EP138 - Barry Cain - Journalist, Publisher & PR Man - Record Mirror, FlexiPop!, Punk, The Jam, Paul Weller, and more...

On this episode of The Paul Weller Fan Podcast, we hear from Barry Cain - another key player in this incredible story arc as from the tail-end of the seventies to the beginning of the nineties, Barry was a music journalist, publisher, and PR man.

He joined Record Mirror at the end of 1976 - the start of the punk explosion - and was perfectly placed to take part in, and report on, the scene. Barry was viewed as an 'insider' by the bands of the time and his access was unrivalled. So much so that if you flip to the back sleeve of The Modern World album by The Jam, you'll see a credit to Barry... (Special thanks to Mr B. Cain (Teenage Blue).

On this podcast chat, we hear about his first The Jam gig at the Hope and Anchor to the band's first nationwide tour, travels across Europe including a visit to Dachau Concentration Camp, magazine reviews for gigs, singles and albums, and of course, interviews galore - including the band's final one.

We also hear how in 1980, together with writer Tim Lott, he launched Flexipop! magazine.

A publication which featured a flexi disc on the cover of each issue exclusively recorded by artists like The Jam, Blondie, Madness, the Cure, Adam Ant and even Genesis.

Flexipop! has to be the most bizarre pop music magazine ever published... stand-out features include Paul Weller as a TV critic, revealing his nasty habits, a photo history of The Jam and even Paul Weller in bondage...

Barry had such a great connection with The Jam that Paul even wrote and performed - ‘Pop-Art Poem’ – just for Flexipop!.

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