Welcome to Episode 6 of the CROSSED CHANNELS podcast, in which two music journalists/obsessives, (the Yank) and Tony Fletcher (the Brit) clash and connect over music from either side of the pond.

Our 5th Episode, Oasis: What's The Story?, in which we discussed the 1995 album that catapulted the Manchester band to international fame, is now available in full, on all streaming platforms, for anyone who is not one of our paid-up Substack subscribers and wants to hear where we go with these discussions. We now head back to the United States for a look at the strange case of Blondie.

A cornerstone of the original New York punk scene that revolved around CBGB, Club 82 and Max’s Kansas City, Blondie were a group with roots in both the pure pop of 1960s girl groups like the Shangri-La’s and the pop art experiments of the early Velvet Underground. Fronted by the gorgeously talented Debbie Harry, Blondie were the biggest (and arguably the best) pop band in the US from 1979 through 1981, though they actually scored two massive hits in the UK — “Denis” and “(I’m Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear” — in 1978, before most American listeners were even aware of their existence.

Blondie’s US breakthrough came in 1979 via “Heart of Glass,” the Mike Chapman-produced disco smash that provoked cries of “Sellout!” from punk and new wave fans, but completely connected with the cultural zeitgeist of the time. Of course, Blondie — a band who were never shy about experimenting with musical styles and forms beyond accepted punk parameters — had actually been playing versions of the song well before “disco” became a dirty word.

In this episode of CROSSED CHANNELS, Dan and Tony take a look at Blondie’s incredible run of six albums between 1976-82, and discuss how a band that was largely written off by critics and scenesters in their early days wound up scoring Number One hits on both sides of the Atlantic — as well as why British record buyers fell for them first. Along the way, our hosts answer these questions and more:

• What was the original title for "Heart of Glass,” and how far back does the song date?

• When did Debbie Harry first show up on an album?

• What was the group that Chris Stein and Debbie Harry first played in together?

• What cassette did drummer Clem Burke bring back with him from London in 1975?

• And was it Farfisa or Vox that gave keyboard player Jimmy Destri Blondie’s distinctive retro sound?

A free preview of Episode 6 is available to all listeners, but the episode is only available in its entirety to paid subscribers of or . If you’re already a free subscriber to either of these Substacks (or better yet, both), upgrade your subscription now to hear the whole thing. As always, we are immensely grateful for your encouragement and support! Cheers!

…A couple of photographic references from the episode:

Welcome to the fifth episode of the CROSSED CHANNELS podcast, in which (the Yank) and Tony Fletcher (the Brit) clash and connect over music from either side of the pond

Having tackled the rise and premature demise of Otis Redding in our last episode, we now return to England — Manchester, to be specific — to discuss the band Oasis and the 1995 album that catapulted them to international stardom, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?

Originally a quartet formed in 1991 as the Rain, Oasis – which became a five-piece once singer Liam Gallagher's older brother, the songwriter Noel Gallagher, joined the band - were signed to Creation Records in the summer of 1993. They scored their first UK Top 10 hit a year later with “Live Forever,” and generated such a buzz that their 1994 debut album Definitely Maybe entered the Number One spot on the UK albums chart in its first week of release, becoming the fastest selling debut album in British history.

But it was their second album, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, that turned Oasis into a genuine phenomenon. Released in October 1995, the record spent ten weeks at the top of the UK albums chart and spawned four UK #1 or #2 hits with “Some Might Say,” “Roll With It,” “Wonderwall” and “Don’t Look Back in Anger”. For anyone in Britain in 1995-96, it was impossible to get away from the sound of the band’s music; discussion of their antics (the Gallagher brothers took “sibling rivalry” to new extremes and the group as a whole was known for its rabble-rousing); and coverage of the Britpop phenomenon, which Oasis were drawn into after the media created a rivalry between themselves and Blur.

This astonishing success climaxed in the UK in August 1996 with a two-night stand at Knebworth Park (see below), the biggest ever concerts in the UK's history; they drew a record 250,000 people, only 1/10th the number who applied. (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? went on to sell over 5 million records in the UK, and over 4 million in the USA, accompanied by Grammy nominations, Brits and Ivor Novello awards, and commensurate international sales adding up to over 20 million globally, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time.

Why did Oasis — and especially (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? — strike such a massive chord with British record buyers? What was it about the band’s music, message and attitude that resonated so deeply in the UK? And how was this exceedingly British band received in the US at a time when the seismic rumbles of the grunge movement were still being heard and felt on that side of the Atlantic?

Dan and Tony discuss these topics and more, including their memories of their first Oasis concerts, and have a look to see just how well (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? holds up today, nearly 29 years after its release.

A free preview of Episode 5 is available to all listeners, but the entire episode (along with all previous CROSSED CHANNELS episodes) is only available to paid subscribers of or . If you’re already a free subscriber to one of these Substacks (or, even better, both), upgrade your subscription now to ensure that you don’t miss out on all the fun. As always, we thank you for the encouragement and support! Cheers!

This episode was recorded on Zoom, rather than in person per usual, due to Tony being in the UK, and there are a couple of minor audio glitches for which we apologize. We figure you can fill in the gaps! If you have comments on this episode, or suggestions for future episode subjects, we are all ears!

Welcome to the fourth episode of the CROSSED CHANNELS podcast, in which Dan Epstein (the Yank) and Tony Fletcher (the Brit) clash and connect over music from across the pond.

Having discussed the rise and fall of The Sex Pistols in our last episode, we now head back across the Atlantic — and back a decade earlier — to tackle the rise and premature demise of legendary soul man Otis Redding.

Born in 1941 in Dawson, Georgia and raised in Macon, Otis began his professional singing career in the late 1950s as a Little Richard-influenced rock and roller, but his big break came in 1962, when he cut “These Arms of Mine” at the Stax studio in Memphis, with Booker T. & The M.G.’s backing him. That song reached #20 on the US R&B chart in late 1962, the first of 24 Redding singles to reach the US R&B Top 20 or higher.

But while Otis was enormously popular with Black audiences, his songs only occasionally crossed over onto the US pop charts, and it was only after his jaw-dropping performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967 that America’s mainstream pop scene began to finally recognize “The Big O” for the soul giant he was. But that penny had already dropped in the UK, where 1965’s Otis Blue had reached #6 on the album charts, and where the influential TV show Ready Steady Go! had devoted an entire episode to him. (See below.)

Why did white British audiences (and the mainstream UK music media) recognize Otis Redding’s genius before white American audiences did? Why was it such a radical thing at the time for Otis to cover songs by both The Rolling Stones and The Beatles? What might he have gone on to accomplish if his plane hadn’t gone down in a frozen Wisconsin lake on December 10, 1967, taking the lives of Otis, his pilot, and five young members of his backing band, the Bar-Kays?

Dan and Tony discuss these topics and more, picking out three favorite songs apiece in an attempt to get to the heart of what made Otis Redding such a major figure in soul music, and why his recorded legacy still sounds so wonderfully fresh and alive to this day.

A free preview of Episode 4 is available to all listeners, but the entire episode (along with all previous CROSSED CHANNELS episodes) is only available to paid JAGGED TIME LAPSE or TONY FLETCHER, WORDSMITH subscribers. If you’re already a free subscriber to one Substack or the other, upgrade your subscription now to ensure that you don’t miss out on the fun. Cheers, and thanks as always for the support!

Note to subscribers of Tony Fletcher, Wordsmith: this Crossed Channels podcast episode is in lieu of the usual Midweek Update. I will be heading to the UK this weekend and posting from there over coming weeks, including the John Entwistle epic two-parter coming up this weekend, from my 1996 interview with him at his Shropshire mansion for the Keith Moon biography, Dear Boy.

Welcome to the third episode of the CROSSED CHANNELS podcast, in which Dan Epstein (the Yank) and Tony Fletcher (the Brit) clash and connect over music from across the pond. 

Following our previous episodes on The Jam’s Setting Sons album and The Replacements’ Tim, we traipse back across the Atlantic to take on one of the most important, influential and of course notorious British bands of all time: The Sex Pistols.

After forming in 1975, The Sex Pistols kick-started the UK punk movement with both their confrontational live gigs and the 1976 single “Anarchy in the UK.” In 1977, having already been kicked off two major labels, second single “God Save the Queen” - a riposte to the official Silver Jubilee - almost topped the UK charts but also turned the group into Public Enemies No. 1. A lightning rod for controversy, the band topped the UK charts in 1977 with debut album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols despite being banned from performing throughout their homeland.

In the US, however, Pistols and Bollocks alike were initially perceived as little more than novelties — a perception unfortunately reinforced when the Sex Pistols broke up in January 1978 at the end of their brief lone US tour. Though recognized now as a classic of its kind, Never Mind the Bollocks wouldn’t “go Gold” in the US until 1987.

When the original lineup of Steve Jones, Paul Cook, Glen Matlock and John “Johnny Rotten” Lydon reunited in 1996 for the Filthy Lucre Tour, they were greeted as conquering heroes in the US and national treasures in the UK. But the seismic shockwaves of the Pistols’ legacy can still be felt to this day; ditto for the power and fury of their still-bracing music.

On this Episode of Crossed Channels, we ask: What was the UK — where Tony grew up and Dan briefly lived — like in the mid-1970s? Why was a band like The Sex Pistols sorely needed at the time? Why were their singles so immediately appealing? Why did the Pistols completely implode after less than three years of existence? Why did they fail to initially click in America? What was the real story behind Sid Vicious, who replaced Matlock in 1977, and died in New York in 1979 from an overdose while out on bail for the murder of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen? Was manager Malcolm McLaren a hero, a villain, or both? And did Dan and Tony manage to catch the Pistols on their reunion tour? Listen and find out!

A free preview of Episode 3 is available to all listeners, but the entire episode (along with the previous CROSSED CHANNELS episodes) is only available to paid Substack subscribers of either or . If you’re already a free subscriber to one or the other, upgrade your subscription now to ensure that you don’t miss out. Cheers, and thanks as always for the support!

The Crossed Channels theme tune is “Blue Diamond Fire” by The Corinthian Columns.

Watch a trailer for the “official” Sex Pistols documentary The Filth & The Fury here

Read about the group’s 1978 US tour here

The Sex Pistols performing “Anarchy In The UK” on their first TV appearance, Sep 4 1976, for Tony Wilson’s So It Goes show in Manchester, below:

Welcome to the second episode of the CROSSED CHANNELS podcast, in which a Yank (Dan Epstein) and a Brit (Tony Fletcher) clash and connect over music from across the pond. 

Following our dissection of the bizarre American running order for The Jam’s 1979 LP Setting Sons, we turn our attention to a fantastic album from the other side of the Atlantic — Tim, the 1985 major label debut by The Replacements, recently reissued in a 4-CD “Let It Bleed” edition.

One of the most important and influential American bands of the 1980s, The Replacements combined a raw rock n’ roll attack with wiseass sense of humor and Paul Westerberg’s brilliant and emotionally resonant songwriting. For many Replacements fans, Tim —  the quartet’s fourth full-length album, and the last to feature mercurial lead guitarist Bob Stinson, whose younger bass-playing brother Tommy was still just 18 years old at the time of its release — captures the band at the peak of their powers.

Almost 40 years after its release, Tim continues to cast a massive shadow, as evidenced by the acclaim afforded the recent “Let It Bleed Edition” box set. This 4-disc package features a remastering of the Tim LP, originally produced by Tommy Erdelyi, a.k.a. Tommy Ramone; a fresh remix of the record by Ed Stasium; a full disc of demos, unreleased tracks and alternate takes; and a disc that captures the band’s January 1986 show at Chicago’s Cabaret Metro, which CROSSED CHANNELS co-host Dan actually attended. The Replacements were Dan’s favorite band in the world at the time, and he still rates that night as their best gig he ever witnessed — not to mention one of the greatest rock concerts he ever saw, period.

However, The Replacements were largely unknown in the UK at the time, a country they didn’t visit until later in 1986. All of which raises a number of questions: How does being from different sides of the pond affect Dan and Tony’s appreciation of Tim, and of The Replacements in general? Why does the album continue to endure for us so many years after its initial release? Do Stasium’s remixes enhance our appreciation of the album? (To answer the latter, Tony’s 19-year-old son Noel — a budding recording engineer and newly-minted Replacements fan — stops by to add his own two cents.) Episode 2 of CROSSED CHANNELS explores these questions and many more as part of an overall discussion about The Replacements’ major role in fermenting the American rock underground, including their significant influence on Nirvana.

The first six minutes of Episode 2 are available to all listeners as a free preview. The entire hour-plus episode is available to paid Substack subscribers of either or . If you’re already a free subscriber to one or the other, upgrade your subscription now to ensure you don’t miss out. Cheers, and thanks as always for the support!

Welcome to Episode 1 of CROSSED CHANNELS — a new monthly podcast on which a Yank and a Brit clash and connect over music from across the pond.

In the podcast’s inaugural episode, Dan Epstein (the Yank) and Tony Fletcher (the Brit) discuss The Jam’s powerful 1979 album Setting Sons, and how the band’s American record company “flipped the script” for the album’s US release by putting its Side 2 tracks on Side 1, its Side 1 tracks on Side 2, and wedging the non-LP single “Strange Town” into the running order.

Our hosts — fervent Jam fans since their teens — take a hard look at this bizarre (and often forgotten) discrepancy, and Dan makes a solid case for the superiority of the US version of Setting Sons. But does Tony, who was actually in the studio with The Jam during the recording sessions, agree? You’ll need to listen to find out.

The first six minutes of CROSSED CHANNELS are available to all listeners as a free preview. But to hear the entire hour-length episode, you must be a paid Substack subscriber to either JAGGED TIME LAPSE or — or, ideally for us, both of them. If you’re a free subscriber, make sure to upgrade your subscription to ensure you don’t miss out. Cheers, and thank you for the support!