E161: Mick Gold on Let It Rock + Pub Rock + Bruce Springsteen + Jann Wenner

In this episode we welcome music writer/photographer turned award-winning TV director Mick Gold and ask him to return to the mid-'70s to discuss pub rock, Bruce Springsteen and the wonderful Let It Rock magazine. Mick explains how he fell in with Let It Rock 's "hard-up left-wing intellectuals" after penning a 5,000-word Beatles thesis at Sussex University. We then hear about the magazine and its eclectic agenda, along with our guest's parallel career as a photographer and his 1976 photo-essay book Rock on the Road . This in turn leads to a conversation about the " pub rock" scene that mushroomed in London during Let It Rock 's 1972-75 lifespan. Along with Mick's 1975 Dr. Feelgood interview, Mark, Martin and Barney share their memories of gigs by Kilburn & the High Roads and Chili Willi & the Red Hot Peppers. The gradual transition from Pub to Punk is recalled and analysed with passing reference to Mick's 1976 Street Life interview with Patti Smith . The mid-'70s theme takes us into clips from a 2016 audio interview in which Bruce Springsteen talks to Vanity Fair' s David Kamp about 1975's breakthrough classic 'Born to Run' — and then to a further discussion of the Boss' inclusion in Jann Wenner 's controversial new book The Masters . After Mark quotes from interviews with Dizzy Gillespie , James Brown , Todd Rundgren , Chic and Wham! , Jasper talks us out with his notes on pieces about Nona Hendryx and Rammellzee . Pieces discussed: The Band , Rock on the Road introduction , Bob Dylan at 60 , Brinsley Schwarz , Dr. Feelgood , Pub Rock Proms , Bruce Springsteen on 'Born to Run' , Dizzy Gillespie , Ike & Tina Turner , James Brown , Todd Rundgren , Chic , Wham! , Bruce Springsteen , Nona Hendryx and Rammellzee .