John Joseph Wardle (better known by the name of Jah Wobble) was born on 11 August 1958, and grew up in London's East End. He is a long-time friend of John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) whom he had met in the 1970's at London's Kingsway College, where they formed half of the group of friends known as 'The Four Johns', along with John Grey and John Simon Ritchie (aka Sid Vicious). Jah Wobble acquired his stage name through the drunken, mumbled version of his name by Sid Vicious, and he kept it because he thought people would never forget it. He took up the bass in the early 70's, after experimenting with the guitar, and was influenced in part by admiring Bob Marley and The Wailers' bassist Aston 'Family Man' Barrett on stage in 1975. Following the break-up of The Sex Pistols, Lydon approached Wobble about forming a band, as both had broadly similar musical tastes, and were avid fans of reggae and world music. Wobble's bass playing in Public Image Ltd drew heavily on dub, which has remained an important feature of his music, and the band's first single 'Public Image', which he co-wrote, reached number 9 on the UK charts, and also performed well on import in the US. Wobble co-wrote and contributed bass and drums to PiL's second album 'Metal Box', which was released in 1979, but grew increasingly frustrated by the lacklustre creative atmosphere in the band, which he felt stifled his artistic ambitions. Further conflicts were brought on when Wobble recorded his debut album 'The Legend Lives On... Jah Wobble in "Betrayal"', and found himself accused by other PiL members of having made unauthorised use of material from 'Metal Box' for the making of his album. While still a member of PiL he teamed up with 'Stratetime Keith' (Keith Levene), Don Letts and Don’s pal Vince Bracken, aka 'Steel Leg', to record the 'Steel Leg v. The Electric Dread' 12" EP (the first track might sound like a PiL parody, but the rest is great stuff). The hooded figure on the cover was long rumored to be John Lydon but he had no involvement with this record whatsoever, according to the PiL fansite Fodderstompf. In the same year of 1978 Wobble also released a solo single 'Dreadlock Don't Deal In Wedlock', in which he recites Edward Lear's 'The Owl And The Pussycat' over some choice dub reggae beats. In 1979 he released the 'Dan MacArthur' single, which came sporting a plain white label with 'Dan MacArthur' printed on both sides, with the a-side apparently playing a longer version of 'Beat The Drum For Me' (although I can't hear it), and the b-side being a slower vocal take of 'Dan McArthur', both from the '....Betrayal' album. To flesh out this collection of Wobble rarities I've included a couple of out-takes from the '....Betrayal' album sessions, so enjoy some fine dub/reggae/indie rock from one of the best rock bassists around.
Track listing
01 Steel Leg (from the 'Steel Leg v. The Electric Dread' 1978) 02 Stratetime And The Wideman (from the 'Steel Leg v. The Electric Dread' 1978) 03 Haily Unlikely By The Electric Dread (from the 'Steel Leg v. The Electric Dread' 1978) 04 Unlikely Pub (from the 'Steel Leg v. The Electric Dread' 1978) 05 Dreadlock Don't Deal In Wedlock (12" single 1978)06 Pthilius Pubis (b-side of 'Dreadlock Don't Deal In Wedlock')07 Dan MacArthur I (7" single 1979)08 Dan MacArthur II (7" single 1979)09 Blood Repression (from the 'V.I.E.P. Featuring Blueberry Hill' 12" EP 1980)10 Message From Pluto (out-take from 'The Legend Lives On...' 1980)
I was watching the penultimate episode of the latest series of 'The Simpsons' the other day, and at the end we were treated to the end credits played by Weezer, which got me thinking about other T.V. themes that have been covered by rock bands, and there are more than you would think. Some have even been hit singles for The Manic Street Preachers, The Timelords and The Dickies, and in their naive Australia for Silver Studs, and many famous bands like to pay homage to their favourite T.V. shows by covering the theme tune. The James Taylor Quartet jazzed up 'Starsky & Hutch' for their second album following the success of their mini-album of film themes in 1987, and the latest example is a frankly unrecognisable version of 'The Golden Girls' theme 'Thank You For Being A Friend' from St. Vincent. Pantera have shredded 'Mission Impossible', just as Weezer have done with 'The Simpsons', whereas a couple of the best covers are from artists previously unknown to me, Shagpile with a lovely cover of the theme from 'Cheers', and Mateo Oxley with a similar version of the theme from 'Friends'. Also tucked away on here is Sun Kil Moon's take on 'The Partridge Family', 'Laverne & Shirley' from The Squealing Pygmies, 'Welcome Back Kotter' from Swedish hipsters jj, and Husker Du paying tribute to their hometown-based 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show'. The theme from 'Batman' has been covered by many rock bands, including The Who, The Jam, Link Wray, REM, and The Ventures, but I've gone with The Flaming Lips' version here, and we round the whole thing off with the track that started this idea, Weezer playing out 'The Simpsons'. Hope you enjoy this little diversion, and now that I've got this out of my system I'll get back to the normal rock stuff.
01 Theme From Starsky & Hutch (The James Taylor Quartet)02 Making Our Dreams Come True (The Squealing Pygmies)03 UFO (The Wedding Present)04 Theme From M*A*S*H (Suicide Is Painless) (Manic Street Preachers)05 Mission Impossible (Pantera)06 Thank You For Being A Friend (St. Vincent)07 Batman Theme (The Flaming Lips)08 Banana Splits (The Dickies)09 Where Everybody Knows Your Name (Shagpile)10 Doctorin' The Tardis (The Timelords AKA The KLF)11 Love Is All Around (Husker Du)12 Get Smart Theme (Agent 86) (Agent Orange)13 C'Mon Get Happy (Sun Kil Moon)14 Theme To The Persuaders (Jah Wobble)15 Welcome Back (jj)16 Happy Days (Silver Studs)17 I'll Be There For You (Mateo Oxley)18 Spider Man (Ramones)19 The Simpsons Theme (Weezer)
