Hey Joe | Page 2 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

Happy Nat said:

Okay Joe,

 

Rank from your best to worst: The Fireman, The Bee Gees, Plastic Ono (Nuclear) Band, Traveling Wilburys, Wings, All-Starr Band, The Roundheads, The Rolling Stones, Abba.

 

Oh, that's a hard one. Some of them I've never heard, or only a couple of songs.

1. Plastic Ono Band (does it have to be just the Nuclear Band? If so they'd be further down the list)
2. Abba (most consistent of the lot)
3. The Rolling Stones (I've always found them massively overrated, but I like the stuff between Beggars Banquet and Exile)
4. Wings (for the Band On The Run album)
5. The Fireman (last album was great, the first was rubbish and I haven't heard Rushes)
6. The Bee Gees (I like a few of their songs but I wouldn't go to the effort of buying any)
7. Traveling Wilburys (not particularly bothered, though I haven't heard much by them)
8. All-Starr Band (don't really care. Sorry Ringo)
9. The Roundheads (never heard of them)

1. I got my grandmother to make me a multicoloured jacket like the one John Lennon wears in the I Am The Walrus video. I chose a load of fabrics and everything. When she sent it to me I tried it on and it looked ridiculous, and I never wore it despite being a teenage hippy (this was around 1991 when I was 15).

2. I'm actually quite selective of what I buy, as I have quite a lot of books and CDs and don't want any more unless they're really useful. But there are two books I'd spend money on: the autobiographies of Pete Shotton and Allan Williams. I used to have both when I was younger, but gave them to a charity shop when I was moving house once. I'd love to have them again but they go for quite a bit on eBay.

I did buy The Beatles Live! by Mark Lewisohn, and it didn't have anything that wasn't in the Chronicles book. That was a bit of a waste of money. As for other things, the site makes a reasonable (not huge) amount through Google ads each month so I can normally buy box sets etc if I need them. Basically, any cash that comes in gets recycled into Beatlesness somehow.

Oh no particular reason. I think because it looked fairly neutral and wasn't one of them goofing around.

The best thing is that nobody's had a bad word to say about it. That's two and a half years and every bit of feedback has been positive (apart from the nutters, but I ignore them).

It's harder to pinpoint a single worst thing. If it was up to me I'd sit in my bunker and write articles all day, and not have to worry about the server going awry, people having trouble logging in, the odd troublemaker or spammer. Also I've spent quite a bit of time researching the articles, but sometimes someone comes along and posts a contradictory comment, which means I have to go away and do more research. Occasionally they're right but not every time. I don't mind improving things but it keeps me from the stuff I really love doing.

Oh yeah, and I get the odd review copy of a book, a cheque from Amazon or a payment from Google (or an invite to Abbey Road , sadly a one-off). That's up there with the good stuff, obviously. As is getting to know loads of good people I probably wouldn't have encountered.