IN this issue, John Fogerty talks about the influence that one of his favourite bands had on Creedence Clearwater Revival: “Booker T & The MG’s were our idols and our template for how you ought to be as a band. They were unselfish in their music.”
While I suspect Fogerty’s observation was more about the MG’s’ creative generosity of spirit, I’d like to think that the phrase “unselfish in their music” also applies to the joy they brought listeners. It’s a positive trait I’m sure is true of many of the musicians we write about in Uncut - whether it’s Polly Jean Harvey’s phantasmagorical career reinventions, Creedence’s ramble tamble adventures, Idles’ cathartic volume, Isaac Hayes’ extravagantly rich manifesto, Tom Petty’s understated musical ingenuity, Matt Berninger’s midlife melancholy or other artists you’ll find elsewhere in this month’s issue.
Beyond that estimable lineup, I’m thrilled we’ve got a Hüsker Dü piece in this issue - the last time we wrote about them in any depth was way back in Take 69! I’d also like to thank reader Dave Nwokedi, who mentioned Birmingham’s Steel Pulse in passing during a recent email conversation. We’ve not often written about the UK’s late-’70s/early-’80s reggae scene, so I’m delighted that our Making Of Steel Pulse’s “Ku Klux Klan” is one of this month’s highlights.