| Steve Jones |
|
| Background
information |
| Birth name |
Stephen Phillip Jones |
| Born |
September 3, 1955 |
| Origin |
 London, England |
| Genre(s) |
Rock, Punk rock |
| Instrument(s) |
Guitar |
| Label(s) |
Virgin Records, MCA, Warner
Bros. |
Associated
acts |
Sex
Pistols (1975 - 1978, 1996, 2002 - 2003)
The Professionals
(1980 - 1982)
Chequered Past
(1982 - 1985)
Neurotic Outsiders (1995 - 1996,
1999, 2006) |
Stephen Phillip Jones (b. September
3, 1955) is
an English
rock
and roll guitarist
and singer,
best known for his work as guitarist for the punk band Sex
Pistols.
|
Contents
- 1 Career
- 2 Jonesy's
Jukebox
- 3 Partial
discography
- 4 Partial
filmography
- 5 External
links
|
Career
Steve Jones was born in Shepherd's Bush, London. He
has stated that his style of guitar-playing is derived from that of Johnny
Thunders of the New York Dolls and his early
influences were glam rock icons like Roxy
Music and David Bowie. He was an only
child and his father, an amateur boxer, left when he was two years old.
Up to the age of twelve, he grew up in Hammersmith with his
young mother, who worked as a hairdresser, and his grandparents. He
then moved to Benbow Road in Shepherd's Bush with his mother and
stepfather, where they lived in a one-bedroom basement. Jones never got
along with his stepfather, who made his living making gaskets for
electric cookers: “He was an arsehole. I was just extra baggage.” As a
teenager, Jones was a kleptomaniac who accumulated 14
different criminal convictions and was the subject of a council
care-order. He spent a year in a remand centre, which he says was more
enjoyable than being at home, and has said that the Sex Pistols saved
him from a life of crime.
Jones co-founded The Strand (named after a Roxy Music song)
with Paul
Cook and Wally Nightingale in the
early 1970s. The Strand were a precursor to the Sex
Pistols, where Jones first learned to play guitar. After
dropping Nightingale in the mid-70s, the band was known as The Swankers.
In 1975, Jones went on to co-found the Sex
Pistols with Paul Cook, Glen
Matlock, and later, Johnny Rotten. Although they only
released one album, the Sex Pistols went on to become one of the most
influential rock and roll bands of the 20th century.
Jones is a self-taught guitar player, primarily playing Gibson
Les Paul electric guitars in his early years. His usual guitar was a
cream colored Gibson Les Paul custom which (according to "Filth and the
Fury") he had stolen from Mick Ronson at a David Bowie
concert when he and his fellow Sex Pistol members posed as road crew
members, stealing amps and other equipment. Bill
Price, the engineer on Never
Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols
called Jones one of the tightest guitar players he has ever worked
with, implying that his chord and note timing were precise and
impeccable.
After the Sex Pistols broke up in 1978, Jones and drummer Paul
Cook co-founded The Professionals.
They released one album, but disbanded after a serious car crash while
on tour in the U.S. in 1981. The Professionals' debut album was I Didn't See It Coming. Jones
was also a member of Chequered Past (led by Michael
Des Barres) from 1982 to 1985. They released a self-titled album in
1984.
Jones also played with Thin Lizzy, Joan Jett, Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop, Andy Taylor, the Neurotic
Outsiders and had a solo career in the 1980s and early 1990s. His song
"Mercy," from the album of the same name, was used in a Miami Vice
episode featured on the Miami Vice II soundtrack album. In
1989, he released his second, much heavier-sounding solo album, titled
"Fire and Gasoline", which featured Jones on guitar and vocals, Terry
Nails on bass, and studio drum wizard Mickey Curry (Bryan Adams, Hall
& Oates). He participated in the Sex Pistols reunion concerts
and currently resides in Los Angeles, California. He
has since done some studio work, playing guitar on the Insane
Clown Posse's 1997 rap-metal record, The
Great Milenko and Lisa
Marie Presley's 2005 album, Now What.
Jonesy's Jukebox
In February 2004, Jones began hosting a daily radio program in
Los
Angeles called Jonesy's Jukebox, on Indie
103.1 FM, broadcasting live Monday to Friday from noon to 2PM. The
premise of the show is that the self-described "Sire of Wilshire" can
do whatever he wants (within FCC rules), with
no direction from station management. Far from an angry punk with
access to a transmitter, Jones mixes an eclectic playlist (culled from
his own collection of CDs) with often rambling and humorous interviews
of guests from all walks of the entertainment industry. He frequently
interacts on-air with "Mister Shovel," his nickname for program
producer Mark Sovel.
Partial discography
- Mercy
(MCA, 1987)
- Fire and Gasoline
(MCA, 1989)
Partial filmography
- The Great Rock 'n'
Roll Swindle (1980)
- Punk and Its Aftershocks
(1980)
- D.O.A.
(1980)
- Ladies and
Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains (1981)
- Mascara (1999)
- Four Dogs Playing Poker
(2000)
- The Filth and the Fury
(2000)
- 25 Years of Punk
(2001)
- Classic
Albums: Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols
(2002)
- Hooligans
& Thugs: Soccer's Most Violent Fan Fights
(2003)
- Punk: Attitude
(2005)
External links
| v • d • e Sex Pistols |
| Johnny Rotten | Steve Jones | Paul
Cook | Glen Matlock | Sid
Vicious |
| Discography |
| Studio album: Never
Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols |
| EPs: Spunk
| Some Product:
Carri on Sex Pistols | The Great Rock 'n'
Roll Swindle | Flogging
a Dead Horse |
| Live albums: Live at
Chemsford Top Security Prison | Anarchy in the UK:
Live at the 76 Club | Live at Winterland 1978
| Filthy Lucre Live |
| Singles: "Anarchy
in the U.K." | "God Save the
Queen" | "Pretty Vacant" | "Holidays
in the Sun" | "No One Is Innocent" |
| Related
articles |
| Public Image Ltd. | Malcolm
McLaren | Jamie Reid | Ronnie
Biggs | Edward Tudor-Pole | The Professionals
| The Filth and the Fury
| Ex
Pistols | Punk rock |
