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The Face

Face, The

The Face was a British music, fashion and culture monthly magazine started in May 1980 by Nick Logan, who had previously created the teen pop magazine Smash Hits, and had been an editor at the New Musical Express in the 1970s It ceased publication in 2004.

275 articles

List of articles in the library

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10 Years of House

Retrospective by John McCready, The Face, 1997

TEN YEARS IS A LONG TIME. Three score short of a lifetime, I know, but long enough to establish your own space programme and see ...

Chaka Khan: Khanal Knowledge

Interview by John McCready, The Face, 1989

"ASK ME what you want, John. I can take it. I mean, what are you going to do — spank me?" ...

Smith & Mighty: Smith And Mighty: Bristol Rising

Profile and Interview by John McCready, The Face, 1988

Coming from the same sound system roots as Soul II Soul, dance producers Smith And Mighty are at the centre of a thriving West Country ...

Jane's Addiction: Jane’s Addiction: Guns ’N Poses

Interview by John McCready, The Face, 1990

Some people think Jane’s Addiction are the new Guns N’ Roses, even the new Rolling Stones. Others think that singer Perry Farrell will save rock ...

Depeche Mode: Modus Operandum: Depeche Mode in Detroit

Interview by John McCready, The Face, 1989

IT'S JUST after one at the best club on the planet. This is Detroit’s Music Institute, an all-night and most-of-the-next-day juice bar with a sound ...

The La's: The La’s

Interview by John McCready, The Face, 1989

INSPIRED BY a single, ‘There She Goes’, and an assortment of odd, beautiful and tangential B-sides built from nothing but raw creativity, I feel like ...

Massive Attack: The Bristol Bunch

Interview by John McCready, The Face, January 1991

MASSIVE ATTACK were part of Bristol's Wild Bunch crew, a posse who pioneered UK hip hop. In 1986 they helped put together ‘The Look Of ...

The KLF: KLF: Tales From The White Room

Interview by John McCready, The Face, September 1990

SINISTER. That's the word. The KLF are sinister. With their pervy mail-order black-hooded packamacks, their propaganda and their perfect assimilation of rave culture they are ...

Grace Jones: A Grace Apart

Interview by Paul Rambali, The Face, July 1981

Biographies of Grace Jnes used to describe her as the icy six-foot goddess of all that is perverse, decadent and nocturnal. Grace Jones was a ...

Chic: Nile Rodgers: Brother, Can You Spare a Riff?

Interview by Paul Rambali, The Face, September 1984

THE CHIC SOUND – unique, polished, assertive – was the Motown of the '70s, synonymous with the rising aspirations of black America. It was to ...

New Order

Interview by Paul Rambali, The Face, July 1983

SOMEWHERE ON the southern outskirts of Manchester there is a graveyard. Next to the graveyard is a rehearsal room where the four members of New ...

Ry Cooder: Home and Ry

Interview by Paul Rambali, The Face, July 1982

Ry Cooder is tall, like a Texan, and dry, very dry, like a Margarita; tall in both physical height and musical standing, dry in both ...

Richard Branson

Interview by Paul Rambali, The Face, June 1984

NOTES SCRAWLED habitually on the back of Richard Branson’s hand attest to a hectic day. He had been invited to lunch by the financial editor ...

Ritchie Valens: La Bamba

Report and Interview by Dave Rimmer, The Face, 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 ...

Elvis Costello Live

Live Review by Ira Robbins, The Face, June 1984

ELVIS Costello’s 1983 American tour was so boring that even longtime fans found it difficult to remain alert for an entire set of pseudo-cabaret runthroughs. ...

Curtis Mayfield: Keep On Pushing: Curtis Mayfield

Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, August 1983

They were still calling it ‘race music’ when Curtis Mayfield started singing in the late ‘50s. An influential and innovative artist, Mayfield gave a stirring ...

Goodbye Young Lovers (wherever you are)

Retrospective by Jon Savage, The Face, March 1982

Jon Savage laments the Sixties attitudes still stubbornly enshrined in television's coverage of pop: "Boom Time is over and its children must shape up." ...

ABC: Past Imperfect, Future Tense

Interview by Jon Savage, The Face, January 1984

On the dreamstage of a pop-music fantasy, ABC were cast as the perfection of a glossy ideal. But their irony was misread, their clothes misconstrued. ...

Bow Wow Wow: Sun, Sea & Piracy

Interview by Jon Savage, The Face, October 1980

POP, THAT disposable distraction, is mostly about transience: it’s the order of the perpetual child, the moment! Not that those last long these days. Most ...

Vivienne Westwood: Rich pickings at the World's End

Interview by Jon Savage, The Face, January 1981

Let It Rock, Sex, Seditionaries...Anarchy t-shirts and bondage straps. VIVIENNE WESTWOOD’S new collection is called World’s End. She talked about it to JON SAVAGE. ...

Sex Pistols: Jamie Reid

Interview by Jon Savage, The Face, October 1983

FOR SOMEONE whose work has graced millions of record sleeves and influenced a whole generation, Jamie Reid’s personal profile is not the highest. This is ...

Punk Five Years On. A Pogo Down Memory Lane...

Overview by Jon Savage, The Face, November 1981

Sept 20/21, 1976: The two-day Punk Festival at London's 100 Club showcases the Sex Pistols, the Clash, the Damned, Buzzcocks, Subway Sect, and the debut ...

Public Image Ltd: Public Image Limited: The Flowers Of Romance (Virgin)

Review by Jon Savage, The Face, April 1981

A typically caustic, sardonic title: the thorn in the rose. If much of the current chart has much of the grace and flow of 1966 ...

Brave New Twirl

Essay by Jon Savage, The Face, April 1981

Jon Savage went to the People's Palace and watched Blitz Culture go public. FLASH! ...

Luther Vandross: Let's Start with Pacman

Interview by David Toop, The Face, March 1987

LUTHER VANDROSS SPRAWLS UNTIDILY ACROSS THE COUCH AND SHOOTS THAT LOOK. "MS PACMAN," HE CORRECTS. ...

Electro: The Beatbox Bites Back

Essay by David Toop, The Face, May 1984

1984: Two a.m. at The Funhouse and the giant video screen fills with the image of the Master O.C.'s hands scratching an Enjoy 12 inch. ...

Womack and Womack (and Womack): Bring The Family Back

Profile and Interview by David Toop, The Face, December 1985

BORN IN THE SOUL YEARS, SURVIVING THE LEAN YEARS, THE WOMACK FAMILY HAVE PUT A LIFETIME'S EMOTIONS INTO THEIR MUSIC. BUT CECIL AND LINDA WOMACK ...

The Beat Scene

Interview by Mike Stand, The Face, April 1981

"GOD HOLD you in the palm of His hand," said Saxa pulling the bedclothes up to his chin. "He close it and you are dead. ...

Crass Words: The Aesthetics of Anarchy

Interview by Mike Stand, The Face, December 1981

A Report from the House of Crass ...

Bauhaus: Darkness and Degradation in Sound and Word

Interview by Mike Stand, The Face, February 1982

But first let’s talk about Northampton! ...

Gil Scott-Heron: Shooting from the Hip: Gil Scott-Heron

Interview by Max Bell, The Face, June 1983

With verse and music slung from his belt, GILSCOTT-HERON is making his stand against the Cowboy. Some people accuse him of being right on. But ...

Beats International, Fatboy Slim: Beats International are a Pop Group of Their Time

Report and Interview by John McCready, The Face, November 1990

...an indie star turned dance guru, a soap star turned singer, and a motley crew of British rappers, singers, musicians, graffiti artists and dancers passing ...

Bob Marley & the Wailers: The Chapel of Love: Bob Marley’s Last resting Place

Report by Chris Salewicz, The Face, June 1983

ON A HILLSIDE in a peaceful corner of Jamaica’s lush rural hinterland – Natural Mystic Country – perches the simple white-washed chapel erected on the ...

Working on a Building of Love: The Great Days of the Haçienda

Retrospective by John McCready, The Face, Spring 1997

With Michael Winterbottom's 24 Hour Party People opening in the UK this weekend, we reprint Face writer John McCready's wonderful account of the club's rise, ...

Soft Cell: Marc Almond: The Whip Hand

Interview by Jon Savage, The Face, January 1982

…and who holds it? The pop process, alienation and sexuality discussed with Marc Almond. By JON SAVAGE. ...

Dexys Midnight Runners: Hearts Full Of Soul: Dexy’s Midnight Runners

Interview by Mike Stand, The Face, May 1980

Dexy's Midnight Runners are working towards (cue fanfare) The End Of Rock As We Know It. Punk, heavy metal, ska, country & western, reggae, everything ...

Miami Bass: How Low Can You Go?

Report by John McCready, The Face, 1994

In Florida, a pair of 15-inch speakers carry more B-boy cred than a pair of fat-laced sneakers, and your car is judged not by speed ...

August Darnell, Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band, Kid Creole & The Coconuts: Kid Creole: Fresh Fruit in Downtown Manhattan

Interview by Paul Rambali, The Face, June 1981

A CHECKER CAB pulls up at the corner of MacDougal and 7th; out of it steps Mr. Michael Zilkha. The cab is yellow with a ...

The Farm: The Dark Side Of The Mersey: Retro-Rock Scallies

Report and Interview by John McCready, The Face, 1988

A HIPPIE IS chased down a darkened street by a group of 16 year-old Casuals. In most parts of Britain, what follows is likely to ...

The Passions: Ships That Passion The Night

Interview by Mike Stand, The Face, August 1980

"I MET THESE skinheads on the tube the other day who recognised me from a gig. They said they didn't know my name but they'd ...

Hazel O'Connor: Cracked Actress: Hazel O' Connor

Interview by Mike Stand, The Face, May 1981

HAZEL O'Connor lives on the fourth floor of a redbrick building in West Hampstead that looks as though it should belong to the water board ...

Techno: A Bluffer’s Guide

Guide by John McCready, The Face, 1989

TECHNO HAS turned ordinary record buyers into badly-informed technology obsessives. ...

The Jam, Paul Weller: The Paul Weller Interview

Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, May 1982

AS PAUL WELLER says, in the mid-1960s the original spirit of Mod implanted itself into the soul of young Britain with a self-nurturing, almost religious ...

The Cure: A Cure For All Ills

Interview by Mike Stand, The Face, June 1980

‘A FOREST’ a hit? Improbable as it sounds, yes. The Cure are on the move again. ...

David Bowie: The Gender Bender

Comment by Jon Savage, The Face, November 1980

"WHAT DO YOU want to be when you grow up, David?" ...

Amon Düül, Faust, Neu!: Welcome To The Machine: Kraut Rock

Overview by John McCready, The Face, November 1996

Julian Cope has championed it, new Nineties bands are ransacking it and the ageing German hippies that first created it are now packing in techno ...

Elvis Costello: The Face Interview: Elvis Costello

Interview by Paul Rambali, The Face, August 1983

ALMOST seven years ago now, the son of dance band singer Ross McManus invented somebody called Elvis Costello. It was possible to do that in ...

Slipknot at Ozzfest

Report and Interview by Ian Fortnam, The Face, 2001

STANDING CENTRE-stage and plastered in a grin that pretty much redefines the very word maniacal is a 52-year old man uniquely blessed with the voice ...

Scritti Politti: The Green Manifesto

Interview by David Toop, The Face, 1988

The only pop artist who can incorporate Miles Davis and Jacques Derrida into the same repertoire, Green Gartside is still pondering the "the undecideability of ...

Kid Creole & The Coconuts: To The Life Boats

Profile by Carol Cooper, The Face, September 1983

"Strange, how potent cheap music is."– Noel Coward, Private Lives ...

Prince: Someday Your Prince Will Come

Essay by Carol Cooper, The Face, June 1983

THE THING TO BEAR IN MIND is that Prince does not do interviews. He certainly didn't do this one, nor any of a dozen others ...

Malcolm McLaren: How The West Was Won

Profile and Interview by Paul Rambali, The Face, June 1983

An epic trek across the myth of Malcolm McLaren ...

Duran Duran: The Pop Dream Come True

Report and Interview by Dave Rimmer, The Face, 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 ...

Echo & The Bunnymen

Interview by Max Bell, The Face, August 1984

PARTHENON DRIVE, Norris Green, is one of Liverpool's quieter backwaters. The road, with its leafy gardens and council houses, is not scarred by graffiti or ...

Grace Jones: Confessions Of An Art Groupie

Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, October 1980

IN THE LOUNGE bar of the Kensington Hilton, Grace Jones sprawls supinely in a wicker armchair and digs her fingers under the leaves of lettuce ...

Annie Lennox, Eurythmics: Annie Lennox: MaSQUERaDE!

Interview by Max Bell, The Face, October 1983

THE EURYTHMICS used to rehearse in a room above a picture framers in Camden Town. Now, with money in the bank and record sales approaching ...

Kim Wilde

Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, March 1982

FLEXING her feet in a pair of black Dr Martens, Kim Wilde sits in an orderly, wholesome manner at one end of a carefully battered, ...

David Byrne, Talking Heads: David Byrne: First Degree Byrne

Interview by Max Bell, The Face, June 1983

FOR SOMEONE WITH such an aversion to limelight, fame and wild applause, David Byrne certainly puts himself about a bit. Ever since he formed Talking ...

Positive Noise: Noise Poise

Interview by Paul Morley, The Face, June 1981

POSITIVE Noise play at Cabaret Futura, and I think that they're the best group who've yet played there. What a range, I think, what reserves. ...

The Jesus & Mary Chain: The Jesus and Mary Chain: Jesus Wept

Profile and Interview by Max Bell, The Face, June 1985

ACCORDING TO MR Geoff Travis, chief of staff at the born again, doubly hip Rough Trade records (purveyors of high class pop to the gentry), ...

Tom Verlaine: Tom Foolery: Tom Verlaine

Interview by Max Bell, The Face, July 1984

CAN IT REALLY be ten years now since we first heard about Television and the infamous New York scene of 1974? Those days, laughingly referred ...

Desmond Dekker, Laurel Aitken: Desmond Dekker and Laurel Aitken: Old Rude Boys Never Die

Profile and Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, September 1980

DESMOND DEKKER and Laurel Aitken are two Jamaican vocalists who, in earlier musical incarnations, helped lay the ground for the eventual acceptance of reggae music ...

Paul Young: Too Much, Too Young

Interview by Dave Rimmer, The Face, 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 ...

Run-DMC: Run DMC: Run For It

Profile and Interview by Carol Cooper, The Face, November 1984

DESPITE WHAT you may have read, there is no such thing as a monolithic black American style. The attempt to pigeonhole black creativity into narrow ...

David Sylvian Vs. The Pop Goliath

Interview by Dave Rimmer, The Face, 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 ...

The Teardrop Explodes: Julian Cope: Julian Weirds Out!

Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, November 1981

I'D BEEN worried about Julian Cope. This nagging concern had started some four months ago, during one hot and humid night in New York City, ...

David Bowie: The Byronic Man

Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, The Face, October 1984

"WHAT WE'RE DOING here is bringing back the talkies," David Bowie announces self-mockingly. His livid mask recalls the white-faced clowns and demons of the Commedia ...

LL Cool J: Def Jam: The Rap Brat Pack

Report and Interview by David Toop, The Face, March 1986

THE GREATEST CREATIVE CONVERGENCE IN 20th Century music has been the American Jewish/Black independent record company. Reel 'em off: Herman Lubinsky and Savoy Records, Hy ...

Prefab Sprout: Faith, Hope & Glory?

Profile and Interview by Max Bell, The Face, March 1984

"IF ALL THIS HADN'T worked out, I was resigned to being a librarian. That's what I wanted to do." Thus speaks Paddy McAloon, brains in ...

John Lydon, Public Image Ltd: The Fugitive: John Lydon at Large

Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, December 1980

IT SEEMS POETICALLY APPROPRIATE that John Lydon has chosen Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange as the film to insert into the video-cassette deck at Virgin's Townhouse ...

Farley "Jackmaster" Funk , Marshall Jefferson, Frankie Knuckles: Sample and Hold: The House Sound of Chicago

Report by Sheryl Garratt, The Face, September 1986

"Sue the bastards!" WE'VE BEEN IN Chicago for two hours now, and for reasons too ridiculous to explain we are sitting in an Armenian restaurant talking ...

Depeche Mode, Erasure, Inspiral Carpets: Staying Mute

Profile and Interview by John McCready, The Face, August 1990

ELECTRONIC. TEUTONIC. Independent. European. Regardless of the reality of its catalogue, Mute Records has a certain image. Like any record label with a desire to ...

Sasha and Digweed play Twilo

Report and Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Face, December 1997

JOHN DIGWEED stares at the sleek, black stretch limo we've ordered to take us from the hotel to the club in New York. "I usually ...

Pink Q&A

Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Face, October 2003

You were scheduled to snog Madonna at the MTV awards, but you dropped out and Britney took over. Why? ...

Neneh Cherry

Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Face, September 1996

WHEN NENEH CHERRY was a toddler, she met Miles Davis. She remembers his gravelly growl of a voice, and recalls him opening his trumpet case ...

Marshall Jefferson: Moving House

Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Face, September 1994

I FIRST MET MARSHALL Jefferson in 1986, in his native Chicago. House was just starting to bloom there, and he was working on 'Move Your ...

Mrs Wood: Queen Of Hardbag

Profile and Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Face, December 1995

I FIRST MET MRS WOOD on a trip to BCM in Majorca. The manager had flagged up his attractions outside the club in four-foot letters: ...

The Smiths: Dreamer In The Real World

Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, The Face, May 1985

To his father, he was a "complete fruitcake," to his contemporaries "the village idiot". Yet in the treacherous image-bloated clone-zone of pop, his is the ...

Happy Mondays, The Stone Roses: The Stone Roses and The Happy Mondays

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, The Face, January 1990

AFTER A YEAR of underground success, Stone Roses and Happy Mondays crowd into a Top Of The Pops dressing room to celebrate their entry into ...

X: Guitars Against The Golden State

Profile and Interview by Robin Eggar, The Face, April 1984

They've been called The Last American Rock Band. It's a tag they hate. ...

Adam & The Ants: Sound and Vision: The Making of Adam Ant

Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, April 1981

"Malcolm McLaren just said to me, "What do you want, Adam?" I said, "I'd like to be a household name, and have everyone know and ...

Spandau Ballet: A Revolt Into Style

Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, August 1981

"IF PEOPLE want to find out what is the working class attitude to life," Gary Kemp declares forcefully, leaning towards me over a corner table ...

The Clash: Home On The Range

Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, February 1981

PAUL SIMONON lives in a modest two-room Notting Hill basement flat just north of Ladbroke Grove tube station. ...

Level 42: Living It Down

Profile and Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, November 1983

IN THE HITCHHIKERS Guide To The Galaxy the number 42 is revealed as the clue to The I Meaning Of Life. This is the origin ...

Ian Dury: The Royal Academy of Jackthelademy

Interview by Mike Stand, The Face, December 1980

THE ARTIST, cultivator of a thousand verbaceous boarders, sits on a plastic chair in this desert of a room. Cropped short his greying hair gives ...

Joe Jackson: Indifferent To Joe

Interview by Mike Stand, The Face, May 1980

ROCK 'N' ROLL is supposed to be from The Wrong Side Of The Tracks and I suppose the Joe Jackson Band's rehearsal room qualifies. It's ...

Ian Dury, Chaz Jankel: Ian Dury and Chaz Jankel: Teeth and Smiles

Interview by Mike Stand, The Face, September 1981

IAN DURY is in prime form. He is just back from a short holiday in Greece and is, if not exactly bronzed, then distinctly off-white, ...

The Clash: The Return of Native Paranoia

Report by Chris Salewicz, The Face, August 1981

IN HOT humid New York City, the eight Clash dates at Bonds discotheque had their number doubled following a first night raid by the Fire ...

Madness

Profile and Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, January 1981

ON A MONDAY morning so dark from thundery rainclouds it seems as though the sky has fallen in, Graham 'Suggs' McPherson, shoe-less and wearing only ...

Culture Club: A Boy For Europe

Interview by Max Bell, The Face, November 1983

THE BEST thing about the Culture Club is that anybody can join. Membership isn't exclusive. Jon, Roy, George and Mikey have managed to come up ...

Primal Scream: Ten Minutes In The Mind Of Bobby Gillespie

Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Face, August 1991

Why did you start playing dance music?Better music, better chicks, better drugs. Is rock'n'roll dead? No. There's a lot of great rock'n'roll bands, like Jane's ...

U2: Saint Bono Defrocked

Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Face, 1 April 1992

IT'S EARLY evening in a Russian restaurant somewhere in west London, a place that specializes in vodka – chili vodka, lemon vodka, brandy vodka, even ...

Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.

Report and Interview by David Toop, The Face, January 1990

A LITTLE suburban parking spot in Carson, Los Angeles, and balmy tranquility hangs in the air like Valium fallout. There are harsh alien sounds, though: ...

Oasis: Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Beatles...

Interview by Cliff Jones, The Face, August 1994

The next Pistols, the next Beatles, or just this month's Next Big Thing? Oasis are good enough to fight the hype – but the battling ...

Morrissey, Suede: Brett Anderson & Morrissey: Suedegate

Comment by Sheryl Garratt, The Face, May 1993

Does this magazine print deliberate lies? Well actually no, we don't ...

Morris Day, The Time: Now Is The Time For Morris Day

Interview by Carol Cooper, The Face, December 1985

He played the senior dude in Purple Rain, the one who nearly stole the show from his real-life hometown rival Prince. He calls his autobiographical ...

Brian Eno: Eno: Only The Small Survive

Interview by Dave Rimmer, The Face, 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 ...

Morrissey, The Smiths: Morrissey: The Deep End

Interview by Nick Kent, The Face, March 1990

Walking backwards into the Nineties, has Morrissey finally lost all sane 'focus' on his career? ...

Tricky: The Wide Bunch

Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Face, February 1995

Tense, nervous and paranoid, Tricky has emerged from the dark heart of the Bristol beat with an extraordinary album that is almost as strange and ...

Philip Sallon

Interview by Fiona Russell Powell, The Face, July 1984

Pausing only to change from one outrageous outfit to the next, PHILIP SALLON has hosted a mad whirl of parties that unite youth tribes in ...

Duran Duran: Simon Le Bon

Interview by Fiona Russell Powell, The Face, February 1984

IT'S THE day before Christmas Eve and I'm on my way to The Savoy hotel, 15 minutes late already for my interview with Simon Le ...

August Darnell, Kid Creole & The Coconuts: The Kid & I: A Dinner Date with Kid Creole

Interview by Fiona Russell Powell, The Face, October 1982

The night Fiona Russell Powell joined August Darnell for a late late dinner date ran into the morning of the Kid's 32nd birthday and the ...

Heaven 17: Room At The Top: Heaven 17

Interview by Fiona Russell Powell, The Face, November 1983

The son of a Sheffield steel worker, Glenn Gregory's ambition was to become an actor. Instead he found himself playing the role of pop star ...

Marc Almond, Soft Cell: Marc Almond

Interview by Fiona Russell Powell, The Face, February 1983

THE RELATIONSHIP between record companies and the music press is I think generally seen to be one of a symbiotic nature. ...

Killing Joke: A Matter of Laughs and Death

Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, The Face, May 1981

FUNNY HYSTERICAL: making the journey from Kings Cross to Shepherd's Bush with an earful of Killing Joke. I've just changed fifty albums I didn't need ...

Jamiroquai: Lost In Space

Interview by Andrew Smith, The Face, November 1994

JAY KAY shouldn't really be telling me shit like this. He and his band for — make no mistake, it is his band — have ...

Joy Division: A History of Joy Division

Retrospective by Mick Middles, The Face, November 1980

JOY DIVISION began life in romantically seedy surroundings. In late 1977, as the initial push of the new wave began to soften, hundreds of imitation ...

Linton Kwesi Johnson: All The Way With LKJ

Interview by Deanne Pearson, The Face, July 1980

Whenever it rains/I think of you And I always remember that day in May When I saw you walking in the rain I know not what it was nor why For ...

Defunkt: This Defunkt Life

Interview by Lesley White, The Face, August 1982

According to Joe Bowie, only his trombone and his funk-jazz band Defunkt stand between him and the imminent nuclear apocalypse. LESLEY WHITE talks to the ...

Frankie Goes To Hollywood: Holly Go Lightly

Interview by Lesley White, The Face, June 1989

AS LUNCH DATES with professionally outrageous people go, mine with Holly Johnson — upstairs and upstairs again at L'escargot — was an affair of studied ...

Dexys Midnight Runners: Fact And Fiction

Interview by Lesley White, The Face, September 1982

THE FACE turned down an offer to interview Kevin Rowland earlier in the summer because of unacceptable preconditions which were later withdrawn. Last in line ...

Mick Jagger: The Face Interview

Interview by Fiona Russell Powell, The Face, December 1983

1PM, THE SAVOY HOTEL. In the centre of suite 312 sits a 40-year old man once described by the writer Nik Cohn with these words: ...

Sade: Glad Day For Sade

Profile and Interview by Lesley White, The Face, April 1984

Sophisticated jazz, Silk Cut and Jersey. That's Sade Adu. The girl can't help it. The torches have been lit. Profile Lesley White ...

Robert Palmer: Some Guys Have All The Hits

Interview by Lesley White, The Face, March 1983

It's hard to be a superstar in today's tough musical world. Caught for a long time between ever-changing trends, ROBERT PALMER finally found his blue-eyed ...

Haircut 100: Haircut One Hundred

Interview by Lesley White, The Face, June 1982

Fashion à la Haircut is the cult of the cleancut, the art of the casual towel, the incidental bow tie and the perpetual smile... ...

Carmel: Oh Perfect Day

Interview by Lesley White, The Face, September 1983

CARMEL MCCOURT is a stylish blonde singer of 24 with a voice as dark as she is fair, as strange as she is straightforward. She ...

Gang of Four

Interview by Deanne Pearson, The Face, April 1981

Poolswinning Yorkshire musicians syndicate, Hugo Burnham, Dave Allen, Jon King and Andy Gill, pictured with the small change from their record-breaking swoop on EMI's Treble ...

Andy Warhol: The Face Interview

Interview by Fiona Russell Powell, The Face, March 1985

"I HAVE NOTHING to say – read my books" is Andy Warhol's standard riposte to most would-be interviewers.  ...

Boy George: The Face Interview

Interview by Fiona Russell Powell, The Face, November 1982

I FIRST MET George O'Dowd about two years ago, shortly after I had moved down to London from Sheffield. George had just vacated his room ...

Imagination: Work That Body!

Interview by Lesley White, The Face, September 1982

Suitably softened up by his workout with four year-old Twinkle, IMAGINATION'S extrovert frontman picks himself up off the floor for an interview with LESLEY WHITE ...

Malcolm McLaren: Where The Buffalo Roam

Interview by Deanne Pearson, The Face, December 1982

• Svengali turned singer Malcolm McLaren has — canny as ever — recorded one of the debut singles of the year, 'Buffalo Gals', after months ...

The Cramps: Bubble Trouble

Interview by Fiona Russell Powell, The Face, July 1984

Back from the mystery plane, where they witnessed a host of gore movies and much else besides, THE CRAMPS have come to reclaim their followers from the ...

The Cure: Robert Smith: A Suitable Case for Treatment

Interview by Fiona Russell Powell, The Face, October 1985

"We can't make it. We are ready to die when we are born. We are the patsies. And I hate the intellectual freak who realises ...

Van Halen: David Lee Roth: The Face Interview

Interview by Fiona Russell Powell, The Face, October 1984

Larger than life and twice as loud, David Lee Roth is the vocalist and ringmaster of the Van Halen hard rock circus. ...

Divine: Mondo Crappo

Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, January 1981

WARNING: This article might offend sensitive tastes! ...

ABC, Buggles, Dollar, Malcolm McLaren, Spandau Ballet: The Most Wanted Man In Pop: Trevor Horn

Interview by Fiona Russell Powell, The Face, July 1982

"Why does pop music have to be so naff?" asks TREVOR HORN, whose production work for Dollar, ABC and Spandau Ballet is an unequivocal answer ...

Dead Kennedys: Punk Rot Is Here To Stay

Interview by Deanne Pearson, The Face, January 1981

THIS IS THE hardcore faction. Spiked hair, leather jackets, the backs emblazoned with the logos of Crass, UK Subs, Adam & The Ants. Hordes of ...

Ian Dury: Well Hung

Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, The Face, April 1984

Ian Dury's verdict on the nation's art heritage ...

David Sylvian: The Face Interview

Interview by Fiona Russell Powell, The Face, October 1982

David Sylvian had agreed to do only three interviews when he returned to England from a month's stay in Japan. The first was for the ...

Cristina: Uptown Girl

Profile and Interview by Paul Rambali, The Face, July 1984

How can one so rich, talented and beautiful be so weary of life? ...

Stevie Wonder Has a Dream

Report and Interview by Carol Cooper, The Face, June 1984

In 1981 Stevie Wonder led the first of three marches in Washington D.C. calling for the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, the black civil ...

The Style Council: The State of the Nation's dress by Paul Weller

Interview by Lesley White, The Face, April 1983

"I SUPPOSE PEOPLE find it difficult to penetrate me," offers the pale young man in the white mac, "they're not sure whether I'm really deep ...

Boy George: The Face Interview

Interview by Fiona Russell Powell, The Face, 1986

George O'Dowd on fame, drugs, wealth, sex, George Michael, Alice Temple, Martin Degville… ...

The Pretenders: Leather Wears Better Than Dreams

Profile and Interview by Lesley White, The Face, February 1984

In the last two turbulent years, Chrissie Hynde has had a baby by the man who once personified for her the rock and roll myth, ...

Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Terry Riley: Blink Blink Blink, Fiddly Iddly Iddly, Blink Blink Blink. The Last Train To Utopia... The Minimalist Machine Stops Here

Overview by Ian MacDonald, The Face, March 1987

WHAT IS THE USE OF MINIMALISM? ...

Blackpool Weekender: Keeping The Faith

Report by Sheryl Garratt, The Face, May 1989

A modern Mecca: the finale of the Third Blackpool Soul, Funk & Jazz Weekender in early April, where dancers left cold by rap and acid gather ...

Mods: The Resurrection Of Chad

Report by Lesley White, The Face, June 1984

For two days the town slept uneasily, anticipating events prophesied by dark whispers in the roadside inns. As the pilgrims gathered by their tents, huddled ...

Echo & The Bunnymen: Heaven Up Here

Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, The Face, August 1981

IAN McCULLOCH LETS GIOVANNI DADOMO GET UNDER HIS HAIRCUT IN ECHOSOUND AND BUNNYVISION cert x ...

The Human League: The Face Interview: Phil Oakey

Interview by Lesley White, The Face, December 1982

I MET UP with Phil Oakey one wet Sheffield Wednesday afternoon over coffee and a Tupperware box of assorted chocolate biscuits, in the Formica-finished kitchen ...

The Special AKA: Still Special (After All These Years)

Interview by Max Bell, The Face, June 1984

Jerry Dammers appeared on the cover of the first ever issue of THE FACE. The General, as he was nick-named then, led his group The ...

Brian Eno: Only The Small Survive

Interview by Dave Rimmer, The Face, October 1982

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 ...

Killing Joke: A Regular Bundle Of Fun

Interview by Deanne Pearson, The Face, September 1980

Bass, LeadTo Tell The Killing JokeWe Mean It Max!Total ExploitationNo InformationAnonymity ...

The Thompson Twins: Thompson Twins: How To Tell Them Apart

Interview by Deanne Pearson, The Face, March 1981

Dress the first-born back to front. Now, on with the feature ...

Public Image Ltd, Jah Wobble: Jab Wobble At Your Service

Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, September 1981

The Entertainer as Servant of the People. Chris Salewicz talked to the former Public Image bass player. ...

Aztec Camera: The Outsider Comes In

Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, The Face, December 1983

This has been the year of RODDY FRAME. The leader of Aztec Camera, his songs have delighted critics with their complex, resonant lyrics allied to ...

Fun Boy Three, Terry Hall: Terry Hall: The Face Interview

Interview by Fiona Russell Powell, The Face, July 1983

This interview with Terry Hall is the result of two rather brief meetings with the Fun Boy, although I'm tempted to suggest that Glum Boy ...

Charlatans, The (UK): The Charlatans: Sexier Than Shaky?

Interview by John McCready, The Face, October 1990

After one chart hit, The Charlatans are poised on the fringe of either stardom or obscurity. They may be better mannered than Happy Mondays and cuter than the Stone Roses, but will ...

The Fugees: Fugee Life

Interview by Cliff Jones, The Face, October 1996

The success of 'Killing Me Softly' this summer has turned them into MTV darlings and global stars. Yet lead singer Lauryn Hill still believes she ...

No More Heroes?

Report by Sean O'Hagan, The Face, March 1991

Where have all the pop stars gone? Artists like Elvis Presley or The Beatles are the record company ideal, showing steady sales year after year. ...

Todd Terry: Can You Feel It?

Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Face, October 1988

LONDON, JULY. The police, finally twigging onto the city's thriving house scene, raid a warehouse just south of the river. As is usual on such ...

Take That, Robbie Williams: Robbie Williams: The Wild One

Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Face, October 1995

Robbie Williams was always the cool one in Take That. His appearance at this year's Glastonbury, dancing onstage with his mates Oasis, only confirmed that. ...

Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers, Experience Unlimited (EU), Redds And The Boys, Trouble Funk: DC Freeze: Staying Alive in the Chocolate City

Report and Interview by David Toop, The Face, April 1985

Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, New York... The urban sound off black America is synonymous with these places. So what of Washington DC, the first US city ...

Boy George, Culture Club: Boy George: Boy On Fire

Interview by Lesley White, The Face, December 1984

The friendly but frozen smile of Boy George has been served up, like a cake fresh from the refrigerator, all over the media. It has ...

Beck

Interview by Andrew Smith, The Face, January 1995

You probably know him as "that slacker guy" who recorded 1994's lo-fi radio anthem 'Loser'. That's fine by Beck, but just don't call him the ...

Drugs: Out of Control?

Report by Toby Manning, The Face, August 2001

The pills are getting cheaper, the music's getting faster, the nights are getting longer. Now the club promoters have joined police and newspapers in telling ...

Cabaret Voltaire

Interview by Paul Morley, The Face, September 1981

Grey, industrial, oppressive, weird? Wrong, say the Sheffield stylists. Wrong, says our ace showbiz reporter. PAUL MORLEY (words) attempts to demystify Cabaret Voltaire's drab legend. ...

Don Cherry, The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, The Watts Prophets: The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy, Don Cherry, the Watts Prophets: Word Power — West Coast Rap goes Radical

Report and Interview by David Toop, The Face, February 1992

Rap music has become less experimental, but on America's West Coast, groups like The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy and New World Rhythm are trying to ...

John "Jellybean" Benitez, Madonna: Jellybean Benitez: Spinning the Globe

Interview by David Toop, The Face, October 1987

First it was Jellybean the DJ playing disco in a Bronx salsa club and helping launch post-video game dance music from New York's Funhouse. Then it was Jellybean the producer working with megastars like Whitney Houston and Madonna. ...

Armand Van Helden: Professional Weirdo

Report and Interview by Andy Crysell, The Face, March 2000

He's the house DJ who loves hip hop, the pop star "at war" with his record label, the New York City boy who was born ...

Tupac Shakur: Farewell to Arms

Retrospective by David Toop, The Face, November 1996

Tupac Shakur was the rapper whose lyrics merged poetry with pain to make him an icon for America's doom generation. On September 13, at the ...

Princess: Throne Down!

Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Face, October 1987

Desiree Heslop had an English girl's dream of US Soul Romance. She didn't find it working in Top Shop, or studying at the Royal Academy. ...

Fatboy Slim, Paul Oakenfold, Sasha and Digweed: Clubs: USA Special! America: What Time Is Love?

Report by Bill Brewster, The Face, September 2000

Dance music conquers America! Yes, really, this time! Bill Brewster on how Sasha, Oakie and Fatboy Slim are taking on the last bastion of rock'n'roll ...

Yazoo: Who's Yazoo?

Report and Interview by Lesley White, The Face, May 1982

IN CASE YOU'RE still wondering, Vince Clarke's amicable departure from Depeche Mode was motivated by nothing less than that time honoured and truly honourable ideal: ...

Hot House, M People: M People

Profile and Interview by David Toop, The Face, December 1994

THE "DISCO SUCKS" MENTALITY REARS ITS UGLY HEAD AGAIN. JUST AS M PEOPLE'S STAR REACHES ITS ZENITH, THEIR AWARD-WINNING SHEEN BURNING BRIGHT, THE MUSIC WORLD DISSENT ...

Larry Levan 1954-1992

Obituary by David Toop, The Face, January 1993

JUST BECAUSE remix culture confuses our sense of history, this doesn't mean that DJs don't have heroes. Larry Levan was one of the few DJs ...

Cypress Hill: Back in the Daze

Interview by Andrew Smith, The Face, October 1995

CYPRESS HILL used cannabis to devastating effect in the marketing of their Black Sunday — racking up best-selling rap album in the process. Can they pull the ...

808 State, Happy Mondays, New Order: The Haçienda: Working on a Building of Love

Retrospective by John McCready, The Face, May 1997

It gives us such great joy to sayThat fifteen years ago todayA club was born — the HaçiendaA venue for the maddest bendersSo as you ...

Blur, Johnny Marr, Oasis: Britpop: Let's Stay Together

Comment by Cliff Jones, The Face, January 1997

Britpop hasn't so much gone Pete Tong as Travelling Wilburys, says Cliff Jones ...

Echo & the Bunnymen Play Hard To Get

Report and Interview by Deanne Pearson, The Face, August 1980

DEANNE PEARSON tries anyway. ...

Fiona Apple: Fifty Foot Teeny

Interview by Cliff Jones, The Face, September 1996

FIONA APPLE is a Manhattan teenager ablaze with songs of love, loss, anger and pain. "Given my way, I'd tie all shrinks together and burn the fuckers!" ...

The Beloved: Dearly Beloved

Report and Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Face, July 1993

Hailed as a spokesman for the E generation, Jon Marsh is now following a path few would have predicted. With a much-underrated new album receiving ...

Goldie: Metal Guru

Interview by David Toop, The Face, July 1995

Ten years ago, David Toop met a young graffiti artist named Goldie. "When I was a kid," he said, "I had nothing to look at ...

Beck: Captain Sensible

Interview by Cliff Jones, The Face, February 1997

That fuzzy folk fella, BECK HANSEN, might now be enjoying full-on international acclaim, but has it helped him and his music become any better understood? Meet the man who believes his generation needs to grow up ...

Traci Lords: Porn Free

Interview by Cliff Jones, The Face, March 1995

HELL HAS broken lose. Scaramanga's prosthetic nipple has fallen off, Odd Job's bowler hat is carving up anyone within range and the rest of the ...

Massive Attack: Go West

Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Face, August 1994

When Shara Nelson and others moved on to new projects, the faces and spaces of Massive Attack's Blue Lines were superseded by silence. Three years later, ...

Pulp T.V.

Interview by Andrew Smith, The Face, July 1995

Ladies and gentlemen: introducing Sheffield's own Jarvis Cocker, man of the common people, unlikely sex symbol, top pop personality and the best TV presenter we never ...

David Mancuso: Flat Epic

Profile and Interview by Frank Broughton, The Face, October 1999

His home was The Loft. He played house before it existed. And New York's David Mancuso has a nun to thank for it all ...

Future Sound Of London: Future Pop

Report and Interview by Andrew Smith, The Face, January 1995

When Future Sound Of London played live in New York last month, they were at home in London, connected to the venue only by a ...

Tracy Chapman, Jimi Hendrix, Living Colour, Prince, Dan Reed Network: Black Rock

Essay by David Toop, The Face, July 1990

White Rock we know about, but why should the idea of Black Rock be so difficult to comprehend? When Prince says his current tour is rock'n'roll based, he ...

Gorky's Zygotic Mynci: Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy!

Interview by Ben Thompson, The Face, June 1997

Gorky's Zygotic Mynci (gaw'kes zy'gotik mung'ki), n. pl. (1) Young art-rockers from Wales. (2) Makers of four albums of well-wrought psychedelic pop. (3) Also called: ...

Prince of Confusion

Essay by David Toop, The Face, September 1994

David Toop listens to the old and the new and wonders which is which ...

Black Grape, Happy Mondays: Black Grape: Shaun Ryder Q+A

Interview by Cliff Jones, The Face, August 1995

Call the cops! Manchester's premier exponent of hooligan rock is back, and sounding better than ever. Cliff Jones grills the Black Grape head honcho on Star ...

4 Hero, A Guy Called Gerald, LTJ Bukem, DJ Hype, Ed Rush & Optical, Goldie, Grooverider, Roni Size and Reprazent: Drum & Bass: Sonic Youth

Guide by Kodwo Eshun, The Face, January 1996

CALL IT drum & bass, breakbeat science or hardstep. As jungle accelerates faster into the future, it is splintering into a million different theme tunes ...

Blur, Oasis, Pulp: The Nineties: Going for Bloke

Comment by Johnny Cigarettes, The Face, September 1996

In the Nineties, we are all everyday people, says Johnny Cigarettes ...

Jon Bon Jovi: Q&A: Jon Bon Jovi

Interview by David Toop, The Face, December 1992

Jon Bon Jovi has had his hair cut off and been remixed by Jesus Jones. What's going on? ...

Prince: The Second Coming

Essay by Nick Kent, The Face, September 1988

If eighties pop was a cultural void, then Prince tried his hardest to fill it. Crossing barriers of race, gender and genre to capture the ...

Bros: Teenage Clean Wave

Report and Interview by David Toop, The Face, April 1988

BROS and their fans are tired of the grown-up messages of adult pop. The girls that cluster outside their house every day represent a new era in ...

Jerry Lee Lewis: Man on Fire: Going to Hell with Jerry Lee Lewis and Dennis Quaid

Special Feature by Nick Kent, The Face, May 1989

HE WAS trying to be courteous but you could tell almost at once that being courteous wasn't really part of his nature. "Wahl, ah looks ...

Madonna: Sleek-A-Boo

Comment by Caitlin Moran, The Face, February 1997

New Madonna, new danger? Groomed, elegant — the Material Girl has matured with good grace. Will her fans wish she hadn't bothered, asks Caitlin Moran ...

D'Angelo: Soul Asylum

Profile and Interview by David Toop, The Face, September 1995

Is D'Angelo the last soul man or simply the finest new voice of the Nineties? ...

Sweet Tee & Jazzy Joyce: Queens of the Bronx

Interview by David Toop, The Face, May 1987

"HIP HOP is such a beats orientated music. It's just beats and a bass line. If you put anything else to it like keyboards and ...

2 Unlimited, Clock, N Trance: Europop: Young, Dumb and Full of Hum

Report by Bob Stanley, The Face, February 1996

YOUR MUM LOVES the catchy melodies and your little brother fancies the singers. It's not Britpop, it's Euro technotechnotechnotechno and it's in the top ten ...

Club Flyers: Just An Illusion

Comment by Sheryl Garratt, The Face, February 1996

Nice flyer, shame about the club: Sheryl Garratt on the art of parties. ...

U2: The Face Interview: Bono

Interview by Max Bell, The Face, December 1988

For many he's a rock messiah, a man with a message and all the answers. Perhaps that's why BONO did no interviews to promote what has become Britain's fastest-selling album ...

Pras: Playa For Today

Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Face, November 1998

You know him as That Bloke From The Fugees. The one who mutters "One time... two time" on 'Ready Or Not'. The one who isn't Lauryn Hill. ...

1988 and All That

Comment by Sheryl Garratt, The Face, August 1997

The summer of love that grew out of the Balearic scene wasn't as revolutionary as some claim, says Sheryl Garratt ...

Galliano: Jazz Poets

Interview by Dele Fadele, The Face, January 1991

DJ GILLES Peterson's Talking Loud afternoon club (Sundays at Dingwalls, London) has a reputation for showcasing distinctive acts on the jazz tip, but recently moved ...

Paul Oakenfold: House Music: Promised Land

Overview by John McCready, The Face, August 1997

What have we got to celebrate after ten years of non-stop ecstatic dancing? Loads, says John McCready ...

Village People: "Macho Types Wanted, Must Have Moustache"

Retrospective and Interview by William Shaw, The Face, April 1997

Young man! There's no need to feel down... Until you've heard the strange and tragic tale of the man behind the biggest disco sensation of ...

Robbie Williams: Q+A

Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Face, April 1997

On the horizon of credibility, a faint cry is heard: "Who ate all the pies, who ate all the pies, who ate, who ate, who ...

Iggy Pop: Q+A: Iggy Pop

Interview by Cliff Jones, The Face, December 1996

Is it possible for a man to live a long and happy life on a diet of sex, drugs and sausage? Iggy Pop explains to ...

Brian Eno, Talking Heads: Talking Heads: Jive Talking

Interview by Richard Grabel, The Face, January 1981

David Byrne talks guardedly about his collaboration with Brian Eno. Tina Weymouth talks candidly on the same subject. "By the time they had finished working ...

Shack: Mersey Blues

Interview by Tom Doyle, The Face, June 1999

HEROIN. ARSON. DEATH. DESTROYED STUDIOS. BLOWN OPPORTUNITIES. THE BALLAD OF SHACK IS HARDLY EASY LISTENING. BUT NOW, WITH A GLORIOUS NEW ALBUM, BRITAIN'S GREAT LOST ...

Linx: Funk and Roll

Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, December 1981

If Britain is ever to become self-sufficient in funk then it's groups like Linx who will lead the way... ...

Marc Bolan, T. Rex, Tyrannosaurus Rex: Bolan

Retrospective and Interview by Deanne Pearson, The Face, October 1981

Original Mod, prototype New Romantic... uhmm... but that's another story. This one's about the people trying to keep the Bolan legend alive. Second Coming of ...

Divinely Yours

Profile and Interview by Fiona Russell Powell, The Face, September 1984

Glen Milston has dedicated his life to glamour, in the guise of the 'outrageous', 'disgusting' Divine. After a career in films and on stage, Divine ...

MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice: Hooked on Rap

Comment by David Toop, The Face, January 1991

David Toop on the rise of Hammer and Ice ...

Coolio: Paradise Regained

Interview by Cliff Jones, The Face, December 1995

At 15 Coolio embraced a life of crime and violence that left him addicted to crack and almost dead. His song 'Gangsta's Paradise' is the ...

The Kane Gang: Raising Kane

Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, The Face, September 1984

The almost accidental progress of a modern-day pop group. Lesson No. 1: never give up your day job until your goal is in sight. ...

Frankie Knuckles: The Godfather

Report and Interview by John McCready, The Face, May 1989

AS YOU'RE assaulted by yet another PWL production — the legacy of House lives on in 'I'd Rather Jack' — this question may or may ...

DJ Pierre, Marshall Jefferson, Frankie Knuckles: House Music: Jack in the Day

Book Excerpt by Sheryl Garratt, The Face, October 1998

Chicago's Eighties club scene was the tinderbox that sparked a global dance music explosion. Sheryl Garratt remembers the time... ...

Stanton Warriors

Profile and Interview by Lulu Le Vay, The Face, August 2000

The genre-defying DJs of diversity have faced shootings and bomb scares. Hard to believe they're only named after a manhole cover. ...

Willie Colon, Gilberto Gil, Dizzy Gillespie, Milton Nascimento: ¿Te Gusta La Musica Latina?

Overview by David Toop, The Face, August 1986

FROM PANAMA DOWN THROUGH VENEZUELA TO BRAZIL, THIS MUSIC IS THE PULSE OF A CONTINENT. IN SOUTH AMERICA, SAMBAS CARRY SOCIAL STATEMENTS. THE DANCING IS ...

Duran Duran, Frankie Goes to Hollywood: Warhol: The Face Interview

Interview by Fiona Russell Powell, The Face, March 1985

"I HAVE NOTHING to say — read my books" is Andy Warhol's standard riposte to most would-be interviewers. David Yarritu — a former assistant of ...

The Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: Sid Vicious: Scum Also Rises

Retrospective by Nick Kent, The Face, August 1986

SID LIVES ON T-SHIRTS AND IN A NEW FILM, BUT MOSTLY HE JUST LIVES ON IN INFAMY ...

Mary J. Blige: Mary J Blige: Soul For Real

Profile by Bill Brewster, The Face, December 1995

She is the soul queen of urban America. So why is it so sad to be Mary J Blige, asks Bill Brewster ...

Blaze, Marshall Jefferson, Jomanda, Kym Mazelle, Ce Ce Rogers, Ten City: Post House: Paradise Regained

Report by David Toop, The Face, December 1988

When New York's Paradise Garage closed, the city lost part of its pulse, leaving only a brand of Eighties disco called Garage. In Chicago, it ...

Bow Wow Wow, Malcolm McLaren, The Sex Pistols: Malcolm McLaren... the True Poison!

Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, May 1981

You're dealing with a very low level of creativity in the music business. The man who sits in his office marketing records is not a ...

New York — Body & Soul

Report and Interview by Bill Brewster, The Face, March 1999

Sunday afternoon disco classics down a Manhattan side street ...

Drugs: Ill Communication

Report by Sheryl Garratt, The Face, March 1998

Sheryl Garratt learns from those at our hospitals' sharp end that Ecstasy may not be the biggest threat to clubbers' health after all ...

Grand Mixer D.ST, Jalal Mansur Nuriddin: Rappers: Jalal Nuriddin

Report by David Toop, The Face, October 1984

EARLIER THIS year, just when it seemed safe to assume that the message rap genre had run out of self-righteous steam, two 12-inch records popped ...

Tom Jones: Q+A: Tom Jones

Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Face, March 1997

He plays himself in Mars Attacks! but would love to play James Bond, is hung like a donkey but not like a horse, and doesn't ...

Sigur Ros: The Band at the Edge of the World

Interview by Andrew Mueller, The Face, December 1999

Sigur Ros have a singer who sounds like a whale. Their lyrics are in a secret language. And they want to perfume the world with ...

Basement Jaxx: London — Basement Jaxx

Report and Interview by Andy Crysell, The Face, March 1999

Stupid dancing in a dirty Camberwell pub ...

Gail Ann Dorsey: Bimbo Backlash — Gail Force

Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Face, July 1988

THE REIGN of the bimbo over the British charts has been a long one. There's absolutely nothing wrong with pretty faces fronting other people's songs ...

E: Safer House

Report by Andrew Smith, The Face, October 1995

Amsterdam's Safe House Project does more than just advise clubbers on Ecstasy: it goes right to the source, to the manufacturers. ...

Snoop (Doggy) Dogg: Snoop Doggy Dogg: A Dogg's Tale

Interview by Steven Daly, The Face, February 1994

Snoop Doggy Dogg is currently America's top rap star. He's also due to be tried later this year as an accessory to murder. In his ...

Colleen "Cosmo" Murphy: DJ Cosmo: Cosmic Girl

Interview by Lulu Le Vay, The Face, December 1999

She was a mainstay of New York nightlife — until Mayor Giuliani sent in the cops. Now Cosmo's making it in London ...

Burt Bacharach, Portishead: Ballads: Heart of Darkness

Essay by David Toop, The Face, September 1996

Can the ballad survive in the post-soul '90s, asks David Toop. ...

Faze Action: Renaissance

Interview by Bill Brewster, The Face, September 1996

The Haçienda in considering dropping house music. UK Midlands' new night features Goldie and Weatherall. Has house burnt out? Faze Action says it's time to ...

Texas, Wu-Tang Clan: Beauty and the Beats: Texas meet the Wu-Tang Clan downtown

Report by Steven Daly, The Face, December 1997

It's the pop story of '97, the most unlikely end to a weird year: Texas collaborating with the Wu-Tang Clan. First, a Scottish rock band ...

Janet Jackson: Into Control, Out Of Tunes

Interview by John McCready, The Face, October 1990

JANET JACKSON'S last single, 'Black Cat', was truly mind boggling in its awfulness. Its politely heavy metal styling was really just an excuse for Janet ...

Prince in Pieces

Profile and Interview by Chris Heath, The Face, December 1991

Apart from his music. Prince never gives much of himself away in public – or even in private. But over six strange days in Paisley ...

The Smiths: The Band With The Thorn In Its Side

Report by Nick Kent, The Face, April 1987

The past two years have seen panic in the Smiths camp, with take-over bids and narcotic problems competing with international success. Nick Kent assesses the ...

Whose Smiley Now?

Report by Sheryl Garratt, The Face, August 1989

THERE WERE stories of people dancing to police sirens, traffic noises, anything to stretch the Summer Of Love out a little longer, but never before ...

52nd Street, Chapter and the Verse, Fifth Of Heaven, Marcel King: British Soul: Declaration of Independents

Report by John McCready, The Face, October 1988

Scorned by the purists and ignored elsewhere, British soul has finally decided to go it alone. From bedrooms in Hackney and basements in Bristol a ...

Adamski, Paul Oakenfold, Seal, The Shamen: Adamski: Play for Today

Report and Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Face, April 1990

First there were the raves, and a few imaginative DJs who mixed live music with the records.Then there was Adamski, and the madness that is ...

Sham 69: Jimmy Pursey: People Try To Put Me Down...

Interview by Mike Stand, The Face, May 1980

"PEOPLE PUT me down as a loudmouth. Well, I've got a lot to talk about," said Jimmy Pursey and proved it at once by descending ...

The Beautiful South: Popping out for a bit

Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Face, December 1989

The Beautiful South: classic English pop or a bit boring, really? ...

Burning Spear: Searching for the Spear

Interview by Peter Murphy (British), The Face, October 1980

WINSTON RODNEY, a.k.a. the Burning Spear, is the enigma of the Jamaican music scene. In a dark and brooding voice that is the essence of ...

Fela Kuti, Sonny Okosun, Sir Victor Uwaifo: Juju, Afrobeat and Highlife

Report and Interview by Peter Murphy (British), The Face, April 1981

Special report: Rock in Nigeria. ...

DJ Shadow, UNKLE: "We've Just Made The Biggest, Most Expensive/Action/Entertainment Shit In The World!" It is the UNKLE album.

Special Feature by Craig McLean, The Face, 1998

It spans eight years, three continents and an aborted Fleetwood Mac cover. It features Richard Ashcroft, Thom Yorke and Mike D. How did DJ Shadow ...

The Beat: Beat Crazy: Can't Stop It Now...

Interview by Deanne Pearson, The Face, July 1980

This time last year the Beat had just started their first one-night a week pub residency in Birmingham, after playing only six gigs. DEANNE PEARSON ...

Robbie Williams: Resurrection man

Comment by Craig McLean, The Face, September 1998

Boy band clown. Drug band hanger-on. Solo flop. So how did Robbie manage to come back for good? Because whatever he's said, whatever he's done, ...

Bauhaus, The Birthday Party, Modern English: 4AD Records: Bloodless Revolutions

Interview by Tony Fletcher, The Face, May 1981

TONY FLETCHER TALKS SMALL BUSINESS WITH A SUCCESSFUL ALTERNATIVE ...

Black Uhuru: Sinsemilla (Island)

Review by Chris Salewicz, The Face, September 1980

THE THREE-piece vocal group has always been one of the strongest archetypes of reggae. Commencing some two years ago, and operating for a short period ...

Patti Palladin: Snatches: Patti Palladin almost interviewed by Jon Savage

Interview by Jon Savage, The Face, May 1982

Patti Palladin... ...

Gwen Guthrie: Soul and Substance

Interview by Lesley White, The Face, October 1983

Despite all the changes in black music, it's still possible to start in the church and end up in the charts. Maybe that's one of ...

Fun Boy Three, Rico Rodriguez, The Specials: Rico Rodriguez: Rastaman

Profile and Interview by Deanne Pearson, The Face, February 1982

From the Wareika Hills to Top of the Pops. A profile of Rico, the Specials trombone ace, with a side order of oaths for the ...

Shampoo: double bubble

Report and Interview by Craig McLean, The Face, November 1994

Shampoo are two grown-up schoolgirls who've turned their private world of sweeties, ciggies and suburban naughtiness into a hit commodity. Welcome to the world of ...

The Monochrome Set: Strange Boutique (Dindisc)

Review by Mick Houghton, The Face, July 1980

I STILL recall being hauled in front of the class at school where, doing my world famous impersonation of a jug-eared tomato, Mr Godber, MA ...

Beck, Jeff Buckley, David Gray, Ben Harper, Palace Music, Liz Phair: Beck et al: Don't fake the folk

Overview by Cliff Jones, The Face, August 1994

A WASTED voice wails to a scratchy guitar, drifting in some desolate, unforgiven shopping mall limbo: "I was working at McDonald's, doing the late night ...

ABC: Now a name to drop. Soon a major part in the party.

Profile and Interview by Paul Morley, The Face, August 1981

I HOLD in my hand three letters... ...

Bruce Springsteen: The River (CBS)

Review by David Hepworth, The Face, November 1980

THEY GAVE me 350 words and Wednesday evening to account for the fact that my heart took to pumping double when this record slid out ...

Shane MacGowan, The Pogues: Shane MacGowan: Lush life

Interview by Chris Heath, The Face, November 1994

When Shane MacGowan left the Pogues, it was not so much in a cloud of acrimony than a murky fog of drink and drugs. Against ...

Garbage: Modern Life is Rubbish

Interview by Steven Daly, The Face, September 1996

ONCE SHE WAS just another washed-up indie singer from Edinburgh. Then fate, MTV and three American rock musos intervened, and now Shirley Manson finds the ...

Björk: Army of Her

Report and Interview by Craig McLean, The Face, June 1995

Two years ago Björk drove herself into the nation's hearts with Debut. Now she's back with a new LP that's even stranger and more compelling. ...

Dallas Austin, Tricky: Tricky: The Mad Father

Interview by Craig McLean, The Face, May 1998

They used to call him Tricky Kid, now they call him The Boss... He is the overworked businessman with his own label who is to ...

Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson: Janet Jackson: Janet Unzipped

Interview by David A. Keeps, The Face, December 1997

ALL LITTLE JANET WANTED TO DO WAS CLIMB TREES, BANG DRUMS AND "SCRAPE MY ASS". IN SHORT, SHE WANTED TO BE HER BROTHERS. THEN LITTLE ...

Spice Girls: The Spice Girls: Top of the world, ma

Special Feature by Chris Heath, The Face, March 1997

Dear Mum, Everything's going great in the States. We're dead tired and a bit fed up, but we're zooming up the charts here and we're ...

Missy Elliott: Miss World

Special Feature by Sylvia Patterson, The Face, June 1999

Her father threatened her with guns, her teachers graded her bottom of the class and the music industry told her she'd never make it. Then ...

Beyoncé: Perfect diva

Interview by Sylvia Patterson, The Face, May 2003

Beneath Beyoncé Knowles' shining, golden exterior lies a heart which is… damn! It's shiny and golden too. But although she seems the ideal super-star for glittery-shallow ...

Edwyn Collins...

Interview by Craig McLean, The Face, January 1996

...as man of the year? Man of the last 15 years more like. Over a goblet of mulled wine the sound of young (ahem) Scotland ...

The Distillers: The Ballad of Brody Dalle

Interview by Sylvia Patterson, The Face, February 2004

Just as they're about to make it huge, The Distillers are in the middle of a bitter punk-rock feud. The LA punk scene's split down ...

Daft Punk: Clubs: Daft Punk

Interview by Emma Warren, The Face, February 1997

ANYONE WHO'S ever found themselves propelled on to the middle of the dancefloor as soon as the twisted "wah wah" strains of 'Da Funk' hit ...

Dexys Midnight Runners: Searching For The Young Soul Rebels (Parlophone)

Review by David Hepworth, The Face, August 1980

YOU WON'T go short of excuses for snickering at Dexys Midnight Runners from behind your hand. There's the lofty self-esteem, the leather uniforms, the missionary ...

Blur, Oasis: Blur: England Expects

Special Feature by Chris Heath, The Face, September 1995

BLUR'S NEW album, The Great Escape, might be based around an imaginary retreat from the heady pop melee, but for Damon, Graham, Alex and Dave, ...

RuPaul, Spice Girls: RuPaul and the Spice Girls: Mean Streaks

Report by Chris Heath, The Face, May 1997

Chris Heath discovers which magazine RuPaul really really hates. Go on, guess... ...

Poly Styrene: Translucence (Liberty)

Review by Deanne Pearson, The Face, December 1980

POLY STYRENE couldn't have moved further away from X-Ray Spex in the two years she has been off the scene. Where Spex were brash and ...

Massive Attack, Portishead, Tricky: Massive Attack: Unique 3

Report and Interview by Craig McLean, The Face, December 1995

With sales of Protection approaching a million. Massive Attack are going seriously global. They have recorded a love song with Madonna, Tina Turner wants to ...

At the Drive-In, Nirvana: Sylvia says: bring me Nirvana or bring me death

Comment by Sylvia Patterson, The Face, November 2000

"WHAT THE FUCK is THAT?!?' shuddered Ali, a ferociously opinionated psychiatric nurse, being forcefully towed into a half-full tent at a summer festival, eyebrows twisting ...

Sniff 'n' The Tears: The Game's Up (Chiswick)

Review by Deanne Pearson, The Face, August 1980

IT'S DIFFICULT to see how and why, at first, Chiswick, a R&R and punk label predominantly, are involved with a band such as Sniff 'n' ...

Gay Dad: Young Person's Guide To Becoming A Rock Star

Report and Interview by Sylvia Patterson, The Face, April 1999

They're the best band since Oasis. They're the joke of the year. Their records are all fantastic. But they've only made one. They've got a ...

Macy Gray: There's something about Macy

Interview by Sylvia Patterson, The Face, December 1999

Some say she's "a genius"; others, "insane".What is it about Macy Gray that makes her more than just the soul sensation of the year? ...

Beck: With Beck all things are possible

Report and Interview by Craig McLean, The Face, May 1997

He is rhythm wizard, zombie fawn, Prada punker, Spice Boy and hip hop beatnik. Step with us, if you will, into Beck's American dreamstate: where ...

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