Library Rock's Backpages

The Observer

Observer, The

The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to The Guardian, whose parent company Guardian Media Group acquired it in 1993, it takes a social liberal or social democratic line on most issues. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. It is available in an online edition.

386 articles

List of articles in the library

By date | By artist | Most recently added

Rival gangs turn their war against Jamaica's politicians

Report and Interview by James Fox, The Observer, 22 January 1978

UNTIL TWO weeks ago today, Kingston was one of the most violent and frightening places on earth. ...

Bobby Womack: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Simon Frith, The Observer, 1984

FOR THE last couple of weeks, London theatres have been filled (or should have been) with British pop musicians taking tips from their American masters. ...

Billy Bragg, Prefab Sprout: The ICA Season: Rock Bands Find The Human Touch

Live Review by Simon Frith, The Observer, 1984

Billy Bragg/Prefab Sprout: The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London ...

Bruce Springsteen: Springsteen: Scruff As Superstar

Profile by Simon Frith, The Observer, 1985

IF BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN didn’t exist rock critics would have had to invent him – which, in a sense, they did. His manager, ex-journalist Jon Landau, ...

Radio 1: Pleasing All The People

Report and Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 23 February 1986

Pop station or pap station? The head of Radio 1 talks to JON SAVAGE ...

The Bangles, Rosanne Cash, Brian Eno, The Shop Assistants, Violent Femmes: Albums by Eno, Rosanne Cash et al

Review by Mary Harron, The Observer, 9 March 1986

BRIAN ENO: More Blank Than Frank (EG Records EGLP 65) ...

Liza Minnelli: Palladium, London

Live Review by Mary Harron, The Observer, 9 March 1986

Needing to be Loved MARY HARRON assesses Liza Minnelli's comeback ...

William Bell, Matt Bianco, The Judds, Dolly Parton, Prince, Smokey Robinson, David Thomas: Records by Prince, The Judds et al

Review by Mary Harron, The Observer, 16 March 1986

Smokey Robinson: Smoke Signals (Tamla 6156TL); Prince: 'Kiss' (WEA W8751T 12 Inch); William Bell: Passion (WRC WIL-3001 US Import) ...

Husker Dü: Powerhouse, Birmingham

Live Review by Simon Frith, The Observer, 30 March 1986

The critics' choice: SIMON FRITH watches Husker Dü in Birmingham ...

Tom Robinson Band: Tom Robinson: Staying True

Profile and Interview by Simon Frith, The Observer, June 1986

THEY MET AGAIN, after all these years, in a hotel corridor in Manchester, John Lydon and Tom Robinson, the yin and yang of punk politics. ...

Genesis, The Smiths: Genesis: Invisible Touch (Virgin GENLP2); The Smiths: The Queen Is Dead (Rough Trade 96)

Review by Simon Frith, The Observer, 15 June 1986

I KNOW there are hundreds of thousands of people out there (most of them Observer readers) who took forward to a new Genesis LP, but ...

Boy George, Culture Club: Boy George: Chasing the Dragon

Report by Jon Savage, The Observer, 13 July 1986

JON SAVAGE reports on the rise and fall of Boy George ...

Chrissie Hynde, The Pretenders: Chrissie Hynde: Still spikey after baby

Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 19 October 1986

"PEOPLE OFTEN say to me in interviews: 'You aren't very prolific are you?' The answer is, no I'm not! I could step up my output, ...

Dire Straits, Pet Shop Boys, Spandau Ballet: BPI Awards: Middle-age Spread

Report by Jon Savage, The Observer, 15 February 1987

JON SAVAGE takes a sceptical look at the BPI Awards ...

Boy George, Culture Club: Boy George: Flying nun back on the runway

Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 22 February 1987

Boy George talks exclusively to JON SAVAGE about heroin, cold turkey and death ...

U2: Prophet Incentive

Profile and Interview by Robin Eggar, The Observer, 5 April 1987

In Dublin they joke that Bono, lead singer of the rock band U2, has God's phone number. Not for U2 groupies, drugs or a limo ...

Pink Floyd, Roger Waters: Roger Waters: He's Got The Technology

Profile and Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 12 July 1987

Roger Waters talks to JON SAVAGE about life after Pink Floyd ...

Bruce Springsteen: Dave Marsh: Glory Days: A Biography of Bruce Springsteen (Sidgwick & Jackson)

Book Review by Jon Savage, The Observer, August 1987

Sucking up to the boss ...

T. Graham Brown: Like It Used To Be

Profile and Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 30 August 1987

Rising Country star T. Graham Brown makes conversation with JON SAVAGE ...

Home Taping: Off the Record

Report by Simon Frith, Jon Savage, The Observer, 11 October 1987

SIMON FRITH and JON SAVAGE on the home-taping controversy ...

Eric B. & Rakim, The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu, M/A/R/R/S, Stock Aitken Waterman: Sampling the Sounds

Report by Simon Frith, Jon Savage, The Observer, 18 October 1987

SIMON FRITH and JON SAVAGE on more copyright complexities ...

The Jesus & Mary Chain: The Jesus And Mary Chain: In Never-never Pop Land.

Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 1988

In their promo videos the Jesus and Mary Chain aim to be as disorientating to the eye as they are to the ear. Look again ...

Throwing Muses: Vivien Goldman catches up with the Throwing Muses

Interview by Vivien Goldman, The Observer, 8 May 1988

WITH MUCH TALK about the late-1980s being the day of the post-feminist woman, it is natural to ask: if feminist battles are won, why are ...

Lester Bangs: Psychotic Reactions And Carburetor Dung by Lester Bangs, edited by Greil Marcus (Heinemann £9.95)

Book Review by Jon Savage, The Observer, 10 July 1988

Inside outsider ...

Jive Turkey

Report and Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 13 October 1988

IT'S 8.45 ON A typically crisp Friday evening in Sheffield. The queue is already beginning to lengthen, even though the doors to the City Hall ...

Billy Bragg's Brave New England

Report and Interview by Mark Sinker, The Observer, 27 November 1988

2005 comment: Neil Spencer didn’t rate me or want to use me, according to Jon Savage – who told him (Sav told me) not to ...

Roy Orbison: The Big O 1936-1988

Obituary by Mark Cooper, The Observer, 18 December 1988

Chubby and shaded, Roy Orbison made a generation weep in pleasurable misery, says MARK COOPER ...

Loop: More Music: Loop

Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 22 January 1989

SIMON REYNOLDS on mind-blowing Loop, the most disorienting group of the day ...

Simply Red: A Simply Red hot lover

Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Observer, 29 January 1989

Mick Hucknall bristles with social convictions but his songs aren't those of an angry young man. MARK COOPER meets the singer with a penchant for ...

Dusty Springfield: Brand New Dusty

Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 12 February 1989

She was the beehive who buzzed to the top of the Sixties pops and faded into the California sunset in the Seventies. The Press proved ...

Suicide

Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 19 February 1989

"NEW YORK IS getting dull," says Suicide's Alan Vega. "The downtown New York of the Seventies has gone. But there's still something here, an electricity, ...

Men in Vogue, House Style

Report and Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 26 February 1989

Ritualised violence, style and beauty make up the male world of Voguing: the new dance from New York's ghettos. ...

Depeche Mode: Modernists à la Mode

Profile and Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 12 March 1989

JON SAVAGE enters the futuristic visions of Depeche Mode, where androgyny meets electro-pop ...

Cowboy Junkies: Lone Rangers on the Country Landscape

Profile and Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 26 March 1989

SIMON REYNOLDS rides with the Cowboy Junkies ...

R.E.M.: Post-Yuppie Pop

Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 21 May 1989

"I COULD TURN YOU inside out! But I choose not to!" R.E.M.’s singer Michael Stipe, back arched, is bellowing into a megaphone. Five songs into ...

Joyce Sims: All About Love (Sleeping Bag 823 1291)

Review by Mark Sinker, The Observer, 10 September 1989

DISCO'S FUTURIST variants Chicago House and Detroit Techno are machine-age musics that prefer motion to emotion, leaving mainstream R&B seeming old-form and narrow — only ...

N.W.A: NWA: Straight Outta Compton (4th & Broadway BRLP 534)

Review by Mark Sinker, The Observer, 10 September 1989

NWA'S DEBUT, with a high count of F-words, savaging of bad policing, and ambivalent depictions of LA street drug-dealers, teen-gang wars and urban ruin, has ...

Soul II Soul

Interview by Cynthia Rose, The Observer, October 1989

A mix of songs that paint pictures, with women and God driving the music and the marketing machine, have spawned a Soul II Soul empire. ...

808 State, A Guy Called Gerald: House-proud

Report by Len Brown, The Observer, 17 December 1989

Techno-beat may have played itself out in the capital, but in Manchester it's the rhythm which has sparked a working-class musical revolution. LEN BROWN reports ...

The Creatures: Demon Hunters

Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 1990

From her punk beginnings as style terrorist through her early Eighties reign as godmother of 'Goth' to the almost motherly figure she now presents, Siouxsie's ...

The Pixies: Ditties Of Pixilated Reasoning

Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 1990

A year ago, the Pixies were considered the last word in rock bacchanalia. The Boston-based band's three albums – Come On Pilgrim, Surfer Rosa and ...

Lloyd Cole: Cool-cut

Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, February 1990

Two years ago, Lloyd Cole folded his band, The Commotions, after six years, a bunch of hit singles and three solidly successful albums (Rattlesnakes, Easy ...

A Hard Graff For A Piece Of The Action

Report and Interview by Cynthia Rose, The Observer, 22 April 1990

Cynthia Rose says in Europe they know the writing's on the wall. ...

John Cale, Lou Reed, The Velvet Underground: Velvet Memories of Andy Warhol

Report and Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 22 April 1990

Simon Reynolds on Lou Reed's reunion with John Cale. ...

The Stone Roses: Flaring Up: The Stone Roses at Spike Island

Report and Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 8 July 1990

YOU CAN see them all over the North-West, drifting through Manchester’s arcades, doing the swim-dance in the high-tech Hacienda, travelling en masse to tribal events ...

Deee-Lite: Accentuating the Positive

Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 9 September 1990

Simon Reynolds on '90s Zeitgeist with love from NY. ...

James Brown: He’s Brown And He’s Proud

Profile and Interview by Cynthia Rose, The Observer, 16 September 1990

"NOT TOO MANY people can really set a precedent," James Brown told me. "But then, I was never too traditional about music." What an understatement. ...

Adamski: The Adamant Alchemist

Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 23 September 1990

CHAOS IS a word with special resonance for Adam Tinley, better known as Adamski. He even named his canine companion Dis after Discordia, the goddess ...

The Grid: Mellow sonic boom

Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 30 September 1990

THIS SUMMER, The Grid released 'Floatation', a single that perfectly captured the New Age mood that has pervaded club culture in 1990. 'Floatation' combined deep ...

Ocean Colour Scene: Fowler’s Mod English Usage

Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 9 December 1990

If 1989 was the year Manchester proclaimed itself pop capital of Britain, 1990 was when reality caught up with the rhetoric. ...

The Fall: "You Can't Knock It, Can You?"

Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 23 December 1990

GIVEN HIS curmudgeonly image, you might expect Mark E. Smith to regard Christmas as a time to endure rather than enjoy. ...

No biz like the old biz

Report by Simon Frith, The Observer, 30 December 1990

THE BRITISH Phonographic Industry, the record trade organisation, never did manage to endear itself to Margaret Thatcher. Its connection with sex and drugs and rock ...

Primal Scream

Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 1991

The story of Primal Scream, whose second hit single entered the charts this week, encapsulates the last 14 years of British rock history. Bobby Gillespie, ...

Soho: Single-Minded Success

Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 6 January 1991

Simon Reynolds finds Soho down in the East End. ...

R.E.M.: Politicos play Cupid

Interview by Tony Fletcher, The Observer, 10 March 1991

Tony Fletcher finds REM have turned from tub-thumping to thoughts of love. ...

The KLF: Off The Orbitals

Profile and Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 7 April 1991

Simon Reynolds profiles the anarchic duo The KLF ...

Paul Simon: Simon Reports Back To Base

Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 5 May 1991

PAUL SIMON'S management company has one client: Paul Simon. Based in Broadway's legendary Brill Building (where Simon and Garfunkel first attempted to sell their songs ...

David Byrne: From Ur to L.A. and back again

Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 23 June 1991

In performance, and as the 'compere' in his film True Stories, David Byrne comes across as the epitome of Wasp uptightness, nervy and ill at ...

The Pixies: Brixton Academy, London

Live Review by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 30 June 1991

Ungodly and oh so grungy ...

Guns N' Roses: Guns N’ Roses: Danger Lurks Beyond The Doors

Profile by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 25 August 1991

No other rock band today provokes such polarised opinions as Guns N' Roses. For some, they are 'the most dangerous band in the world', heirs ...

The Red Hot Chili Peppers: Red Hot Chili Peppers: Magicians followed but not chaste

Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 29 September 1991

One of the most hyperactive rock scenes in the United States is a genre called 'funk-metal' or 'funk 'n' roll'. Groups like Faith No More, ...

Saint Etienne: St Etienne: Debut That's Alpha Oscar Kilo

Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 20 October 1991

ON THEIR delightful debut album, Foxbase Alpha, St Etienne mix contemporary house rhythms with the string-swept melodrama of Sixties pop. Amazingly, the creators of this ...

Manic Street Preachers: Righteous Hate 4 Real

Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 10 November 1991

When Malcolm McLaren rewrote the Sex Pistols story as The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle, he invented a new genre – rock bands who come ...

Teenage Fanclub: The Glitz And The Grunge

Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 1 December 1991

WITH THEIR first single, 'Everything Flows', last year, Teenage Fanclub's grinding raunch and bluesy solos announced that here at last was a British group unafraid ...

Nirvana: Smells Like A Sensation

Profile by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 8 December 1991

NIRVANA ARE THE sensation of 1991. Their single ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ shot straight into the UK Top Ten and is now number seven after ...

Tom Waits: A conversation with Tom Waits

Interview by Peter Silverton, The Observer, 1992

To converse with Tom Waits is to be lied to, consistently, determinedly, entertainingly. ‘I’ll tell you all my secrets but I’ll lie about my past,’ ...

Lush: Hazy Daze For The Scenesters

Profile by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 2 February 1992

Just about the only thing happening in British indie music last year was a rash of blurry, neo-psychedelic bands known as 'shoegazers' or The Scene ...

Nick Cave, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: A Lighter Shade of Cave

Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 15 March 1992

JON SAVAGE MEETS THE SINGER KNOWN AS THE PUNK MESSIAH ...

Babes in Toyland, Daisy Chainsaw, Hole, The Nymphs: Scream with the She-Rebels

Overview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 15 March 1992

WHILE ROCK'N'ROLL abounds with angry young men, female rage has always been a scarce commodity. There's been the gleeful anarchy of the Slits, Patti Smith's ...

The Jesus & Mary Chain: The Jesus and Mary Chain: A Spectacle Of Eclectic Rock

Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 29 March 1992

For a while it looked like The Jesus and Mary Chain had slipped into the ‘where are they now? file. "We’re lazy bastards," says William ...

Faith No More: God, The Devil And All The Rest

Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 7 June 1992

Despite starting out as an anti-people band, Faith No More's last album, 1989's The Real Thing, has sold millions, even though its baroque, doom-laden fusion ...

Suede: Roll Over, Jimmy Dean

Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 9 June 1992

"WHEN WE STARTED the group, we felt that people were starved for music which allowed them to let themselves go," says Brett Anderson, Suede's 24-year-old ...

The Verve: Richard Ashcroft: Having The Verve To Become Unashamedly Epic

Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 26 July 1992

"When you live in a place like Wigan, your senses aren't exactly bombarded with stimuli," says Richard Ashcroft, lead singer of Verve. "So when you ...

The Cure: The Boy Who Won't Grow Up

Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 15 November 1992

THE CURE are probably the world's biggest cult band. Alone of all the British bands born of punk, they've attained huge success without drastically watering ...

Dinosaur Jr: Lazy Doing Something

Profile and Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 31 January 1993

IN NORTH America, "slackers" have entered mainstream consciousness, with the success of Richard Linklater's Slacker movie, Doug Coupland's book Generation X and, above all, Nirvana's ...

Donald Fagen: Steely Don is no fly-by-night

Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 9 May 1993

With their jazz-tinged soft-rock and mordant lyrics, Steely Dan were critics' favourites and a staple of FM radio throughout the Seventies. ...

The Undertones: Sounding Out Stroke City

Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 11 July 1993

The pop star's tale: Michael Bradley has lived most of his life in the thick of the Troubles — but he has not let them ...

Nirvana: Sounds Dirty: The Truth About Nirvana

Report and Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 15 August 1993

SITUATED ON 51st Street and Broadway, in the heart of the old entertainment area, Roseland is a New York institution. In the 1920s it was ...

Sting: Lord Of The Lake

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, January 1994

ON THE DRIZZLY Monday morning before Christmas, I'm sitting in an oak-panelled room in deepest Wiltshire, awaiting the entrance of the owner of a Jacobean ...

Nirvana: The Death of Kurt Cobain

Report by Jon Savage, The Observer, 24 July 1994

DEPENDING ON your view of the afterlife, suicide may or may not be the solution to a life that has become unbearable. For ...

Stereolab: Marx on the Moon

Profile and Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 18 September 1994

Muzak is hip: Simon Reynolds meets Stereolab, easy-listening revolutionaries ...

Goldie: Tales From The Dark Side

Profile and Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 23 October 1994

Simon Reynolds meets Goldie, pioneering king of ambient jungle ...

The Bay City Rollers: Bay City Rollers: About Men, About Women

Book Excerpt by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 6 November 1994

Sheryl Garratt blushes to recall the badges, banners and hystericaleuphoria of belonging to a teenybopper gang — but mourns thesense of togetherness lost when real ...

Randy Newman: London, Theatre Royal

Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, 20 November 1994

IT'S HARD to believe that in 1968 Randy Newman claimed he was "very rarely propelled by any great desire to perform live". Especially hard when ...

Morrissey: The King of Bedsit Angst Grows Up

Profile by Will Self, The Observer, 1995

Heaven knows he was miserable then. Morrissey was the archetypal mixed-up young man: anti-fun, seemingly tortured by his sexuality, with a detached and ironic worldview. ...

Janet Jackson: Behind Those Sphinx-like Eyes: Janet Jackson

Profile by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, April 1995

"THIS IS A STORY ABOUT CONTROL," whispered the 19-year-old Janet Jackson at the start of her breakthrough album, Control, in 1986. "It’s all about control, ...

Tricky: Uneasy Listening

Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 22 October 1995

Hip, maverick rapper Tricky talks exclusively about the dark reality that inspires his music ...

The Stone Roses: War of the Roses

Interview by Lisa Verrico, The Observer, 3 December 1995

John Squire of The Stone Roses talks exclusively to Lisa Verrico about why the band that almost broke up is back. ...

East 17, The Human League: Mistletoe and Whine

Report by Susan Corrigan, The Observer, 17 December 1995

Schmaltz, schlock: and Slade. It's Christmas at Top Of The Pops and there's no need to be afraid ...

Sid Vicious's mum

Obituary by Peter Silverton, The Observer, 1996

No one knows exactly when Ann Beverley died. Even the South Derbyshire coroner wasn’t detained by that particular detail. ...

Oasis: Feeling Supersonic, Going Stratospheric

Report by Lisa Verrico, The Observer, 14 January 1996

TO SIGNAL The White Room's return for a new series, a special New Year's eve edition was recorded three days before Christmas. Despite featuring David ...

Iceberg Slim: Needles and Pimps

Retrospective by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 12 May 1996

Sean O'Hagan chills out on Iceberg Slim, king of the ghetto ...

Phish

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, June 1996

WHEN THE Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia died last year, a whole era of rock’n’roll seemed to be drawing to a close. Many people assumed this ...

The Clash, Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: Sid Vicious: Disgusting of Tunbridge Wells

Essay by Peter Silverton, The Observer, 23 June 1996

Pete Silverton was busy celebrating his 21st with aunties and uncles, and the promise of a pewter mug. Then who should turn up but Sid ...

Elton John: My life with the Rocket man

Memoir by Caroline Boucher, The Observer, 30 June 1996

Katharine Hepburn in the swimming pool and Stevie Wonder locked in the loo. Just two more problems for Elton John's former PR, Caroline Boucher ...

Coolio, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, The Notorious B.I.G., N.W.A, Puff Daddy, Tupac Shakur, Snoop (Doggy) Dogg: Biggie, Tupac et al: Hollywood or Bust-up

Report and Interview by William Shaw, The Observer, 7 July 1996

New York can lay claim to having invented rap, but LA has violently rewritten the rules. William Shaw charts an increasingly bitter rivalry ...

Waiting For The Sun: The Story Of The Los Angeles Music Scene by Barney Hoskyns (Viking £20)

Book Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 21 July 1996

Weird scenes inside the goldmine ...

Bob Geldof, Michael Hutchence: Paula Yates: She's Daft — But Not Wicked

Comment by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 29 September 1996

THE QUESTION begs: Is Paula Yates still wearing her 'Little Miss Trouble' T-shirt — or is it wearing her? It has been a tough week ...

The Beatles: Copyright: Pepper corn

Interview by Caroline Boucher, The Observer, 23 March 1997

ONE OF the most famous album covers of all time is about to become the subject of bitter legal wrangling. Peter Blake, 64, designed the ...

Village People: 'YMCA'. Why?

Retrospective and Interview by Peter Silverton, The Observer, 4 May 1997

The song that makes bad dancers worse. ...

Kenickie: Bierkeller, Bristol

Live Review by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 18 May 1997

Just wanna hear girls talk? ...

The Seahorses, The Stone Roses: He was a Stone Rose. Now he's a Seahorse (and Noel loves him)

Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 25 May 1997

"JOHN'S GOT a really good band there. A year from now, we're going to be talking about one of the biggest bands in Britain, without ...

Oasis, U2: U2, Oasis: Oakland Coliseum, Oakland CA

Live Review by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 22 June 1997

Last week, Oasis played to a stadium of American U2 fans. There's dedication... ...

Elvis Presley: Elvis's first love: The King and I

Interview by Peter Silverton, The Observer, 6 July 1997

THE NIGHT before I met June Juanico, the woman Elvis Presley nearly married in 1957, I got talking to a man named Bayard in a ...

Aretha Franklin: The Rockport Rhythm and Blues Festival, Fort Adams State Park, Newport RI

Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, 10 August 1997

Aretha's having a bad hair day. But she's got some very good wings ...

Elvis Presley, Leiber and Stoller: Elvis, homoeroticism and 'Jailhouse Rock'

Essay by Peter Silverton, The Observer, 10 August 1997

'Oh yes,' said Stanley, a builder - though not a man known ever to have displayed his bum cleavage beyond the privacy of his own ...

Captain Beefheart: The Artist Formerly Known as Captain Beefheart (Dir. Elaine Shepherd, BB2)

Film/DVD/TV Review by Caroline Boucher, The Observer, 17 August 1997

WE AT the Observer can boast a couple of ancient links with Captain Beefheart, subject of tonight's Rock Cults programme, The Artist Formerly Known as ...

Primal Scream, The Prodigy: The Prodigy, Primal Scream: Glasgow Green, Glasgow

Live Review by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 31 August 1997

They're like the Sex Pistols. Via Mothercare ...

Bob Dylan: Dylan, God's Gift to the Pope

Comment by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 28 September 1997

YESTERDAY BOB DYLAN, rock outlaw turned born-again believer, performed for the Pope at the World Eucharist Congress in Bologna. ...

Lydia Lunch: Paradoxia – A Predator's Diary (Creation Books)

Book Review by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 2 November 1997

Gentlemen, you have been warned — Lydia Lunch isn't for wimps ...

Peter Andre: We know it's chilly. But where was his six-pack when the lights went on?

Report by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 9 November 1997

I AM TRAVELLING to Radio One in the back of a white limo with teen pop sensation Peter Andre, his PR, a camera crew, the ...

The NME: Days of Guns and Roses

Memoir by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 9 November 1997

IF MUSIC BE the food of love then the New Musical Express is, has always been, chips with everything. Part of its unique charm is ...

Björk: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

Live Review by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 16 November 1997

They are not worthy. But neither is she ...

Bob Geldof, Michael Hutchence: Whatever Happened to Saint Bob?

Profile by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 30 November 1997

He fed the world. Now the world is feeding on him... ...

Chris Rea: Shepherds Bush Empire, London

Live Review by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 1 February 1998

Dire Rea ...

James Brown: Sweet Cell Music

Profile by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 1 February 1998

ON 5 APRIL, 1968, when the National Guard was on full alert as America's black ghettos burnt in the wake of the assassination of Martin ...

Sinead O'Connor: Sinéad: The New Madonna

Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 15 February 1998

Virgin territory ...

Meredith Brooks: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

Live Review by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 22 February 1998

"I never get tired of hearing the bitch word" ...

Catatonia: Welsh Rabbit

Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 22 March 1998

I DON'T CARE what people say about her; I think that Cerys Matthews, the lead singer of Welsh outfit Catatonia, is a really nice bloke. ...

Massive Attack: Band of the decade: Massive Attack

Overview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 29 March 1998

What is it that makes them so different? Well, one of them's called Mushroom. ...

Jimmy Page/Robert Plant: Page & Plant: Shepherds Bush Empire, London

Live Review by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 29 March 1998

Page and Plant: Zep live again ...

George Michael, Solo Artist: Flash in the Pan

Profile by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 12 April 1998

ON TUESDAY this week, one Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, 34, was arrested for "lewd conduct" in a public toilet in Beverly Hills, only a few blocks ...

Frank Sinatra: Sinatra's 'My Way'

Essay by Peter Silverton, The Observer, 17 May 1998

As songs go, 'My Way' doesn't so much wear its heart on its sleeve as rip it from its chest, throw it down and shout: ...

Tori Amos

Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 24 May 1998

"The more comfortable I get with my sexuality, the less it leaks all over the place" ...

Ash, U2: U2 and Ash: I was there, helping to make history. (I just wish I hadn't been scratching my chin)

Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 24 May 1998

THE PHONE rings at 10.30 on a Monday night. It is Bono. "We're going to Belfast tomorrow night," he says, "and we're trying to come ...

Willie Nelson: Interview: Willie Nelson

Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 31 May 1998

The songs come out of suffering. Like being beaten senseless with his wife's broom... ...

Boomtown Rats, The Rolling Stones, Shed Seven: It's an ugly business

Comment by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 21 June 1998

Pop rant: Why do male rock stars have faces like bags of spanners? ...

Glastonbury: "I am offered cocaine. I am offered ecstasy. But what I really want is a lethal injection."

Report by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 5 July 1998

AND SO, INEVITABLY, it has come to this. In a teeming beer tent near to the main Pyramid stage at Glastonbury, Paddy is crouched over ...

Boyzone: Lost Boyz

Report and Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 25 October 1998

They live a rock-and-roll lifestyle but are hung-up about virginity. They act like grown-ups but keep their clothes in baskets with schoolboy name-tags on them. ...

Kurt Cobain, Hole, Courtney Love: Love and death and the Hole damn thing...

Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 15 November 1998

It is four years since Kurt Cobain's suicide, but it is what people remember about Courtney Love. Yet she has her band, her Hollywood career ...

Marilyn Manson: Brixton Academy, London

Live Review by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 20 December 1998

Satan's little helper ...

Dusty Springfield: You Started Something: Dusty Springfield

Profile and Interview by Lucy O'Brien, The Observer, 21 February 1999

Dusty Springfield, now battling with cancer, is finally being recognized as the first queen of Britpop after 40 years in the business. ...

Dusty Springfield: My Date with Dusty

Memoir by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 7 March 1999

Britain's first lady of soul had chosen us to make what was to be her last video. We'd found the perfect location, we'd borrowed a ...

All Saints: Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham

Live Review by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 25 April 1999

Girl Power cut ...

Metallica: Classic Metal: Metallica

Report and Interview by David Bennun, The Observer, 9 May 1999

LIKE MOST things in this California college town, including the people, Berkeley's Community Theatre has changed little since the '60s. Its rust-brown auditorium and green ...

Geri Halliwell, George Michael, Spice Girls: Geri: life after spice

Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 6 June 1999

Once, she was known to the world as Ginger, the sassiest, loudest Spice Girl. Now, she's grown up, grown out the red, and is ready ...

Lee Hazlewood: The Return of Nancy's Boy

Profile and Interview by Andrew Smith, The Observer, 13 June 1999

NEW YORK CROWDS don't get much hipper than this. The women look either like a young Patti Smith or Marianne Faithfull circa Girl On A ...

R.E.M.: Pavilhao Atlantico,Lisbon

Live Review by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 20 June 1999

Will R.E.M. prove to be worthy headliners at Worthy Farm? Barbara Ellen sees the band in Portugal ...

The Agony of "Soft" Ecstasy is in the Price That Others Have To Pay

Comment by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 20 June 1999

ME AND ECSTASY had this fling once. What chemical virgins don't realise is that, for most of us, getting attached to a certain drug is ...

Tim Westwood: White Lies, Black Truth

Comment by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 25 July 1999

A FRIEND OF mine was at the Notting Hill carnival a couple of years ago, and happened to catch Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood in ...

Spice Girls, Thunderbugs: Girls on top

Report by Andrew Smith, The Observer, 22 August 1999

After Spice, all-girl groups are dominating the charts. They're successful, but who's got the power? ...

Beck: Being For the Benefit of Mr. Hansen

Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, September 1999

THE GANG’S all here: Yoko Ono and Gwyneth Paltrow, Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson, Kate Moss and Evan Dando. All have ventured out on a ...

Everything But The Girl: Girl trouble

Interview by Andrew Smith, The Observer, 12 September 1999

Everything But The Girl have been through a lot in the past two decades — folk, jazz, MOR, drum'n'bass... oh, and life-threatening illness and parenthood, ...

Nitin Sawhney : The Outsider: Nitin Sawhney

Profile and Interview by Andrew Smith, The Observer, 19 September 1999

Nitin Sawhney says he feels like a stranger in England, where he was born, and in India, the land of his parents. The tension has ...

Pet Shop Boys

Interview by David Bennun, The Observer, 3 October 1999

AS REGENCY drawing rooms go, this one is on the largish side but, at first sight, perfectly ordinary.  ...

Noel Gallagher, The Jam, Oasis, Paul Weller: Paul Weller and Noel Gallagher: Sex, Drugs, Rock'n'roll... and Babies

Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 31 October 1999

Both "spokesmen" for their respective generations, it's perhaps unsurprising that the men behind the Jam and Oasis became friends. Here, they talk frankly together for ...

Eminem: Astoria, London

Live Review by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 14 November 1999

Sloppy and unpopular. That's trailer trash for you ...

Brits Go Home! The End of the Invasion

Overview by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, 2000

AMID ALL the self-congratulatory hubbub over the British successes at the Oscars, few people stopped to reflect that luvvie wonderboy Sam Mendes hadn't actually made ...

Tupac Shakur: Life and Death in South Central LA

Book Excerpt by William Shaw, The Observer, 9 January 2000

South Central Los Angeles is notorious both for its violent gang warfare and for the gangsta rap that celebrates it, yet the media rarely ventures ...

David Bowie: Major Tom.com

Profile by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 16 January 2000

From drifting astronaut to Ziggy Stardust to Thin White Duke and actor...the Brixton boy worth £500 million and with his own Internet bank is bringing ...

The KLF: Burning question: The KLF

Report and Interview by Andrew Smith, The Observer, 13 February 2000

Why did Bill Drummond set fire to £1 million? Why did he want to chop off his own hand on stage? And why did the ...

U2: Billion-Dollar Dreams (Part 1)

Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 4 March 2000

German TV interviewer: "You own a hotel. Now, you've made a film about a hotel. Why hotels?" Bono: "Rock bands tend to know a ...

Ian Dury, Kilburn & The High Roads: Ian Dury 1942 - 2000

Obituary by Charlie Gillett, The Observer, 29 March 2000

THE FIRST TIME I saw Ian Dury was at the Tally Ho in Kentish Town in 1972, when he had just started to play in ...

Charlie Watts: Proper Charlie

Profile and Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 9 July 2000

Charlie Watts has always marched to a different drum than the rest of the Rolling Stones. He has been happily married for 36 years, he ...

The Corrs: We are family

Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 22 July 2000

The Corrs have been keeping it in the family for 10 slow-burning years, and are now emerging as the ultimate cute-and-catchy pop band. Sibling pop ...

Caroline Coon: Still fighting the bad guys

Profile and Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 30 July 2000

In the '60s, Caroline Coon was famous for helping people caught in drugs busts. In the '90s she defended her right to paint penises. Now, ...

Bleachin': Jeremy Healy and Amos Pizzey: Club Class

Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 13 August 2000

Guest lists and free champagne, bright cocaine nights and dark, empty comedowns... Jeremy Healy and Amos Pizzey have the power to pack dance floors everywhere ...

Dusty Springfield: Penny Valentine and Vicki Wickham: Dancing with Demons – The Authorised Biography of Dusty Springfield

Book Review by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 3 September 2000

THE WOMAN THE world remembers as kohl-eyed, bouffant-haired, nightingale-voiced Dusty Springfield was actually born Mary Isabel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien in 1939. ...

Junior Vasquez

Profile and Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 28 September 2000

IN THE SUMMER of 1990, I was in New York for the New Music Seminar, as were many of the UK's emerging new DJs and ...

Radiohead: Sound and Fury: Radiohead

Profile and Interview by Andrew Smith, The Observer, 1 October 2000

IN THE EARLY '90S, you knew you'd arrived as a rock group the day you made it on to MTV and the Beavis & Butthead ...

Wookie: Garage Convert

Profile and Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 22 October 2000

'RINSE IT OUT for us, mate!' The bag being handed over in the foyer of this small but bustling recording studio is not full of ...

Leeroy Thornhill: A Prodigy Returns

Profile and Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 18 February 2001

THERE WAS A tendency for bands coming out of the acid house club explosion to have dancers – Cressa in the Stone Roses, Bez with ...

Will Oldham: The Prince Of Darkness

Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 12 March 2001

"I created Billy and let him take care of the performing. It's not me, Will Oldham, who gets up on stage." ...

Manic Street Preachers: Our Manics in Havana: Manic Street Preachers

Report and Interview by Andrew Smith, The Observer, 18 March 2001

THURSDAY MORNING and the short journey to the national radio station affords a first look at Havana, which turns out to be exactly what I ...

Nick Cave: Rage Has Not Withered Him

Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 18 March 2001

Nick Cave never thought he'd get past 40, but heroin and self-hate are behind him now. Married and "reborn", he writes nine to five in ...

Alabama 3: Underworld, London NW1

Live Review by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 25 March 2001

A shambolic and inspiring band prove that Alabama is a state of mind ...

Bob Dylan: Well, How Does It Feel?

Profile by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 25 March 2001

There's only one person in pop who is not fascinated by the myth of Bob Dylan – and that's Bob Dylan. Now approaching sixty and ...

Donny Osmond: Big Brother

Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Observer, 25 March 2001

He was on stage by five, on tour by eight and receiving 50,000 fan letters a week by 13. But behind his success lay loneliness, ...

Ronan Keating: Mad about the boy

Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Observer, 8 April 2001

Ronan Keating is the blue-eyed blond who stole the heart of every schoolgirl in the country with Boyzone. Now, he's going it alone and is ...

Sigur Ros: So good they make you vomit

Report and Interview by Andrew Smith, The Observer, 15 April 2001

ON THE OTHER side of the door is a sprawling south London estate gathered round an old factory turned business park, as oppressive an environment ...

Syd Barrett: Disappearances Can Be Deceptive

Report by Tom Cox, The Observer, 22 April 2001

THERE ARE PROBABLY better places in the world to go to become invisible than Cambridge, but perhaps not if you are an ex-rock star with ...

Dido: How Dido did it

Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 20 May 2001

Dido was always an outsider: the girl with ratatouille on rye packed lunches at school, who wished she'd been christened Claire. Now, thanks to an ...

Let's Try That One Again...

Comment by Tom Cox, The Observer, 20 May 2001

IN AN ERA WHEN pop carries scant mystery and every 'best ever' list imaginable seems to have been compiled, the term 'lost classic' has so ...

Goldie: Walford gets its golden boy

Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 17 June 2001

Goldie is in Eastenders, wants to play Richard III, and then sculpt. Does the jungle star ever stop? ...

Life Support: Michael and Emily Eavis

Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 24 June 2001

Michael Eavis, founder of the Glastonbury Festival – taking a rest this year – and his youngest daughter Emily. ...

Sara Cox: Vox Cox

Profile and Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 24 June 2001

IT'S 7AM AND the tall, pretty young woman I'm watching work has clearly not been out of bed too long. Her blonde hair is tied ...

Did Video Kill The Radio Star? MTV 20 Years On

Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, 28 July 2001

"MTV makes me want to smoke crack..." (Beck, 1992) ...

Gorillaz: Hey, Hey, We're The Gorillaz

Profile by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 29 July 2001

IN ITS TENTH year now, the £20,000 Mercury Music Prize is awarded every September to the best British album. Chosen by a panel of critics, ...

Paul McCartney: He Loves Her Yeah Yeah Yeah

Comment by Charles Shaar Murray, The Observer, 29 July 2001

PAUL McCARTNEY has always been known for his broad, boyish smile, but the ear-splitting grin he sported last week while announcing his engagement to Heather ...

The Big Chill Festival

Report by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 26 August 2001

IT'S A WARM Sunday afternoon, and I'm stretched out on the grass watching white clouds blow across blue sky, while Norman Jay plays some of ...

Aaliyah, Singer/Actress

Obituary by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 2 September 2001

AALIYAH DANA HAUGHTON was just 22 when she died last Saturday in a plane crash in The Bahamas, but she'd already been famous for seven ...

Groove Armada: Mellow Fellows

Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 9 September 2001

IT'S A HOT summer afternoon, Tom Findlay and Andy Cato have cold beers, and we're all sitting on a terrace in west London overlooking the ...

Kylie Minogue: The Showgirl Must Go On

Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 23 September 2001

Kylie Minogue won't discuss her personal life, but after 17 dizzy years as soap starlet, pop princess, gay icon and Barbie Doll, she's starting to ...

Vincent Gallo: Buffalo Boy: Vincent Gallo

Profile and Interview by Andrew Smith, The Observer, 30 September 2001

He's a self-confessed sexual compulsive, a teetotal right-wing extremist who made the hit movie Buffalo 66. Andrew Smith meets Vincent Gallo, painter, actor, model, director, ...

Lamb: Happy as Larry...

Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 14 October 2001

After babies and break-up, Lamb have grown up.  ...

Robbie Williams: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 14 October 2001

WHAT A SWELL party it was. Not being an opera fan, I don't often see 3,500 people in black tie and evening gowns. It's a ...

Ryan Adams, Evan Dando, The Handsome Family, Lambchop, Mark Lanegan, Mark Mulcahy, Gram Parsons, Whiskeytown, Jim White, Willard Grant Conspiracy, Lucinda Williams: Twangs can only get better

Overview by Tom Cox, The Observer, 21 October 2001

Country has gone way beyond Nashville, says Tom Cox. It's the new rebel music. ...

Macy Gray: It's a Macy, Macy world

Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Observer, 18 November 2001

"She's phat, she's tight, she's outta control..." It was supposed to be a routine celebrity interview, but it ended in a jet-ski chase across the ...

Pulp: In a Class of His Own: Jarvis Cocker

Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 2 December 2001

Jarvis Cocker could have been trapped in his role of English eccentric, a blend of Morrissey, Ray Davies and Alan Bennett. But he has found ...

The Strokes: Great White Hopes

Report and Interview by Ted Kessler, The Observer, 16 December 2001

Twelve months ago they were an unheard of indie band. Today, they're being compared to the Rolling Stones. Ted Kessler goes on the road in ...

Pop Idol: Idols Made In Our Own Image

Comment by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 3 February 2002

AND THEN THERE were two... Last night's penultimate episode of the latest 'water-cooler TV' left only two hopefuls, Gareth Gates and Will Young, remaining from ...

The Hives: The Junction, Cambridge

Live Review by Tom Cox, The Observer, 10 February 2002

The Hives put on a fine imitation of garage rock. And the garage is where it would be best appreciated ...

Jools Holland: A little man goes a long way

Comment by Tom Cox, The Observer, 7 April 2002

Jools Holland can't sing and he isn't funny, so why exactly is he so successful and compelling? ...

Eminem: Mean, Moody And Magnificent: Eminem

Profile by Charles Shaar Murray, The Observer, 12 May 2002

IT'S BEEN too damn quiet, Carruthers. With the upper echelons of the pop scene currently dominated by the industry's endless cavalcade of squeaky-clean teen puppets, ...

David Bowie: Star Man

Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Observer, 9 June 2002

After 35 years in the business and endless ch-ch-ch-changes, David Bowie, rock'n'roll's archetypal chameleon, has finally found equilibrium as a clean-living family man. Tim Cooper ...

Oasis: Liam Gallagher: Mad for it

Interview by Ted Kessler, The Observer, 16 June 2002

Liam Gallagher has it all: the looks, the voice, the blondes, the tabloid headlines. So why is the new album his last chance of rock ...

Oasis: Heathen Chemistry

Review by Craig McLean, The Observer, 23 June 2002

Noel and Liam — unchained ...

Muddy Waters: Robert Gordon: Can't Be Satisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy Waters (Jonathan Cape)

Book Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, July 2002

The ONE-ROOM shack where Muddy Waters grew up originally stood on the edge of Stovall's plantation in Coahoma County in the Mississippi Delta. A few ...

George Michael: Who's a Cheeky Boy?

Comment by Charles Shaar Murray, The Observer, 7 July 2002

'WITH THE RELEASE of his George Bush and Cherie Blair-referencing new single,' snickers the Popbitch website, 'we would like to commiserate with George Michael on ...

Shakira: Colombian Gold

Interview by Ted Kessler, The Observer, 14 July 2002

As a schoolgirl she drove the nuns crazy with her belly dancing, now she's got the world gyrating. Ted Kessler meets Shakira, the Colombian superstar ...

Coldplay: Happy Landings

Interview by Ted Kessler, The Observer, 28 July 2002

He worries about his hair, he worries about women and he worries about death. Chris Martin even worries about worrying. But with the launch of ...

Sinead O'Connor: Mother Superior

Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 6 October 2002

A mellow Sinead O'Connor, who describes herself as 'a regular housewife', talks about ordination, her flair for getting into trouble – and why she's more ...

Alabama 3: London's Scariest Band: Alabama 3

Report and Interview by Will Self, The Observer, November 2002

IF YOU LIKE seriously deranged, outrageously danceable and indisputably subversive music, then clear your diary for December 1st when the Alabama 3 play the Astoria. ...

Eminem: Marshall Mathers, Movie Star: Eminem in 8 Mile

Report by Edward Helmore, The Observer, November 2002

THREE YEARS AGO he was the foul-mouthed scourge of parents everywhere. A sulky, misogynistic, homophobic, mother-hating all-round bad influence. A white-trash Negro. A true punk ...

Craig David: King of New York

Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Observer, 3 November 2002

He has immaculate manners, he likes hugging his fans and his worst vice is cookie dough ice cream... Small wonder America loves Craig David. Tim ...

Will Oldham: Still Voice, Distant Life: Will Oldham

Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 17 November 2002

He’s the finest songwriter to come out of America in the past decade. Just ask Johnny Cash. But Will Oldham doesn’t play the fame game. ...

Pulp: Pulp: Je Suis Un Rock Star...

Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 22 December 2002

IN THE BBC CANTEEN, where passing celebrity chefs must recoil before a menu that has stubbornly resisted the onward march of culinary ponciness, Jarvis Cocker ...

Patti Smith: Making Waves

Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 15 June 2003

THERE ARE TEARS in Patti Smith's eyes. She is midway through a performance that has been, by turns, sombre and joyous, intense and ecstatic, when ...

Ian MacDonald: The People's Music - Selected Journalism (Pimlico)

Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, July 2003

BROADLY SPEAKING there are three kinds of British rock writers: boring ones, brash ones, and genuinely bright ones. Somehow it's typical of our anti-intellectual culture ...

Jamie Cullum's Big Break

Profile and Interview by Simon Garfield, The Observer, September 2003

FOR A FEW weeks in the middle of summer it was easier to see Jamie Cullum in concert than not to see him. ...

The Strokes: Room on Fire

Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 21 September 2003

THREE HOURS before I am left alone in a press-office antechamber with Britain's only copy of Room on Fire, something very important happens on the ...

Emmylou Harris: Angel of the South: Emmylou Harris

Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 2 November 2003

IN A LONG BLACK dress, high heels and perfectly coiffured hair that shines silver blue under the spotlights, Emmylou Harris looks every inch the country ...

Missy Elliott: This is Not a Test

Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 16 November 2003

WAY BACK IN 1997, when Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott launched her debut album Supa Dupa Fly with the touching dedication "To my mom... I would not ...

Carla Bruni: Quelqu'un m'a dit (V2)

Review by Charlie Gillett, The Observer, 2004

MAYBE YOU KNOW her name. I didn't when I first played songs from this album several times on the radio last year,, until a ...

Dizzee Rascal: Boy In Da Corner

Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 2004

PRECOCIOUS BOW roughneck Dylan Mills knocked up his first single (scabrous teen pregnancy shocker 'I Luv You') in downtime from his school music class at ...

Nirvana, Sid Vicious: Kurt Cobain and Sid Vicious: Death and Glory

Essay by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 1 February 2004

"Thank you all from the pit of my burning nauseous stomach." – Extract from Kurt Cobain's suicide note ...

Nik Cohn and Guy Peellaert: Rock Dreams (Taschen)

Book Review by Charles Shaar Murray, The Observer, 22 February 2004

Charles Shaar Murray sees the Rolling Stones lose their minds – as well as their trousers – in a classic work of the imagination. ...

Palace Music, Will Oldham: Will Oldham: Bonnie 'Prince' Billy Sings Greatest Palace Music (Domino)****

Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 22 February 2004

FIRST THINGS FIRST. The 15 songs that Louisville Kentucky singer-songwriter Will Oldham has chosen to reinterpret here (originally featured on three albums, an EP, a ...

Losing Face

Retrospective and Interview by Kathryn Flett, The Observer, 28 March 2004

The Observer's TV critic, Kathryn Flett, was among the first readers of The Face, and later became its features and fashion editor. Here she mourns ...

Prince: Royal Blush

Profile by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 4 April 2004

LAST WEEKEND, tickets for the opening show of Prince's American arena tour, his first in nearly a decade, were changing hands over the internet for ...

The Streets: Dead Cert: The Streets

Interview by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 25 April 2004

'I LOVE THE NAME "The Streets",' muses 24 year-old Mike Skinner - at once the mercurial creative-director, canny CEO and flaky spokesmodel of that thriving ...

Fifty years of pop

Retrospective by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 2 May 2004

Rock'n'roll has come a long way in the half-century since Elvis first stepped up to the microphone at Sun Studios. Here we choose 50 moments ...

Cher's Farewell Tour: Glasgow SECC

Live Review by Kathryn Flett, The Observer, 16 May 2004

"WILL IT START when all the people with tickets are in?" whispers the girl seated behind me at the Glasgow SECC, venue for the first ...

Youssou N'Dour: A Song and a Prayer

Profile and Interview by Mark Hudson, The Observer, 23 May 2004

As the first superstar of world music, Youssou N'Dour has consistently sought to reconcile Africa and the West, but his most personal record yet is ...

Nick Drake: Bryter Later (Island, 1970)

Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, June 2004

THE CULT OF Nick Drake, posh Lost Boy of post-folk singer-songwriting, shows little sign of abating. That’s because his mellow, Colin Blunstone-ish burr of a ...

The Rolling Stones: Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main St.

Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, June 2004

STICKY FINGERS has always been taken for granted. Fans and critics alike have drooled for decades over Let It Bleed and Exile on Main St., ...

New York Dolls: The New York Dolls: Fast and Louche

Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 20 June 2004

The New York Dolls: Royal Festival Hall, London ...

Van Morrison: Astral Weeks

Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 20 June 2004

RECORDED in New York over two days in 1968, Astral Weeks still sounds like nothing before or since. Unlike other classic albums, Pet Sounds, say, ...

The Blue Nile: High (Sanctuary)

Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, July 2004

ANYONE WHO loves the Blue Nile as much as I do will know there is something profoundly holy about their music. Twenty years after the ...

Girls Aloud, Sugababes: Xenomania: Heart Of The Country, Home Of The Hits

Profile and Interview by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 18 July 2004

In rural Kent, the future of British pop is being shaped by Brian Higgins – a Phil Spector for the 21st century. Ben Thompson meets ...

Youssou N'Dour: Egypt (Nonesuch)

Review by Charlie Gillett, The Observer, 18 July 2004

THIS BEAUTIFUL record is a new album by Youssou N'Dour, but it is not 'the new Youssou N'Dour album'. We have had one of those ...

Brian Wilson: Smile

Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 19 September 2004

The piano in the sand pit, the orchestra decked out in fireman's helmets, the kilos of grade A hashish, the master tapes that were destroyed, ...

Tim Westwood: The Spin Doctor

Report and Interview by Simon Garfield, The Observer, 3 October 2004

He's a white DJ who became the most powerful European voice in hardcore hip-hop. Here, on the 10th anniversary of his Radio 1 show, Tim ...

Kylie Minogue, Britney Spears: Battle of the pop babes: Britney Spears' Greatest Hits; Kylie Minogue's Ultimate Kylie

Review by Kathryn Flett, The Observer, 17 October 2004

IT'S OBVIOUSLY entirely unfair to treat the popular artistes Kylie Minogue and Britney Spears as conjoined twins, forcing them to share the same review (would ...

Kings of Leon: A-Ha Shake Heartbreak

Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 17 October 2004

AS WITH SO many of the best second albums - from Roxy Music's For Your Pleasure to Dizzee Rascal's Showtime - the first time you ...

Bob Geldof: Live Aid: The View From The Pitch

Memoir by Pete Paphides, The Observer, 17 October 2004

Nothing was going to stop a schoolboy fan of the Boomtown Rats making it to Wembley on that fateful day. Peter Paphides recalls every high ...

The Game

Interview by Chris Campion, The Observer, 14 November 2004

In the troubled ganglands of Compton, Los Angeles, Chris Campion meets the new future of hip hop. ...

Judee Sill: Heart Food and Dark Peace: Judee Sill

Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, 12 December 2004

This is an expanded version of "The Lost Child", published in The Observer Music Monthly. ...

Queens of the Stone Age: Lullabies to Paralyze

Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 20 February 2005

CANNED HEAT without the weight problem, ZZ Top without the tacky '80s gloss, Nirvana if Nevermind hadn't grown so big it blocked the road to ...

Roll Deep: In at the Deep End

Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 24 April 2005

Dizzee's ex-grime crew discover pop. Ben Thompson is pleased ...

Keane: Baby-faced Charmers

Review and Interview by Kathryn Flett, The Observer, 3 July 2005

SANDWICHED BETWEEN Glastonbury and Live8, it is fair to say that the Hastings Beer and Music Festival was never going to be the biggest date ...

Coldplay, Bob Geldof: Live8: Less global jukebox, more local radio

Live Review by Kathryn Flett, The Observer, 3 July 2005

AS THE LIVE8 afternoon shift got under way, it was soon clear that, although the BBC must have been rubbing their hands at the prospect ...

Super Furry Animals: Love Kraft

Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, August 2005

THE FIRST SOUND on Love Kraft is a splash caused by Super Furry Animals guitarist Huw "Bunf" Bunford plunging into a Spanish swimming pool. An ...

Sigur Ros: Takk

Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 21 August 2005

A ROBE-FREE polyphonic spree, a depoliticised Godspeed! You Black Emperor, a less unforgivably insipid Talk Talk, Mogwai with the heavy metal taken out, the Cocteau ...

Bettye LaVette: Betty LaVette: I've Got My Own Hell to Raise (Anti)

Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, September 2005

PREVIOUSLY KNOWN only to fanatical followers of obscure deep soul, the legendary Ms LaVette belatedly comes in for a Joe Henry tune-up on this feisty, ...

Bob Mould: Bob's Their Uncle: Bob Mould, Mean Fiddler, London

Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 11 September 2005

THE MEAN FIDDLER is thick with black T-shirts, shaven heads and heavy spirals of smoke — from onstage behind Bob Mould and the cigarettes being ...

Animal Collective: Feels (FatCat) ****

Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 16 October 2005

Ben Thompson admires the furry friends who refuse to operate in a confined area ...

Mary J. Blige: The Drama of Being Mary J. Blige

Profile by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, November 2005

"WE LOVE YOU, MARY!" The shouts float up from isolated pockets in the plush auditorium housed within Columbus Circle's glitzy Time Warner building. Mary J. ...

Nik Cohn: Triksta – Life and Death and New Orleans Rap

Book Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 11 December 2005

Nik Cohn tells how the alienation and anger of New Orleans exploded into a whole new genre of hip hop in his best book yet. ...

Rosanne Cash: Family Ties

Interview by Simon Garfield, The Observer, 5 February 2006

PRECISELY FOUR-and-a-half hours after a film about her father, mother and stepmother was nominated for five Oscars, Rosanne Cash walks into the Nicole Farhi store ...

Ronnie Spector: Ronnie's Spectre

Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 26 March 2006

RONNIE SPECTOR Greenfield strolls into the nondescript foyer of the Sheraton hotel in Danbury, Connecticut, a few paces behind her husband, Jonathan. ...

Hot Chip: The Warning ****

Review by Paul Morley, The Observer, 21 May 2006

The style-mag favourites walk the irony tightrope with their airy electro-pop. Paul Morley applauds from the stalls ...

Pink: P!nk

Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 4 June 2006

"Opinionated" barely begins to cover it. Barbara Ellen meets the ballsy, bolshy pop star who has refreshingly barbed advice for Prince William, the Queen, shallow ...

Burial: Burial

Review by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 18 June 2006

Dubstep has finally thrown up an album that will work in your living room. Simon Reynolds soaks up the ambience. ...

ECM, World Circuit, Topic: Groove Is In Their Hearts

Report by Mark Hudson, The Observer, 13 August 2006

In the corporate world of modern music, some niche labels still thrive through their passion and commitment. As jazz pioneer ECM reaches its 1,000th release ...

The Who: Generation Terrorists

Profile and Interview by Simon Garfield, The Observer, September 2006

It seemed like it was all over for the Who. But solo projects and trout fishing will only get you so far. ...

All Saints: Saintlier than thou

Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 5 November 2006

Older and wiser after their acrimonious split, Britain's bitchiest girl group are back together — as friends, mums and bandmates. ...

The Good Bad & The Queen: The Good, the Bad & the Queen: The Good, the Bad & the Queen

Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 21 January 2007

WHAT IS IT ABOUT the clunky phrase "the good, the bad & the queen" that made Damon Albarn want to use it as both the ...

Wear Your Heart on Your Sleeves: The Lost Art of the Mix Tape

Memoir by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 28 January 2007

LAST WEEK, while preparing to write this piece, I did something I have not done for a long time. I made a compilation tape. Back ...

Kings of Leon: Because of the Times *****

Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 18 March 2007

It's not all their own work, but the lank-haired rockers' third set does more than merely ape their influences, raves Ben Thompson ...

Arctic Monkeys: Favourite Worst Nightmare

Review by Jon Savage, The Observer, 22 April 2007

Don't be fooled by their common touch: the cheeky chimps are special. Jon Savage hears them make sense of the modern world ...

Dizzee Rascal: Word Champion

Interview by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 22 April 2007

Dizzee Rascal is not proud of everything in his past, he tells Ben Thompson in a remarkably frank interview. But he's more than happy with ...

Ozzy Osbourne: Lord of the Wings

Profile and Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 20 May 2007

He has snorted ants, tried to throttle his wife and bit the head off a bat. But now, Ozzy Osbourne tells Barbara Ellen, he is ...

The Young Gods: Super Ready/Fragmenté

Review by Chris Campion, The Observer, 20 May 2007

The influential Swiss trio stick to their simple, brutally effective principles on this ninth album ...

Sly & the Family Stone: Sly Stone: I Want To Take You... Lower

Report by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 15 July 2007

Sly Stone was the funkadelic pioneer who made the world dance, broke racial boundaries, raised hell and set Woodstock alight. Last week, in Italy, after ...

The Police: Miles Copeland: Where's the Police chief?

Report and Interview by Chris Campion, The Observer, 2 September 2007

AS THE POLICE prepare to finally hit home turf on their reunion tour, one figure conspicuously absent from all the reappraisals of their career is ...

Hot Chip: Made in the Dark ****

Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 20 January 2008

You might know them as pop nerds, but Ben Thompson just loves their power ballads ...

Madonna: Hard Candy

Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 20 April 2008

Thanks to her henchmen, writes Ben Thompson, the shameless idol still has much to give ...

Son of Dave: 03 (Kartel)

Review by Charlie Gillett, The Observer, 20 April 2008

THERE ARE times, listening to this album, you start to feel guilty – surely, if music sounds this good, it must be bad for you. ...

Damon Albarn, Franz Ferdinand, Sir Victor Uwaifo, Vampire Weekend: Afro-Indie: Across The Great Divide

Report and Interview by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 15 June 2008

Suddenly indie rockers are embracing African sounds. Could the long years of a cultural apartheid be coming to a close, asks Ben Thompson ...

Glasvegas: Fat Sams, Dundee

Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 7 September 2008

Glasvegas are being touted as the new Oasis... with a twist. They're very polite to their fans ...

Estelle, John Legend: John Legend: Why His Name Is Legend

Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 19 October 2008

Barack Obama is a fan of soul star John Legend, and Estelle was his protégée. Jude Rogers speaks to him in the UK for the ...

Amadou & Mariam: Welcome to Mali

Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 9 November 2008

IF YOU HADN'T EVER HEARD A RECORD by this Malian husband and wife duo, but had only read of their initial meeting at Bamako's Institut ...

Scott Walker

Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 9 November 2008

In the sixties, he was part of the celebrated pop group the Walker Brothers – known as America's Beatles – but he rebelled against stardom ...

Odetta: Grit, Guts and Glory

Profile by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 4 December 2008

She inspired Dylan, was pals with Ella, and was due to play at Obama's inauguration: Jude Rogers on Odetta Holmes. ...

Fever Ray: Fever Ray

Review by Graeme Thomson, The Observer, 15 March 2009

IT'S 2009, AND everything has been stripped bare: assets, confidence, reputations, lives. ...

Paolo Nutini: Sunny Side Up (Atlantic)

Review by Graeme Thomson, The Observer, 17 May 2009

PAOLO NUTINI tends to get lumped in with the James Morrisons and Blunts of this world, dismissed as a dispenser of tuneful semi-acoustic fare and ...

Janelle Monáe: Flash forward: Janelle Monáe

Report and Interview by Chris Campion, The Observer, 14 June 2009

Introducing this month's hottest talent, the android-loving future of R&B. ...

Florence and the Machine: Lungs (Island) ****

Review by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 14 June 2009

FOR A WHILE, former Camberwell Art School student Florence Welch tried to be the singer the record companies wanted her to be: namely, a more ...

Public Image Ltd: John Lydon: 'PiL lets me express proper emotions'

Retrospective and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 6 September 2009

ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1978, almost exactly a year after the implosion of the Sex Pistols while on tour in San Francisco, the artist formerly known ...

The Magazine Explosion: UK Pop Publications in the '60s

Retrospective by Jon Savage, The Observer, 6 September 2009

IT'S FEBRUARY 1963. The Beatles are No 2 in the charts with 'Please Please Me' and it's time to meet the press. An anonymous reporter ...

Corinne Bailey Rae : Corinne Bailey Rae: "It happened to me. It could happen to anyone at any time."

Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 4 October 2009

From out of the darkest place, following the sudden death of her husband, Corinne Bailey Rae is re-emerging with an extraordinarily intimate and impassioned album. ...

Lightning Bolt: Earthly Delights

Review by Chris Campion, The Observer, 4 October 2009

IF ONE HAD TO SUM UP LIGHTNING BOLT in two words, "awkward" and "delirious" would be as good as any. The experimental bass and drums ...

The X Factor

Comment by Paul Morley, The Observer, 31 October 2009

I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU, but I decided that I would not watch this particular series of The X Factor, because I thought, I'll get ...

Ian Dury: New chips off the old Blockhead

Retrospective by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 29 November 2009

He could be warm and witty... or cruel and obnoxious. But there was never any doubt he was a true artist. We recall the life ...

Four Tet: There is Love in You (Domino)

Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 24 January 2010

Kieran Hebden's latest captures all that was special about dance music's mid-90s heyday ...

David Bowie, Iggy Pop: Nick Kent: Once Upon a Life

Memoir by Nick Kent, The Observer, 14 March 2010

In 1972 he was sorting mail in a Sussex post office. Twelve months later he was partying with Led Zeppelin. Here, the hugely influential music ...

Keith Moon, The Who: Boozing with Keith Moon

Memoir by Caroline Boucher, The Observer, 18 April 2010

An afternoon with the Who drummer started with him putting wing mirrors on a donkey then went steadily downhill ...

Arctic Monkeys, Leona Lewis, Muse, Joanna Newsom, The xx: Schoolteachers of Rock

Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 25 April 2010

What's it like to have taught someone who went on to be a pop star? The teachers of Alex Turner, Leona Lewis, the xx and ...

Marc Bolan: Brown rice with Marc Bolan

Memoir by Caroline Boucher, The Observer, 15 August 2010

Hippie food in rundown Notting Hill in the early '70s. It was hardly glam… ...

Frank Zappa: Cucumber sandwiches with Frank Zappa

Memoir by Caroline Boucher, The Observer, 17 October 2010

Caroline Boucher recalls afternoon tea with California's king of outrage. ...

Alice Cooper: Burgers with Alice Cooper

Memoir by Caroline Boucher, The Observer, 14 November 2010

Alice had hamburger… and his snake had a couple of mice. ...

Arcade Fire: "The clichéd rock life never seemed that cool to us"

Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 28 November 2010

IN A CONCRETE room backstage at the Palau Sant Jordi arena in Barcelona, I am midway through a post-show interview with Arcade Fire's unfeasibly tall, ...

Ray Davies: A Dedicated Chronicler of Fashions

Profile and Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 28 November 2010

IN LATE 1965, Ray Davies threw a party. One of his guests was a clothes designer, and as Davies recalled: "I got pissed off with ...

Paul Morley's Showing Off ... Alex Ross

Comment by Paul Morley, The Observer, 12 December 2010

Paul Morley readies himself for a gladiatorial clash of the critics with New Yorker music writer Alex Ross. ...

Captain Beefheart: Rock's Father of Invention

Obituary by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 19 December 2010

BACK IN 1969, a self-confessed "teenage weirdo" from Portland, Oregon, fell under the spell of a newly-released double album called Trout Mask Replica by Captain ...

The BRIT Awards

Comment by Paul Morley, The Observer, 13 February 2011

THE VOTING ACADEMY for this year's Brit awards is made up of 1,000 specially invited members from across the UK music industry: music critics, music ...

Elbow: International Arena, Cardiff

Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 27 March 2011

TONIGHT, CARDIFF'S premier gig-shed has turned into a family parlour. Five picture frames hang from the stage, gold and old-fashioned, each of them holding a ...

Charlie Haden: Paul Morley On Music: Charlie Haden

Comment by Paul Morley, The Observer, 24 April 2011

Amazon has made critics of us all. But how does that bode for the professional critic? ...

PJ Harvey: "I feel things deeply. I get angry, I shout at the TV, I feel sick."

Profile and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 24 April 2011

Polly Harvey opens up to Dorian Lynskey about 20 years in music and the emotions behind her latest dark masterpiece. ...

The Smiths: "The Smiths and Morrissey changed our lives"

Comment by Jon Savage, The Observer, 2 October 2011

They might have split 24 years ago, but the Smiths remain as popular as ever, and not just among those who remember them first time ...

Bob Marley & the Wailers, Public Image Ltd, Sex Pistols: Dennis Morris: "Suddenly we were black, not coloured"

Retrospective and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 25 March 2012

Dennis Morris is celebrated for his iconic photographs of the Sex Pistols and Bob Marley. But few knew that in that pivotal era he was ...

Skrillex: 02 Academy, Glasgow

Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 22 April 2012

HERE THEY come — the tiger-print leggings, the vest tops, the T-shirts soon to be removed. It is 8.40pm. This 80-year-old art deco venue in ...

The Beatles: 80 years of Abbey Road

Report by Jon Savage, The Observer, 10 June 2012

It's the world's most famous studio and everyone from Edward Elgar to Ella Fitzgerald – and, of course, the Beatles – has made music there. ...

Palma Violets, Savages: Savages/Palma Violets: Liverpool Leaf

Live Review by Kate Mossman, The Observer, 29 July 2012

IT'S A BARGAIN, two for one, a post-punk bogof: the band they're calling the all-girl Joy Division, plus four boys named after perfumed sweets. Both ...

Blur: Maida Vale Studios, London

Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 5 August 2012

AFTER BLUR'S 6 Music gig – the first of two shows they're playing for BBC radio tonight, to begin what they have suggested may be ...

Luke Haines: 'I've Been Lucky All The Way Through'

Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 18 November 2012

Former 'saviour of UK rock' Luke Haines has never followed the unwritten rules of pop, as a surreal concept album proves ...

Bobby Womack: The Soundtrack of My Life

Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 25 November 2012

BOBBY WOMACK'S career began in his teens in Cleveland, Ohio, when Sam Cooke mentored his family band, the Valentinos. In 1964 he wrote 'It's All ...

Ginger Baker: "I came off heroin something like 29 times"

Profile and Interview by Edward Helmore, The Observer, 5 January 2013

Former Cream drummer Ginger Baker talks about his battle with heroin, how he was the original Rolling Stones drummer and being the subject of new ...

Gary Barlow: Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool

Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 6 January 2013

"Everything changes but him": Gary Barlow, in a curious performance that included a duet with Peter Kay on the theme to Home and Away. ...

Anaïs Mitchell, Karine Polwart, Emily Portman, Kathryn Roberts, Chris Wood: Never Mind the Birdlore: The New Face of Folk Music

Report and Interview by Colin Irwin, The Observer, 27 January 2013

The folk scene is changing – there are songs about police shootings, Occupy London and rape. Colin Irwin meets the singers who are shaking things ...

Kraftwerk: Why Kraftwerk Are Still The World's Most Influential Band

Retrospective by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 27 January 2013

Kraftwerk's fusion of art, beats and electronics has become a template copied by musicians everywhere. Now they plan to take London's Tate Modern by storm ...

David Bowie: Who is David Bowie? A Guide to the V&A retrospective

Report by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 16 February 2013

As a blockbuster exhibition, David Bowie is, gets under way at the V&A, Sean O'Hagan dissects the pop icon's influences – and reveals the ideas ...

Jake Bugg, Harry Styles: So Jake Bugg is authentic and Harry Styles is a fake? I don't think so…

Comment by Paul Morley, The Observer, 3 March 2013

In the great fabricated conflict between Jake Bugg and Harry Styles, it's the perversely sophisticated One Direction star who really represents what's left of pop. ...

Steve Mason: "I don't think rioting is the answer any more"

Profile and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 10 March 2013

Former Beta Band frontman Steve Mason explains why not everything on his new solo album is political. ...

The Rolling Stones will reign supreme until there is a new counterculture

Comment by Paul Morley, The Observer, 31 March 2013

The new generation is blocked from moving on creatively, not only by the baby boomers but also their own inertia. ...

The Strypes: 'We Always Knew That You Had To Practise For Months, Get In A Van And Do 200 Gigs...'

Interview by Kate Mossman, The Observer, 28 April 2013

Irish rock'n'rollers the Strypes have gone from playing fêtes to iTunes stardom — and they're all still under 18 ...

Buffalo Springfield, The Eagles, The Mamas and The Papas, Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash, Neil Young: Henry Diltz: Caught in the Canyon

Retrospective and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 26 May 2013

He photographed the most enduring images of the '60s folk-rock stars who lived in L.A.'s Laurel Canyon. Now Henry Diltz stars in a documentary about ...

Lianne La Havas: "I get pure happiness from making songs"

Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 26 May 2013

She is compared to Sade and Amy Winehouse, with the biggest names in music lining up to duet with her. Barbara Ellen meets Lianne La ...

The Nine Lives of Felix Dennis: "I've lived an unbelievable life, even if I did do my best to kill myself"

Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 2 June 2013

Last year, the multi-millionaire publishing mogul and drug-addled dissolute Felix Dennis was diagnosed with throat cancer. But don't count him out yet, he tells Sean ...

Massive Attack meet Adam Curtis: The Unlikely Double Act

Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 30 June 2013

At July's Manchester festival, the boundary-breaking band and radical film-maker will tackle the perilous state of democracy in a show that redefines the notion of ...

Jimi Hendrix: Linda Keith: "How I helped to make Jimi Hendrix a rock'n'roll star"

Retrospective and Interview by Edward Helmore, The Observer, 14 September 2013

Linda Keith lent a young blues player a guitar belonging to her boyfriend, Keith Richards – and the rest is history. In a rare interview, ...

Jessie J: 'I'm A Hard Worker. I Want To Be Great At Everything I Do'

Interview by Kate Mossman, The Observer, 29 September 2013

Chart-topper, devoted daughter, role model for teenagers... how does Jessie J manage it all? ...

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 ...

The rise, fall and rise again of Rough Trade

Report and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 23 November 2013

Vinyl sales are up and many music fans want an experience that click and buy can't match. As London's pioneering shop opens in New York, ...

Lorde: 'People Have Treated Me Like A Fascinating Toy'

Interview by Kate Mossman, The Observer, 24 November 2013

She's the pop phenomenon of 2013, chalking up No. 1s around the world, signing a £1.5m deal and hanging out with Bowie. How does it ...

Katy B: 'Success Wasn't Even On My Radar'

Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 26 January 2014

She's the Peckham girl who won't dance to anyone else's tune: interviewed back on her old manor, Katy B proves the perfect modern British pop ...

Kim Gordon, Sonic Youth: Kim Gordon: Life after Sonic Youth

Profile and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 16 February 2014

Artist, musician and style icon, Kim Gordon has been at the cutting edge of culture for more than 30 years. Dorian Lynskey meets the singer ...

Neneh Cherry: "People ask me where I've been for 18 years…"

Report and Interview by Kate Mossman, The Observer, 23 February 2014

On the cutting edge of pop in the '80s and '90s, the singer paved the way for today's sassy female stars. Now she's back with her ...

Damon Albarn: "Pop's gone back to showbiz. It's like the Beatles or Dylan never happened."

Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 27 April 2014

WHEN DAMON ALBARN was nine, he persuaded his parents, who were in the process of moving house from Leytonstone in east London to rural Essex, ...

Dr. Dre: Dr Dre: The hip-hop head with a business brain

Guide by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 10 May 2014

The man cited by his peers as the most significant force in hip-hop is set to become its richest operator. But what does his $3.2bn ...

Iggy Azalea: "I Have Never Had Any Musicians Tell Me That I Wasn't Authentic"

Interview by Kate Mossman, The Observer, 29 June 2014

The Australian rapper has endured her fair share of controversy in a brief, spectacular career, but seems well equipped to fight her way to the ...

Clean Bandit: New Eyes (Atlantic)

Review by Kate Mossman, The Observer, 1 July 2014

WE'LL PROBABLY look back on this as a golden age of British electronic music, like the first days of disco, as unprepossessing producer types coax ...

Nostalgia pays in Nashville as rocketing record sales make it the capital of vinyl

Report and Interview by Edward Helmore, The Observer, 30 August 2014

Taylor Swift and Beyoncé are among the artists turning to the old LP format to capture the essence of their music. ...

U2: "It's the job of art to be divisive"

Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 12 October 2014

Thirty years after becoming the biggest band in the world, Bono and co still polarise opinion. Here, taking a break in the Côte d'Azur, they ...

Robert Wyatt: Soundtrack of my life: Robert Wyatt

Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 26 October 2014

The prog-rock pioneer on his love of jazz, falsetto singing, the thrill of meeting Bulgarian folk singers and why Pharrell Williams is as good as ...

The Jesus & Mary Chain: The Jesus and Mary Chain on Psychocandy: "It was a little miracle"

Retrospective and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 26 October 2014

How did two dreamy, painfully shy brothers from suburban Scotland create one of the most remarkable albums of the '80s? As the Reids prepare to ...

Bob Dylan: Dylan's Basement Tapes: it sounded like nonsense, says his "cover girl"

Retrospective and Interview by Edward Helmore, The Observer, 2 November 2014

Woodstock insider Sally Grossman recalls star's "throwaway stuff" as complete recordings of legendary sessions are released. ...

Pharrell Williams: From spreading happiness to saving the planet: The rise and rise of Pharrell

Comment by Edward Helmore, The Observer, 25 January 2015

What is driving Pharrell Williams's new global conscience as he joins Al Gore's fight against climate change? ...

Sarah Cracknell: 'I Like Being in a Gang. I'm in Safe Hands'

Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 24 May 2015

Saint Etienne singer Sarah Cracknell on her new solo album and the pleasure of recording it with close friends ...

Shirley Collins: "When I sing I feel past generations standing behind me"

Retrospective and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 31 May 2015

LEWES, EAST SUSSEX, is a lovely, slyly rebellious town. Pretty shopfronts and streets mask its political history: Thomas Paine wrote his first pamphlet here demanding ...

Pharrell Williams: First Direct Arena, Leeds ****


Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Observer, 14 June 2015

The effortless party-starting superstar may be a jack of all trades, but he's masterly at most ...

Kendrick Lamar: "I am Trayvon Martin. I'm all of these kids."

Profile and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 21 June 2015

LAST YEAR, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention presented research demonstrating that "youth living in inner cities show a higher ...

The Weeknd: With dark tales of sex and drugs, is the Weeknd the next face of R&B?

Report by Edward Helmore, The Observer, 2 August 2015

FOR SEVERAL YEARS, an introverted Canadian singer of Ethiopian descent, known to R&B lovers for his plaintive voice and atmospheric, after-party, comedown groove, has been ...

Boogie Wonderland: Disco's hottest '70s nightclubs

Retrospective and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 26 September 2015

IT WAS President Jimmy Carter's mother, Lillian, who first brought photographer Bill Bernstein to the legendary Studio 54 nightclub in New York one evening in ...

Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: The book that declared pop music dead

Retrospective by Bob Stanley, The Observer, 6 February 2016

Nik Cohn thought John Lennon "self-pitying", Led Zeppelin "embarrassing" and rated Del Shannon's 'Runaway' above Van Morrison's entire career. Bob Stanley revisits his 1969 book. ...

Prince: "I exited Prince's Mayfair suite feeling like a mouse savaged by a particularly fiendish cat"

Memoir by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, 24 April 2016

I'D SAY IT was all there in 1979's 'I Wanna Be Your Lover', Prince's first hit: the falsetto pout, the swivelling guitar riff, the effortless ...

David Bowie: Paul Morley: The Age of Bowie – How David Bowie Made a World of Difference

Book Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, 17 July 2016

"EVERYONE HAS THEIR own Bowie," Paul Morley writes in this discursive, free-associating ride across the life and work of the Starman Who Changed the World. ...

Frank Ocean: Blonde

Review by Kate Mossman, The Observer, 28 August 2016

The R&B singer's new album has slow-burn power and poetry enough to raise it beyond its gimmicky release strategy. ...

"Jazz was the catalyst for change": Jim Marshall's images of '60s festivals

Retrospective and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 4 September 2016

Photographer Jim Marshall is known for iconic images of '60s rock stars. But his first great portraits were of the giants of jazz, captured on ...

Teenage Fanclub: "We were never famous, so we're still getting old"

Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 4 September 2016

Indie survivors Teenage Fanclub and their sweet, sunny, smart songs still have a fervent following. So what has prompted the sadness on their new – ...

Seasick Steve: Wembley Arena, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Observer, 16 October 2016

The artist may have been a session musician rather than a hobo, but only a harsh critic would deny that he has the blues. ...

Marc Almond: "I've had the chance to be subversive in the mainstream"

Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 23 October 2016

With a career-spanning 10-album box set coming out, the Soft Cell star reflects on the '80s, Brexit and his fading love affair with London. ...

Johnny Marr, The Sex Pistols: Steve Jones – Lonely Boy; Johnny Marr – Set The Boy Free

Book Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 20 November 2016

Contrasting memoirs of life in the Sex Pistols and the Smiths from two charismatic working-class guitarists. ...

Talking about a new generation … festivals ditch the "heritage acts"

Report and Interview by Edward Helmore, The Observer, 16 April 2017

Why the rock gods of the past are headlining elsewhere as they are dropped from line-ups at US music events ...

Harry Styles: teen star turned serious player?

Profile by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 14 May 2017

He was boyband One Direction's most high-profile pin-up. But as his debut solo album proves, behind the marketing lies a smart young man ...

Morrissey: When did charming become cranky? Why a middle-aged Morrissey is so hard to love

Comment by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 23 July 2017

As a new biopic England is Mine charts the Smiths singer's early life, fans speak of their disillusion at his increasingly outspoken views. ...

Captain Beefheart: The night Captain Beefheart drove me into the hills in a red Corvette

Memoir by Caroline Boucher, The Observer, 20 August 2017

It's 1974, and a young Caroline Boucher is in Los Angeles to meet scary legend Don Van Vliet… ...

Wolf Alice: The Venue, Derby

Live Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 20 August 2017

The London rockers debut a big-time second album with the sort of frenzied, intimate show that built their success ...

The KLF: KLF's Welcome to the Dark Ages: What time is chaos?

Report and Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 26 August 2017

Twenty-three years ago, Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty topped off a bizarre, brilliant pop career by burning £1m. Now they're back to commemorate it with ...

Kate Bush: What joy – 40 years of hitting the heights with Kate Bush

Comment by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 21 January 2018

THE KATE BUSH song 'Wuthering Heights' is 40 years old this month. One could argue that this has momentous import for Bush, female musicians and ...

The Breeders, The Pixies: Kim Deal: "Misogyny is the backbone of the music industry"

Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 3 March 2018

KIM DEAL, 56, sings and plays rhythm guitar with the Breeders, formed in 1989 as a side project with Throwing Muses' Tanya Donelly. The band's ...

Farewell NME – irreverent, acerbic, essential. At least when I was there!

Comment by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 11 March 2018

In an era of bland stars and Spotify, is it any wonder the printed music press is no more? ...

Michael Des Barres, Mick Jagger, Keith Moon, Jimmy Page: Good Time Girl: Memories of super groupie Pamela Des Barres

Retrospective and Interview by Craig McLean, The Observer, 6 May 2018

Pamela Des Barres had the giants of rock'n'roll in the palm of her hand, as her candid memoir reveals. ...

Richard Thompson: Gawsworth Hall, Cheshire

Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 12 August 2018

Half a century after his first gig with Fairport Convention, folk-rocker Richard Thompson is as cool and contemporary as ever. ...

Cat Power: "I didn't know I loved myself when I was younger"

Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Observer, 23 September 2018

Erratic stage shows, psychotic breakdowns, rehab… Cat Power's chaotic life is in direct contrast to her soulful music. Now a new album and motherhood have ...

John Lennon, Yoko Ono: Not the only one: how Yoko Ono helped create John Lennon's Imagine

Retrospective and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 6 October 2018

A new book about the making of his 1971 solo album restores his artist wife to her crucial role in his musical life. She looks ...

Sharon Van Etten: "The more I let go, the more I progress as a human being"

Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, The Observer, 6 January 2019

Known for complex songs about the dark side of love, the acclaimed singer-songwriter is back with a fifth album that explores synths, rock anthems, mental ...

Phil Collins: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane — life-affirming MOR ballads delivered against all odds

Live Review by Andrew Stafford, The Observer, 20 January 2019

A notable hobble and diminished vocal range don't detract from an enjoyable night of nostalgia backed by a crowd that have been waiting for this ...

Solange: When I Get Home

Review by Kate Mossman, The Observer, 9 March 2019

Solange Knowles's tantalising fourth album conjures fragments and fleeting impressions that get inside your head. ...

Jarvis Cocker: "I've lived in my head for most of my life"

Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Observer, 19 May 2019

He's never been one to stick to the script. Asked about his new music, the singer talked instead about raves and caves, fatbergs and fatherhood, ...

Lewis Capaldi: Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh

Live Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 17 August 2019

With his self-deprecating wit and blue-eyed soul, the young Scots chart-topper delights with a celebratory show mined from undiluted misery ...

Richard Dawson: Anthems for a blighted nation

Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 26 October 2019

Celebrated for his incredible voice and outsider-folk charm, the musician is stepping out of the shadows with his new album, 2020, a one-of-a-kind opus that ...

Richard Dawson: Anthems for a blighted nation

Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 27 October 2019

Celebrated for his incredible voice and outsider-folk charm, the musician is stepping out of the shadows with his new album, 2020, a one-of-a-kind opus that ...

The Supremes, Mary Wilson: Mary Wilson: "Motown was like walking into Disneyland"

Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 29 October 2019

MARY WILSON, 75, was a founding member of the Supremes, with Diana Ross and Florence Ballard. At their 1960s peak, with Detroit-based Motown records, the ...

The Rolling Stones: Black, blue and very bad taste: the Rolling Stones billboard that still sparks controversy

Retrospective by Edward Helmore, The Observer, 19 April 2020

There was a feminist outcry when the band used a tied-up model to promote their 1976 album. Is rock'n'roll more enlightened now? ...

Jónsi: Shiver (Krunk)

Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 4 October 2020

Co-producer AG Cook strips back Jónsi's first album in a decade to a clever mix of crunchy electronica and floating vocals. ...

Gary Numan with James Hogg: (R)evolution (Little, Brown)

Book Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 15 November 2020

IN DYLAN JONES'S recent oral history of the New Romantic movement, Sweet Dreams, Gary Numan stands out like a sore pale thumb. He fell into ...

Nick Kent: "I was in the right place at the right time, on the wrong drugs"

Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 9 January 2021

The rock critic who revived British music writing at the NME in the 70s is back with his first novel — a caustic tale of ...

Covid has pushed pop culture into nostalgia. It's time for something new

Comment by Mark Sinker, The Observer, 10 January 2021

Hopefully this crisis marks the high tide of the tendency endlessly to remake, remodel and recycle the past ...

Mogwai's As the Love Continues: A playback at Glasgow's Tramway

Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 20 February 2021

Glasgow's post-rock giants launch their 10th album with a thunderous filmed playback that cries out to be heard live. ...

Dr. John, Lowell George, Rickie Lee Jones, Tom Waits: Rickie Lee Jones: "I had lived volumes long before I was famous"

Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 18 April 2021

A fractured childhood, years as a hippie drifter… the musician's new memoir tells of her incredible adventures before she found fame – and of her ...

Saint Etienne: "The 90s seem like yesterday": Saint Etienne on 30 years as pop auteurs

Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 5 September 2021

SARAH, BOB AND PETE talk about recording their mesmeric new album via Zoom, the reality of the 90s and the oddness of pop parenthood. ...

Patti Smith: Lenny Kaye: "Boom! I saw the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show and everything changed"

Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 14 November 2021

As guitarist in the Patti Smith Group and compiler of psychedelic touchstone Nuggets, his place in music history is secured. His new book charts the ...

Cornershop's Tjinder Singh: "My dad said, 'They'll not always want you here'. That stuck."

Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 2022

Three decades since the band formed, Cornershop's genre-defying political music is still making a stand. Ahead of a new album, we join them on a ...

Kanye West: Kim and Kanye divorce poised to be glitzy, messy and very public

Comment by Edward Helmore, The Observer, 12 February 2022

Epic split between Kim Kardashian and rapper now known as Ye, with wealth, parenting disputes and trolling is perfect divorce for the Instagram Age ...

back to LIBRARY

COPYRIGHT NOTICE