Rock's Backpages: Search Results

Retrospective by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, August 2014

YOUNG KATE. I sat across from her in EMI offices and Abbey Road Studios for around seven hours, 1979-89, asking awkward questions and getting awkward, ...

Kate Bush: "They thought she was the stripper"

Retrospective by Graeme Thomson, Daily Telegraph, 9 August 2014

A year before 'Wuthering Heights' made her a star, Kate Bush cut her teeth performing in London's pubs. ...

Worth Their Wait: The UK Music Press in the late '70s/early '80s

Retrospective by Simon Reynolds, Pitchfork, 2 September 2014

Originally published in the first edition of our print quarterly The Pitchfork Review last winter, this story finds author Simon Reynolds looking back on his ...

Cyril Davies

Retrospective by Kris Needs, Record Collector, January 2015

"It is interesting to look back to the birth of the British blues scene when one man pioneered a sound that was to give incentive ...

Skip Spence: Dark Star: The Tragic Genius Of Skip Spence

Retrospective by Rob Hughes, Classic Rock, 23 January 2015

Moby Grape co-founder Skip Spence wrote his album Oar in a psychiatric ward after threatening his bandmates with an axe. Fifteen years after his death, artists ...

Prince's Around the World in a Day at 30

Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, soulhead, 22 April 2015

IN THE SPRING of 1985, there were two types of Prince fans – those who boarded the violet-hued bandwagon years before Purple Rain (both the ...

Beatles, The: The Beatles' No. 1s: 1963

Retrospective by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, August 2015

'From Me to You' #1 in: UK Released: April 11, 1963 ...

Patti Smith's Journey to Horses: A Timeline

Retrospective by Caryn Rose, Vulture, 13 November 2015

PATTI SMITH'S Horses, which turned 40 this week, is such a perfectly formed rock-and-roll artifact that it's difficult to imagine that Patti didn't just wake up ...

Hawkwind, Lemmy, Motörhead: Everything Louder: Remembering Lemmy

Retrospective by Jim Sullivan, Rock's Backpages, 31 December 2015

EVERY MOTÖRHEAD concert I can recall began with these words from Lemmy: "We are Motörhead and we play rock 'n' roll." So simple, so succinct, ...

Waylon Jennings: Best Friend of Mine: Waylon Jennings on Buddy Holly

Retrospective by David Burke, Vintage Rock, 2016

HE MAY BE renowned as a pioneer of outlaw country, but Waylon Jennings had a rock'n'roll past long before he caused apoplexy among the Nashville ...

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. ...

Tim Hardin: Black Sheep Boy

Retrospective by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, March 2016

50 years on from his debut, Uncut considers the extraordinary music and harrowing life story of Tim Hardin. A tale of blood, arson, rooftop chases, ...

Elvis Presley: Elvis & the Hustler: Colonel Tom Parker

Retrospective by David Burke, 'Vintage Rock – Elvis: A Celebration', 2017

NONE OF US will ever know if Elvis Presley would have become the king of rock'n'roll without the involvement of Colonel Tom Parker at the ...

Curtis Mayfield, Impressions, The: Beautiful Brother: The Gentle Genius Of Curtis Mayfield, Part One

Retrospective by Kris Needs, Shindig, February 2017

How a poor boy from Chicago became the voice of the civil rights movement in soul's greatest vocal group, defined the black pride anthem and ...

Gram Parsons, Byrds, The, Flying Burrito Brothers, Emmylou Harris: How the Ghost of Gram Parsons haunts Alt-Country

Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, January 2018

GRAM PARSONS didn't care much for the term "country-rock". And he wasn't thrilled by some of the more candy-coated bands who were able to capitalize ...

GTOs, The: Miss Christine: The Fast Life of a Rock Legend

Retrospective by Erik Himmelsbach, Alta Journal, 11 December 2018

Christine Frka was a muse to Alice Cooper, a secretary to Frank Zappa, and a member of a pioneering all-girl band. The glamour goddess-icon of ...

Doors, The: Rock is Dead: The Doors' Soft Parade

Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, unpublished, May 2019

NOTE: When Rhino asked me to write liner notes for their upcoming reissue of the Doors' worst album, they must have known they might not ...

Tina Turner at 80

Retrospective by Steve Pafford, stevepafford.com, 26 November 2019

How a middle aged woman from Tennessee pulled off the greatest comeback in music history ...

Jaguar Wright: Denials, Delusions and Decisions

Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, soulhead, 19 October 2020

HAILED BY TA-NEHISI Coates as "an amazing singer," in 2002, artist Jaguar (Jacquelyn) Wright was destined to be the next big thang, but something happened. ...

Ephraim Lewis was 'Summer Lightning'

Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Maggot Brain, December 2020

30 years ago, the alt-soul singer's brilliant LP bridged the gap between trip-hop and neo-soul, before he died way too young ...