Steven Wells, the frequently profane, always opinionated writer who contributed to the likes of the NME, the Philadelphia Weekly, the Guardian (among many others), passed away earlier this week after a long battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. NME scribe James McMahon penned an obit worthy of the man known as “Swells” and the mag that includes a few selections from his archives; Wells himself filed an obituary of sorts to the Weekly shortly before his passing. Wells was 49. [NME]
Wait…he ended his final column with a “Jackson 5″ lyric?! Before he even…idk, that just blew my mind.
@ObtuseIntolerant: the mark of a true pro.
I will be forever grateful to him for introducing the word “shitehawk” to my vocabulary.
Damn. Only met him once, but he was a good dude.
He will be missed. He contacted me years ago as a fan of my work (football, not music related) and I expressed that I was also a fan of his from both his time at NME to the current sports-related columns he was doing. I can’t believe he is gone.
Others have said it, but it’s true: Swells was the one distinctive voice at NME during my formative musical years. He despised every band I liked (apart from Spiritualized, I think) but I still sought out and read everything with his byline. Especially the Christmas roundups.
Rediscovering him online over the past few years was fun: while a new generation whined as much as I did at him yanking their chains, the thirtysomethings would nod and say “that’s Swells for you”.
He’s going to wonder what MJ is doing in the queue behind him. And there are going to be plenty of people my age who’ll be more affected by his loss.