Prof Simon Warner got in touch about this new article he wrote about Bill and his involvement with the Beat artists and philosophy etc.
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Bill had hinted quite heavily with certain tracks on Drastic Plastic, that a big stylistic change, was underway and just over the horizon.....Be Bop Deluxe had run it's course and I think Bill's choice to leave that behind when he did, was absolutely the right one, hard as some people took it.
The desire for constant progression and to continually evolve led to BN's Red Noise.
....And here's the important point of my comment, the Red Noise album and singles (and live shows/fashion/style etc) were definitely a direct influence on the New Wave 'scene' and music and musicians, and fans, of the time...no doubt about it, myself/my bands included and most other musicians I knew, especially those who were striving to create music that was, shall we say, a little more intelligent.
Bill never jumped on any bandwagons and Bill Nelson and Red Noise directly influenced a whole raft of musicians of the time. Sound On Sound is an album that will continue to influence the more creative musicians out there, some 43 years later..and beyond...😎
Nice piece, although some might take issue with the assertion that "his [Bill's] career was stunted by the eruption of punk in the mid-1970s", and that "His excellence as a player counted for nothing once the gritty minimalism of the new wave bared its teeth." I would contend that Bill happily embraced some key elements of punk and new wave and, artistically at least, it did no harm to his career. Also, various respected musicians from the late 70s and early 80s have cited Bill as an example of someone who aspired to doing something beyond occupying 'axe hero' status, and hence was able to survive that era with his credibility very much intact.