Bill Holdship
Bill Holdship is a former editor of CREEM, BAM, HITS, and Daily Variety, among others, and a longtime contributor to such publications as the early SPIN, Musician, MOJO, and damn near every "alternative" newspaper and magazine Los Angeles ever produced. Most recently, he was the music editor of an "alternative" Detroit newspaper in his native Michigan after 21 years on the West Coast. Despite scoring exclusives with Eminem and Iggy & the Stooges, he was not prepared for the reverse cultural shock – but still believes that The Beach Boys can make almost almost any situation seem slightly better.
List of articles in the library by artist
Beach Boys, The, Brian Wilson: The Beach Boys: The Making of Pet Sounds
Retrospective and Interview by Bill Holdship, MOJO, January 2007
BACKSTAGE AT UCLA's Royce Hall a joyous sound suddenly erupts from behind a closed door, which one assumes leads to Brian Wilson's dressing room judging ...
Beat, The: The English Beat: 2-Tone Survivors Make a Joyful Noise
Interview by Bill Holdship, Musician, February 1983
"THE CIRCUMSTANCES that brought the Beat together make us tenuous, in a way," observes singer/guitarist Dave Wakeling. "With any one set of musicians, sooner or ...
Blasters, The: The Blasters Ridin' On The Jubilee Train
Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, December 1983
PERHAPS TAKING A cue from the Book Of Rock Lists, I once considered compiling a list of the best rock records to listen to when ...
Clash, The: The Clash: They Want To Spoil The Party So They'll Stay
Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, October 1984
CREEM CONTRIBUTOR Mark Norton and I were talking several days before the Clash "invaded" Detroit, and we began discussing the concept of "armchair activism" and ...
Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, March 1987
ALICE COOPER'S 'Under My Wheels' is a rock 'n' roll classic. You can put it on a party tape or hear it on the radio ...
Elvis Costello & The Attractions: The Riviera, Chicago
Live Review by Bill Holdship, Creem, March 1987
ELVIS COSTELLO & The Attractions' early Detroit shows are among my fondest rock 'n' roll memories. I saw him the first time he played the ...
Cramps, The: The Cramps: Basic Instinct
Retrospective and Interview by Bill Holdship, MOJO, September 2003
For the last 30 years The Cramps have remained the wildest rock'n'roll double act on the planet, a potent cocktail of lewd rockabilly, primeval fuzz ...
Dokken: All Bozos On This Bus!
Report and Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, March 1985
OH, SAY CAN YOU SEE...IT'S ELECTION DAY in America, and I'm in Washington, D.C. Several miles away, Ronnie & Nancy are celebrating the fact that ...
Dream Syndicate, The: The Dream Syndicate's Heavenly Feedback From Hell
Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, July 1983
"WE PLAYED THE Mudd Club in New York, and we went on at 2 or 3 in the morning. I was amazed that people were ...
Dave Edmunds: From Small Things, Mama, Big Things One Day Come!
Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, September 1982
DAVE EDMUNDS' second biggest pleasure in life seems to be photography. A slim Edmunds (he claims he was horrified when he first saw his paunch ...
Rory Gallagher: The Flannel Banshee Breaks Out!
Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, July 1984
SIX I.R.A. BOMBS went off in Belfast the day of Rory Gallagher's second sold-out show at Ulster Hall, including one in the middle of the ...
Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, September 1981
ABUSIVE IS THE only word to describe the audience the last time Robert Gordon was in Detroit as part of a some-thought-smart/some-thought-not-so-smart double bill with ...
Review by Bill Holdship, Creem, March 1988
IN MANY WAYS, George Harrison's kinda had it unfair. Just as Let It Be has probably always been underrated mainly because it was a Beatles ...
George Harrison: An Appreciation From a Man Who Peed With The Quiet One
Comment by Bill Holdship, LA New Times, December 2001
GEORGE HARRISON is probably bemused by all the attention his passing received in the material world this past week. Most of the tributes have concentrated ...
John Hiatt : Have A Little Faith
Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, October 1987
JOHN HIATT IS onstage at the Roxy in L.A.; just him and a piano. It's part of this international convention A&M Records is holding to ...
Robyn Hitchcock: God Walks Among Us
Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, March 1986
IN HIS OWN WORDS, some people expect Robyn Hitchcock to be "a kind of exotic species of plant" or a "wigged-out acid casualty" in the ...
David Johansen Sings Basso Mondo Profundo
Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, October 1981
DAVID JOHANSEN should have been a superstar.Imagine... ...
Kinks, The: Ray Davies Unravels The Kinks
Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, December 1981
"I THINK ROCK music is just as important as painting." Ray Davies – musician, poet, humorist, social critic and leader of one of the world's ...
Review by Bill Holdship, Creem, June 1988
TOTALLY UNEXPECTED, totally out of the blue, and just when you'd almost given up on hearing anything this exciting again... ...
Limp Bizkit: Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water (Interscope)
Review by Bill Holdship, LA New Times, October 2000
YOU GOTTA WONDER when it go so ugly and so ... well, beyond anger and rage. If you trace this angry post-adolescent thing from James ...
Little Richard: The Quasar Speaks!
Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, January 1985
LITTLE RICHARD Penniman is one of rock's greatest legends. If you're interested in his past, you'd be well advised to read his new biography, The ...
Little Steven & The Disciples Of Soul
Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, June 1983
LIKE MOST GOOD DISCIPLES, Little Steven and the Disciples Of Soul have several important missions to accomplish on earth, and one of these is to ...
Nick Lowe: Ol' Nick The Knife's Back In Town!
Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, May 1982
NICK LOWE is one of the nicest and most down-to-earth guys in rock 'n' roll. ...
Profile and Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, July 1986
IT SEEMED STRANGE that Capitol Records would spend lots of money to send me and other American journalists to England in early February to see ...
John Mellencamp: John Cougar Mellencamp: Growing Up In Public
Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, December 1987
You'd think that John Cougar Mellencamp would be living a rock 'n' roll version of the proverbial life of Riley. ...
John Mellencamp: John Cougar Mellencamp: Working Class Hero In The Rumbleseat
Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, February 1986
BELMONT MALL, John Cougar Mellencamp's beautiful new recording studio, is located in a pastoral farm area not far from John's home in Bloomington, Indiana. It's ...
John Mellencamp: John Cougar: Pink Houses In The Midwest
Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, January 1984
MY STOMACH WAS in my throat again, and I was seriously contemplating murder. The victim would be editor-in-chief of the rag you presently hold in ...
Monkees, The: I Like The Monkees
Retrospective and Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, December 1986
ONE OF THE worst aspects of rock 'n' roll is that it's often centered on this debate as to whether something is "cool" or not. ...
Monkees, The: The Monkees: Head
Retrospective and Interview by Bill Holdship, MOJO, June 2002
"WHAT IS HEAD? HEAD IS THE most extraordinary adventure Western comedy love story mystery drama musical documentary ever filmed. And that's putting it mildly." ...
Van Dyke Parks, Brian Wilson: Brian Wilson And Van Dyke Parks: Orange Crate Art
Interview by Bill Holdship, MOJO, December 1995
BH: Was it hard getting Brian involved in the making of Orange Crate Art? ...
Elvis Presley: Goldman Ain't Nothin' But A Hound Dog!
Book Review by Bill Holdship, Creem, February 1982
Elvis by Albert Goldman (McGraw-Hill) ...
Prince & The Revolution: Joe Louis Arena, Detroit
Live Review by Bill Holdship, NME, December 1984
IT TOOK The Star over 55 minutes to make his grand entrance following new paramour Sheila E's rhythmically exciting but lightweight opening set. The lights ...
Prince: The Wit & Wisdom Of Prince Rogers Nelson
Comment by Bill Holdship, Creem, July 1985
HE'S DEFINITELY AN American superstar – one of the most important of the '80s – and his ascent still appears to be just above ground ...
Psychedelic Furs, The: The Psychedelic Furs: Sugar Cubes For The New Depression
Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, February 1983
RICHARD BUTLER, the Psychedelic Furs' chain-smoking vocalist, often sounds like an extremely angry man on record. Some people have compared his raspy voice to a ...
Psychedelic Furs, The: Psychedelic Furs: Sugar Cubes For The New Depression
Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, February 1982
RICHARD BUTLER, the Psychedelic Furs, chain-smoking vocalist, often sounds like an extremely angry man or record. ...
Raspberries, The: The Raspberries: House of Blues, Los Angeles
Live Review by Bill Holdship, LA CityBeat, October 2005
IN 1972, NOTHING sounded quite like the Raspberries' 'Go All the Way' and 'I Wanna Be With You' when they came roaring out of mono ...
Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, November 1984
IMAGINE BEING served one of the greatest meals of your life, and then being told you have exactly one-half hour to consume it. ...
R.E.M.: Rock Reconstruction Getting There
Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, September 1985
FABLES OF YEARS spent on the road. Decadent tales of groupies and drugs and arrogance and misspent lives near the top. You won't find any ...
Replacements, The: The Replacements: Pleased to Meet Me
Sleevenotes by Bill Holdship, unpublished, 2008
NOTE: These are Bill Holdship's original liner notes for the new Pleased to Meet Me reissue that were replaced last year when project producer Peter ...
Replacements, The: The Replacements: Drinking (And Drinking Lots More!)
Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, September 1986
SO "WHO'S HOT?" ...
Replacements, The: The Replacements: The Pleasure Is All Yours
Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, September 1987
FOR THE MOST part, I hate rock 'n' roll. Probably not the smartest thing to admit in print, and I wish it wasn't true. I ...
Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, May 1983
IT'S ALWAYS BEEN a little difficult for me to perceive Bob Seger as a major rock 'n' roll star. That isn't meant in any negative ...
Smiths, The: The Smiths: Fox Theater, Detroit
Live Review by Bill Holdship, Creem, December 1986
IT ALL BOILS down to the collapse and decay of the British Empire. You could blame it on Margaret Thatcher. Or on Joy Division. Or ...
Stooges, The, Iggy Pop: The Stooges: Kill City Dreaming
Interview by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, October 2009
Iggy Pop and James Williamson talk Raw Power, their rift and reunion, Ron Asheton and the glory that (still) is Detroit ...
Violent Femmes: The Violent Femmes: The Violent Femmes
Review by Bill Holdship, Creem, October 1983
ROMANTIC AND SEXUAL frustration have long been central themes in rock, and Gordon Gano – the Violent Femmes' 20-year-old singer, songwriter and guitarist – seems ...
Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, January 1988
I'M A LITTLE nervous – and I don't get this way often these days. But I've heard that Tom Waits can be a difficult interview. ...
Paul Westerberg: Controlled Chaos
Live Review by Bill Holdship, LA CityBeat, March 2005
At Paul Westerberg’s show, rock energy and stage entropy wrestle to a draw ...
Brian Wilson: The Story of Sweet Insanity
Retrospective by Bill Holdship, MOJO, September 1996
SOMEHOW – PRIMARILY BECAUSE I took the trouble to talk to Brian and his then ever-present psychotherapist-turned-manager and collaborator, Eugene Landy at a star-studded Hollywood ...
Brian Wilson: Lost In Music: Brian Wilson
Interview by Bill Holdship, MOJO, August 1995
Some call him a tortured genius. Others say he’s just insane. Some claim he’s suffering through an extended hiatus between transcendent works. Others reckon he’s ...
Neil Young: Sleeps With Angels
Review by Bill Holdship, Musician, October 1994
IT'S A LITTLE LIKE San Francisco weather: If you don't care for Neil Young's musical style at any given moment, wait a while and it'll ...
Frank Zappa: Zappa Honors The Hall Of Fame
Report and Interview by Bill Holdship, BAM, February 1995
IF ANYONE OUT there is wondering why Lou Reed (who never had a good word to say about Frank Zappa during Zappa's lifetime) was chosen ...
List of genre pieces
Looking For Influence, Significance, Development And Perpetuation At The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
Comment by Bill Holdship, LA New Times, March 2001
Press release, Tuesday, December 12, 2000, New York – The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees for the 16th Annual Induction Ceremony were announced ...
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