Danny Baker: Classic or Dud

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yeah, NME baker was apparently amazing. big disco fan. i forgot about sniffin glue, which could scarcely have been more rockist. weird.

N_RQ, Tuesday, 10 May 2005 14:24 (eighteen years ago) link

how exactly was sniffin glue 'rockist'? why is it 'weird' that Baker cld like prog and punk AND soul AND pop etc etc?

Andrew J L, Tuesday, 10 May 2005 15:33 (eighteen years ago) link

Didn't he do the last NME pre-Madness of King Pop interview with Michael Jackson around the release of 'Thriller' in late 82 ?

darren (darren), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 19:27 (eighteen years ago) link

Dusty Baker.....DUD.

Jeff-PTTL (Jeff), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 19:40 (eighteen years ago) link

in that jackson interview he mostly talked abt wack-a-mole!!

mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 21:10 (eighteen years ago) link

Should I not object to that commentary then?

PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 06:51 (eighteen years ago) link

Baker at NME: classic for the Chic album review, for the Jackson interview (Yoshi! "I'm playing with words you see...is funny"), for the Britfunk piece (which if you can find it will show you EXACTLY what he thought of post-punk), for Samuel KB Amphong, for his Teazers columns ("Basement 5 are my favourite group of all time! Sorry, who was it we were talking about again?") and especially for the funniest singles columns ever run, in the NME or anywhere else.

Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 06:57 (eighteen years ago) link

Whoops, two weeks, not two months. What am I going to listen to in the mornings now?!

Mind you, listening to a rubbish morning show will probably drive me out of bed, which would be a good thing.

Vicky (Vicky), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 08:43 (eighteen years ago) link

I can't listen to his Radio London show as it frustrates me, every time he gets going, he has to stop for dreary, interminable quarter-hour traffic and news summaries. Put him on Radio 2. Wogan's past retirement age!

Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 08:44 (eighteen years ago) link

You can listen to the "listen again" on the BBC London website which handily cuts out the boring bits.

I must admit Vicky is probably right. I thought having a morning show I really liked would help me get up int he morning, but actually i usuall listen until 9 and am then late for work*. Any news on if he is moving anywhere. Getting a nice Sunday morning show???

*Not that in the scheme of things this really matter.s

Pete (Pete), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 08:51 (eighteen years ago) link

Hold up! He did not Start "Sniffin Glue". He joined it towards the end.

Oh, when he was on the NME, his first (I think) singles review column was all raving about disco 12" singles. Most of which had terrible titles like "I'll never forget my favourite disco" but as I've never heared the tracks, I'll refrain.

mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 08:51 (eighteen years ago) link

Oh, and ALSO!!!

He'd write stuff like "It sounds like Highway Star, and I've always hated Highway Star" which was a LIE! which he admitted later. It was more pretence than the CLASH!!! (I mean this, btw). Also, when "So it goes" had a retrospective, a lot of the lost vids were supplied by DB. Hang on, who had a video recorder in 1976-1977? Very rich people, that's who.


Despite all that, I vote Classic.

mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 08:54 (eighteen years ago) link

I doubt if you'll get him on Radio 2 on Sunday morning - Steve Shite's Sunday Love Songs and Michael Parkinson (the Geir Hongro of broadcasting) are immovable. So it would have to be tedious BBC Radio London, which manages to reduce one of the world's great cities to the level of Chipping Norton. On a wet Wednesday morning. In November. 1974.

Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 08:57 (eighteen years ago) link

http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1480588,00.html

Vicky (Vicky), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 09:38 (eighteen years ago) link

Crappy news, but probably to be expected. I had a feeling he wouldn't stick that lousy early-morning slot forever. And the format was patently unsuitable - no records allowed and Baker having to stop every five minutes for travel bulletins.

It would be nice if they could do the obvious thing and put him back together with Danny Kelly again. It seems silly to have them doing different shows on the same station.

Giving Jon Gaunt the breakfast slot would probably be the worst thing ever, but I doubt I'll be listening to it anyway.

Philip Alderman (Phil A), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 12:18 (eighteen years ago) link

Giving Jon Gaunt the breakfast slot would probably be the worst thing ever

PLEASE tell me that's not happening.

stevie (stevie), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 12:32 (eighteen years ago) link

Well I won't be listening to it if that turns out to be the case. I suppose that's why Wogan does so well in the breakfast ratings; he seems to be the only DJ on that time who doesn't shout at you continually.

Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 12:34 (eighteen years ago) link

Me and the missus were so angry with BBC London when they dropped Baker's show for a fortnight at the beginning of hostilities in Iraq (because it was deemed "inappropriate"; a rolling news service was put in its place) that we wrote our one and only Points Of View-style letter of complaint to the Beeb. We got some risibly-argued PoS response which just made us angrier.

Sad to see him go (though, in recent weeks, I've been craving sleep so much I've been hitting the snooze button more often than not).

Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 12:36 (eighteen years ago) link

Its odd actually, I rather like the format now, and wonder if I will be able to wait between records for more banter. Nice to get rid of the news and stuff, but this is BBC radio.

Pete (Pete), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 12:37 (eighteen years ago) link

Fuck the BBC.

Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 12 May 2005 05:32 (eighteen years ago) link

Gah. Will we have to go back to XFM? I don't know if I can take the nob jokes. There's no way Wogan will do, especially as there's the chance of catching the end of vile Sarah Kennedy on R2.

Liz :x (Liz :x), Thursday, 12 May 2005 07:37 (eighteen years ago) link

hah! Laura hated GMTV but always stuck it on in the morning before 7:30 when getting ready for work because she liked Wogan but couldn't bear a nanosecond of Sarah "Terrible Twooooooos" Kennedy.

Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 12 May 2005 07:54 (eighteen years ago) link

I'd rather listen to static than Kennedy. Same goes for Jon Gaunt. Looks like we'll be battlin' the pirates for XFM reception again. Ahaarrr!

robster (robster), Thursday, 12 May 2005 08:03 (eighteen years ago) link

Guys! Radio 4! Today! John Humphries laying into haplass politicians! Strangly cheery weather presenters! GET ONE THINKING!

Come Back Johnny B (Johnney B), Thursday, 12 May 2005 08:05 (eighteen years ago) link

I'm surprised at how many of you listen to the radio in the mornings (just because I never do I suppose).

$V£N! (blueski), Thursday, 12 May 2005 08:07 (eighteen years ago) link

Being woken up by a radio is a bit less brutal than an alarm clock.

Radio 4 is an option I suppose. Today tends to make me angrier than I want to be at that time of the morning though. Is there a channel that just does the shipping forecast all the time?

robster (robster), Thursday, 12 May 2005 08:14 (eighteen years ago) link

John Humphrys is a wearisome Welsh windbag. I wouldn't know about XFM since I only ever listen to their ambient/electronica programme occasionally on Sunday nights. But Christian O'Connell sounds pretty repulsive and shouty.

Resonance should do a breakfast show. They've got a clear field. Hello chaps! I'm available at a competitive rate!

Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 12 May 2005 08:20 (eighteen years ago) link

There was a very funny interview with Prescott on 'Today' this morning. Jim Naughtie compared him to Les Dawson at one point, which he seemed quite happy about.

Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 12 May 2005 08:23 (eighteen years ago) link

I couldn't stand O'Connell the couple of times I did listen. You'd be better off with Moyles. Seriously.

$V£N! (blueski), Thursday, 12 May 2005 08:25 (eighteen years ago) link

If only Les Dawson were still alive to present Today...

Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 12 May 2005 08:28 (eighteen years ago) link

That's sooooo unfair to O'Connell. He can be irritating though. I like his bantering newsreader comrade.

xpost haha I think I would listen to Les Dawson in the morning. Lugubrious.

Liz :x (Liz :x), Thursday, 12 May 2005 08:30 (eighteen years ago) link

Resonance FM! Breakfast Show! Presented by John Prescott!!!

mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 12 May 2005 08:39 (eighteen years ago) link

All I know of C O'C on XFM is from the hideous billboard ads - "Could a leech suck another leech?", etc. Try-hard zany shite by the sounds of it.

Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Thursday, 12 May 2005 08:41 (eighteen years ago) link

That acronym of his name sounds sweatily appropriate.

Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 12 May 2005 08:52 (eighteen years ago) link

six months pass...
Huzzah, back on BBC London, 3-5 weekdays. Ideal for podcasting, an hour on the way to work, and hour back. If you can get it as a podcast. Which you might not. Doesn't matter, I listen at work.

Pete (Pete), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 15:35 (eighteen years ago) link

four years pass...

Danny Baker has announced he has cancer. Awful news. From his Fbook...

Hello cats and kittens,

Apologies for the cloak and d. over recent weeks. However as it appears this is going to continue for the forseeable I really ought to offer up some sort of breadcrumbs trail as to what's going on. (As you know I am queasy about introducing vulgar real life onto the vaudeville stage so let's keep this crisp.)

After a pretty mouldy diagnosis about a month back I finally begin chemotherapy on Monday with further radiotherapy from January. Yes radiotherapy; can you beat it? This being so, the old treehouse baggy pants will be donned but sparingly. Once the quacks have soundly thrashed this thing I shall return like a rare gas and as if out of a trap. In the meantime I am watching Tommy Steele box sets (and has there ever been a more lying title to a film than TS's "It's All Happening"?) and urge you all to keep yakking up a storm and laugh extra loud at the incumbents.

Thank you for all the best wishes and concern from those who suspected as much about my "condition" and by all means keep ringing up Baylen and Amy to demand more and more Atomic Rooster and Spooky Tooth records.

So. Manly handshake. Walk right on. In the words of King George, "What what and there it is..."

DB

Venga, Monday, 1 November 2010 13:40 (thirteen years ago) link

Had kinda guessed what was wrong with him when he said something on his show last week about having to take time off at short notice over the coming months.

His current Radio 5 Saturday morning show is definitely a favourite. Alan Davies covering for him this week was unbearably awkward.

James Mitchell, Monday, 1 November 2010 22:25 (thirteen years ago) link

the b&w tv show he made in the early 80s about heavy metal and air guitarers was brilliant. plus i've only ever read good things about him by the people who knew him so he gets a lifetime good guy pass from me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3wI-AjvwPU

NI, Tuesday, 2 November 2010 17:28 (thirteen years ago) link

two weeks pass...

his last show for a while... http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00c25ws/Danny_Baker_with_the_original_Candyman_for_one_night_only/

Calumny (stevie), Thursday, 18 November 2010 19:57 (thirteen years ago) link

i think this dude is so awesome, btw.

Calumny (stevie), Thursday, 18 November 2010 19:58 (thirteen years ago) link

six months pass...

Via Twitter:

The call I have been waiting for just happened. Turns out I won. I'm all clear. I'm well again.

Ned Raggett, Monday, 13 June 2011 19:49 (twelve years ago) link

Y*A*Y!!!!!

You made the right choice, Deanne... (stevie), Monday, 13 June 2011 20:04 (twelve years ago) link

Aw, I can't say I'm a fan, but right now this is just the best news ever! Thanks for flagging it up, Ned.

NickB, Monday, 13 June 2011 22:17 (twelve years ago) link

Yer welcome!

Ned Raggett, Monday, 13 June 2011 22:19 (twelve years ago) link

one year passes...

Okay someone tell me why the UK Twitter crowd is going on about him right now. All I can gather is that he's been sacked but has two hours to himself to rip into the BBC right this second...?

Ned Raggett, Thursday, 1 November 2012 16:00 (eleven years ago) link

A week before he's entered into the Radio Hall Of Fame, he's discovered that his daily show on BBC London is to be axed.

I think he's a treasure, and while I don't often get a chance to hear his show, he is a great radio personality. His breakfast show on BBC London was a wonderful way to wake up, and is much missed.

Manchild in Beantown (stevie), Thursday, 1 November 2012 16:13 (eleven years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QolgU8thhJ0

daaaaannnnnyyyyyyy baaaaaakkkkkeeeeerrrrrrrr

Crackle Box, Thursday, 1 November 2012 16:21 (eleven years ago) link

I understand he is tearing BBC London a new one live on the air, although I haven't actually heard it.

Matt DC, Thursday, 1 November 2012 16:31 (eleven years ago) link

BBC London's not on iplayer, is it? Or is it?

Manchild in Beantown (stevie), Thursday, 1 November 2012 16:36 (eleven years ago) link

here?

woof, Thursday, 1 November 2012 16:39 (eleven years ago) link

perfect

deemsthelarker (darraghmac), Monday, 13 May 2019 09:56 (four years ago) link

Lol. That's the one.

calzino, Monday, 13 May 2019 09:56 (four years ago) link

nothing about danny baker is about seemliness or not being in the public eye, in particular his job

deemsthelarker (darraghmac), Monday, 13 May 2019 09:57 (four years ago) link

Well yeah hence fuck him

Doctor Nu (Noodle Vague), Monday, 13 May 2019 10:15 (four years ago) link

If was a bit more up for a short period of sweet obscurity he would be a coupla percent less a nauseating cunt for a day, at least.

calzino, Monday, 13 May 2019 10:23 (four years ago) link

fair

deemsthelarker (darraghmac), Monday, 13 May 2019 10:25 (four years ago) link

Biography is on Kindle daily deal today. #1 bestseller in autobiographies apparently.

koogs, Monday, 20 May 2019 09:32 (four years ago) link

His podcast with Gary Lineker stopped without any announcement.

Lineker has kept schtum on twitter about the whole thing - dunno if he's dropped Baker or they're just letting the dust settle.

Non, je ned raggette rien (onimo), Tuesday, 21 May 2019 19:34 (four years ago) link


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