129 - Pub Rock, Ian Dury, Joe Strummer, The Sex Pistols, Dr. Feelgood, Nick Lowe & more with Mark Wilkerson

129 - Pub Rock, Ian Dury, Joe Strummer, The Sex Pistols, Dr. Feelgood, Nick Lowe & more with Mark Wilkerson

Author: Rock n Roll Book Club August 17, 2026 Duration: 47:02

In the early 1970s the music scene is dominated by prog rock concept pieces, synth solos & overblown tours. 


The societal backdrop in Great Britain is one of labour & coal strikes, riding inflation & unemployment & a struggling economy. 


In the background of this upheaval an American band named Eggs Over Easy begin to play gigs at The Tally-Ho in Kentish Town in North London. 


Another band who come on the scene is Brinsley Schwartz featuring Nick Lowe who goes on to become a key part of the story. 


Along with The Tally-Ho others key venues include the Hope & Anchor ins Islington, the Lord Nelson & the Kensington. 


Pub rock received positive coverage in the music press of the day & Ian Dury enters the scene after several good reviews for his band Kilburn & the High Roads. 


Dr. Feelgood become the first band from the pub rock scene to attain a degree of commercial success including a number 1 album. 


The short-lived outfit The 101ers come to an end when Joe Strummer departs to make heavier, punkier music inspired by The Sex Pistols who they share a bill with at The Nashville in West London. 


Stiff Records is another key part of the story & Nick Lowe produces a number of early releases including the Damned’s first album & debut single New Rose, often credited as the first punk single in the UK. 


He also produces other offshoots from the pub rock scene including Graham Parker & Ian Dury’s debut albums & Elvis Costello’s My Aim Is True. The scene fizzles out once punk arrives. 



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Hosted, Produced & Edited by Simon Cardwell

Music by Andy Maxwell


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The Music Maps Podcast from the Rock n Roll Book Club isn't your typical music show. It's an audio expedition where geography is the guide. Every episode starts with a specific location-a city, a venue, a forgotten roadside attraction-and uses that place as a launchpad to explore the sounds, stories, and scenes connected to it. You might find yourself deep in the blues clubs of Chicago one week and tracing the underground punk threads of a small European town the next. The conversations are wide-ranging, connecting the dots between iconic artists and obscure movements, all anchored to a point on the map. Listening to this podcast feels like adding a new, richly detailed pin to a global atlas of musical influence. It’s about the context behind the chords and the cultural soil from which genres grow. The result is a continuously evolving, deeply human portrait of how music and place are inextricably linked, one fascinating destination at a time.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Music Maps Podcast
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