Aug 4, 2020
Note: This interview was recorded before the death of George Floyd and the subsequent protests.
This week, TV legend Shawn Ryan (creator
of The Shield, SWAT,
Timeless and more) takes me back in time 30 years to talk
about the debut album by The Beautiful South
‘Welcome to the Beautiful South’.
Shawn talks about discovering music in the pre-internet age, the
lineage of the Beautiful South in cult heroes The
Housemartins, the contradictions between the albums’ sound
and lyrical content, the controversial album cover and how the
album served as a bizarre soundtrack to the Rodney King police
brutality and aftermath in 1991.
Plus we talk about how Shawn has used music in his TV projects,
discovering new music through his work, the music he loves to write
to and why Coldplay earned his respect
on The Shield.