My Joe Meek post

Hi everyone, hope you’re doing well. Today I’m going to be uploading the long awaited post some of you have been waiting for, this is my blog post on Joe Meek. In this post, I’ll be talking about Joe Meek. If you don’t know who Joe Meek is, basically he was an English record producer and audio engineer in the sixties. He was responsible for most of the iconic songs from that decade. Pretty much, if you listen very carefully to a song you can tell straight away that it was recorded by Joe Meek. Have, I the right by The Honeycombs, Tel star and so on. He recorded all of these in his apartment, believe it or not which was situated on 304 Holloway road which you can still visit the place even today. I always found Joe Meek a very interesting kind of character, he was a genius and he had a certain ear for sounds and he would get the band members and singers to rehearse and play their instruments on the stairs and in the toilet. He would make them drop marbles in the toilet to create a water sound effect. It makes me laugh even now but the overall finishing product was amazing because it still sounds incredible. Unfortunately, he ended up driving himself mad and sadly he killed himself. I think that’s just horrible because he was a legend, he was an odd ball but a legend but he was very troubled, he contributed a lot to the music industry.

He managed so many great bands and singers. The Honeycombs, The outlaws, The Tornadoes. Some of my favourite groups from the sixties, their music is timeless and I still listen to their music from time to time. You also had singers like Heinz Burt, Gene Vincent, Billy Fury, John Leyton, Screaming Lord Sutch who went into politics shortly after. There’s that music video for Jack the Ripper and it’s bloody terrifying when he suddenly appears in the audience with that knife. My dad showed me the video and I was like ” What the bloody hell is this?” All those girls screaming, nightmare fuel. Anyway, those were some of the artists who Joe Meek managed. Band members in the outlaws, You had Ritchie Black more, Clem Catini and Chas Hodges who would soon go on to achieve great success. Johnny remember me is a fantastic song sung by John Leyton, written by Geoff Godard who was working with Joe Meek at the time and he was also psychic. Such a good song, it just gives me chills every time I listen to it, especially that beginning sequence. I’ve listened to the whole album too and it’s got some great songs on there.

Have I the right has got to be one of the best songs to ever come out of the sixties or just to ever come out in general, it’s so catchy and it’s hard to believe that this geezer recorded it in his apartment getting the band members to rehearse on the stairs and in the bathroom, it’s nuts. I totally recommend you to check it out, it’s one of my favourite songs. I’ll put the link down below

I love sixties music just as much as I love seventies and eighties music, I’ve got a special place in my heart for either. I’m an old soul, what can I say? I love some of the pop culture from the sixties, the fashion, the music, the actors, the actresses, the singers, the comedic actors. I love The Beatles, A hard days night is another film favourite of mine, love that film so much, the chaos they caused, it was hilarious, another classic, I love the ongoing gag about Paul McCartney’s grandfather played by Wilfred Bramble who I know from Step toe and son, which is a brilliant show. ”He’s very clean” Love it, if you’ve seen the film, you’ll get the reference. I’m not actually sure whether that was Paul’s grandfather or it was just some random old man who they just pestered and tagged him along with them on the train. Whatever it is, it’s just fantastic. Another great film is Live it up

Live it up is a film that came out in the sixties about this group of young lads who are in this band called The Smart Alecs and they’re trying to make it on a live music programme and trying to get a record deal and it goes through the highs and lows of being in a band and trying to make a name for themselves. It also features a lot of music that Joe Meek worked on with other artists and musicians of the time. Live it up is one of my favourite films, I just love it so much, I loved the music, I loved the friendship dynamic and banter between the four friends and it was just a very fun film to turn on. My dad introduced the film to me as he does with loads of classic TV shows, music and films and I found it on Talking Pictures TV and it instantly became one of my favourite films. One of my favourite songs from the film is the song at the end called Don’t You Understand, it’s such a good song and I love it because everyone in the group look like demented serial killers, I love it. I remember my dad showing me this a couple of times when I was little. And also the song  Law And Order where the Outlaws are performing on a scaffolding, me and my dad always used to laugh about this. Brilliant songs

 

That’s a great classic if you want to see what kind of stuff he did. I’m definitely going to go back and re watch it again at some point because it’s such a good movie. If you love live it up then it’s also work checking out Be My Guest

It’s a follow up to Live it up. It hasn’t got Heinz in it but it’s got Steve Marriot and David Hemming and so on. Be My Guest is also amazing and I watched it not long after I watched Live It Up and those are two of my favourites out of classic British cinema. I love these films so much, I’ve had a great education about classic British cinema from the forties, the fifties and the sixties and I’ve grown very fond of them. I find it’s a great way to unwind. I’m also just discovering the carry on films, Carry on Doctor is my favourite carry on film but there’s loads I haven’t seen yet, I’m making time for them, they’re also really funny. The Norman Wisdom films are also some of my absolute favourites, I love Norman Wisdom, an  absolute legend, I really love his films. Follow a star, The early bird, Trouble in store, One good turn, A stitch in time, On the beat and the square peg are my favourites but there are loads more I haven’t seen yet, they’re on my list, I’ll get round to them very soon. I could talk about his films forever, I love them so much. They always cheer me up when I’m having a bad day. I discovered Norman Wisdom and his films only a while ago and I’m 17 now and I’m still obsessed with them, nothing much has changed. I just love discovering new things, I’ve got no idea what this has got to do with Joe Meek but I just felt like putting it out there. One day I’ll be uploading a post about some of my favourite films and classic TV shows, so stay tuned.

Everyday’s a holiday is a film starring John Leyton is another one of my absolute favourite old films from the sixties but that’s got nothing to do with Joe Meek but John is incredible and really cute in it. It is an amazing film and I had so much fun watching it and it instantly became one of my favourite films. In the summer time, sing song, love it, I always watch it during summer. Freddie and the dreamers are also in it. Those are some great films, I’m sure there are loads of other films I’m not thinking of but these are some of my favourite films and I felt like they deserved a mention. In the film, John Leyton joins this holiday camp with all these other youngsters and they make friendships and relationships through music. Another classic. It’s got a very young Richard O Sullivan in it too who I also really love.

Tel star is also a great film about Joe Meek, I’m sure I’ve mentioned it so many times here on my blog, it’s got a great cast and it’s very well made and I think everyone did a great job. The ending still makes me cry, it just makes me think about how difficult all that really was that he slowly drove people away from him and his genius had finally caught up with him and it drove him mad to the point of self destruction. It’s a shame it went that way in the end. I can’t help but wonder what he would be doing today if he was still around.

A hard hitting story about a genius, his story still lives on, his legacy still lives on. Hopefully, people will still continue to listen to his music and one day hopefully they’ll realise what a legend and a genius he really was. I also watched a really good documentary about him with my dad once and that was also very good.

If I might add, I’m really sorry it took me so long to upload this post, I’ve just been really busy, life’s just been super hectic and really chaotic these past few months, stuff going on in the family that I needed to deal with so it’s been quite a while since I’ve posted anything on here, so I do apologise but it’s here now, so I hope you enjoy it.

So yeah, that’s all I have time for, for you guys today, there is so much more I haven’t talked about yet but I’m just going to keep it nice and short. Thank you for stopping by, hope you all have a lovely day wherever you are and stay safe

Next time, I’ll be talking about some of my favourite  male actors and sitcom stars from the seventies, so stay tuned

More to come on Big Blog Theory