JK

How much influence did you have exactly ?


I just acquired a huge stack of early 70s pop magazines ranging from Record Mirror to a weekly songbook entitled "Disco 45" and you are in every one of them.

On one full page article on you it ends with

"whatever else you might like to say about Jonathan King, he is without doubt,a Hit-Maker of the most productive kind..."


I like the adverts for exclusive pop pillow cases. For 85p you could go to bed with David Cassidy and/or Marc Bolan ! was there a JK pillow case ?

No Mike but I was fully available in person for free!

Disco 45 was great and taught many of us, that people do care about lyrics, it was such a strange concept for a little magazine really at the time.

I recall that there was one issue that proclaimed "Do you want the words to Jailhouse Rock?", I thought about it at the age of 10, and thought "yes I do actually as I can play that one easily and sing it", there was a rhetorical answer in the mag, which said something like "no of course you don`t you want the latest chart hits!"

I was gutted, I thought that they would be in the next issue.

There were other great things that could be used from that mag as well, which would never happen today for a young musician.
Sometimes they would print a lyric for a song which obviously some PR guy had guaranteed them would be a hit, which meant that the young up and coming musician, would be presented with a whole set of lyrics and no chords (or "Tabs" as they learn on these days)and be able to "co write" it with a famous artist.

The one I remember doing was "Take the Money and Run" by Steve Miller. I did not actually hear the song for years later after recording it to cassette with my own tune and chord structures and much to my surprise, they were nearly the same.

Congrats on your find Mike, I have my Marvel comic collection, the entire "Story of Pop" collection but no Disco 45`s have remained.

DISCO 45 was my fave mag. Like most songwriters it was essential reading in the days before internet lyric sites - which I do frequent alot to check up on album lyrics for best selling albums.

Coldplay's new album has some very intense lyrics.

JK features in everything of course.

I still have a cassette tape of JK v Cliff Richard from a Radio One debate on God. Interesting stuff.

BR wrote:

I still have a cassette tape of JK v Cliff Richard from a Radio One debate on God. Interesting stuff.

Blimey... can you remember when that occurred? I'm sure that makes for a most interesting listen!

I remember it well and at the end Cliff, a real gentleman, promised that if there IS a God, when he gets there he'll put in a good word for me.

JK2006 wrote:
I remember it well and at the end Cliff, a real gentleman, promised that if there IS a God, when he gets there he'll put in a good word for me.


And if you go first JK you'll be putting in a good word for him too I hope.

One of the disco 45s has the lyrics for "Loop di love" and the word "bed" is in very small letters.

You must have performed "loop di love" on Top of the Pops JK. Sadly I've never seen it.

mikemacca wrote:


You must have performed "loop di love" on Top of the Pops JK. Sadly I've never seen it.

I'm sure JK has said a few months ago he didn't perform that one in the TOTP studio, but he did make a film clip for it for the show.

The BBC still have that colour film, unseen since 1972, in their archive.

Just recently, 2 previously lost 1971 episodes of TOTP from late 1971 in black and white have been found and guess what? One of them from November features a "promo film" accompanying Johnny Reggae! On the same show are performances by Slade, Olivia Newton John, Cliff Richard, Gilbert O'Sullivan and Labi Siffre (with his wonderful version of It Must Be Love)

Another lost piece of JK TOTP history found. No idea if and when we will get to see it.