Cockney Rebel were one of those bands that were huge in the UK but made no ripple at all in the US. I think I'd been reading about them for 30 years before I actually heard their music.

I just "discovered" Cockney Rebel in the past few years, from a recommendation by one of 20FR's listeners. Rest in peace, Steve.

He was out here in 2012. It was a promotional tour but he did a cracking Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me) on the quiz show RockWiz
[www.youtube.com]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/2024 08:35PM by Aitch.

Harley was just a name in glam rock nostalgia articles to me until Velvet Goldmine came out. I missed out on the last round of Cockney Rebel reissues, but keep hoping there's a new batch soon.

He was a fun interview in 1976. Arrogant, unabashed, witty, catty.... the ideal glam star!

I'm working my way thru Zip It Up right now and agree that it was a fun interview. I'm sorta surprised to not be able to find any reviews of his/Cockney Rebel's stuff on the site. Too glam to be considered TP-worthy these days?

If willing, go to the magazine index and you’ll find several reviews of steve Harley ( and cockney rebel). Happy hunting!

As a US teen in the 80s, cockney rebel was a blind spot you might occasionally see in the record bins.

Then I saw the live video of Duran Duran doing ‘make me smile’ in their heyday… it was a slog to finally discover it was a cockney rebel song.

When the first book got done in 1983, I wasn't very open to including pre-new wave bands. As time went on, some crucial predecessors were added, but glam bands (other than Bowie and Roxy) never got included. I can see now that they should be.

Yeah, it would have been a real treat to have had entries for SAILOR, T. REX, SLADE, SWEET, MUNGO JERRY etc

Steve Harley was a name that I might hear occasionally, but when I met my wife, who hailed from Akron and grew up on the weird Glamrok outliers that were the stock in trade of Kid Leo and WMMS from Cleveland, I got to finally hear Steve Harley when we folded in our record collections. In the late 90s, we made sure to grab the CD of " The Psychomodo" when visiting Akron record stores [I never saw them anywhere else] and she later picked up some solo era LPs we've yet to spin. I really want that single of his that Midge Ure produed for that untitled Midge Ure production box I'm planning. A toast to Steve Harley this evening! He was another of those proto-punk era musicians who were neither fish now fowl. Like Richard Strange.

Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

[postpunkmonk.com]
For further rumination on the Fresh New Sound of Yesterday®

It took me years to realize Cockney Rebel used electric piano and violin in place of electric guitars!

The Doctors of Madness comparison is a good one. The arty side of glam might've become post-punk if those bands had released their debut albums in 1978.