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Justin Lewis

@whenisbirths.bsky.social

3.1K followers 1.5K following 16K posts

Author/editor/carer, S Wales, probably autistic: NEW BOOK!: Into the Groove, out on 2 Oct 2025. Textcast archive: https://firstlastanything.co.uk/about/ (next run of eps from late Oct) Email: [email protected] ko-fi.com/firstlastanything .. more

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Justin Lewis is a Professor of Communication and Creative Industries at the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University. He is the Director of Clwstwr, an Arts and Humanities Research Council and Welsh Government funded Research & Development innovation centre for the Screen and News sectors and Media Cymru, a £50 million, 23 partner consortium, funded by UK Research and Innovation, Cardiff Capital Region and Welsh Government, designed to boost inclusive and sustainable media sector innovation in Wales. He is also Chief Field Editor for Frontiers in Communication, a global Open Access publisher. .. more

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Communication & Media Studies 29%

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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 9d

OUT NOW, my month-by-month guide to 1980s pop, from ABC to XTC, and from Madonna to Neneh. #IntoTheGroove, published by @eandtbooks.bsky.social.

Cover of
INTO THE GROOVE: THE 1980s:
THE ULTIMATE DECADE IN MUSIC HISTORY
by Justin Lewis (me)

'An epic compendium of stories and trivia from the 80s music scene'

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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 15h

Occurs to me that breathless political reporting these days celebrating dodginess has more than an echo of the worst kind of rock hackery.

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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 15h

The ‘bad boys’ of anything… just yuk.

Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 15h

Not to sound censorious about it but imagine you have to live with characters like that.

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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 15h

Remembering somehow the Amazon review for the last book where someone asked why there weren’t more mentions of death like Keith Moon’s for instance and I just found it hard to celebrate the squalid nature of rock n roll.

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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 16h

Hard to avoid the story in Wales esp with the disgraceful police attitudes.

Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 16h

Since that conviction and a few other stories, I have definitely seen a reduction in the celebrations of edgelord rock’n’roll behaviour. Even when not criminal, a lot of it just looked pathetic.

Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 16h

Horrible day, will be glad to see the arse-end of it.

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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 16h

There was a lot about it on the news here, due to its locality.

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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 16h

Forever haunted by the reports of what that pos did.

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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 19h

And that's why I restrict myself to small bags of extremely bad-for-you sweets.

Reposted by Justin Lewis

Andrew Male @andrewmale.bsky.social · 19h

I’m in this new @mojomagazine.bsky.social interviewing the great Brigitte Fontaine, telling you How To Buy Electric Miles Davis (in short: buy it all) and reviewing the wonderful new Steve Gunn LP plus multi-disc reissues by William Basinski and The Dream Syndicate.

MOJO 385 - December 2025

INCLUDES
JOHN
LENNON
INSIDE HIS ROCK'N'ROLL REVOLUTION
142
REVIEWS
PLUS BRIGITTE
FONTAINE
JANE WEAVER
PATTI SMITH
WRECKLESS ERIC
RICK DAVIES RIP
PRINCE
PSYCHS OUT!
MILES DAVIS
ELECTRIFIES!
FINE
YOUNG
CANNIBALS
EAT TO THE BEAT LUCINDA
WILLIAMS
AMERICANA'S HEART & SOUL
EAGLES
"LEAVING WAS AN ACT OF SURVIVAL"
THE
REPLACEMENTS
LET IT BE!
+ JMIHENDRIX
"DEVASTATINGLY LOUD! COMPLETE INSANITY!"

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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 20h

Ricky Gervais also.

Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 20h

It’s like: look up Noel Edmonds’ attempts at cracking America in 1986. Did a nightly show for two weeks.

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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 20h

He was much more versatile than DJ. I think he may have started out in news in Canada. He used to do a classical music radio show there while still a teenager.

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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 20h

It was for Ted Turner, I just checked his first edition as news host was 21 July 1980. And he was indeed 30. But on return to the UK he kept being called David ‘Kid’ Jensen especially at Capital for most of the 80s.

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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 20h

I wonder at what point did Kid Jensen become David? Probably before thirty.

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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 22h

(Obviously this book was written in 2022/23, since when the Smokey R story has taken a more depressing turn.)

Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 22h

The First Class Beach Baby Symphony.

Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 22h

I'd forgotten all about that bit. Thanks!

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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 22h

There's more of that next week! I enjoy doing it very much, but it does require me to be in a very concentrated mode.

Reposted by Justin Lewis

Andrew Beasley @andrewbeasleyfootball.com · 22h

If it helps, I’m reading Don’t Stop The Music - got to this entry earlier, the two lines of which made me smile. So thank you.

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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 22h

Thanks. We've been having our windows replaced this week as well, which has had its own stresses...

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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 22h

Didn't want to get up today. Feel overwhelmed af. I am firing on no cylinders.

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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 22h

Of all the phraseology I've used on social media, the one I regret most is any post beginning 'Regular reminder' or anything similar. Regardless of intention, the effect is 'I am SO clever'. Sorry I used to do that.

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Reposted by David M. Schultz, Justin Lewis

Michael Spicer @michaelspicer.bsky.social · 1d

stop thinking right now

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Reposted by Justin Lewis

Joanna Wyld @joannawyld.bsky.social · 1d

'As if ethics expire the moment something new arrives' – interesting article by Tarik O'Regan
www.theguardian.com/music/2025/o...

‘I’m a composer. Am I staring extinction in the face?’: classical music and AI

Technology is radically reshaping how we make music. As I dug deeper into this for a radio 3 documentary I began to wonder if creative organisations are right to be so upbeat about AI. Are we riding t...

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Justin Lewis

Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 1d

I'd love to know what every comedian who played the Riyadh Comedy Festival thinks of this piece by Jonathan Liew. It's an electrifying read. And really hard to think what any counter-justification from the participating comics would consist of. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

We know what the comedians got out of the Riyadh comedy festival. What about the Saudi regime? | Jonathan Liew

The tawdry event was an ultimately doomed attempt by the Saudi government to buy the kind of authentic grassroots culture it is unwilling to countenance, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Liew

www.theguardian.com

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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 1d

I think so. It began as a caption in the credits and about halfway through the first series, the announcer voiced it instead. I think you can tell a real audience, you hear different kinds of laugh, individuals. And other kinds of reactions too, like gasps.

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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 1d

They also did this for Soap as well over the credits except there they used to say ‘Soap is videotaped before a live studio audience’.

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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 1d

'ALL FOUR OF THEM'