To be honest, I am not usually into doing tributes for artists that have passed away. However, in the case of Wilko Johnson I will make an acceptation. Mostly for personal reasons. As a child I had a strict bedtime routine. Bed before 9 O'clock. There were a couple of exceptions though, One being if Chelsea were the featured team on Match Of the Day (those days a rare thing) or second, a band my Dad deemed right for my musical education on 'Old Grey Whistle Test". One such occasion was the appearance of Dr.Feelgood on the show.. The year 1975 and my age 11. To this day I remember the performance of Wilko Johnson. His manic po-faced strutting up and down, angular thrashing at the guitar and general aura of someone doing something 'different'' stayed with me from that time. The pure genius of showing the guitar as a weapon instead of a mistress to be coddled in a wet dream has stayed with me and encouraged me to look beyond technique to look at the attitude. For that Wilko, I am eternally grateful. R.I.P
I could go through his credits/discography. That will be covered elsewhere. I just wanted to give my personal perspective. This is the Old Grey Whistle Test performance I talked about.
by Thomas Imposter