Dave Rimmer
A key SMASH HITS and FACE writer in the early-mid 1980s, Rimmer also authored Like Punk Never Happened, a cult study of '80s pop. He spent the late '80s and '90s in Berlin and Budapest, watching the Wall fall in his second book, Once Upon a Time in the East, and has contributed to dozens of publications in the UK, US and Germany. Currently based back in London, he doubles as travel writer and is working on a book about New Romantics.
List of articles in the library by artist
Interview by Dave Rimmer, Q, March 1987
THAT RESTLESS, relentless and often quite ridiculous search for the Next Big Thing has to be the longest-running game in pop. When Anita Baker's album, ...
Interview by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, May 1983
IT'S THE UNEARTHLY hour of 8.0 in the morning in some place called Astwick. Your reporter and the two members of Blancmange (both a trifle ...
Bronski Beat: Runaway Boys: Bronski Beat
Interview by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, June 1984
Bronski Beat are young, talented and they've only played a handful of concerts. And suddenly everyone's asking them questions. Questions about their "stance" as a ...
Culture Club In The Land Of The Rising Sun
Report by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, July 1984
Culture Club in Japan are very big news INDEED. They're the most popular British pop group. They fill massive stadiums. There are Girl Georges everywhere. ...
Culture Club: The Boy In New York City
Report and Interview by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, December 1982
Culture Club take on America and George discovers 46 flavours of shaving foam. Words: Dave Rimmer. ...
Culture Club: Cutlure Club: The Jon Moss Story
Interview by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, March 1984
Pig William, Phone Bone Boulevard, Pastrami Barmy, Eskimo Norbert, The Clash, London, The Damned, The Edge, Jane Aire & The Belvederes, The Nips, Adam And ...
Culture Club, Boy George: Culture Club and George
Report and Interview by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, December 1983
A TYPICAL SUNDAY afternoon in New York's Central Park. Horse drawn carriages sweep by full of tourists. Armies of joggers with headphones stream down every ...
Interview by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, October 1983
Q: WHAT DO The Cure, The Banshees, The Royal Ballet and Crawley all have in common? ...
Dexy's Midnight Runners: Dexys Midnight Runners: Straight Talking
Report and Interview by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, December 1982
"Dexys is my work, my life", claims Kevin Rowland. Much more than that he's not saying. Dave Rimmer waits with bated breath. ...
Dire Straits: Coming To a Street Near You: Dire Straits
Comment by Dave Rimmer, Tip (Berlin), Summer 1992
Note: This deliberately rather facetious story was written for a Tip magazine cover story in summer 1992, and translated into German by Wolfgang Doebeling. I’m ...
Thomas Dolby: The Appliance of Science
Profile and Interview by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, February 1984
AT THE TENDER age of 25, Thomas Dolby has already established himself as an ingenious and inventive songwriter, performer, producer, synthesizer wizard and video director. ...
Duran Duran: Life In The Land Down Under
Report and Interview by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, November 1983
Duran Duran have just got back from three months in Australia. Before they left, Dave Rimmer flew out to join them. ...
Duran Duran: The Pop Dream Come True
Report and Interview by Dave Rimmer, Face, The, December 1985
NIGHT SETTLES ON The Palace Hotel, Philadelphia, like a sigh of relief. All the acts have finished all their frantic, last minute preparations for Live ...
Report and Interview by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, February 1983
IT WAS A trifle chilly, apparently, when the Bunnymen did the woodland photo session for their first album, Crocodiles. It was even colder on the ...
Brian Eno: Eno: Only The Small Survive
Interview by Dave Rimmer, Face, The, October 1980
One of the vital musical innovators of the Seventies, Brian Eno now inhabits a curious world. He lives in 'medieval' Manhattan, where he gambles on ...
Interview by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, March 1983
Most electronic duos seem to have hits instantly. Not so Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox. Dave Rimmer finds out why it's taken them so long. ...
Marianne Faithfull: Berliner Ensemble, Berlin
Live Review by Dave Rimmer, MOJO, February 1996
THE SET IS SIMPLE: black curtain, grand piano, chair and table, snifter of brandy and pack of Marlboro Lights. She’s nervous stepping on to it, ...
Kim Fowley: Checkpoint Fowley: Chairman Kim in Berlin
Comment by Dave Rimmer, Checkpoint (Berlin), November 1992
Author's Note: This was written as a column for Checkpoint magazine in Berlin. The column was, at the beginning, nominally about nightlife, so hence all ...
Frankie Goes to Hollywood: The Revenge of Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Report and Interview by Dave Rimmer, Q, Summer 1986
"NO ONE GETS IN HERE!" screams Brian Nash, slamming the caravan door and flicking the lock. "No one!" Outside hover a few members of the ...
Gloria Gaynor, Evelyn Thomas, Weather Girls, The: High Energy
Report by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, June 1984
It's a new type of dance beat. Hazell Dean's 'Searchin'' is High Energy; so are The Weather Girls, Gloria Gaynor and Evelyn Thomas. The charts ...
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five: Various Artists: Genius Of Rap — The Sugar Hill Story
Review by Dave Rimmer, Q, August 1987
"I SAID A HIP, HOP..." starts the rap by The Sugar Hill Gang's Wonder Mike over a riff faithfully copied from (though only much later ...
Debbie Harry: It's About Time, Isn't It?
Interview by Dave Rimmer, Q, December 1986
SO WHY, WE must ask, is Debbie Harry back right now, exactly? Has she brought out her brand new single, 'French Kissing In The USA', ...
Human League, The: The Human League: Human Nature
Interview by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, December 1981
"YOU'D BETTER watch out," Philip Oakey warns in a voice to make even the hardiest soul tremble at the knees. "We've decided we like that ...
Interview by Dave Rimmer, Q, January 1988
"WE GOT a letter last week," Peter Hook, the bearded and occasionally belligerent bass player, the one who answers all New Order fan mail, is ...
Report and Interview by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, 1983
I'VE ALWAYS had this picture of New Order — four sombre, sensitive types permanently locked in a darkened studio arguing about the merits of their ...
New Order: We've Got This Far And We Can't Even Play!
Interview by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, May 1984
So says New Order's Bernard Sumner. Dave Rimmer isn't saying anything. ...
Profile and Interview by Dave Rimmer, Q, December 1986
JOHN PEEL IS sitting in his pyjamas in the kitchen of his Suffolk home. It is a Sunday afternoon. On the wall is a Radio ...
Pet Shop Boys: MTV Launches in Russia - and the PSBs Cut the Ribbon!
Report and Interview by Dave Rimmer, Guardian, The, June 1993
2002 NOTE: This piece about the launching of MTV Russia was published by the Guardian in London, by Tip magazine in Berlin, and by the ...
Prefab Sprout: From Langley Park To Memphis
Review by Dave Rimmer, Q, April 1988
A RUM PROPOSITION, this Prefab Sprout. It depends on your mood and mode of musical preference, of course, but while much of the time they ...
Simple Minds: Jim Kerr's Glittering Dream
Interview by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, September 1982
JIM KERR and I have just started talking over a cup of tea in London's Hyde Park, when a girl comes rushing up. ...
Report by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, September 1983
A long, hot, emotional day it was too. Dublin's Phoenix Park throws open its gates to U2, Simple Minds, Eurythmics, Big Country and about 20,000 ...
Smiths, The: The Smiths: Hits And Myths
Interview by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, February 1984
From "severe starvation" to chart success without ever once ironing a shirt. Yes friends, says Dave Rimmer, it can be done! ...
Review by Dave Rimmer, Q, November 1987
"WITHOUT FREEDOM FROM the past," sings a typically philosophical Sting on one track called 'History Will Teach Us Nothing', "things will only get worse." ...
Style Council, The: The Style Council: The Cost Of Loving
Review by Dave Rimmer, Q, March 1987
IT'S FOUR YEARS now since Paul Weller knocked The Jam on the head and launched his new group with "Merton" Mick Talbot. Ever since the ...
David Sylvian Vs. The Pop Goliath
Interview by Dave Rimmer, Face, The, March 1986
THE MAN WHO STROLLED INTO the lobby was small and neat, grey-suited with white shoes. His hair was a natural darkish brown a small silver ...
Report and Interview by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, August 1982
BIT OF AN abrasive character, this Mark Hollis from Talk Talk. Halfway through our chat, I innocently mention that they're often compared to Duran Duran, ...
Report and Interview by Dave Rimmer, Face, The, Summer 1987
SEARCHLIGHTS SWAY IN THE SKY over Hollywood Boulevard and Vine as the premiere party for La Bamba the movie strides into full swing. The subject ...
Yarbrough & Peoples, Gap Band, The: The Gap Band/Yarbrough and Peoples: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, February 1983
Intrepid fans shuffle past a regiment of niggly security men and into the Hammersmith Odeon. On stage a whole troupe of compères bounce on and ...
Interview by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, December 1982
Alf and Vince probably "wouldn't be friends if we weren't working together". They often don't meet up 'til just before going on stage. Dave Rimmer ...
Report and Interview by Dave Rimmer, Q, February 1997
They're back, and this time they're organic... Dave Rimmer hops on board the Yes reunion special ...
Paul Young: Too Much, Too Young
Interview by Dave Rimmer, Face, The, January 1985
CLOSE YOUR EYES and picture the man who is talking. Chances are you imagine him looking well turned-out in a sharp and quite possibly shiny ...
Frank Zappa: The Lost Episodes
Review by Dave Rimmer, MOJO, March 1996
DESCRIBED BY UTILITY Muffin Kitchen engineer Spencer Chrislu as a "sort of stealth project", this excellent little album of studio leftovers was put together by ...
Obituary by Dave Rimmer, MOJO, January 1994
[NOTE: This was part of Mojo’s obituary for Frank Zappa, and was published in January 1994. The brief was simply to look at his career ...
List of genre pieces
Futurebeat: Vorschtsprung dürch Techno
Essay by Dave Rimmer, Wire, The, Spring 1994
"The only possible challenge to repetitive power takes the route of a breach in social repetition and the control of noisemaking. In more day-to-day political ...
Guide by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, April 1983
IN 1979 A record called 'Rapper's Delight' by the Sugarhill Gang introduced us to rapping. Similar stuff soon followed — Kurtis Blow, Grandmaster Flash and ...
Microglobe: Easy Dance & Musichall, Frankfurt an der Oder
Report by Dave Rimmer, MOJO, January 1994
IN THE CRAMPED LITTLE DJ BOOTH AT THE EASY DISCO, Frankfurt an der Oder – east Germany city of flatblocks and border posts – Berlin ...
Nazi Noises: Right-Wing Rock in Europe
Report by Dave Rimmer, Select, Fall 1992
NOTE: This piece about Nazi rock music in Germany was commissioned and published by UK music magazine Select in autumn (I think) of 1992. It ...
Report by Dave Rimmer, Pozor, 1996
NOTE: As a veteran of the event, I have written a lot about the Love Parade – for various music magazines in the UK, for ...
You Don't Have to Say You Love Him: The Divine Simon Napier-Bell
Profile and Interview by Dave Rimmer, Q, Summer 1987
IN A DISCREET east London venue, in the smaller dressing room backstage, a new group called Blue Mercedes are packing up their gear after their ...
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