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Jon Wilde

Jon Wilde

Kidnapped by gypsies in infancy, Jon Wilde was all set for a career as a professional footballer until a painful toe injury put paid to all that. Instead he has enjoyed a long and varied career in journalism, specialising in interviews with the world’s leading hell-raisers including Dennis Hopper, Richard Harris, George Best, Keith Richards and Harvey Keitel.

The publications he has written for include Sounds, Melody Maker, Blitz, Loaded, Marie Claire, The Guardian, Esquire, GQ, The Independent, Live Magazine (Mail On Sunday), The Guardian and Sabotage Times.

His favourite work of art is Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks.

 

84 articles

List of articles in the library

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Sex Gang Children

Interview by Jon Wilde, ZigZag, October 1982

Unrolling, unfolding from Panic Button to unrestrained passion called Sex Gang Children which rigidly refuses to slip and slide conveniently into anybody's scheme of things; ...

Cocteau Twins: Two's Company

Interview by Jon Wilde, ZigZag, October 1983

WHEN THE Cocteau Twins narrowed down to a two-piece (Robin and Elizabeth) in June of this year, they settled down for some rethinking and some ...

Flesh For Lulu: A Glimpse of Stocking

Interview by Jon Wilde, ZigZag, December 1983

THE FAINT echo of a song mingled with his rush of black lust as he drew closer, sensing the heavenly, vital air about her. The ...

Felt: More Than A Feeling

Interview by Jon Wilde, ZigZag, August 1984

John Scott Wilde in cahoots with Lawrence of Felt ...

Pulp: Sweet or Sour

Profile and Interview by Jon Wilde, Sounds, 8 March 1986

Meet the "new hard centre" in indie pop's choc box. JONH WILDE finds that PULP have grown on him. ...

Danielle Dax: Underground, Croydon, London

Live Review by Jon Wilde, Sounds, 3 May 1986

DAX DE LUXE ...

Pulp: Rock Garden, London

Live Review by Jon Wilde, Sounds, 31 May 1986

THE INCREDIBLE PULP ...

Laurie Anderson: A Voice From Outer Space

Interview by Jon Wilde, Sounds, 7 June 1986

LAURIE ANDERSON has never ever had breakfast with William Burroughs, but she likes to talk about language, symbols and images. JONH WILDE likes to listen and wonder what ...

Dwight Yoakam: The Dwight Stuff

Interview by Jon Wilde, Sounds, 6 September 1986

It's time to slide some riding chaps over your Levi's, bury your head beneath a ten gallon hat, grab some beans and a guitar, saddle-up ...

The Triffids: The Outer Limits

Interview by Jon Wilde, Sounds, 20 September 1986

Something strange has been growing in the cracked plains of Australia's badlands. JONH WILDE prunes back the weeds and uncovers THE TRIFFIDS, still fertile after ...

Happy Mondays: Dream, Drink or Die

Interview by Jon Wilde, Sounds, 27 September 1986

HAPPY MONDAYS wear flappy flares and absent grins. They wear tatty beards and talk complete rubbish most of the time. JONH WILDE sifted through the ...

All About Eve, Xmal Deutschland: Xmal Deutschland, All About Eve: The Underground, Croydon, London

Live Review by Jon Wilde, Sounds, 27 September 1986

PUPPET SHOW ...

The Go-Betweens: Tallulah (Beggars Banquet)

Review by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, May 1987

AS THE chief dreamboat Forster sighs at yet another of life's improbabilities, as the waggish McLennan makes some more compelling assumptions, as these roguish Go-Betweens ...

Arthur Russell: The Kitchen, New York NY

Live Review by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 9 May 1987

RUSSELL, A fiery chameleon of a man, a nervous splutter of contradictions and paranoia, seems available to all interpretations and answerable to none. World Of ...

Laurie Anderson: Moving Image

Interview by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 30 May 1987

STILL AVOIDING CATEGORISATION YEARS AFTER HER 'O SUPERMAN' HIT, LAURIE ANDERSON TELLS JONH WILDE ALL ABOUT HER MOVIE, HOME OF THE BRAVE. ...

Guns N' Roses, Jane's Addiction: Guns N' Roses: The Subterraneans

Report and Interview by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 6 June 1987

Something's crawling from the gutters of Los Angeles, something bright and proud and bad, something making claims on setting a scene. Jonh Wilde took a ...

Cliff Richard: The World According to Cliff

Interview by Jon Wilde, Blitz, September 1987

EXACTLY THIRTY YEARS AGO, Harry Rodger Webb was stripped of his prefect's badge for playing truant from school and going to a cinema in Edmonton ...

10,000 Maniacs: In My Tribe (Elektra)

Review by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 5 September 1987

TRIBAL MAGIC ...

Five Star: Between The Lines (RCA)

Review by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 26 September 1987

HANG ABOUT, I'm still picking the lumps of Crunchie from my Hampsteads, still salivating over the last Five Star squalls, still worrying over the way ...

Hue and Cry: Ronnie Scotts, London

Live Review by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 26 September 1987

"YOU'D find more soul in a billiard-ball," muttered some disgruntled passer-by and, despite myself, I wondered whether to shit, scream or scram. ...

Public Enemy: Shoot-Out In The Fantasy Factory

Interview by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 28 November 1987

Public Enemy have been hailed as hip hop's hardest hardliners. Jonh Wilde joined them on tour to discover the sense and nonsense behind their no-holds-barred ...

10,000 Maniacs, Natalie Merchant: 10,000 Maniacs: Merchant Banquet

Interview by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 23 April 1988

WHILE 10,000 MANIACS ARE UP, UP, AND AWAY, SINGER NATALIE MERCHANT IS IMMERSED IN SOME GRAND DIVERSIONS OF HER OWN. SHE TAKES A SPRINGY STEP OFF THE UP ESCALATOR TO ...

Felt: The Pictorial Jackson Review (Creation)

Review by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 14 May 1988

SPACED ODDITY ...

The Pixies, Throwing Muses: Throwing Muses, Pixies: Town & Country Club, London

Live Review by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 14 May 1988

BATTLE OF THE BANDS ...

David Byrne, Hugo Largo: David Byrne With Les Miserables/Hugo Largo: Cambridge Theatre, London

Live Review by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 9 July 1988

EVEN BEFORE THE safety-curtain rose to reveal David Byrne sitting on a tree stump, there were some willing highlights. ...

Al Green: Heaven Up Here: Al Green: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 16 July 1988

WHAT WAS I saying about letting the shiver do all the work? Just the other day? Oh me, oh my. Al Green, The Last Soul ...

John Lee Hooker: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 16 July 1988

EVERYONE SHOULD have three favourite bluesmen. It should be made compulsory. Like not wearing clothes in Central London. Or scraping the sides of Porches with ...

The Wild Swans: Return of the Swan

Interview by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 16 July 1988

In 1982 the Wild Swans looked set for something special. Instead they split up. Now Liverpool's finest have reformed. Jonh Wilde witnesses the resurrection. ...

Al Green: God Is Love

Interview by Jon Wilde, Blitz, September 1988

Al Green believes in the power of love. But most of all, he believes in the power of God. ...

The Associates, Billy Mackenzie: Mackenzie's Return

Interview by Jon Wilde, Blitz, October 1988

Pop erratic, matinee idol, cool-obsessive, ex-insomniac, hopeless romantic, strategist, hedonist. After a series of chart successes with the Associates and a protracted three-year vacation, Billy ...

Foetus Interruptus

Interview by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 1 October 1988

ONE EXPLODING BUNDLE OF BURNING HATE, JIM THIRLWELL AKA CLINT RUIN AKA FOETUS INTERRUPTUS EXPLAINS TO JONH WILDE THE DISGUST THAT GREW INTO HIS NEW ...

Jane's Addiction: Over The Top

Interview by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 8 October 1988

ONE QUARTER THE SWEET, ONE QUARTER MC5, ONE QUARTER GANG OF FOUR AND ONE QUARTER THEMSELVES — THAT'S HOW JONH WILDE SEES HIS IDEAL JANE'S ADDICTION. THE ...

Happy Mondays: Vile Bodies

Interview by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 12 November 1988

In Manchester "shit" means great. Yet a year after Happy Mondays' shit debut album, Squirrel And G-Man, some critics have already written off the band. ...

Roy Orbison: The Big O

Retrospective and Interview by Jon Wilde, Blitz, February 1989

Roy Orbison's death in December 1988 brought an abrupt end to the career of one rock's most enduring and extraordinary performers. Just over eighteen months ...

Boy George, Culture Club: Boy George: Culture Shock

Interview by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 18 February 1989

THREE YEARS AFTER HIS DRUG-INDUCED DOWNFALL, TABLOID VILIFICATION AND COMMERCIAL FAILURE, THE GOLDEN BOY OF EIGHTIES POP HAS FINALLY MANAGED TO REBUILD A SOLO CAREER. ...

Pop Will Eat Itself: This Is The Day... This Is The Hour... This Is This! (RCA)

Review by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 6 May 1989

DEAF CON ONES ...

Peter Case: The Man With The Blue Post Modern Fragmented Neo-Traditionalist Guitar (Geffen)

Review by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 13 May 1989

PETER CASE'S debut album arrived in 1986 and the applause was thunderous. One could be forgiven for thinking that the new Bob Dylan had finally ...

Swans: The Burning World (MCA)

Review by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 13 May 1989

ASHES TO ASHES ...

The The: Detonation Time

Interview by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 14 May 1989

FOLLOWING THE SUCCESS OF THE THE'S 'THE BEAT(EN) GENERATION', MATT JOHNSON NEXT WEEK RELEASES HIS NEW ALBUM, MIND BOMB. JONH WILDE HEARS TALES OF GOOD ...

Greil Marcus

Interview by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 8 July 1989

IN 1977, GREIL MARCUS PUBLISHED MYSTERY TRAIN, ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS OF ROCK CRITICISM EVER WRITTEN. HIS NEW BOOK, LIPSTICK TRACES: A SECRET ...

The Sugarcubes: Reykjavik, Iceland

Live Review by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 26 August 1989

ICE CREAM ...

The Sugarcubes: The Art of Contradiction

Interview by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 2 September 1989

IT'S BEEN TWO YEARS SINCE CHRIS ROBERTS FIRST HEARD 'BIRTHDAY' AND PLUCKED BJÖRK AND CO FROM OBSCURITY. NOW THEY'RE THE SUCCESS STORY OF THE DECADE, ...

The House Of Love — Building Sights

Interview by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 28 October 1989

LAST YEAR, they were everyone's band of the moment. Their debut album and singles like 'Christine' received the highest accolades. This year the band released ...

The Stone Roses: Bonfire of the Inanities

Interview by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 9 December 1989

When The Maker put Ian Brown and his reluctant heroes on the cover six months ago, they were regarded as just another bunch of hopefuls. ...

Victoria Williams: Swing The Statue! (Rough Trade)

Review by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 2 June 1990

THREE YEARS ago, Victoria Williams emerged with a debut set of 13 songs which invited us to revise and re-define our notion of folk music. ...

James: Gold Mother (Fontana)

Review by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 9 June 1990

FOOL'S GOLD ...

Prince: Stadion Feijenoord, Rotterdam

Live Review by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 9 June 1990

LAST WEEKEND, PRINCE'S 'NUDE' WORLD TOUR KICKED OFF IN STADION FEIJENOORD IN ROTTERDAM. JON WILDE WITNESSED THE SPECTACULAR, AS THE WORLD'S GREATEST LIVING SONG AND ...

The Pixies: Tyranny And Mutation

Interview by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 10 August 1990

A PIXIES album that isn't drenched in murder, mutilation, death, crucifixion, blood, evil and barbarism? It's hard to imagine, but that's exactly what the band ...

Chris Isaak: Only The Lonely: Chris Isaak: Wicked Game (WEA)

Review by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 5 January 1991

"You can hold yourself back from the suffering of the world: this is something you are free to do and is in accord with your ...

Frank Sinatra: The Godfather Of Swing: Frank Sinatra: The Capitol Years (Capitol)

Review by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 12 January 1991

"HEY KIDS, dig the first takes/Ain't that some interpretation/When Sinatra sings against Nelson Riddle strings/Then takes a vacation" (Van Morrison: 'Hard Nose The Highway') ...

Manic Street Preachers Take No Prisoners!

Interview by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 1 June 1991

Guitarist Richey carving the words '4 REAL' into his forearm with a razorblade last week was just the latest stunt from this year's most contentious ...

Siouxsie & The Banshees: If You Knew Siouxsie...

Interview by Jon Wilde, Blitz, July 1991

The pvc bra, the swastika armband and the scary hairdo are history. Siouxsie Sioux is back with a new album and a new image for ...

Jonathan Richman: Having A Party With… (Cheree)

Review by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 18 January 1992

SINCE Modern Lovers '88, Richman's career appears to have run to seed, each subsequent release an ever fainter reminder of the days when his idiosyncratic ...

U2: Let There Be Satellite: U2: Earl's Court, London

Live Review by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 6 June 1992

THE ROOM IS SPINNING. U2 are detonating 'Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World'. Bono, doing a passable imitation of the Lord's Anointed, swanks ...

The The: Lip Tripping

Profile and Interview by Jon Wilde, Volume, April 1993

IT'S HARDLY A surprise to learn that Matt Johnson, that most untypical of pop star types, experienced a less than typical upbringing. ...

Badly Drawn Boy: The rough guide to genius: Badly Drawn Boy: Have You Fed The Fish? (XL) *****

Review and Interview by Jon Wilde, Uncut, November 2002

Follow-up proper to the 2000 Mercury Prize-winning album is a masterpiece of disjointed eclecticism ...

Shaun Ryder: Amateur Night In The Big Top

Review by Jon Wilde, Uncut, August 2003

SHAUN RYDER'S weird artistic odyssey now appears to be forming some kind of pattern. Each new venture hits the ground running and burning with revolutionary ...

Elvis Costello: Get Happy!!/Trust/Punch The Clock [New Editions] (Edsel)

Review by Jon Wilde, Uncut, October 2003

"OH, I JUST DON'T know where to begin," Elvis Costello swooned in the opening line to his lusciously hummable 1979 hit 'Accidents Will Happen'. ...

Johnny Cash, 1932-2003

Obituary by Jon Wilde, Uncut, December 2003

Jon Wilde pays tribute to the Man In Black who made country rock'n'roll. ...

Meat Loaf

Interview by Jon Wilde, Uncut, December 2003

Jon Wilde: Mr Loaf... ...

Johnny Cash: Unearthed (American Recordings/Lost Highway)

Review by Jon Wilde, Uncut, January 2004

Five-CD epitaph includes 64 never-before-heard tracks. ...

Keith Richards: "I don't live totally nocturnally"

Interview by Jon Wilde, Uncut, January 2004

"WHAT A DRAAAAAAAAAG it is growin' o-o-o-ld," Mick Jagger sang back in 1966. The rubber-lipped one became a sexagenarian earlier this year. Now it's Keef's ...

Mike Scott, The Waterboys: Mike Scott: The Big Music

Interview by Jon Wilde, Uncut, April 2004

When The Waterboys made This Is The Sea, it was described as an Astral Weeks for the '80s, and MIKE SCOTT was touted as the ...

Lou Reed: The Uncut Questionnaire

Interview by Jon Wilde, Uncut, May 2004

UNCUT: Didn't you once remark that being interviewed by an English journalist was the definition of abject misery? ...

Dolly Parton: The Jon Wilde Interview

Interview by Jon Wilde, Uncut, January 2005

WILDE: People were writing you off a few years ago. Did you start to believe your time was finally up? ...

Ozzy Osbourne: The Jon Wilde Interview

Interview by Jon Wilde, Uncut, March 2005

WILDE: Your house in Buckinghamshire was burgled in November 2004. What was that like? ...

Queen: Killer Queen

Retrospective by Jon Wilde, Uncut, March 2005

They're responsible for the nation's favourite song, 'Bohemian Rhapsody', as well as its favourite live performance — Live Aid in '85. Now, more than a ...

Alice Cooper: The Jon Wilde Interview

Interview by Jon Wilde, Uncut, July 2005

UNCUT: Am I speaking to Vincent Furnier or his alter-ego, Alice Cooper? ...

Van Morrison: Into The Mystic

Interview by Jon Wilde, Uncut, July 2005

For 40 years, his music has inspired and astonished. Yet he has remained a silent, enigmatic figure, shunning the media. Now, at long last, VAN ...

Brian Eno: The Jon Wilde Interview

Interview by Jon Wilde, Uncut, August 2005

UNCUT: When did you first realise you were strange? ...

Nik Cohn: Rock Dreamer

Interview by Jon Wilde, Uncut, January 2006

He inspired Townshend and Bowie to create Tommy and Ziggy Stardust, wrote the article that became Saturday Night Fever and penned the greatest pop book ...

Jenny Lewis: Almost Famous: Jenny Lewis

Interview by Jon Wilde, Uncut, March 2006

Kentuckey-fried Rilo Kiley frontwoman goes solo ...

Kiss: Masters of the Universe

Interview by Jon Wilde, Uncut, March 2006

They came from Detroit City but could have leapt from the pages of a DC comic. Thirty years ago, KISS — the biggest and trashiest ...

Bill Wyman: The Jon Wilde Interview

Interview by Jon Wilde, Uncut, April 2006

THE LEGENDARY STONES BASSIST ON HOW HE NEVER GOT THE CREDIT(S) HE DESERVED ...

Graham Coxon: The Jon Wilde Interview

Interview by Jon Wilde, Uncut, May 2006

The former Blur guitarist tries to forget the Britpop circus, Damon Albarn's megalomania and stealing sausages in a denim skirt ...

The Stranglers: Whatever Happened To The Heroes

Interview by Jon Wilde, Mail On Sunday, 30 July 2006

JEAN-JACQUES BURNEL is happily reminiscing about his days on punk's frontline with The Stranglers. "The one thing I couldn't stand was the spitting," he says. ...

Malcolm McLaren: An Audience With… Malcolm McLaren

Interview by Jon Wilde, Uncut, September 2006

This month, you plus a handful of star names grill the self-styled "ultimate rascal" on who killed Sid, pissing on Richard Branson's carpet, and whether ...

John Lydon: An Interview with John Lydon

Profile and Interview by Jon Wilde, Mail On Sunday, January 2007

JOHN LYDON CERTAINLY knows how to make an entrance. Within ten seconds of being introduced, he's already demonstrated his full armoury of trademark gestures. ...

Lily Allen: An Interview

Interview by Jon Wilde, Uncut, January 2007

The girl who would be Gandhi mouths off about beating up the Sugababes, balling Becks, torturing spiders and unicorn sex. ...

Madness: 30 Years of Madness

Retrospective and Interview by Jon Wilde, Mail On Sunday, Spring 2007

"THIRTY YEARS of getting away with it," is how vocalist Suggs describes the pop career of Madness. "Thirty years of good-hearted mischief and a little ...

Smokey Robinson: My Date With Smokey

Interview by Jon Wilde, Sabotage Times, 27 March 2011

On his 70th birthday, William "Smokey" Robinson grants exclusive access to Jon Wilde to talk cocaine, the roots of Motown and why the Stones still ...

Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones: Keith Richards Interviewed

Interview by Jon Wilde, Sabotage Times, 20 June 2013

Long before Johnny Depp based Captain Jack on him, Keith Richards was just the pirate blues chief of the Rolling Stones. And not averse to ...

Leonard Cohen: This Is What It's Like To Have Lunch With Leonard Cohen

Retrospective and Interview by Jon Wilde, Sabotage Times, 20 January 2014

ONE OF THE finest talents of modern music, Leonard Cohen has enjoyed something of a resurgence in later life. I got the opportunity to pick ...

Burt Bacharach: Inside the head of... Burt Bacharach

Interview by Jon Wilde, Event Magazine, 30 May 2015

The composer says he's a perfectionist to the point of obsession (as Dionne Warwick or Cilla Black will tell you). It caused his biggest regret: ...

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