Special Guest - Kevin Rogers

I'm always glad to revive the Top 6 and My Favourite Poem features here. Maybe I'll think about sending out some more invitations. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I am privileged to have here Kevin Rogers, the other half of 'the bad boys of Portsmouth Poetry', as I jocularly call us since I'm about as bad as Cliff Richard. But it's best he introduces himself,

Ageing punk rocker and sometimes poet. In the late 70s I was in the Von Trapp Family and later the ‘post punk’ Room 13. Like so many we were John Peel ‘superstars’ but ignored most everywhere else. I went to college in the 80s and then worked and brought up my family. I have recorded my first music in 40 odd years this year, a couple of my poems set to music and recorded on vintage instruments (60s and 70s guitars and synths), with the band Splore. It is released in October 2025. Splore, Backscattering (Blue Matter Records).  Bizarrely, I have had several poems published in various books about Tottenham Hotspur, bizarre because I am a Fulham supporter (a favour for a friend).

Top 6 underrated pop songs/performers

Death, Politicians in my eyes.

What Jimi Hendrix might have done if he had lived. Combination of Hendrix/funk and punk rock. They looked great, too, black punks in leather.

David Ackles, American Gothic.

I’ve always loved Ackles. Critics might say they are ‘showtunes’, if so, he is Sondheim not Lloyd Webber. Totally transforms this song about perversion and poverty with the last line, 'They suffer least those who suffer what they choose’.

Atomic Rooster, Winter

That sweet spot where melancholy meets clinical depression. OK, they had hit records ‘Tomorrow Night’ and ‘Devil's Answer’ but this is their first incarnation with Carl Palmer and Nick Graham. Vincent Crane has been a ‘hero’ since The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, a tortured genius - don’t play it if you are feeling low. Vincent committed suicide after many stays in psychiatric hospitals.

The Saints, Messin’ with the Kid.

That sneer in Chris Bailey’s voice makes Lydon sound like Richard Burton. Don’t leave early the guitar glissando at the end is something to behold. Best Punk band of all time?

Beacon Street Union, The Clown died in Marvin Gardens

Boston’s finest. Vintage psychedelia underscored by the funeral march on Hammond organ. Esoteric lyrics and the voice of an angel.

Wire, A Serious of Snakes.

 Wire was the first gig I took my wife to. One of those rare groups whose second phase of their career was as good as the first. Lyrically perfect; ‘You tulip, you pea brained earwig’ is an insult I still use today.

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My Favorite Poem

 I would say Gregory Corso’s, The Last Gangster. Corso is the most authentic of the Beats and the imagery of rusting guns in arthritic hands is beautifully crafted. That sense of waiting for that moment that never comes is universal. Surely if you are the last gangster, you are safe, but maybe yesterday’s sins are always with us?