Love is the Message: Dance, Music and Counterculture

On this week’s episode we return to 70s for the first of a mini-series on post-punk. A historical period, an unhelpful genre descriptor, a structure of feeling? Whatever it is, the guitar bands of the UK and NYC in 1978 were creating some serious music. Jeremy and Tim discuss where the term came from, what exactly the ‘punk’ it was following was, and some the music’s early proponents. With reference to The Slits, Wire, Talking Heads and more, we hear about the Hacienda, John Peel, Modernism and Mark E Smith. The guys unpack how funk and reggae were influencing bands like The Contortions in their experimentation with rhythm, visit the CBGB club in New York, and dispute received ideas about the division between punk and disco. Finally, we introduce a major character in out story over the coming months: Arthur Russell.

Tracklist:
The Slits - New Town (John Peel Session)
Wire - I Am the Fly
The Fall - Stepping Out
Talking Heads - Tentative Decisions
The Contortions - I Can’t Stand Myself 

Books:
Simon Reynolds - Rip It Up and Start Again
John Savage - ‘The New Musick’ in Time Travel

To hear the extended, 12", almost-2-hour version of this conversation, including discussion on Maximo Park, Kenickie and Bob Davenport, visit Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod and become a patron from just £3 a month.

In this episode of LITM Jeremy is joined by writer and editor of Tribune magazine Alex Niven to talk about the musical history of England’s North East. Our interest in this subject was piqued by Sam Fender’s victory in last year’s Mercury Music Prize. Fender is himself an artist indebted to our recent subject, Bruce Springsteen. Alex talks us through the particulars of the region, one of Britain’s main post-industrial heartlands, exploring through music various expressions of white working class identity and a particular form of masculinity that artists have variously embodied or pushed against. Jeremy and Alex discuss blues rock, ‘sophsti-pop’ and Sting, the folk club legacy of the North East, Richard Dawson, the smallpipes and the Sultans of Swing.

Alex Niven is the author of Folk Opposition, Definitely Maybe for 33 1/3, New Model Island: How to Build a Radical Culture Beyond the Idea of England and The North Will Rise Again: In Search of the Future in Northern Heartlands.

Tracklist:
Sam Fender - Seventeen Going Under
The Animals - House of the Rising Sun
The Animals - We Gotta Get Outta This Place
Eric Burdon and War - Spill the Wine
Lindisfarne - Clear White Light
Alan Hull - I Hate to See You Cry
Lindisfarne - Fog on the Tyne
Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing
Pet Shop Boys - Being Boring
Sting - All This Time
Richard Dawson - The Vile Stuff
Sam Fender - People Watching
Kathryn Tickell - Bone Music

This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To hear the full thing, and dozens more like it, visit Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod to sign up.

In our final episode of 2025, Jeremy and Tim spend some time exploring the life and times of Bruce Springsteen. Tracing his life from his early career up to 1984, they unpack specificities of the Boss’s politics, his particular aesthetic, and the often confused reception of his repertoire. We hear about the sense of place in his music, the influence of Dylan on his writing, the iconography of the small town and the big car, and his various attempts to express a white vernacular working class experience. Jeremy describes how Springsteen’s songs of New Jersey post-industrialisation were heard in the cities of North West England, Tim interrogates his endorsement of Obama, and both try to understand his unique mass appeal in the USA, with callbacks to Zohran and our recent Dylanology episode.

This is our last show of the year - thank you everyone for coming with us on this long strange trip. We return in early 2026 for more music, dance floors, sound systems and counter culture. 

www.LoveistheMessagePod.co.uk

You can read Tom Williams’ article on Springsteen, ‘The Only Boss We Listen To’, on Tribune at: https://tribunemag.co.uk/2022/11/the-only-boss-we-listen-to

Tracklist:
Bruce Springsteen - Blinded by the Light
Bruce Springsteen - 4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
Bruce Springsteen - Thunder Road
Patti Smith - Because the Night
Bruce Springsteen - Badlands
Bruce Springsteen - The River
Bruce Springsteen - Atlantic City

It’s Mamdani time! On this episode of the show we’re bringing things right up to the here and now to celebrate New York City Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani. Tim and Jeremy recount the emergence of Zohran as a political figure, his background and parents, his democratic socialist politics and what his election means for the Left and anti-imperialism more broadly. We also hear a potted history of the DSA, consider the particularities of Left Populism as a contemporary political tendency, spend time with Bernie and de Blassio, and appraise a couple of the incoming mayor’s early rap tracks.

Edited by Matt Huxley.
Become a Patron at Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod
www.loveisthemessagepod.co.uk/

Tracklist:
Sunidhi Chauhan - Dhoom Machale
Young Cardamom, HAB - #1 Spice
Mr. Cardamom - Nani 
Lil Wayne - Right Above It
Das Racist - Combination Pizza Hut And Taco Bell
The Temptations - Smiling Faces Sometimes

Books:
David Harvey - A Brief History of Neoliberalism
Barbara Ehrenreich - Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy

In this episode we conclude our look at the Democratic Republic of Congo with an exploration of the music and politics of the country from 1960 to the present day. Beginning with the overthrow of Patrice Lumumba, Jeremy and Tim discuss the colonial and imperialist dynamics that have buffeted the country for the last half century, the cycles of violence this engenders and the role of nations like the US, China and Rwanda have played in destabilising the country. They also unpack the ‘resource curse’ of the DRC’s mineral stocks, the activities of companies like Apple and Tesla, and finish with a reflection from the great Franz Fanon.
On the music side of things, we hear a potted history of the conga drum, some drum and bass, electric thumb pianos, handmade amplifiers and an African cousin to footwork.

Edited by Matt Huxley.

Become a Patron at patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.

www.LoveistheMessagePod.com

Tracklist:
Zaiko Langa Langa - Femme Ne Pleure Pas
Papa Wemba - La Vie Comme Elle Va Bola
Grooverider - Rivers of Congo
Konono No.1 - Lufuala Ndonga 
Khalab - Chitita
Kokoko! - Malembe
Jupiter & Okwess - Na Kozonga
Fulu Kolektiv - Lualaba
Fulu Kolektiv - Nfuka