RIP Swells

Sad news today--legendary music journalist Steven Wells has passed away. NME:

Former NME writer Steven Wells has died this week (June 23).

The legendary scribe, born in 1960, performed as a punk poet (as Seething Wells) before starting to write for NME in the 1980s.

Swells, as he was often known, swiftly became famous for his brilliant confrontational, pointed style and amazing wordplay as well as his championing of bands and artists that ranged from the Extreme Noise Terror, Napalm Death, The Redskins and Asian Dub Foundation to Daphne And Celeste.

Brilliant, acerbic and fiercely independent, he was a true iconoclast who always questioned the musical status quo...

Wells went on to write for The Guardian, as well as writing about his illness in two cover stories for the Philadelphia Weekly.

He filed his last story for the Philadelphia Weekly on June 14.

Diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2006, he died in the US on Tuesday.

Although it might not be readily apparent, Swells (his NME writing in particular) had a big influence on me. Amongst other things, reading him taught me to strip the pretention out of my writing whenever possible. He will be missed.

Obituary from The Guardian
Steven Wells on Wikipedia
"One with the Freaks" by The Notwist