This week we celebrate 50 years of The Undertones with guitar player Damien O’Neill.

Damien kept diaries during the early years of the band & reads extracts for us throughout & he tells us about joining the band age 15 & their first gig at a local scout hall. From there The Undertones honed their craft playing regularly at The Casbah in their hometown of Derry, Northern Ireland.

His older brother John O’Neill starts to write songs & they record their debut release The Teenage Kicks EP - after which John Peel plays it & becomes a fan - resulting in the songs success & an appearance on Top Of The Pops.

The day after their TV debut the band return to Derry for a triumphant homecoming gig at The Rocking Chair, a local pub.

Damien tells us about briefly touring with Joy Division & The Rezillos & their ill fated attempt to stage a festival in their hometown headlined by The Clash. The festival is cancelled after Joe Strummer receives a letter from local political loyalists.

In return for the cancellation, the Undertones get to open for The Clash on a US tour in the Autumn of 1979.

Damien also tells us about his favourite Undertones tracks, his brother John getting arrested on tour & previews the upcoming 50th anniversary gigs later this year.

It takes anything from 5 to 40 hours to prepare each episode of Music Maps - if you’d like to make a contribution to help us cover the costs & time of producing these episodes for you, you can do so at this link: ko-fi.com/musicmaps

It is hugely important for us to get positive reviews & star ratings - if you have enjoyed Music Maps & can spare the time to do either we would hugely appreciate it.

You can see our upcoming live events here: https://rocknrollbookclub.co.uk/events

Instagram: @rocknrollbookclube17

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Hosted, Produced & Edited by Simon Cardwell

Music by Andy Maxwell

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we travel to Forest Hills, Queens, New York to trace the origins of the legendary punk band The Ramones.

While Joey Ramone is actually the only Ramone born in Forest Hills, it is this conversation suburb of New York which creates one of the iconic bands in the history of NYC.

The bands influences include 1960s Girl Groups, The Beatles, The Beach Boys & Elvis Presley.

The bands first big takes place in March of 1974 with Joey Ramone on drums. They played original material from the start - with varying explanations as to why.

Johnny Ramones would probably have preferred to bat for the New York Yankees than be in a band but his famous guitar sound is there from the beginning.

Arturo Vega designs the famous Ramones logo however he is not paid royalties on the subsequent mass marketing of the design.

New York City figure Danny Fields comes in as the bands manager & they subsequently sign to Seymour Stein’s Sire Records.

The debut album clocks in at just 28 minutes & features a now iconic photo taken by Roberta Bailey who had only been taking photos for a few weeks at the time the picture was taken.

Their next few albums Leave Home & Rocket To Russia repeat the trick with such classics as Rockaway Beach & Sheena is a Punk Rocker.

Tommy Ramone leaves the band, breaking up the original line up having tired of touring.

The band continue to search for a hit & bring in Phil Spector for the End Of The Century album.

Joey & Johnny Ramond fallout & do not speak to each other for 16 years while touring relentlessly.

It takes anything from 5 to 40 hours to prepare each episode of Music Maps - if you’d like to make a contribution to help us cover the costs & time of producing these episodes for you, you can do so at this link: ko-fi.com/musicmaps

It is hugely important for us to get positive reviews & star ratings - if you have enjoyed Music Maps & can spare the time to do either we would hugely appreciate it.

You can see our upcoming live events here: https://rocknrollbookclub.co.uk/events

Instagram: @rocknrollbookclube17

X: @simonmusicmaps

Facebook: E17rockbookclub

Hosted, Produced & Edited by Simon Cardwell

Music by Andy Maxwell

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we bring you a very special conversation between singer/songwriter Amy Rigby & Kathy Valentine (The Go-Go’s) to mark the publication of Amy’s brand new book Girl To Country.

Amy Rigby has established herself as one of America’s enduring underground/cult/indie artists, combining the insight and humor of country and folk songwriting with classic rock craftsmanship and punk DIY spirit.

Kathy Valentine has been a working musician and songwriter for over 40 years, ever since she started her first band at age 16 in her hometown of Austin, Texas. After moving to Los Angeles, Kathy joined a band that would go on to make music history: The Go-Go’s.

It takes anything from 5 to 40 hours to prepare each episode of Music Maps - if you’d like to make a contribution to help us cover the costs & time of producing these episodes for you, you can do so at this link: ko-fi.com/musicmaps

It is hugely important for us to get positive reviews & star ratings - if you have enjoyed Music Maps & can spare the time to do either we would hugely appreciate it.

You can see our upcoming live events here: https://rocknrollbookclub.co.uk/events

Instagram: @rocknrollbookclube17

X: @simonmusicmaps

Facebook: E17rockbookclub

Hosted, Produced & Edited by Simon Cardwell

Music by Andy Maxwell

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.