Yesterdays Hero

John Paul Young

John Paul Young released Yesterday’s Hero in 1975 and it blew my mind. I heard it on my little transistor radio and used to wait all day to hear it again. I was 9 at the time and in Chapter 1 of The Story of Rock and Roll covers it in detail. This song more than anything else set me on the path of a lifetime of chasing down rock and roll.

I never saw the video at the time and looking at it now it is very dated. The awful 70’s teen idol miming, The Donny Osmond hairdo and the bunny teeth look ridiculous. If you look a bit deeper at the rest of the footage, the early day paparazzi and those creeps peering through the keyhole are fucking chilling. Somehow the vid captures the essence of the downside of being a rock star, like JPY had seen into the future before he was even a star. It’s an inspired piece of work given that it is over 40 years old.

JAMES DAUBENEY