For the past thirty years, writer, journalist and broadcaster Steve Lamacq has remained on the cutting edge of new and emerging music, giving a platform to a whole new generation of musicians and overseeing a multitude of cultural phenomena. Studying for a one year course in journalism at Harlow Polytechnic College would ironically form the foundation for the rest of his working life. Beginning his career as a journalist for the NME, Steve cultivated a refined pallet for music which dated back to the mid seventies when he saw The Jam on Top of The Pops. Paul Wellar and co weren’t to the taste of the whole Lamacq family and this was the first time that Steve had witnessed the differentiation between music and different audiences. Despite identifying this trend amongst his family, this awareness promptly laid early foundations of a career which has seen him rise to the very top of the broadcasting industry. Yet irrespective of his broadcasting pedigree, Steve has always been proud that his journalism career has always been able to run in parallel with his radio dominance, making him one of the most influential and enduring figures in music presentation.
Joining BBC Radio 1 in 1993 at a defining era for the network as a direct result of Matthew Bannister’s controversial shakeup, you would think would be a daunting prospect for the broadcaster who was fresh to the station. However,as an eternal pragmatist, Steve recognised the irony in being classed as the young crop of broadcasters at the somewhat experienced age of 28. It seems ironic in today’s radio landscape where presenters on youth orientated radio stations are forever paranoid that they appear too old for the projected image of the network. Yet in 1993 Steve was unveiled as the young presenter alongside the 26 year old Jo Whiley who were both considered to be representative of the youth demographic. This illustrates where the station was in the early nineties and how far removed it was from the desires of young people of the nineties.
Premiering in October 1993 within weeks of Elastica’s self titled debut album, it couldn’t have been better timing in terms of the revolution that was about to take place. The show was able to chart Oasis’s rise to worldwide domination from the release of their debut album Definitely Maybe in August 1994 to the Britpop Glastonbury just ten months later when John Squire broke his leg which resulted in Pulp being promoted to the Saturday night headliner. This was one of the defining events in the Britpop revolution and gave Britpop its very own Sliding Doors moment and debates still remain regarding how defining this moment was in establishing this brand new sound.
Signing a one year contract, Steve and Jo had no idea what was about to take place as The Evening Session began to generate cult status from both the audience and performers in a way that had rarely been heard on British radio. This was a long, forgotten era before social media, texts and email and the quickest way for fans to interact with the show was either by phone or fax. The irony of such a concept is nowadays music changes so fast and it seems totally antiquated that the audience was forced to wait two or three days to interact with their favourite shows. Yet in exchange for this lack of interactivity, a plethora of future music legends were always dropping by for impromptu performances, interviews or just to gather in Broadcasting House. This was definitely a unique time in British music and The Evening Session was perfectly situated to echo this.
This was the era when music fans would congregate around their TV sets on a Thursday evening to watch Top of The Pops as this was the only place to watch your favourite bands. Therefore The Evening Session offered an extension of this fan culture that was so important for the time and despite embracing more of a broader spectrum, the show echoed the same themes as its televisual cousin. Indeed, the fans weren’t the only ones who were congregating around a musical hub as throughout the nineties, Broadcasting House became a regular haunt for bands and artists to interact. The Evening Session provided a unique habitat where a lot of artists would gravitate towards, almost developing its own ecosystem as it celebrated such a vibrant hotbed of talent. Of course with the advent of the internet and social media, shows such as these are no longer relevant in the 360 content landscape or today. Yet Steve still maintains that Top Of The Pops and The Evening Session were very important and influential and the void which it left on music has sadly never gone away.
Following The Evening Session, Steve was given his own Radio 1 vehicle which once again gave a platform to the very best in emerging music. Lamacq Live was scheduled at a similar time to The Evening Session in the heart of the station’s weeknight output. This created a natural gateway for future artists to obtain much needed exposure and everyone from Coldplay to Frank Turner benefited greatly from this positive attitude towards emerging music. Beyond his broadcasting pedigree, at heart, Steve remains a passionate, ardent music journalist who thrives on the ability to help musicians on their musical journey and shall forever champion and represent underground artists. Beyond celebrating contemporary pop music, establishing new artists has always been an important part of Radio 1’s mission statement and Lamacq Live played a pivotal role in this.
Leaving Radio 1 in 2009, Steve made a natural progression to 6Music, originally presenting the Sunday afternoon show before inheriting the weekday drive time slot from Andrew Collins. Unbeknown to Steve, 6Music would become his spiritual home for the next decade and return him to his passion for discovering new music. This has also enabled him to reunite with his Evening Session colleague Jo Whiley first in 2007 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Radio 1 and then again in 2013 for the twentieth anniversary of Britpop. Steve and Jo’s recent reunion has seen them embrace the podcast format to present two BBC Sounds series on Britpop and Oasis. It seems that Steve’s career has now come full circle with the celebration of bands both old and new sampling a taste of his unrivalled broadcasting pedigree. It was a great pleasure to welcome the all conquering Steve Lamacq to the podcast and with this episode, I feel that Beyond The Title has been further legitimised.
Beyond The Title