Written By Mikey Sutton • Editor-in-Chief • Owner
KROQ icon Richard Blade sliced through the boredom of ’80s rock radio, and he’s now carved a space in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
As a DJ on Los Angeles alternative-rock station KROQ, Richard Blade became the tastemaker of a generation.
His real name is Richard Thomas Sheppard.
However, he adopted Blade from the 1982 science-fiction classic, Blade Runner.
It was an ideal match.
Like Blade Runner, he was ahead of his time.
Richard Blade championed cutting-edge (again, like a “Blade”) New Wave artists such as Depeche Mode, the Cure, and Duran Duran years before mainstream acceptance and MTV stardom.
Furthermore, Richard Blade’s support for these once-obscure English acts helped catapult them onto the charts. In these days of Spotify and YouTube, it seemed a lifetime ago when commercial FM radio was a lethal weapon.
Image: Oglio Records
In addition, Richard Blade looked and sounded like the groups he played on KROQ.
His unmistakable English accent brimmed with coolness, reeling in thousands of angst-ridden post-punk teenagers.
In the ‘9os, Blade’s legacy spread worldwide with a six-CD set of New Wave rarities.
Richard Blade’s Flashback Favorites combed the buried treasures of his KROQ past with should’ve-been hits from Wire Train, the Red Rockers, and 3-D.
In fact, the Chameleons’ pounding rave-up “In Shreds” (on Vol. 6) alone smokes similar compilations.
Moreover, Richard Blade acted as well.
He appeared on the TV sitcom Square Pegs as well as the 1985 film, Girls Just Want to Have Fun.
In 2000, Richard Blade left KROQ after 18 years.
By that time, KROQ lost its magic formula.
KROQ New Wave Icon Richard Blade Gets Star on Walk of Fame
The daily menu of rap-rock and nü-metal crushed longtime listeners’ ears with obnoxious, dissonant noise.
Richard Blade went on a two-year break from broadcasting.
In 2005, Blade became a DJ on Sirius Satellite Radio’s 1st Wave.
He spins the college rock and New Wave classics from his KROQ glory days on that channel.
In 2017, Blade released a bestselling autobiography, World in My Eyes; he named it after a Depeche Mode song.
He’s written more books since then including 2021’s Imposters: Two Boys Who Fooled America.
Richard Blade’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame left him deeply touched on social media.
He wrote:
There’s a little kid from a small seaside town in England with tears in his eyes right now as he sits typing this in total disbelief.
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