[3] In 1981, Hooton was the founding editor of The End, a music and football fanzine aimed at young, working-class readers and initially inspired by an anarchist zine attacking that year's royal wedding.

It marked the start of a long career writing about football, music, and working class culture in Liverpool.

[6] Hooton is a committee member of Spirit of Shankly,[7] a Liverpool Football Club supporters union, which was created in 2008 with the aims of ousting the club's controversial owners Tom Hicks and George N. Gillett, Jr. and protecting the rights of Liverpool supporters.

[8] He has also been a vocal supporter and sometime spokesman for campaigns in Liverpool to boycott the Sun newspaper over its coverage of the Hillsborough Disaster.

[11] In November 2019, along with 34 other musicians, Hooton signed a letter endorsing the Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in the 2019 UK general election with a call to end austerity.