More videos, the first one is in german, the rest in english. This was one of the first times I presented in German. It's an AIDS awareness campaign which I found on youtube again.

Also there is this from a company called CutUp who made the fantastic corporate identity of Viva II when it first started in Germany. I did a reading of William S. Burroughs for them in Amsterdam in this virtual set. It was during a trade show and as people walked past me they just stared in bemused amazement.

Another goodie on Youtube - this time my favourite becuase Leigh Bowery is in there. One of the few things still surviving from a chat show called Take the Blame on MTV in the late eighties.

YouTube - God help us all (musically at least)
I found some stuff on youtube today, not only from me but also from some ex-colleagues at MTV and thought I would share them with you. The first one is a pop video I made, it's titled "Give me your love" and it is possibly the worst song and video ever made.

Just to show you that there were some people with talent out there at MTV I found one of Simone Angel's videos. Good on you Simone. Are you ready for a journey of love? Fuck yeah I am, right on Simone.

Finally just to make me feel better here's Ray Cokes. Wonder why none of us are making records anymore!

Major Thomas. I finally got around to putting up some stuff on YouTube. Everyone else is doing so why not me? So I decided to add Major Thomas, the story of the ex-TV presenter from the 80s who is no longer famous and a bit broke. He's takes up the offer of a new job presenting from space with his only company a gay computer called Marco. There he goes mad. There are six episodes and here they all are:
Episode One: Preparing for launch.

Episode Two: The first broadcast.

Episode Three: Three months in Thomas starts to lose the plot.

Episode Four: Someone's coming to dinner part one.

Episode Five: Someone's coming to dinner part two.

Episode Six: Will Thomas come back?

Nothing like a name:

Names are very important in life. You probably are wondering what I am getting it but the truth it your name defines you. I interviewed Robbie Williams in London recently. (To be seen on German television soon, the exact date will be announced in a few weeks). Robbie, I read before the interview, wants to be called Robert from now on. I can understand him. The name wasn't his choice, it was his former manager's idea, presumeably to keep his image young. Now Robbie is older he wants to revert back to the name his parents gave him. I changed my surname shortly before I started work for MTV. Blame doesn't exist until then. Years ago I talked to a therapist about this and she told me that if you have two names you have two personalities. If you are named after a football team then you are in real trouble. But for me the personality Blame is definitely different to the other personality, who is probably more thoughtful. But it's a form of protection. Blame is an invention, a face I used to present to people who I hadn't met before. That's changed over the years. I feel I have married both sides today, a fusion of both personalities. By now you have probably sent for the psychiatrist, either because you have changed your name (marrieds watch out) or you are thinking that Blame has lost it. My theory is all famous people hide behind the invention of their stage persona, and that persona is encompassed in their name. Madonna, for example, once spoke about herself during an interview I conducted in the third person. What would Madonna do? Clearly this is a form of self-preservation, a way of keeping some sides of yourself personal and private. Robbie wants to discard Robbie and be Robert. I think, again only a theory, he is looking to put aside some of the attributes (and probably what he sees as failings) he associates with his time as Robbie and move on. Changing his name will quicken the process. And by the way he's a great guy, makes great music, and it's a great interview.

The Dalai Lama

My last few weeks at MTV were probably the most exciting I had experienced. I had a number of major interviews lined up as well as preparing to leave the country.

Juan, one of the best producers at the channel, and I set off for India to interview the Dalai Lama. We only had a few days notice to prepare. We flew out to New Delhi and after the 12 hour flight were met by our driver.

Me, Night Rider.

This Indian re-incarnation of David Hasselhof believed he could also perform superhuman feats with his car. We set off to Dharamsala on the correct side of the dual carriageway, but once stuck in traffic Night Rider decided it would be quicker if we crossed lanes and drove against the oncoming traffic.

Fortunately he came to his senses shortly afterwards. India is a land of smells. You can smell the fields of flowers in the countryside and experience the stench of death in the cities. Once in Dharamsala we settled down for the night in a local hotel. I opened the window for some air but when I lay on my bed was disturbed by banging on the roof from the local monkeys.



The next day I interviewed The Dalai Lama in his guarded paradise. As we entered the compound we were searched and then led into a beautifully decorated room to wait for his holiness. When he finally appeared he apologized for his lateness. He had apparently been picking his nose which had started bleeding, and he asked me if I could see the blood.

After the interview we went for a walk in the garden. He told me that the quality of love and not the quantity was the most important thing to remember. He added that it was important to respect yourself and other people in any relationship. I'm still working on that!

Once the interview was over we went back to the Hotel for another sleepless night and then set off with Night Rider back to New Delhi. On the way we filmed links for the programme, but after I left MTV they dropped the programme and re-edited the interview in order to cut me out.

MTV calling

I applied as a researcher and MTV gave me a screen test. I waited almost three months for MTV to react. It was July 1987 and I convinced I had not been chosen for the job. I decided to phone and ask what was going on. DD, the secretary of the then Executive Producer Liz Nealon, said that she was on her way back from the States with the final decision and I would get a call that afternoon. I was in a state of panic, but decided that there was no way I could leave the house as I didn’t have an answer phone. So I stayed put. I was called by Nealon who told me the good news. Although I was overcome with emotion I must have sounded totally depressed as she asked me whether I was at all pleased.

After I put the phone down I rang the people that had supported me the most, Anna, Sue and my Mum. Then I phoned the bank and convinced them to give me an overdraft. They agreed. Nothing like spending money before you get it. I decided that I would go to Paris with quasi-boyfriend Dave to see Maggie, an old friend. The weekend was disastrous. Dave was a walking drug disaster. He had been on heroin and although we had tried to have some sort of relationship it had never worked out. Drugs had always come in between. In Paris we fell out for what was to be the last time, and in many ways the weekend provided some closure with my past. I was ready to move on. Recently I found out he is a drug counsellor working in England.

When I got back to London I contacted Anna and decided to spend the last of the overdraft on a lunchtime piss up. We met at a local café, and drank ourselves into oblivion before going off to a joke shop to buy some stink bombs. We had been fired from a vegetarian restaurant two weeks before for not singing the Icelandic national anthem. We had been waiters in this restaurant for years, and when a group of Icelandic Buddhists came in they sang their sang their national anthem and we sang along as best we could without knowing any of the words. They weren’t too happy with us and neither was the boss. So we got the sack.

That day we were after revenge. When we got to the restaurant we were legless. We literally crawled up on our hands and knees and opened the door. It was shortly before opening time and we knew this would be the best chance not to be noticed. Although that really didn’t matter to us. We threw stink bombs into the restaurant then went to Anna’s house and ordered as many take-aways as possible by phone. A week later I was presenting the news on MTV:

Get that faggot off my channel Number 2

In the second of three excerpts Steve talks about the times he came close to being fired by MTV.



After the review show I presened with Chris was dropped I suggested that I should have a chat show. This was confirmed as a good idea, mainly because it provided the reason to get rid of the other show. Unfortunately the contact to stars at MTV Europe was still not strong at that point, so I decided to take it upon myself to get the show off the ground.



Firstly I needed a sidekick. I had been an acquaintance of the outrageous fashion designer and nightclub icon, Leigh Bowery for a number of years. I had met him not long after he came to London from Australia and had become part of the furniture of the London club scene. We had made a film together in my house some years before. Leigh and his muse Trojan arrived at my house on the 171 bus route wearing capes, six inch platforms, their faces painted blue and green, and piercings from nose to cheek. I wanted to get them doing things that were incongruous to their look and filmed them washing the dishes, ironing and eating cream cakes. Unfortunately the film was to be lost after my former boyfriend taped Terminator over it.

To add to the camp humour of the chat show Leigh and I would attempt to remake a famous movie scene every week, Leigh as Sam, me as Bogart, Leigh as Julie Andrews, me as Dick Van Dyke. One week Adam West, the original Batman was on the show. Leigh dressed up as the Riddler to my Robin.

The show would be recorded early Thursday morning. Every Wednesday night I would scour London clubs and bars searching for any star that I could get to appear on the show.

The week that caused the trouble featured The Communards, Nina Hagen, and camp English comedian Julian Clary with Fanny the wonder dog.

MTV were not amused with this combination of talent. The chat show was dropped shortly afterwards.

Get that faggot off my channel Number 3

In the third of three excerpts Steve talks about the times he came close to being fired by SPTV.

The first years of MTV were creatively the most free and exciting, they also produced the most dire, ridiculous and extreme television. But without risk there is no fun, I always say. And the time I was involved in the channel's Christmas pantomime it was clear there was no real idea either.

Me and my then co-host on the review show, Chris, came up with the idea of presenting a pantomime. This had the dual benefit that we would not have to worry about writing our weekly rant against pop stars, instead we could humiliate ourselves and rest of our other co-presenters.

We set about writing the story of a handsome Prince (Chris), looking to find his Cinderella Princess (me). Staying true to the original tale I maintained that the Prince should try and see if the shoes (bovver boots) of the Princess would fit the feet of the ugly sisters (Maiken and Sophie, the two best looking girls on the channel).

Instead of the Prince falling for the beautiful Princess, Chris and I decided it would be good if we ended up having a fight while I sang I feel pretty from West Side Story dressed as a Brazilian drag queen

The highlight of the show was when the pantomime horse went into a deranged fit on the set. I loved it, but afterwards we were warned never to try anything like that again. The show was dropped a few weeks later.

Get that faggot off my channel Number 1

In this the first of three excerpts Steve talks about the time he came close to being fired by MTV.


Free Your Mind: During my first year at MTV I worked closely with an old friend and producer, Lindsay, who convinced me on a number of occasions to put my life on the line for television. We were filming a report on the Japanese Karaoke wave that had taken over every provincial bar and pub in Britain during the late eighties. Most people involved in this craze took Karaoke very seriously, too seriously. Lindsay and I thought it was time to inject some humour into the proceedings. They were filming at a north London pub at the time. The audience and other participants were aware of their intentions and were making sure that Lindsay and I were feeling uncomfortable. I pretended to be genuinely interested and appreciative of the all round lack of talent on stage that evening. The songs they were crucifying ranged from Sinatra, through Elvis, McCartney and even to a house stopping rendition of Barry Manilow.

Backstage the film crew, Lindsay and myself were getting nervous. I realized that I had bitten off more than I could chew on this occasion and that as soon as I appeared on stage dressed as Gary Glitter singing Madonna’s like a virgin our game would be over. When I finally hit the stage I managed to get through the first few verses of the song without hitting one note correctly.

There was an immediate riot, not because the crowd had witnessed the first performance of a new and major talent but from the realisation that this was one almighty piss-take. Lindsay and I made a quick exit. Once we got back to MTV the feature was edited and just before it was due to be shown it was pulled. The events of the previous night had hit the rumour machine and the big boss was asking to see the tape.

No-one else has seen it since.