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Glenn O'Brien

Glenn O'Brien

A key observer on the New York pop scene, Glenn was the music writer on Andy Warhol’s INTERVIEW and has written for SPIN, ARTFORUM and countless other publications. His books include the anthology Soapbox, the poetry book Human Nature (dub version.) He is "The Style Guy" at GQ magazine and editor-at-large of ARENA HOMME +. He wrote and produced Downtown 81, the film starring Jean-Michel Basquiat. His literary and arts magazine THE BALD EGO, debuted in summer 2002. Glenn passed away on April 7, 2017.

Art News obituary

Glenn at home in 2015

49 articles

List of articles in the library

By date | By artist | Most recently added

Al Green

Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, November 1972

GLENN O'BRIEN: You were a big hit at the Copa. How did you like playing there? ...

Ray Davies: The Definitive Ray Davies Interview

Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, January 1973

Glenn O'Brien, with the help of Warhol Superstars Candy Darling and Tinkerbelle, talks to Kink Ray Davies ...

Isis: Eight-Piece, All-Woman Band in Musical No-Man's Land

Report and Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Rolling Stone, 8 November 1973

NEW YORK – An all-woman rock band, one that really cooks, seems to be both a contradiction in terms and a lousy pun. They've come ...

Rick Derringer: A Real Mccoy

Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Rolling Stone, 20 December 1973

NEW YORK – Elizabeth Derringer is married to Rick Derringer. Rick Derringer is a rock star. He has been since he was the 15-year-old guitarist ...

In Memory Of Max's

Report by Glenn O'Brien, The Village Voice, 6 January 1975

Is its closing an act of terror by the forces of Art Detention? Who is Donald Soviero and why didn't he pay the light bill? ...

Kraftwerk: Deutsche Disko

Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, 1977

KRAFTWERK is Germany's top pop group, and that's saying something because plenty of original sounds have been emanating from Deutschland since the psychedelic era. But ...

Ted Nugent: Good Clean Fun: An Interview with Ted Nugent

Interview by Glenn O'Brien, High Times, Summer 1977

A Ted Nugent concert is an incredible musical experience, but that's just the beginning. While Ted and the boys are churning out some of the ...

Brian Eno: Eno at the Edge of Rock

Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, June 1978

BRIAN ENO was a founding member of ROXY MUSIC, the English band that more or less founded the Fine Art-Fashion-Rock and Roll fusion that continues ...

Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: So Much Things to Say

Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, July 1978

BOB MARLEY, one of the original members of the group, The Wailers, founded the group 13 years ago along with Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingston ...

The B-52s: The B-52's: Beehives Not Bombers

Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, February 1979

THE B-52'S is a rock and roll band from Athens, Georgia, that often plays in New York City. They recently wowed large audiences at the ...

Blondie: Deborah Harry: Platinum Blondie

Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, June 1979

DEBORAH HARRY is the singer in a band called BLONDIE. In recent weeks one of their songs, 'HEART OF GLASS' has been the number one ...

Marianne Faithfull Speaks Broken English with Glenn O'Brien

Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, February 1980

MARIANNE FAITHFULL hasn't had a hit record since 'As Tears Go By' in 1966. That song, written for her by Jag­ger and Richards, instantly trans­formed a ...

Bop Art

Essay by Glenn O'Brien, Artforum, February 1982

1) From Atlantis to the Jazz Loft MUSIC WAS probably the first art. You could run with it and take it up a ...

Chic: Take It Off

Review by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, February 1982

IT'S BEEN ABOUT a year since the last CHIC album. Since then, half of the dance bag bands, in the world have come to resemble ...

Psychedelic Art: Flashing Back

Essay by Glenn O'Brien, Artforum, March 1984

Standing in line at the bank: what if this were on TV? What if we were all on mescalin?– Michael Brownstein, from '43 Cents a ...

Tom Waits

Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, May 1984

TOM WAITS writes great songs and sings them with greatness. He made his first album ten years ago. It was called Clos­ing Time; he has been ...

Malcolm McLaren: Mozart, Puccini, Bizet, and McLaren

Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Artforum, December 1984

MALCOLM McLAREN is a new sort of artist, your Barbarian Renaissance Man, the missing link between Leonardo and Conan. He has been the enfant terrible ...

John Hiatt: Warming Up To the Ice Age (Geffen)

Review by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, May 1985

HIATT HAS natural brown hair in a normal-citizen style and he's white and wears a regular black suit and a regular white shirt and he ...

Slim Harpo: The Best of Slim Harpo (Rhino Records)

Review by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, May 1985

THIS IS actually a 1983 release, but I just bought it a few weeks ago; it took two years to find, so you might want ...

The Red Hot Chili Peppers: What's Red Hot and Chili?: Red Hot Chili Peppers

Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, May 1985

THE RED HOT Chili Peppers are the greatest rock band in the world. You can tell by watching them perform or you can guess by ...

Bruce Springsteen: The Meaning Of Bruce

Essay by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, November 1985

Hey, it was the greatest show I’ve ever seen. It was like rock ‘n’ roll and a gospel meeting and a party and the World ...

The Red Hot Chili Peppers: Red Hot Chili Peppers: Freaky Styley (EMI America/Enigma)

Review by Richard Gehr, Glenn O'Brien, Spin, November 1985

WELCOME TO THE Day-Glo minstrel show, bro, brought to you by the baddest posse of white funk puppies west of the mighty Mississip. ...

Tom Waits for No Man

Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, November 1985

How to act. How to watch Mr. Rogers. How to pick a road manager. How to live in the big city. And more solid information. ...

Cyndi Lauper Cooks!

Profile and Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Graffiti, 1986

Noted scribe contemplates Cyndi’s spaghetti sauce, Niagara Falls pillows, crocodile sofa, hair, voice, aura, etc. Meanwhile, Lorenzo St. Dubois ponders Cyndi’s past… ...

Blondie: Debbie's Back: Debbie Harry

Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, January 1986

Debbie Harry and Chris Stein talk about Blondie, wrestling, disease, record rating, show biz, fear, and fantasy. ...

ZZ Top: Life at the Top

Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, February 1986

ZZ Top doesn't care that it took people 15 years to discover their mega-greatness. They've known all along that if you feel sharp, you be ...

The Rolling Stones: Exiles on Mainstream

Essay by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, May 1986

Being a Rolling Stone used to mean never having to pick up a Grammy. Until now. ...

The Pogues: Pogues Gallery

Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, June 1986

Erin Go Bragh-less: A liberated Irish punk band rediscovers its roots. ...

Fabulous Thunderbirds Are Go

Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, July 1986

DO YOU have any aliases? KIM WILSON (vocals, harmonica): I was Galita Slim once, as in Galita, California. And I was also Chesterfield King. ...

Ozzy Osbourne: I am Oz the Great and Terrible

Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, September 1986

Everyone believes Ozzy Osbourne is the devil, the perfect scapegoat for hysteria and madness. "To be Ozzy Osbourne, you got to be special," he says. ...

Paul Simon: Graceland (Warner Bros.)

Review by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, November 1986

Graceland is a pilgrimage. On the title track the singer heads for the Presley estate in Memphis, filled with faith, trailed by doubt, led by ...

Grace Jones: Inside Story (Manhattan Records)

Review by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, January 1987

PEOPLE THINK of Grace Jones as a disco queen. People think of her as Conan the Barbarian's sidekick. As just another James Bond villainess. As ...

Kraftwerk: Electric Café (Warner Brothers)

Review by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, March 1987

Platter du Jour ...

Bon Jovi: Bon Vivant

Report and Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, April 1987

They came, they made videos, they conquered: Five nice guys from New Jersey find a place in the sun. Article by Glenn O'Brien. ...

Jimmy Swaggart: The Best of Jimmy Swaggart (Jim Records)

Review by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, April 1987

A LOT OF fundamentalists today preach against the evils of rock 'n' roll, but TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart has gone and done something about the ...

We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It: Girls Just Wanna Have Fuzz

Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, August 1987

Face it. If the four women in Fuzzbox had called their album We've Got a MIDI-compatible Digital Sampling Device and We're Gonna Use It, it ...

Buster Poindexter, David Johansen: Buster Poindexter

Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Double Trouble, 1988

Buster Poindexter is the cafe incarnation of David Johansen. More than a pseudonym: a happily split personality, an alternate ego, Buster is sometimes surprisingly real. ...

Tav Falco's Panther Burns: Deep in the Blues: Tav Falco and Panther Burns

Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, 1988

Tav Falco is a bluesman from Memphis. He might look like Charlie Chaplin, but inside he feels just like T-Bone Walker. He might have ethnomusicologist ...

The Red Hot Chili Peppers: Red Hot Chili Peppers

Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, 1988

THE RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS ARE PLAYERS & ATHLETES & POETS & HOMEPERSONS. THEY RIFF, THEY RAP, THEY BARK, THEY BITE, THEY STRIP NAKED AND ...

Tony Bennett: Rebirth of the Cool

Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, February 1988

TONY BENNETT is cool. I have felt this way since the early '60s. Sinatra was hip, but Tony was cool. He was a swinger singer. ...

Eurythmics: Savage (RCA)

Review by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, March 1988

THE EURYTHMICS radiate a released sensibility. They break out of the groove bondage that has become endemic, out into wide open head spaces where anything ...

Iggy Pop

Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, April 1990

IGGY POP is the greatest. He was metal before metal. He was punk before punk, he was and is poetry in motion. He's a wild ...

Madonna

Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, June 1990

I INTERVIEWED Madonna at the Disney Studios, of all places, where she was rehearsing her Blond Ambition tour. It's not really so odd that she ...

Bob Dylan

Comment by Glenn O'Brien, Artforum, January 1998

I HEARD A TRACK from Bob Dylan's new Time Out of Mind (Columbia) on the radio a few weeks before the album's release. I didn't ...

Bill Evans: The Piano Has Been Thinking

Retrospective by Glenn O'Brien, Gear, 2001

I HAVE FORTY Bill Evans CDs in this room and a copy of Everybody Digs Bill Evans up in the bedroom. Everybody should have Everybody ...

Incubus: Brandon Boyd: The Voice of Incubus

Profile and Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Vogue Italia, 2001

BRANDON BOYD is a handsome, thin, fine-boned young man who holds the microphone for a popular band called Incubus, and wields it with odd grace ...

Jane's Addiction, Perry Farrell: Perry Farrell: Making Pop to Celebrate a Better Apocalypse

Report and Interview by Glenn O'Brien, L'Uomo Vogue, 2001

PERRY FARRELL named himself. Born Peretz Bernstein in Queens, New York, he moved to Miami during high school, liked the sun and the surf ...

Rahsaan Roland Kirk: The Great Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Or: What you don't know about Black Classical Music could be killing you

Retrospective by Glenn O'Brien, unpublished, 2002

BACK THERE during the revolution, when we called ourselves freaks proudly, rock was rocking the world. Musicians like Hendrix, Clapton, and Page, and philosophical bands ...

John Lydon: John Rotten Lydon in a Few Words

Essay by Glenn O'Brien, VMan, Spring 2005

OKAY, JUST THINKING about him, I got a powerful yen to listen to John Lydon's music and as the vinyl's all out at the country ...

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