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Stuart Maconie

Stuart Maconie

In his career as a writer and journalist, broadcaster and author Maconie has written for Q, Word Magazine, Elle, The Times, The Guardian, the Evening Standard, Daily Express, Select, Mojo, Country Walking, Deluxe and was an assistant editor for the NME.

120 articles

List of articles in the library

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The Primitives: International 2, Manchester

Live Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 7 May 1988

OH TRACEY Tracey, we drool in unison. How did we get here. From Morrissey's T-shirts to the foaming lips of Steve Wright, from the indie-ghetto ...

Public Enemy: Hummingbird, Birmingham

Live Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 21 May 1988

DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE! ...

Scritti Politti: That Obscure Object of Desire

Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 20 August 1988

THE MEPHISTO of sophisto, GREEN GARTSIDE, and his slightly cool vehicle SCRITTI POLITTI have once more pulled into view with their new single 'First Boy ...

Billy Bragg: Workers Playtime (Go! Discs LP/Cassette/ CD)

Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 17 September 1988

YOURS SINCERELY ...

Hugo Largo, That Petrol Emotion: That Petrol Emotion, Hugo Largo: Hummingbird, Birmingham

Live Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 1 October 1988

IF CRITICAL plaudits were big bucks then, whilst erstwhile chum Feargal busked for small change at Leicester Square, That Petrol Emotion would be laughing all ...

Michael Nyman: Drowning By Numbers (Virgin/Venture LP/ Cassette/CD)

Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 8 October 1988

WE DON'T want to know about Michael Nyman, they said. We want to hear about genuinely talented people like Kylie Minogue and the Godfathers. Well ...

Prefab Sprout: Protest Songs (Kitchenware LP/Cassette/CD)

Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 24 June 1989

THIS SPRING, I spent a very pleasant afternoon in a bar with Paddy McAloon and, inevitably, the conversation got around to Protest Songs, the Sprouts' ...

Primal Scream: Primal Solution

Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 5 August 1989

Indie heroes of yore PRIMAL SCREAM are back, straining at the leash with a harder, greasier, rocking new single 'Ivy, Ivy, Ivy'. STUART MACONIE hears ...

The Blue Nile: Hat's Entertainment

Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 9 September 1989

Five years after their highly acclaimed debut LP A Walk Across The Rooftops, THE BLUE NILE are back, to the sound of much rejoicing and ...

Michael Nyman: The Nyman/Greenaway Soundtracks (Virgin Venture LP/Cassette/CD)

Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 20 January 1990

NYMAN'S LANDSCAPES ...

My Bloody Valentine: The Artery Of Noise

Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 21 April 1990

After an 18-month gap MY BLOODY VALENTINE are back on vinyl making a right bleedin' racket with their new EP Glider. STUART MACONIE discovers Creation's ...

The Beautiful South: Scallifornia Dreamin'

Report by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 12 May 1990

THINK CALIFORNIA and you'll think Beach Boys, suntanned nymphets in cut-offs, surf, soda and the therapy industry. Oh and possibly raisins. You won't be thinking ...

New Order: Love Will Terrace Apart

Report by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 19 May 1990

Have a word, Ref! What's this — top disco situationists NEW ORDER in top "positive vibe" England World Cup squad anthem shock! A winning combination, ...

Was (Not Was): Motown Brothers

Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 2 June 1990

WAS (NOT WAS) make perfect pop (not poop). They also know the names of several philosophers! STUART MACONIE wants to lick the barbequed goat pizza ...

George Michael: Listen Without Prejudice Volume One (Epic LP/Cassette/CD)

Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 1 September 1990

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE ...

Dream Command: Fire On The Moon

Review by Stuart Maconie, Vox, October 1990

DREAM COMMAND HAVE evolved, at least in part, from The Comsat Angels, and this is a fact you are not likely to forget as Fire ...

The La's: This Could Be The La's Time

Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 20 October 1990

It took three years to make, it cost an unfeasibly huge sum, it's stuffed with great songs – but THE LA's still hate their new ...

Anthrax, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Def Leppard, Guns N' Roses, Iron Butterfly, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Napalm Death, Saxon, Sepultura, Slayer, UFO, Uriah Heep, Van Halen, Vanilla Fudge, Whitesnake: Cod Piece In Our Time

Overview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 19 January 1991

Bring your good taste to be slaughtered! To mark Iron Maiden's ground-breaking success (any bleedin' excuse — Ed), STUART MACONIE investigates the subtle and many-faceted ...

Motorhead: Don't Lemmy Be Misunderstood

Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 2 February 1991

Where would today's corpse-violating moshing madmen be without grebo gurus MOTORHEAD? Where indeed, cackles decent, fun-loving working class Tory and all-round smart geezer Lemmy and ...

Rick Astley: Free (RCA/All formats)

Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 2 March 1991

RICK ASTLEY's new album is called Free. What can this mean? Surely, Rick is not implying that he was once merely a performing surf to ...

MC Hammer: Trousers Of The Holy: All You Ever Wanted To Know About MC Hammer But Didn't Have The Time To Ask

Report and Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 4 May 1991

His voluminous trews tell only part of the story. MC HAMMER may well be as huge as the cut of his keks saleswise, but at ...

Morrissey Comes Out! (For A Drink)

Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 18 May 1991

Shock! Horror! Girls throw themselves at his feet! Luridly manicured skinheads fling bouquets! Europe quivers beneath his majesty! MORRISSEY talks to the NME! As his tumultuous ...

Sepultura: Who Wants To Be A Brazilian Air Guitarist

Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 13 July 1991

Stuart Maconie goes autograph hunting with Latin America's biggest thrash band ...

Dire Straits: On Every Street (Vertigo/All formats)

Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 14 September 1991

SO HERE it is, Slowdive fans, the most important LP ever made. If you see what I mean. It is six years since the last ...

Lloyd Cole: Don't Get Weird On Me, Babe (Polydor/All formats)

Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 14 September 1991

WEIRD BARD ...

Pulp: March of the Modules

Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 21 September 1991

PULP have waited a very long time to become overnight sensations with their space age disco anthem 'Count Down', but in a world of footwear-fixated ...

The Durutti Column, Happy Mondays, Joy Division, New Order: Anthony Wilson: Renaissance Manc

Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 30 November 1991

FACTORY: aloof, elegant, misunderstood Mancunian home of Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays, possibly the coolest record label in the world — but there are ...

Juan Atkins, Inner City, Kraftwerk, Derrick May, Gary Numan, Kevin Saunderson: Techno: Watts Going On

Retrospective by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 18 January 1992

AND SO, we hear you say, tell us more about the origins and development of this exciting music you call Techno. ...

Primal Scream: Elysée Montmartre, Paris

Live Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 1 February 1992

"QU'AVEZ VOUS donc envie de falre? On veut ete libre, libre de falre ce qui nous plait, s'en mettre plein la lampe et falre la ...

Ride: Sex And The Singles Band

Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 8 February 1992

They are the model '90s pop group; sensitive young men with floppy hair and languid tunes, displaying cherubic belligerence laced with existential angst. But surely ...

Chic: Sauce of the Nile

Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 20 February 1992

READ THIS! READ THIS! READ THIS! CHIC, the band who soundtracked 1,001 euphoric late-'70s Saturday nights and gave rock cred to disco music, are back ...

Curve: Never Mind The Parabolics

Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 22 February 1992

Are Curve the manic, desperate and unhinged prince and princess of post-Mary Chain doom pop, or just a couple of old chancers out to make ...

The High Llamas: You Can Call Me Alpaca

Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 22 February 1992

Former Microdisney man SEAN O'HAGAN is busy keeping that band's wry popsmithery alive in his new outfit, THE HIGH LLAMAS, mellow practitioners of the lost ...

Manic Street Preachers: Cardiff University

Live Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 29 February 1992

"All revolutions are the kicking in of a rotten door"J K Galbraith ...

The Jesus & Mary Chain: Honey's Dead (blanco y negro)

Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 21 March 1992

WOULD WE have thought, seven long years ago, when news of The Jesus And Mary Chain swept the land like an ugly rumour, that we'd ...

808 State: Club Citta, Kawasaki

Live Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 28 March 1992

FLASH IN JAPAN ...

Blur: Blast Of The Famous International Game Boys

Report and Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 28 March 1992

It's not all Calpis Walter, Pocari Sweat and smoking Keiths while on a rock 'n' roll jaunt in Japan, y'know. Sometimes you rediscover BLUR, completely ...

The Smiths: Sever Little Children: Morrissey And Marr: The Severed Alliance by Johnny Rogan (Omnibus Press)

Book Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 16 May 1992

A FANATIC, they say, is someone who redoubles his effort when he has forgotten his aim. The Smiths spawned many fans — I know, I ...

Deee-Lite: Infinity Within (WEA/All formats)

Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 20 June 1992

LYCRA DISNEY ...

Kylie Minogue: She Came, She S.A.W., She Conquered

Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 22 August 1992

In the great theme park that is the British Popular Experience, KYLIE MINOGUE represents a national treasure, which is not bad going for an Australian. ...

Suede: The Brettish Movement

Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 5 September 1992

They're grandly egocentric, they're glad to be fey, they think they're God's gift — and they might be right. Heaven knows, they're visceral now, and ...

The Verve: Verve: Mill At The Pier, Wigan

Live Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 24 October 1992

IT'S USUALLY Sunday supplement journalists who go to Wigan to hang around the notorious King Street area, sneer at the pier, observe the fights in ...

Elvis Costello and the Brodsky Quartet: The Juliet Letters (WEA/All formats)

Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 23 January 1993

SINGING OF a cynic's world-view in 'A Sad Burlesque', Elvis Costello mentions 'The pitying smirk'. Funny, a pitying smirk is exactly what the young and ...

Frank Black: Frank Black

Review by Stuart Maconie, Select, April 1993

IT'S SAID THAT The Smiths chose such a prosaic name to throw the fabulous, doomed glamour of their music into dramatic relief. Charles Thompson aka ...

Pink Floyd: 25 Million Gloomy Punters Can't Be Wrong

Retrospective and Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, April 1993

Right now, someone, somewhere on this planet is playing Dark Side Of The Moon. Released 20 years ago this month, its mixture of blues and ...

New Order: Smile

Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, May 1993

BARNEY SUMNER slips snugly into line between his three chums. As one, they turn to face the camera. But Barney's face bears the pained expression ...

Suede: Suede (Nude)

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, May 1993

BEFORE ALL this took off, Brett Anderson, Suede's 25-year-old singer, would gloomily tick off each passing birthday as another year gone without his appearing on ...

Wendy James: Now Ain't The Time For Your Tears

Review by Stuart Maconie, Select, May 1993

EVERYONE LIKES a happy ending. Only a churl or an inveterate cynic could begrudge Wendy her return to some degree of credibility with this her ...

The Cure: How Did This Get To Be A Superstar?

Profile and Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, July 1993

Who are you calling laughable, dull, unattractive, doleful, po-faced, lazy and badly attired? He forgot gloomy and morbid, but you get the picture. Despite a ...

Manic Street Preachers: Gold Against The Soul

Review by Stuart Maconie, Select, August 1993

THE MANICS go for gold with their all-mature second album. They're bach...with a vengeance! Attitude is the most over­rated concept in modem pop. What it ...

Manic Street Preachers: Academy, Manchester

Live Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, September 1993

SULTRY: Manic Street Preachers neither stale nor cartoon punks. ...

The Verve: Touched I'm Sure

Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, September 1993

"ER, A PINT of lager, did you say?" The barmaid is distracted. She has every right to be. Her current customer cuts rather a visual ...

Rage Against the Machine: Cross: Rage Against The Machine: Élysée Montmartre, Paris

Live Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, November 1993

Grrrr! It's Rage Against The Machine. ...

Pet Shop Boys: Very and Relentless

Review by Stuart Maconie, Select, November 1993

WAY BACK WHEN, a sneering critic once challenged the writer F Scott Fitzgerald to write a novel in six words. Fitzgerald went away and came ...

Kate Bush: Little Miss Can't Be Wrong

Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, December 1993

She might be a self-confessed power head, prone to control freakery and studio-hermitdom and a total stranger to the nightclub dancefloor... "bit I'm never grumpy, ...

Pulp: Jarvis Cocker Remembers

Interview by Stuart Maconie, Select, December 1993

Pulp are the world's most patient overnight sensation... The punk rock roots in Sheffield. The naive first album. The naive second album. Moz envy. The wheelchair. Art ...

Half Man Half Biscuit: Lads, I Feel Another Title Coming On…

Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, January 1994

EMERGING FROM the dark of the Mersey tunnel into the almost dark of autumn in Birkenhead, the first thing the visitor sees are the giant ...

Crowded House: The Fine Art of Surfacing

Report and Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, February 1994

SATURDAY NIGHT in Glasgow, traditionally the comic's most difficult audience, and it's time to give a big hand to two young fellows with a bright ...

Aphex Twin: Armed and Fairly Dangerous

Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, March 1994

AND BY their conspicuous celebrity consumption you shall know them. When Rick Wakeman entered rock's upper echelon, he armed himself with a fleet of Rolls-Royces. ...

Chumbawamba - an interview

Interview by Stuart Maconie, Select, March 1994

….AND DID THOSE FEET IN ANCIENT TIME stomp some cops... during the Miners' Strike, lay into a Nazi or two and then head south in ...

Elvis Costello: Brutal Youth

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, April 1994

A PERFORMER as singular as Elvis Costello invites any number of critical perspectives and, needless to say, few gain his approval. Still, here's one. Through ...

Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Holly Johnson: Holly Johnson: A Life Of Johnson

Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, April 1994

Diagnosed as suffering from an AIDS-related illness, Holly Johnson decided to write his life story before the tabloids did it for him. ...

Level 42: The Most Famous Thumb in Rock

Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, April 1994

NOW WHO would live in a house like this? one thinks, as the taxi traverses the length of the drive and passes between the ornamental ...

Morrissey: Hello, Cruel World

Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, April 1994

Goodbye, big-bloused flower-fondler; cheerio, depressed devotee of deathly doom; toodle-oo teetotal football-fearing perma-hermit; we'll sithee, bespectacled Billy NoMates. At 34, Morrissey is no longer the ...

Saint Etienne:Tiger Bay

Review by Stuart Maconie, Select, April 1994

THE TROUBLE WITH Saint Etienne is they're too clever. And this should be said while wiping the lager foam from your lips and turning over ...

Charlatans, The (UK): The Charlatans: The Ballad of Redditch Jail

Interview by Stuart Maconie, Select, April 1994

If a star goes 'inside', it's usually for drugs or drink driving. Not so for Rob Collins of the Charlatans. He went for a quiet ...

George Clinton, Primal Scream: Primal Scream and George Clinton: You're My Best Mate You Are

Report by Stuart Maconie, Q, May 1994

FORTY SECOND Street. Outside, Manhattan shivers and cowers beneath a coverlet of snow and prepares for the next much-forecasted blizzard. It's minus 10. Worse, there's ...

Senser: Stacked Up (Ultimate TOPP 008) ****

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, May 1994

FURIOUS Senser: they too can "do a Levellers". ...

The Divine Comedy: Promenade

Review by Stuart Maconie, Select, May 1994

ROCK MUSIC likes to think of itself as radical, revolutionary and scarily anarchistic, but really it's so arse-clenchingly conservative it must leave Portillo and Lilley ...

Blur: Parklife

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, June 1994

TO USE the vernacular of our friends in the American therapy industry, today's music business is not "a nurturing environment". One might use the expression ...

Ray Davies: Three Minutes: Ray Davies

Interview by Stuart Maconie, MOJO, June 1994

It's an exacting, exhilarating discipline: everything you want to say condensed into 180 seconds. "It's the ultimate song structure and I hope it'll never die." ...

Nick Drake: Way To Blue (Island)

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, July 1994

IN FEBRUARY 1972, upon the release of Pink Moon, Nick Drake's third and final album proper, the press information issued by Island Records ran, in ...

Orbital: Snivilisation

Review by Stuart Maconie, Select, July 1994

CAN TECHNO ever really be about anything? Or, should we say, about anything more meaningful than fluffy clouds and getting substantially out of it. Than ...

The Orb: Pomme Fritz

Review by Stuart Maconie, Select, July 1994

AT FIRST GLANCE it looks like history repeating itself. The hegemony of a bunch of well-fed. critically-sanctioned dopeheads assaulted by the authentic, splenetic roar of ...

Shampoo: Wash 'n' Pogo!

Interview by Stuart Maconie, Select, August 1994

Glamour! Sex! Unlimited platinum credit accounts at Top Shop! Insurrectionist teenage punkettes Shampoo want all of these things and more. Is there a Svengali in ...

Techno! Techno! Techno! Techno!

Report by Stuart Maconie, Q, September 1994

New! From the makers of Betamax, the eight-track cartridge, and the Sodastream™ — more faddish hardware that'll be redundant within six months! Or will it? ...

Bryan Ferry: Mamouna (Virgin)

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, October 1994

Farewell then, writer's block, hello topiary ...

Culture Club, Duran Duran, Heaven 17, The Human League: Top Of The Pops and The '80s Brit Pop Boom

Overview by Stuart Maconie, Q, November 1994

YOU CAN tell if they're boys or girls these days, that's the trouble. Just look at them, these so-called modern pop phenomena. ...

Suede: Bark Psychosis: Suede: Dog Man Star (Nude) ****

Review by Stuart Maconie, Select, November 1994

Introducing the ban… Oh, too late! But rejoice! Brett and co have made high drama out of their crisis. ...

Oasis: Nine Months That Shook The World

Overview by Stuart Maconie, Q, November 1994

IT'S A terrible name. Terrible. It immediately and unjustly tags them as one of those risibly mediocre makeweights of the so-called 'baggy" explosion. It is ...

R.E.M.: R.E.M: Monster (WEA)

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, November 1994

When U2 swapped their Romany drifter look for the PVC strides and comedy shades, there was, after the initial confusion, a general hum of approbation. ...

Manic Street Preachers: Smile, It Might Never Happen

Report and Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, December 1994

'THE INTENSE Humming Of Evil', 'Mausoleum', 'Archives Of Pain', 'Die In The Summertime'. Even a cursory glance at the titles will confirm that this is ...

The Human League: Didn't We Used To Be The Human League?

Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, February 1995

WITH SOME groups, it is records on the Stax and Okeh record labels; with others it is fine wines or the tailoring of Messrs Miyake ...

Elastica: Elastica (Deceptive BLUFF 014)

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, April 1995

Brisk: never has such blatant thievery been such fun. ...

Björk: All Together Now

Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, September 1995

ICELAND, OR Lydvelid Island to give it its native name, is the westernmost state of Europe. It is a land of magnificent geo-physical architecture; three ...

Morrissey: Do You F***king Want Some?

Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, September 1995

Morrissey's back in the ring with a violently good LP, Southpaw Grammar, and he's having a Cantona-styled pop at anyone in his path: Hugh Grant, ...

Supergrass: Hey Hey We're The Cheeky Monkeys: Supergrass

Profile and Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, October 1995

IN SPINAL TAP, that penetrating cinema verité dissection of the music industry, various scenes are offered as examples of the rampant absurdity of the rock'n'roll ...

Jethro Tull: Roots Before Branches (Chrysalis)

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, October 1995

Flutes in rock. Hmmm. Thijs Van Leer of Focus. Does James Galway's epochal rendition of Annie's Song count? It's really just Ian Anderson, isn't it ...

M People: Workers' Playtime

Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, February 1996

Grass-roots devotion runs deep when it comes to M People: the Mercury-scooping dance behemoth for the discerning disco-bobulator. "Sharon and Tracy have always had more ...

Burt Bacharach: See You Later, Elevator!

Profile and Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, July 1996

Imprisoned in music's metaphorical lift for years, Burt Bacharach has emerged on to a mezzanine packed with thousands of dewy-eyed disciples. "It's sensational news," he ...

The Blue Nile: Peace At Last (Warner)

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, July 1996

AS PROLIFIC AS the Easter Island statue makers and with almost as underworked a PR, The Blue Nile will feature heavily when Arthur C. Clarke's ...

Pet Shop Boys: Bilingual (Parlophone CDP CFD 170)

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, October 1996

HumanPet Shop Boys: proving there is life beyond irony ...

Steely Dan: Wembley Arena, London

Live Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, November 1996

Steely Dan: a mixture of pathos, elegance and brisk timekeeping. ...

Prince: Liberated: Prince: Emancipation ****

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, January 1997

: new label, old work rate ...

Pet Shop Boys: Savoy Theatre, London

Live Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, August 1997

Exuberant! Pet Shop Boys goosing the good folk of Evita-land ...

Spiritualized: Red Box, Dublin

Live Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, November 1997

Groovy — Spiritualized transcend time and space. ...

Madonna: Ray Of Light (WEA) ****

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, April 1998

She's dumped Warren Beatty, she's been Eva Peron and she's had Carlos The Tackle's child. Now it's time to go back to work... ...

Saint Etienne: Town Hall Crypt, Middlesbrough

Live Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, July 1998

What's a nice, fey band doing in a place like this? ...

UNKLE: Psyence Fiction (Mo'Wax)

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, September 1998

Thom Yorke, Richard Ashcroft, one of Metallica, a Beastie Boy: all on the same record. Whoo! ...

George Michael: Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best Of... (Epic 491705 4/2/8)

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, December 1998

Game Boy Growing up is so hard to do. ...

Alanis Morissette: Growing Pains: Alanis Morissette: Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (Maverick) ***

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, December 1998

How do you follow a 28-million seller? Simple, pretend you're Sylvia Plath ...

Blur: The Prehistory of Blur: 'We Were Very... Purple'

Retrospective and Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, April 1999

A mohican, Artaud, pyjama bottoms, The Cardiacs, sackings, Pernod, dressing up as the Ayatollah Khomeini: all of this and more in the story of Blur ...

Blur: The Death Of A Party

Retrospective and Interview by Stuart Maconie, Select, August 1999

WE JOIN the story in the autumn of 1995. 'Country House' has beaten 'Roll With It' to Number One and the critics are in short-lived ...

Geri Halliwell: Pungent Spice: Geri Halliwell: Schizophonic (EMI) ***

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, August 1999

She's covered all the bases. She hasn't covered them all well. ...

James: Millionaires (Mercury 5463862)

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, November 1999

WELL-OFFThey've struck gold. Again. ...

Bernard Butler: Tunnel Visionary — Bernard Butler: Friends & Lovers (Creation CRECD236)

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, December 1999

He's found his niche and he's sticking to it. ...

Graham Coxon: The Golden D

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, July 2000

SOLO ALBUMS — like roof thatching and monocle manufacture — are now something of a lost art. ...

Radiohead: Kid A

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, November 2000

MAYBE WE SHOULD all get a little perspective on this. Radiohead are five blokes from Oxford; they've been at it nearly 10 years now; their ...

Sparklehorse: King Of The Wild Frontier

Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, Summer 2001

He lives on a 400-acre farm, comes from a family of coal miners and drives 15 miles to buy cigarettes. So why is Sparklehorse's Mark ...

Jane Aire & The Belvederes, Elvis Costello, The Damned, Nick Lowe, Rachel Sweet, The Yachts: Various Artists: The Big Stiff Box Set

Review by Stuart Maconie, The Word, December 2007

THE '70S BEGAN and ended in turmoil, with strikes, crises, terrorism, class war and new political orthodoxies on the march. ...

Various Artists: A Complete Introduction To Northern Soul (Universal)

Review by Stuart Maconie, The Word, January 2009

A COMPLETE HISTORY? Yes. A Short Introduction? Yes. But A Complete Introduction? Surely a contradiction in terms. ...

Half Man Half Biscuit: 90 Bisodol (Crimond)

Review by Stuart Maconie, The Word, November 2011

Antacid, pierced glook and regional epithets — the enduring joy of a new album from Birkenhead's finest satirists. ...

Talk Talk: The Party's Over/It's My Life/The Colour Of Spring/Spirit Of Eden

Review by Stuart Maconie, The Word, April 2012

It was only when Talk Talk dropped the pop and headed into the ether that they created the template for serious modern rock. ...

Richard Hawley: Standing At The Sky's Edge

Review by Stuart Maconie, The Word, May 2012

It's trippy up north. Richard Hawley has made a full-blown, widescreen psychedelic rock album — and it's a masterpiece. ...

Dexys Midnight Runners: Dexys: One Day I'm Going To Soar

Review by Stuart Maconie, The Word, June 2012

The rebooted Dexys' soulful and stirring despatches are hobbled by stiff arrangements that never really take flight. ...

Morrissey: Autobiography (Penguin)

Book Review by Stuart Maconie, The Observer, 19 October 2013

IT CAME UPON a midnight clear. Or just after anyway, if you downloaded the eBook or queued in one of the several bookshops that opened ...

David Stubbs: Krautrock and the Building of Modern Germany

Book Review by Stuart Maconie, New Statesman, 22 August 2014

Krautrock is a term that is bandied about alarmingly freely by bloggers, hipsters and, most of all, bands, desperate for its reflected cool — but ...

Lily Allen, James Blunt, Blur, Coldplay, Florence and the Machine, Genesis, La Roux, The Maccabees, Laura Marling, Mumford & Sons, Mark Ronson, The Zombies: The privileged are taking over the arts – without the grit, pop culture is doomed

Comment by Stuart Maconie, New Statesman, 4 February 2015

With school music spending down and the benefits system crippled, the voices of pop have lost their bite. ...

Johnny Marr, The Smiths: Johnny Marr: Set The Boy Free

Book Review by Stuart Maconie, Daily Mail, 26 November 2016

Written in disarmingly unaffected prose, Johnny Marr's long-awaited autobiography avoids all the rock and roll clichés. ...

The lost world of the music weekly: Why NME was the last of an extinct species

Comment by Stuart Maconie, New Statesman, 14 March 2018

ONE EVENING IN the late 1980s, returning from my part-time job teaching "scallies" ethnomethodology in Skelmersdale, I opened a letter with a London postmark. It was ...

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