[kj] OT McGeogh - Bill Nelson's words

[Simon Lee]

Mik (and anyone else interested),

On the subject of the loss of the great John McGeoch, here is an extract fr=
om Bill Nelson's diary:

Also by email, writer and friend Tim Barr informed me of the sad death of g=
uitarist John McGeogh who played with several bands, Magazine and PIL being=
 my own favourites amongst those he worked with. I was only speaking about =
him a couple of days earlier and the news came as a shock. I met him many y=
ears ago when he was in Magazine and he seemed a genuinely good man and an =
original and inventive player. I really liked his approach. I'd been wonder=
ing what had happened to him as he was a talented musician who should have =
been given much more recognition by both his peers and the 'industry.' How =
appropriate the term 'industry' for the music business, it suggests images =
of a great Metropolis-like 'Moloch' machine, chewing up and spitting out ar=
tists in a relentless orgy of greed and indifference. I have no idea whethe=
r the trials and pressures of trying to survive as an artist-musician have =
contributed to John's tragically too early passing or not, but it wouldn't =
surprise me if that were the case. We've lost too many creative people thes=
e last ten or so years, Stewart Adamson, Billy McKenzie and Martin Hannet b=
eing others of John McGeogh's generation with whom I had personal contact a=
nd who are no longer with us. I'm saddened by how often these kind of situa=
tions have to be reported in this diary. To some degree I suspect that it i=
s inevitable as we all become middle aged and older. Everyone I know seems =
to have experienced the passing of friends and loved ones. Perhaps it is pa=
rtly an 'age' thing then, but also the despair that seems to hang like fog =
around those of a sensitive nature. I should stop this train of thought her=
e before it becomes too maudlin. I can't afford that luxury, there's work t=
o be done and dreams to be captured.

...should have been given much more recognition by both his peers and the '=
industry'. Too right.

Si