Research Projects

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Jonesy's Jukebox

In October of 2010 Shepard Fairey was hired to make a logo for the relaunch of Steve Jones radio program on KROQ. The program, Jonsey’s Jukebox,  aired on Sundays from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM. The reason you should care is that this Steve Jones is the same Steve Jones that played guitar in the Sex Pistols. Yes, that guy. More here. KROQ was quick to claim that Jones was programming his own show. It was probably even true.
"Jonesy’s Jukebox will feature unreleased tracks from indie bands, b-sides, songs from bands that are bubbling under, KROQ classics and cuts from his personal music collection; anything he wants to play. "
As punk rock royalty, Steve Jones gets a lot of deference. When the Sex Pistols broke up in 1978, Jones formed a new band, The Professionals, with Paul Simonon from The Clash. It didn't go anywhere. When The Professionals split in 1982, Jones relocated to the USA and became a session guitarist. His first gig as DJ was on KDLD in Los Angles based when it was still "Indie 103.1FM."

Actually when dance-formatted KDL flipped format to Indierock KDLD, at Noon, February 10, 2004 the first live DJ was Steve Jones. He held onto his weekday noon-2:00 PM slot until the end. On  January 17th 2009, the staff was purged and the station went online only.. i.e. ceased to exist for all practical purposes. Jonsey’s Jukebox was suddenly without a place on the dial to call home.

Numerous rock stars of varying levels of fame had programs on KDLD: Henry Rollins (Rollinsband, Black Flag), Dave Navarro (Jane's Addiction, Red Hot Chili Peppers), Rob Zombie (White Zombie), Joe Escalante (The Vandals), Joe Sib (Wax)...and an odd selection of ex-MTV VJs. But they were dabbling, Steve Jones was a DJ, and he intended to stick with radio. In November of that year he guested on BBC Radio's 6Music with five weeks of Sunday shows, a series titled "A Month of Sundays with Steve Jones. In December he revived the program as a webcast via www.iamrogue.com. The webcast ended in March of 2010. Seven months later he was relaunched on KROQ awkward pauses, belches and all. But nothing lasts forever. Jones's last show on KROQ was March 2013. Jonesy's Jukebox is no more.

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