Garry Bushell
Garry Bushell is an English newspaper columnist, television presenter, author and political activist. He wrote most famously for Sounds in the '70s and '80s. Bushell also sings in the Oi! band The Gonads and manages the New York City Oi! band Maninblack. Although his TV column Bushell On The Box still appears weekly in the Daily Star Sunday, Bushell is semi-retired and currently focuses on his band and novels.
List of articles in the library by artist
Angelic Upstarts: Gonna Be A Prison Break-In
Report by Garry Bushell, Sounds, April 1979
THE BAND THE POLICE LOVE TO HATE INVITED TO DO A PRISON GIG? ...
Angelic Upstarts: The Nashville, London
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, August 1979
THE MUSIC Press is a middle class toy, perpetually pampered, easily bored, easily bought off. It's too easy to sit pretty in your safe mortgaged ...
Anti-Nowhere League: We Are…The League (WXYZ)*****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, May 1982
ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, I give in. Let's face it, this just ain't the sort of music (?) to lend itself to sensitive in-depth philosophical probings. ...
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, October 1982
SLOPING OFF the Inter-City at Manchester Piccadilly, I was suddenly overcome by a torrid tinge of terror. ...
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, March 1982
RIGHT TO Work Marchers, like punks, skins and soccer herberts, are apparently fair game for any Old Bill trying to keep his 'nick-nick' quota up ...
Bad Manners: Bad Manners (Magnet) *****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, April 1980
OH DOCTOR I'm in trouble (well goodness gracious me), not only have I forgotten the rest of the words to the Peter Sellers/Sophia Loren teen ...
Black Flag: Damaged (SST Import)
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, January 1982
"THE RUNAWAYS on angel dust," was how my pal Jimmy 'Bubbles' Skinner summed up this awesome Yank Punk broadside. The Stooges on bad sulphate is ...
Blitz: Voice Of A Generation (No Future) *****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, October 1982
THIS REALLY is the big one, final proof if any were needed that the punk renewal of the last two years is more than just ...
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, January 1980
FROM WHERE I'm sitting Chris Stein looks like a chubbier version of Paul Foot, his tousled hair spilling over the thick black frames of his ...
Bodysnatchers, The, Ruts, The, Selecter, The: The Selecter/The Bodysnatchers: Live Injection
Report by Garry Bushell, Sounds, March 1980
ROCK HAD started to get very boring again. Very self-important and pompous. Old concepts were rearing up on young shoulders with bands raiding Pink Floyd ...
Alicia Bridges: Ackshon Replay
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, March 1979
ALICIA BRIDGES OVER(COMES) TROUBLED WATERS, PUNS GARRY 'DISCO BOY' BUSHELLL ...
Business, The: The Business: Minding Their Own
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, February 1982
'The winter of discontent is nearing/Thatcher's got trouble with her hearing/The voices of millions are going unheard/I'd try to laugh if it wasn't so absurd/This ...
John Cooper Clarke: Just Another Ex-Gravedigger Poet Into Dada and the TV
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, September 1978
GARRY BUSHELL GOES PUNK-SURREAL ...
Clash, The: The Clash: London Calling (CBS) **
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, December 1979
"THE HELL with it! Let chaos reign, louder music, more wine, the hell with the standings, the top rungs are up for grabs. All the ...
Clerical Error: Expresso Bongo
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, May 1982
VIEWERS OF LWT'S London Programme were recently treated to a sneak preview of a band I'd wager we'll be seeing a lot more of on ...
Cockney Rejects: Greatest Hits Vol 1
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, March 1980
WHEN I first met Micky Geggus and Stinky Turner and heard their tape I knew there was something about it and them that said they ...
Cockney Rejects: Have They Bitten Off More Than They Can Chew?
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, July 1980
"THIS IS A once in a generation band. The sort of band who'll either be massive in eighteen months or dead or both." ...
Cock Sparrer: Strictly For The Birds
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, November 1982
COCK SPARRER'S come-back couldn't have been better timed. Just as the street rock scene was getting staler than a Marie Celeste bread roll, the original ...
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, September 1982
THE VERY concept of a band like Coming Blood is about as shock-horror near-the-knuckle punky as you can get. Their name alone is a verbal ...
Profile and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, February 1982
'Five years on and you've still got nothing' ...
Exploited, The: The Exploited: I Still Believe In Anarchy
Profile and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, August 1980
SOMETIMES I wish my mind and body were under the same management. Anyone with half an eye on the dictates of fashion and media double-think ...
Fatal Microbes, Honey Bane: Fatal Microbes: Femme Fatale
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, April 1980
A BOOZER IN beautiful down-town Stepney is the rendezvous and despite London Transport I manage to arrive at the right time on the right day ...
Gang of Four: The Gang's All Here
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, June 1979
...WELL ALMOST, AS GARRY BUSHELL DISCOVERS DURING A DRUNKEN DISCUSSION WITH THE GANG OF FOUR ...
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, March 1982
"Oi has spoilt punk. I really hate the idea of the Oi thing even if some of the music's alright...if Oi and punk are the ...
Profile and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, February 1980
HEAVY METAL has been around for as long as I can remember. It grew from the blues and just never died despite years of cold ...
Iron Maiden: The Number Of The Beast (EMI)****1/2
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, March 1982
DREAMS DON'T come true too often so when they do it's worth making a song and dance about them. The Steve Harris story is a ...
Iron Maiden: Unleashed With The Beast
Report by Garry Bushell, Sounds, August 1982
CORPUS CHRISTI lies humid and unhurried under a scorching Texas sun. The shining orb's efforts to reduce the populus to mobile blobs of molten jelly ...
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, April 1979
"THEY THINK THEY'RE FIGHTING FASCISM ON BEHALF OF BLACKS, BUT THEY'RE FOOLING THEMSELVES" ...
Lurkers, The: The Lurkers: The Lurk Of Love
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, July 1982
THE BLOKE who spends his life writing things like 'Let's Lurk' and 'Lewisham Lurkers' over every available wall on my estate, and who's probably single-handedly ...
Profile by Garry Bushell, Dance Craze, 1981
I WAS STUCK on a five hour train journey from Glasgow to London in the summer of '79 with no buffet and with only the ...
Madness: Blue Beat and Pork Pies
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, November 1979
Not so much New Boots and Panties, more a case of...Blue Beat and Pork Pies. Britain in the grip of Madness. Report by Garry Bushell. ...
Members, The: The Members: 1980 — The Choice Is Yours (Virgin)****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, April 1980
Members 'not has-beens' debate ...
Members, The: The Members: At The Chelsea Nightclub (Virgin)*****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, April 1979
BEFORE WE start let something be said: if lesser papers want to slag off Sounds they're quite welcome to try, but per-lease don't use the ...
Mo-dettes, The: The Mo-dettes: The Bridge House, Canning Town, London
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, February 1980
THE TYPE of people who write about The Mo-Dettes in the music mess (and wrap them up in their own self-conscious hypes and silly self-deceits) ...
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, March 1982
WHAT'S SIX to eight yards long, gets tucked and tied, gathered up, taken round and pleated not less than seven times? Clue: it often takes ...
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, June 1981
TWO LUVLY black eyes, oh what a surprise. Or more to the point, OWWW! what a surprise. I know it's traditional for hacks to liken ...
Motorhead: Ace Of Spades (Bronze)*****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, October 1980
BUZZARDS CIRCLE high above the heads of the three outlaws standing silently waiting far out in the arid badlands of New Mexico. Suddenly, the tranquility ...
Motorhead, Tank: Motorhead/Tank: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, April 1982
HOLY MIGRAINE, Batman, howcomes my brain feels like Ardiles just borrowed it for a kickabout and put it back upside down? And who the hell ...
Ozzy Osbourne: Talk Of The Devil (Jet) *****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, November 1982
EXACTLY HOW and why this extraordinary album came about is a mystery on a par with the Turin Shroud. I personally fancy it's Ozzy's way ...
Ozzy Osbourne: Insanities In Ten Cities
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, June 1981
NEW YORK'S Plaza Hotel is so posh you wouldn't be at all surprised to turn round and catch the Queen Mum sliding down the bannisters ...
Piranhas, The: The Piranhas: The Piranhas (Sire)****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, September 1980
I HATE to say I told you so but I TOLD YOU SO, you sick toerags. The Piranhas are dead, they said. They've missed the ...
Professionals, The: The Professionals: Diary Of A Man Who Likes To Stay In
Profile and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, August 1980
THE PROFESSIONALS' debut single 'Just Another Dream' is about twenty bus stops down the road from 'Anarchy In The UK' if you're using words like ...
Rainbow: Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow: Seeing is Believing
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, December 1982
MOST PEOPLE reckon Ritchie Blackmore's a miserable bastard. Mean, moody, mysterious, macabre and, by implication, Mandraxed to the gills, the Blackmore of popular imigination has ...
Ruts, The: The Ruts Bleed For You
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, June 1979
IT WAS ALL going so well too, that was the point. So everyone assumed it was part of the act. I must admit I was ...
Secret Affair: Mods Without Parkas
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, June 1979
"HEYYY, don't crowd me, wanna be the only one. Heyyy, won't you give me a break, I'm gonna be second to none." ...
Sham 69: The Adventures Of Hersham Boys (Polydor)***
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, September 1979
WHAT DID Sham mean to you? I don't really give a monkey's cos to me and a lot of my mates they were the business. ...
Sham 69, Sex Pistols, The: Goodbye Sham 69
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, July 1979
"WE WANT SHUM! WE WANT SHUM! WE WANT SHUM!" Friday night in Glasgow The Apollo is packed to capacity and if you want understatements the ...
Skids, The: The Skids: Fanfare (Virgin)*****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, July 1982
Skids to a halt ...
Skids, The: The Skids: No Comedy, No Intellect, No Politics, No Punk
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, October 1978
GARRY BUSHELL INTERVIEWS THE SKIDS AND GETS CONFUSED (AGAIN). AN EVERYDAY STORY OF SCOTTISH LADS IN A POP GROUP. ...
Slade: Slade On Stage (RCA) *****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, December 1982
"'TWAS CHRISTMAS Day in the Workhouse, the radio was at full blast, when up jumped an old age pensioner with a face like a lump ...
Slaughter and the Dogs: The Boot Boys Are Back In Town
Profile and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, September 1979
"PUNK IS BACK, PUNK IS BACK, WO-AH, WO-AH!" ...
Slaughter and the Dogs: Slaughter: Get Ready To Do Ruck Steady
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, April 1980
THREE MONTHS into the weighty Eighties and pop paper medics decide it's time for Slaughter's funeral. ...
Sledgehammer: The Marquee, London
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, April 1980
SUGAR RAY Leonard, undefeated welterweight champion of the world, would seem to be the perfect metaphorical embodiment of the music I like best. As no-nonsense ...
Specials, The: The Specials: More Specials (2-Tone)*****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, September 1980
TO BET or not to bet, that is the question. Whether it be nobler to sit pretty with a winning formula or take a gamble ...
Specials, The: The Specials: Rude Boys Can't Fail
Report by Garry Bushell, Sounds, March 1980
THEY DON'T muck about, the Yanks. These buildings go all the way up like the architect was getting paid by the cubic foot although exactly ...
Specials, The, Clash, The: The Clash/The Specials: Friar's, Aylesbury
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, July 1978
FOR PEOPLE who like to put things in neat little pecking orders – and because of our conditioning there's a lot of them – the ...
Splodgenessabounds: Help Stamp Out Splodgeness!
Profile by Garry Bushell, Sounds, February 1980
MANY DISTRESSED Sounds readers have written to us about the alarming outbreaks of 'Splodgenessabounds' currently sweeping through lower class areas of South East London. This ...
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, August 1979
"She used to do a topless/Down at the Surrey Docks/With tassels on her wotsits/She did a t'riffic job/Of raising all the eye-brows/Of every lunch time ...
Stiff Little Fingers: (F)Ireland Rockers
Interview by Garry Bushell, Trouser Press, July 1979
"TAKE A LOOK where you're living/You got the army on your street/ And the RUC dog of repression is barking at your feet..." Jake Burns ...
Stiff Little Fingers: Inflammable Material (Rough Trade)*****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, February 1979
POOR OLD Stiff Little Fingers. They stormed across the Irish Sea last year and confused most people by talking loudly about being Ulster Boys without ...
Stiff Little Fingers: Nobody's Heroes (Chrysalis) ***
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, March 1980
ONCE YOU adjust to the crappy cover and the initial sense of anti-climax you realise this is mostly an alright album, although it's frustrating and ...
Tank: Filth Hounds Of Hades (Kamaflage)
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, March 1982
IMAGES OF destruction – of a solid steel stallion smashing through barbed wire, ploughing through miles of muck and wire to mutilate your mind. Visions ...
Tank: Power Of The Hunter (Kamaflage)
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, October 1982
MENTION TANK to yer average cloth-eared critic and these thoughts will run on autocue through his lazy mind: Tank are a three-piece with a bassist ...
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, November 1982
The permanent new wave of HM rolls on with Tank reports GARRY BUSHELL ...
Profile and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, August 1980
AT THE risk of getting into a this week's big thing situation, I've got this feeling in my bones that Tenpole Tudor are gonna be ...
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, April 1979
GARRY BUSHELL FOLLOWS THE T(H)IN MAN AND THE REST DOWN THE YELL O'BRICK ROAD ...
Profile and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, July 1982
AHA AHA AHA...Video didn't kill any radio star who wasn't already tottering dodo-like on the edge of extinction anyway. The best and brightest radio stars ...
Twisted Sister: Under The Blade (Secret) *****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, September 1982
THERE'S A body of opinion that holds that Pete Way couldn't produce a rabbit out of a hat. There's a similar one holding that Twisted ...
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, January 1982
A MASSIVE clenched fist clutching a spanner makes an imposing backdrop for the new UFO show and inspires hopes that the band are belatedly rallying ...
UFO: Object, Refuse, Rejects Abuse
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, May 1982
"JOIN SHOUNDS, hic, and shee the world," Big Al Lewis (Ed Rtd; now Mega-Ed) had shlurred on that historic day in 1978 when I conned ...
Report by Garry Bushell, Sounds, June 1980
THUNDER SPREADS across the weathered visage of Selecter's dumpling coach driver Tennessee Roman Reynolds. He thumps the breakfast table like he's an SPG man working ...
UFO: Tonka, Wailer, Snowman, Sailor
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, May 1982
REGULAR READERS of my exciting adventures may recall that two weeks back your humble scribe was snowed under with top rock band UFO in the ...
UK Subs: Another Kind Of Blues (Gem)*****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, September 1979
THIS REVIEW lasts 180 seconds and reads 1-2-3-4. It starts with a loud guitar burst, then bass and drums explode and your voice roars 'GARAGELAND' ...
UK Subs: Brand New Age (GEM)*****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, April 1980
WHEN I was at school we used to have a big fat Scottish Geography teacher who was forever clotting you round the head and saying ...
UK Subs: Live Kicks (Stiff) **
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, February 1980
POGO? I thought I'd never start. ...
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, June 1980
NO DISRESPECT to Dave 'half-a-shandy' McCullough but, myself, I get no pleasure from records that sound like tin baths falling down coal chutes. Witless soul ...
UK Subs: The Masters Of Pure Pogomatic Power Pound On (Part 86).
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, June 1980
NO DISRESPECT to Dave 'half-a-shandy' McCullough but, myself, I get no pleasure from records that sound like tin baths falling down coal chutes. Witless soul ...
UK Subs, Urban Dogs, Vibrators, The: Urban Dogs: Doggie Doings
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, November 1982
CHARLIE HARPER is late, Charlie's always late. Me and Knox sit in the office cracking the usual jokes about it being his pension day. Not ...
Venom: Black Metal (Neat) *****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, November 1982
OH LORD forgive them for they know not what they do. ...
Vice Squad: Stand Strong, Stand Proud (EMI/Riot City ZEM 104)****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, May 1982
THIS ISN'T a great album but it is a very good one. For Vice Squad it's a crucial show of strength because their first album ...
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, October 1982
Garry Bushell comes to the Orange-aid of Peak District punksters The Violators ...
back to LIBRARY
Best Databases: RBP is Runner-up in Best Niche category
Video: Johnny Marr talks about Rock's Backpages
download eBooks and audio interviews
RBP on Spotify: The Absolute Best o' Burt
RBP Album Club, June 13th: Miki Berenyi and Lucy O'Brien celebrate a Blondie classic
Essential Listening: Mick Gold meets Patti Smith in '76
Essential Reading: RBP's awesome Ozzy anthology
Essential Reading: Nina Antonia introduces her new poetry collection
RBP Album Club, July 11th: Nick Hornby and Nick Coleman celebrate Southside Johnny's debut