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Alex Ogg

Alex Ogg

Alex Ogg is the author (with David Upshal) of The Hip Hop Years: A History of Rap, as well as Standing On The Edge (Radiohead) and Def Jam: The Radical Rise of Russell Simmons And Rick Rubin. In 2006 Alex published his new book about the punk years, No More Heroes, and in 2009 his exhaustive history Independence Days, a complete overview of UK independent record labels from 1976 to 1987, compiled from more than 150 interviews.

Alex has also written for several encyclopaedias, dozens of magazines, newspapers and websites, and compiled more than 100 album sleeve-notes.

Will write about music (or anything else) for money.

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List of articles in the library by artist

Eric B & Rakim, Marley Marl: Marley Marl

Interview by Alex Ogg, unpublished, 1999

Marley Marl talks about his inadvertent "invention" of the drum sample and his involvement in the first Eric B and Rakim record. This was originally ...

Bow Wow Wow, Sex Pistols, The, Malcolm McLaren: Malcolm McLaren 1946-2010

Obituary by Alex Ogg, Rock's Backpages, April 2010

MALCOLM MCLAREN, who died on April 8 aged 64 after a protracted battle with cancer, was punk's self-mythologised circus barker. His custodianship of the musical ...

Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine: Brixton Mortars (Snapper)

Sleevenotes by Alex Ogg, Snapper CD, February 2004

CARTER THE Unstoppable Sex Machine combined the talents of Fruitbat (Leslie Carter) and Jim Bob (erm, Jim Morrison), both well-versed in the vaguaries and disappointments ...

Echo & The Bunnymen: London, Astoria

Live Review by Alex Ogg, unpublished, May 1999

IT’S A STRANGE TIME for a rock gig to take place – midday on the Saturday of the FA Cup final. The unusual hour is ...

Haysi Fantayzee: Battle Hymns For Children Singing – The Best Of Haysi Fantayzee

Sleevenotes by Alex Ogg, Cherry Pop, February 2007

HAYSI FANTAYZEE were formed in 1981 by a fashion photographer from Wigan, Kate Garner, and her boyfriend, Paul Caplin, late of EMI act Animal Magnet ...

Members, The: The Members: At The Chelsea Nightclub

Sleevenotes by Alex Ogg, Captain Oi Records, December 2005

THE MEMBERS were punk's misfits, a little too lacking in personality disorders and raw ego to sit comfortably with the punk firestarters, a little too ...

Mo-dettes, The: The Mo-dettes: The Story So Far (Cherry Red)

Sleevenotes by Alex Ogg, Cherry Red, December 2008

THE MO-DETTES first emerged towards the end of 1978, after guitarist Kate Korus (aka Katherine Corris, formerly of the Slits) and drummer June Miles-Kingston met ...

Monochrome Set, The: The Monochrome Set: The Lost Weekend

Sleevenotes by Alex Ogg, Cherry Red, February 2009

THE LOST Weekend was The Monochrome Set's first and only album for Warners subsidiary Blanco y Negro, following their exit from Cherry Red. Yet rather ...

John Peel

Interview by Alex Ogg, Spiral Scratch, May 1991

NOT THAT any introduction is really necessary, but how about this: ...

Skids, The: A Wee Look Back At The Skids

Discography by Alex Ogg, Spiral Scratch, April 1991

WITH AN ALBUM Jobson had forty odd minutes to indulge his Rupert Brooke fantasies, but singles saw The Skids stripped down to their basic, fiery ...

Spear Of Destiny: Grapes Of Wrath

Sleevenotes by Alex Ogg, Anagram, 2007

THE FOUNDATIONS of Spear Of Destiny can be traced back to 1978, when Kirk Brandon replaced bass player Jerry Isles in Devon punk band The ...

List of genre pieces

Independent Thinker: An Interview with Charlie Gillett

Interview by Alex Ogg, unpublished, Fall 2008

NOTE: The following is the full transcript from an interview with Charlie that took place towards the end of 2008 as research for my book ...

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