It’s a hot night – no, hang on, better make that nite – in November 1980. I’m standing near the back of the Kingsbury Bandwagon; next to me is a leading music industry mover-and-shaker. (more…)

It’s amazing how an eye-catching album cover image can help define your perception of a band. It wouldn’t happen nowadays, of course – not with iPods as wafer-thin as Posh Spice’s profile, and impersonal electronic downloads that might give you a song’s timing down to the last nanosecond, but tell you precious little about its soul. (more…)

Take a look at the name: Rock City Angels. How interesting can a band with such a snooze-worthy moniker be? It’s so dull, they might as well have called themselves Angelic City Rockers. Or Angels From Rock City. Or Rockers From The City Of Angels. (Even though they actually hailed from, er, Florida.) Check out all the previous Cult Heroes here. (more…)

This week we bring back to life a band called Bethnal. Wrongly labelled punk or new wave, this late 70s UK band could have been hard rock contenders, if only they’d been better marketed by their label. Check out all previous Cult Heroes here. (more…)

This week, we take a look at Woolly Wolstenholme, who so sadly died a couple of days ago. Never given the wider respect he deserved, his work with Barclay James Harvest makes him a worthy Cult Hero. You can check out all past Cult Heroes here. (more…)

You know all about Sweet, right? And you’re undoubtedly familiar with their hits – from Little Willy to Blockbuster; from Co-Co to Teenage Rampage; from Poppa Joe to Fox On The Run. So, you’re probably asking youself: why the hell are we featuring the band as our latest Cult Heroes? Well, the reason is that we’re about to explore an underappreciated era of theirs. Cast your minds back to the year 1978, if you can, and Sweet’s album Level Headed. The hits had (almost) dried up by this point, and it was the last record they made before the classic Brian Connolly/Andy Scott/Steve Priest/Mick Tucker line-up split… (more…)

Blink and you might have missed The Smirks in the late 1970s. But before the Madchester phenomenon gripped the country, this lot were proving that Manchester had a band with bite, humour and tunes. They also led an anti-disco revolt. But they never quite got the chance to shine. So, instead of becoming icons, they’re here, as our latest Cult Heroes. Check out all previous Cult Heroes here. (more…)

As a spotty teenager scouring the record shops in the early 1970s, The Edgar Winter Group’s They Only Come Out At Night was most definitely the scariest album to occupy the racks. And that included anything by The Bay City Rollers. (more…)

Now these chaps are what we call Cult Heroes. A band who hardly ever played outside of California, only released one EP and a single, yet had bands like Guns N’ Roses, Slayer and Poison support them! So, why hasn’t the world at large ever heard of Witch? Now’s the time to find out. Time to meet Peter Wabbit and Punky Peru et al. Check out all the other Cult Heroes here. (more…)

Here’s your starter for 10: what do the following have in common? Rush, The Jam, Motörhead, Thin Lizzy, Cream, Triumph, The Nice, Venom, Beck, Bogert & Appice, West, Bruce & Laing, Raven, ELP, Green Day, Nirvana, Budgie… et cetera, et cetera? Check out previous Cult Heroes here. (more…)