ROCK OF THE 1980’S

I would have loved talking with the band I was introducing, but I was having too much fun seeing everyone again. The 2014 crowd seemed to have heard of Jed The Fish.

The "Virgin" Kennedy, who drove me around for months whilst my license was suspended, is great in photos. Given to plaid design, her personality was huge. Scott Weiland of STP felt hopeless about being on heroin. He believed that unless someone was threatening your career, it was impossible to get clean. I guess I was lucky.

His son Willam and I went to Beat Lab Academy in Eagle Rock together. Billy Idol was always great with me on the air, and I truly loved his music from the beginning. Willem tells me he was there that night with his dad, young enough at this point that he would have watched this photo taken. 1993.

Chuck Randall arrived at KROQ shortly after I did in 1978. A short-term Joq but a long time friend, he went to Acoustic Christmas with me in 1992. Chuck helped me stay sober as well. I got smart that year and asked for a photo pass.

Duran Duran keyboardist Nick Rhodes with -- I believe -- daughter Tatjana Rose at KROQ Acoustic Christmas. "This here is my Hammond Organ, Tatjana, I'm going to make you play this one day!" Not sure, maybe his wife at the time Julie Anne Friedman looking on. DD fans, help out.

Nick Rhodes backstage at Acoustic Christmas with -- I have no idea, but he seems a bit more interested in the keyboards than Nick's other observer. 1992

This amazing guitarist also played with Zappa and Missing Persons, so I've actually known him for a long time. While most guitarists strum at each other, Warren Cuccurullo was strumming at the string section. Duran Duran at Acoustic Christmas, 1992.

Sarah and I having an intense conversation backstage at the old KROQ Acoustic Christmas. She has more teeth than I do. Funny girl.

Moments before Bean fell off the stage, all of the joqs gathered. Just after Bean fell, I thought I heard someone sarcastically say "Bean fell off the stage." Absurd, right?. I laughed my ass off. But he really fell, as they introduced No Doubt. Sorry Bean.

KROQ Music director Lewis Largent. He was a very funny guy and a treasure to work next door to. I need people like him around me to perform. This is Lewis goofing off at an radio station event. My photo.

KROQ DJ Tami Heide, signing a tee shirt at an event.

The Prodigy concert at the Spuce Goose, Long Beach in 1997. Very loud and ravey.

DJ appearance at Sandpiper Square, Solana Beach. The chic facing me is so very 80s. Me? I look like I just went to see a dealer.

Outdoor event in Pasadena. Our crowd was so loyal back then.

What the hell happened? KROQ used to be a fun station. We not only put out calendars, but gave events for them. This one was in Orange, 1999. Wonderful crowd. Hey, let me know if you have a better guess at the year.

Where’s Josie? This is the day I asked her what her real name was, and she said, “Well, basically Josie Cotton is my name.” A dedicated bimbo. Pasadena control room. A fake protest was staged outside the Pasadena studios. None of the protesters were angry. Gleaming Spires, the Sparks offshoot, was in the studio. Leslie Bohem and David Kendrick.

The great Depeche Mode “riot,” 1990, when so many fans showed up at Wherehouse Records the band could not accommodate them all. God forbid they cut off the line and stay an extra hour. It did get dicey with enraged Dmode fans who pounded on the window in view of the band. Warner Bros. then called it a riot to regenerate buzz. As I recall it changed permitting policy in West Hollywood. We would do things like this several times a year with our bands. If KROQ supports you, you’re a KROQ band.

Elvira and I did a string of appearances together. This one was in Hollywood at a gay club called The Circus. She was on-air for KROQ in 82-83. Always a riot to work with. And of course look at.

Amazed that we could sell out what was then Irvine Meadows, I had no idea it would become an exalted event. We were so happy to have hotel rooms, because the staff didn’t want the worry we would show up late. Wearing the shirt. Sometimes we did not get good seats, so I early on got in the habit of buying them both for myself and my guests. When people would ask me for tickets, I would always inwardly groan because I would rather give away no seats than nosebleed.

Those silly backward shirts. Way to go! You’re promoting a radio station nobody’s heard of, and they can’t read the shirt. I remember also having fun with Doc on the Roq that day. Yes, we played King Crimson.

We did a ton of beach remote broadcasts, which were difficult from a technical perspective: we had to hear ourselves, we had to communicate with the person running controls at the studio, and we needed to make sure the audio was good, which was not easy. Since I usually could not hear the music at all, I had to hope I was back-announcing the right record. Even with today’s tech, PD Kevin Weatherly hates them, because it’s almost never a controlled situation.

This was in the Pasadena lobby, on a day when I showed up for work in a bathrobe. My house was two minutes away. Susan Sailor, Dr. Drew’s wife, was the “head” KROQ Bikini Girl, who would book their events. What’s not to love.

This is one of my oldest memories of KROQ. This is the parking lot where I climbed the stairs the night I was hired. Original logo. From left, Brett Kahlen, Chuck Randall, driver, chick dj I don’t remember, Mike Raphone, me being prophetic about the station’s prospects, Darrell Wayne in nice red pants, Larry Woodside, hairy dj I don’t remember, and the late Al Ramirez. He always looked like he was sneaking away from something. Let me know about the ones I missed.

The only reason I would dare wear a muscle shirt is if I had some, however briefly. Rodney gazes at the photographer, me with a mic, and Raymondo bending over to speak with someone. Likely April Whitney with her back to the camera, and Rockin Fig with the tanned back. Note my fanny pack. Hear tell they’re making a comeback.

He was rumored to have a chandelier goldfish bowl, and sure enough, during a party, I found it. It was actually a terrible interview that day — I was sent all the way to New Orleans for a Nine Inch Nails interview with faulty equipment. I shall restrain myself from identifying the engineer who furnished a bad DAT recorder. I think his name was Paul. To make matters worse, because I had to use Trent’s studio gear, they edited out the part in which I asked him about Marilyn Manson.

Wendy O. Williams, of the electrical taped-nipples and porn past, was the perfect front woman for a punk outfit. They would destroy things. Cars, TVs. Wielding a chainsaw with a chainsaw voice, she always had political sentiment whether it made sense or not. I can find this poster nowhere online.

We were toast after visiting with each fan for 10 seconds, but they were fun. The KROQ Calendar appearances went on for a while, and we all did it just because we were supposed to. Great fun. We had a wonderful promotions person, Amy Stevens.

Steve Wozniak, Apple computer innovator, had millions to throw a party, so he did it twice. Their stage manager was concert legend Bill Graham, who was a dick. My ex-girlfriend worked for him for years. He was pained to see me onstage at all, let alone speaking before Oingo Boingo to a crowd of over 100,000.

Me in my pannies in 1983 introducing Boingo at the Us Festival. This was the day I was used by Terri Nunn to make Richard’s first wife jealous. She picked at my nipple with her long nail. I could only watch.

I was probably heading off after announcing Dramarama. This was before we had two stages.

Here I am wishing I had a piece of Brody Dalle of the Distillers. Soaking wet with sweat and just off the stage, nothing could be a whole lot better. She knew she was what girls call gross but rubbed up on me anyway. #hot

Surfers in general are easy to speak with. Unlike many though, Jack Johnson is articulate. Even though he did not grow up listening to KROQ, he was generous about my influence on him.

The thing I remember most about this interview is I got Bono to imitate Naked Lunch author William Boroughs. Evidently, the greatest lead singers are adept at imitation. I also remember they smoked like chimneys and brought a case of Guinness, promptly consumed by off-air KROQ staff.

Now this was audacity that could never happen today. KROQ took 200 listeners to Hawaii. Twice. The first time the GoGos played and Richard got hired. The next time Oingo Boingo played at Aloha Stadium. April Whitney, R, next to Freddy Snakeskin. Then Danny Elfman, Steve Bartek comically peering in over Vatos. Dale Turner in the shades looking at me, behind him Kerry Hatch and Richard Gibbs in the striped shirt. The hotel was very angry.

You can see John Dolmayan checking me out to make sure I was OK before he went crowd surfing, unbeknownst to me. Later he said I was supposed to take a solo during Sweet Pea, something I would not even do on drugs. Serj began leading the audience in a chant, "Jed The Fish on drums, Jed The Fish on drugs," and a few minutes later I was glad John came back. Somehow he had known I was a drummer long before that.

Getting away with murder, Part Two. The second and last of two annual trips with KROQ listeners to Honolulu. I love it when Danny Elfman of Oingo Boingo grabs me by the hair.

Years away from his gig as a late night talk show host, Jimmy Fallon has always been good natured. Here I am trying to have a conversation with people talking to me in my headphones. Hey Jimmy, do you remember me?