Bamboo Café, at parties. We also had a mutual friend called Peter Finnegan. And later again Bob and I met in the dole office. I have fond memories of us talking about bands like The Animals and Bob saying he wanted to be a Rockstar. I wanted to be a writer. By 1977 he had become a Rockstar I was a photographer for Irish rock magazine Hot Press. I photograph Geldof on stage in Dalymount park and at the launch of the first album by The Boomtown Rats. All of this is probably why towards the end the second part of this 2001 interview – it will follow in another podcast - Bob says he is uncomfortable being interviewed by me because I know too much about him, although that comment may have more to do with the instinctual insights into his psyche which I gleaned during this interview. Afterwards, he phoned my editor and said that I had been a “bit too hard on” him, to which the editor, replied, “Joe was only being as hard on you as you were on interviewees when you worked  for this magazine!” But it would appear that Geldof doesn’t agree with my contention that by pushing him as hard as I did it led to, arguably, the most mercilessly honest interview he had given and or has given since. Nor has Bob spoken to me since this interview, professionally or, on a personal level. Did I push him too hard? You decide. The interview coincided with the release of his album, Sex, Age and Death. The typescript of the original article – never published in full in any magazine – can be seen at joejacksoninterviewer.com. The eBook is available wherever you buy your eBooks.

 

 

Neil Diamond Talks about his early career, including his clash with the Mafia. 2002.

This may be one of the most revealing interviews ever given by Neil Diamond, who rarely talks about his private life. He certainly, until that day, in 2002, in a recording studio New York where we did this interview - the third I had done with Diamond - had never discussed in such detail his conflict with the Mafia during the early years of his career. In fact, I was told that when I raised the subject while sitting alone with Neil in that studio, a member of his management team in the control room said aloud, "Did he just ask Neil about the Mafia! My God!" Either way, as you will hear, Neil himself had no problem addressing that or any issue with me. Then again, the guy knew I loved his music and the fact is that we had always gotten on great. This is part one of two podcasts that I guess I could have called 'The Neil Diamond Story - as you never heard it before.' Btw, these tapes are copyright Joe Jackson and must not be broadcast or quoted in print without my permission. 

Mickey Dolenz: The Story of the Monkess Like You Never Heard It Before. 2001.

As someone who was a fan of the Monkees as a teenager, and who bought all their albums and even went to see their hugely unpopular movie, Head, interviewing Micky Dolenz was a pure delight for me. We had previously talked on the phone but this recording was made during the band's rehearsal for a gig in Dublin's Vicar Street in 2000. Incidentally, while Dolenz and I were standing in a hotel lobby where we met before going to the venue, Billy Bob Thorntonwalked over, said 'Sorry for interrupting you guys" and then he addressed me, directly. He said, "I flew in just to see the gig. Aren't the Monkees, so cool." I said, "Yes they are!" And after he left I joked to Dolenz, "Did you pay him to do and say that!" He laughed. And boy we had fun that day. I hope it all comes across in this podcast. 

Tommy Tiernan Soul Searching and Uncensored. 2004

As I say in the new introduction for this interview - recorded in 2004 for the Sunday Independent - Tommy Tiernan is now doing psychologically probing and, arguably, spiritually driven interviews in Irish TV. Without meaning to sound self-aggrandizing, I have to say, because it has been said about my interviews, and even my recently launched series of podcasts, in The Joe Jackson Interviews series, that is the kind of interviews I have done since the start of my career in 1985. It's no big deal, just my way of doing things. So, I decided to present in this podcast, part one of two, the original tape unedited and minus the kind of revisionist narration I used in my radio series, The Joe Jackson Tapes Revisited. This show was meant to be a part of that series but now never will be. Enjoy this version, as part of my series of podcasts. Part Two will follow in an upcoming podcast.  

Joe Dolan. Tells His Own Story Like You Never Heard It Before. 2000 and 2001.

Part of my goal as an interviewer always was to make readers of my articles and/or listeners to my interviews on the radio feel that they are sitting nearby during an interview, eavesdropping, and pretending, for example, that they were in a bar having a drink with their favorite star. This certainly was my aim specifically when I edited together for an edition of my radio series The Joe Jackson Tapes Revisited, two interviews I did with Joe Dolan, the first in 2000 for a radio show, and the second, for my slot in the Sunday Independent newspaper. The latter actually took place in the bar of the Clarence Hotel in Dublin, at Joe's request and when I arrived he was having a pint. So, grab a seat, and maybe a drink, sit down and join us!