Back in 1985 BBC’s Old Grey Whistle Test did an all-nighter show called Rock Around The Clock. It was hosted by Word Magazine’s Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, with a bit of help from Andy Kershaw.
I remember staying up and seeing Echo and the Bunnymen joining up with Billy Bragg to play a rather shambolic version of The Velvet Underground’s Run, Run, Run at about 3 in the morning. I’d just discovered The Velvet Underground for myself and it felt like being a member of an exclusive club. In a pre-Amazon and MP3 world, just getting hold of their records was a challenge. To see two of my favourite acts teaming on a Velvet’s cover was tremendously exciting.
I hadn’t seen or heard it again in nearly 25 years until I found this on YouTube. In the intervening time I had thought about this version, and being a bit of a guitar geek, I remembered distinctly that Billy Bragg was playing a Telecaster f hole Thinline and that Will Sargent of the Bunnymen was playing a Bond Electraglide. A very 80s high tech guitar, made with carbon fibre with digital controls and readouts and a stepped rather than fretted fretboard. Very much of it’s time and technology in a guitar that never really caught on. Mick Jones played one in Big Audio Dynamite. The Edge probably played one too.
Tuna Day 