Carol Clerk
Carol Clerk wrote extensively for MELODY MAKER in the '80s and '90s, and more recently for UNCUT. She was the author of books about Madonna, the Pogues, Hawkind and others, as well as of Vintage Tattoos. She died in March 2010.
2003 interview with Carol Clerk
List of articles in the library by artist
Angelic Upstarts: Still From The Heart (Zono)
Review by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, April 1982
EXTRAORDINARY. Quite extraordinary. This has got to be the most astonishing thing I've heard in months; a shock so devastating that I'm shaking still. ...
Angelic Upstarts: Mensi's Marauders
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, May 1982
"COME HERE you!" bellowed Mensi across a crowded and quite respectable lounge bar. The reverberations thundered over the heads of the lunchtime clientele, their salads ...
Anti-Nowhere League: We Are…The League
Review by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, May 1982
THERE'S ONLY one League in my life. It's not the Human League, for sure. It's not the Ivy League either, or the League of Gentlemen. ...
Stiv Bators: Stiv Bator and Michael Monroe
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 1985
STIV BATOR: "THERE'S an old saying in the American Mid-West that whoever you spend New Year's Eve with, you spend the rest of the year ...
Beatles, The, George Harrison: George Harrison
Obituary by Carol Clerk, Uncut, February 2002
'You know, life flows on within you and without you'– George Harrison ...
Bon Jovi: Jon Bon Jovi: Destination Anywhere
Review by Carol Clerk, Uncut, July 1997
THE ONLY living American to get the hang of TFI Friday. The hardest-working man in, oh, several industries. The pin-up pop star who dared to ...
Business, The: The Business: Heaven Can Wait
Profile and Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, June 1982
IT SEEMED like a good idea at the time. Meet The Business, knock back a pint or two, set off on a disco crawl...and find ...
Chelsea: Spring Time for October
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, April 1982
I DON'T know why it had to happen to Chelsea. Clawed by the press, mauled by the dim-witted forces of fashion, the four-man disaster team ...
Chron Gen: Chronic Generation (Secret)
Review by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, April 1982
WELCOME TO the chronic generation, and a glimpse into the past, present and future of Chron-Gen on their debut album. ...
Damned, The, UK Subs: Dreaming Of A Punk Christmas
Report by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, January 1982
"COME HERE," cried an excited Captain Sensible from the corner of the backstage lounge. "I've just discovered what this is like! It's like the Generation ...
Dolly Mixture, Captain Sensible: Captain Sensible & Dolly Mixture: Sense and Sensibility
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, July 1982
SHE DIDN'T look a day under 75, but she recognised him instantly. Up to her elbows in pie and mash and jellied eels, the woman ...
Profile and Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, July 1982
IT WAS in the winter of 1978 that vocalist Lee Drury had his first traumatic encounter with the cruel forces of fate. At the time, ...
Fall, The: The Fall: 15 Years Of Fame
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, May 1993
THERE'S SOMETHING TREMENDOUSLY reassuring about the fact that The Fall, and Mark E Smith, exist. ...
Fields Of The Nephilim: Attractions Fatalist
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, May 1989
THE THING I most enjoy about Carl McCoy is his refusal to jump through the traditional music industry hoops. ...
Fields Of The Nephilim: The Nod Corner
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, December 1989
THE MOMENT IS breathtaking. One minute, he's Nod, drummer of Fields Of The Nephilim, chatting placidly of a pint of Flowers Best. Next minute, he's ...
Profile and Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, August 1982
Carol Clerk collars confident Blackpool punksters The Fits in a fact-packed foray ...
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, June 1986
No more Sammy's tits on page three! Unthinkable! More Sammy songs on Top Of The Pops! Even more unthinkable! While the world wrings its hands ...
Rory Gallagher: Life With Last Year's Model
Report and Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, September 1981
THEY WERE IN Manchester. It was 8:30 in the morning, and the hotel was quiet. The Rory Gallagher Band and their crew were peacefully sleeping ...
Hanoi Rocks: Danceteria, New York
Live Review by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, April 1984
IT WAS a particularly nasty little flu bug, the sort that devastates every function of the human body and turns you into the most miserable ...
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, November 1993
Evan Dando likes to avoid relationships. Juliana Hatfield is a self-confessed virgin. And yet, whatever their sexual orientation, Ev and Jules are indieland's second most ...
Hawkwind: The Saga of Hawkwind
Book Excerpt by Carol Clerk, Omnibus Press, 2004
Emerging from the hippie heartland of London's Ladbroke Grove in 1969, Hawkwind invented space-rock with a potent, psychedelic mixture of jamming blues, electronica and lights. ...
Jimi Hendrix: Through Gypsy Eyes by Kathy Etchingham and Andrew Crofts (Orion)
Book Review by Carol Clerk, Uncut, October 1998
JIMI HENDRIX flew into London for the first time in 1966, with a guitar and a bag containing a change of clothes, a jar of ...
Brian Jones, Rolling Stones, The: Brian Jones: The Life Of Brian
Retrospective by Carol Clerk, Uncut, February 2005
IT'S CLOSE to midnight on Wednesday, July 2, 1969, and Brian Jones is dead in the deep end of his swimming pool. ...
Janis Joplin: The Ultimate Collection
Review by Carol Clerk, Uncut, October 1998
ROCK'S HOTTEST mama revisited in a comprehensive 32-track retrospective. ...
Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page: Robert Plant: The Song Remains The Same
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, January 1988
Over the past three years Led Zeppelin have been used and abused by everyone from The Cult to the Beastie Boys. On the eve of ...
John Lennon, Yoko Ono: Yoko Ono on John Lennon
Interview by Carol Clerk, Uncut, January 1998
AND SO THIS is Christmas. Well, nearly. The stores in Manhattan are already sparkling with trees and tinsel, and here in Central Park, the traditionally ...
John Lennon, Yoko Ono: Yoko Ono: Special Occasions
Interview by Carol Clerk, Uncut, January 2008
THOUGHTS FROM YOKO ONO ON THE EVE OF JOHN LENNON'S BIRTHDAY (OCTOBER 9, 2007) IN ICELAND, WHERE SHE INAUGURATED THE IMAGINE PEACE TOWER IN HIS ...
Book Review by Carol Clerk, Uncut, October 2001
Marking the 10th anniversary of Nevermind, True relives a turbulent life in grunge and Gullick and Sweet share their photographs ...
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, February 1984
Carol Clerk and MARILYN parry ideas about love, life and sex and the single girl. ...
Review by Carol Clerk, Uncut, June 1997
PERHAPS Anthology holds the key. Not just the CDs and the videos, but the whole hullabaloo surrounding the project and the full-scale reassessment of The ...
Comment by Carol Clerk, Uncut, June 2002
FORMER 10,000 Maniacs vocalist and lyricist on a record that changed her life: The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust RCA 1972 ...
Interview by Carol Clerk, Uncut, April 2000
THE LOCATION IS LONDON'S flashy Landmark Hotel, a place where palm trees loom over drinkers in the lobby and there's a better class of toiletry ...
Oasis: They Thought It Was All Over
Report by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, September 1996
THE ANNOUNCEMENT came on Friday, 24 hours of nail-biting drama. Oasis, after all, were not going to split. ...
Yoko Ono, John Lennon: The Ballad of John & Yoko
Retrospective and Interview by Carol Clerk, Uncut, September 2003
IT'S THE summer of 1969, and John and Yoko are in bed in room 1742 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Montreal. They are in their ...
Peter and the Test Tube Babies: More Bottle Than Brains
Report and Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, June 1982
Carol Clerk cracks a tube with PETER AND THE TEST TUBE BABIES ...
Pink Floyd: The Making of The Final Cut
Retrospective and Interview by Carol Clerk, Uncut, June 2003
AT THE end of 1979, when Pink Floyd released The Wall, they were at the height of their fame and glory. A double album, it ...
Pink Floyd: The Making of Dark Side Of The Moon
Retrospective and Interview by Carol Clerk, Uncut, June 2003
ROGER WATERS (BASS, VOCALS, VCS3, TAPE EFFECTS, LYRICS) ...
Report and Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, February 1989
'EVERY ROSE HAS ITS THORN' WAS NUMBER ONE IN AMERICA OVER CHRISTMAS. THE OPEN UP AND SAY...AHH! LP CRUISED INTO THE US TOP 10 AND ...
Public Image Ltd: John Lydon: Apocalypse New
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, May 1986
SOMEBODY told me John Lydon liked a drink. And this was indeed a large crumb of comfort. Suddenly, it was possible to establish some common ...
Roddy Radiation & The Tearjerkers: Tears and Radiation
Profile and Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, April 1982
ONE THING'S certain. Roddy Radiation, with his new band the Tearjerkers, could hardly have travelled further away from the sound, the style, the mood and ...
Ramones, The: Joey Ramone 1951-2001
Obituary by Carol Clerk, Uncut, June 2001
'Life to me is an adventure and you've got to experience everything' ...
Ramones, The: Joey Ramone: Don't Worry About Me (Sanctuary) ****
Review by Carol Clerk, Uncut, March 2002
HIS LONG-awaited solo album, posthumously released. ...
Live Review by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, July 1982
THIS IS ALMOST another case of "eat thy words", hard on the heels of Allan Jones' revelatory viewing of the Stones at Wembley. I didn't ...
Rod Stewart, Faces, The: Rod Stewart, The Faces: Wembley Stadium, London
Live Review by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, July 1986
BIG NOSE STRIKES AGAIN! ...
Johnny Thunders: The Marquee, London
Live Review by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, September 1984
WHEN JOHNNY came marching back to London this time around, he took us all by surprise. ...
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, March 1988
FOLLOWING THE PHENOMENAL SUCCESS OF 'CHINA IN YOUR HAND', T'PAU HAVE LEAPT FROM THE PAVEMENT TO THE PENTHOUSE. WHAT IS THE SECRET OF THEIR SUCCESS? ...
Travis: The Invisible Band (Independiente)****
Review by Carol Clerk, Uncut, August 2001
A FOLLOW-UP of quality and distinction, inventively produced ...
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