Rock's Backpages: Search Results

Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 9 March 2014

"I KNOW I haven't done a bunch of shows, so thanks y'all for coming out to see me eventually," says Angel Haze, reflecting on her ...

Drake, The Weeknd: Drake/The Weeknd: Manchester Arena

Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 12 March 2014

ABEL TESFAYE, aka the Weeknd, is receiving the kind of cheers you rarely hear for what is technically a support act. The fast-rising 22-year-old Toronto ...

Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Sonny Terry, Muddy Waters, Brownie McGhee, Reverend Gary Davis, Cousin Joe Pleasants: The Folk Blues and Gospel Caravan, 1964

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Blues, April 2014

LEGEND HOLDS that on October 22, 1962, a van set out from London, headed north. In that van were Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Brian ...

Bill Medley: Still Having the Time of His Life

Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 22 April 2014

BILL MEDLEY IS speaking to Rocks Off from the back of a car somewhere on the streets of New York City, on the way to ...

Bob Dylan: Oh No! Not Another Bob Dylan Book: David Kinney's The Dylanologists

Book Review by Larry Jaffee, Huffington Post, May 2014

"Sometimes it seemed that every fan in Britain had launched a fanzine…" —David Kinney, The Dylanologists ...

Quintessence: The Spirit Is Willing

Retrospective and Interview by Colin Harper, Record Collector, May 2014

SOME BANDS struggle for years for attention, but not Quintessence. Within weeks of forming, in April 1969, they were a word-of-mouth sensation. Chris Blackwell and ...

Aaliyah's Age Ain't Nothing but a Number Ages 20 Years

Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 27 May 2014

THE LATE SONGSTRESS'S DEBUT ALBUM DROPPED IN MAY 1994, LAUNCHING A TOO-BRIEF CAREER THAT'LL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN ...

Spirit, Randy California: California Dreaming: The Wild and Tragic Story of Spirit

Retrospective by Max Bell, Classic Rock, 18 June 2014

Led by mercurial guitarist Randy California, Spirit were buddies of Jimi Hendrix and praised by Led Zeppelin. But their promise would collapse in blur of ...

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 ...

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 ...

Kim Fowley, 1939-2015

Obituary by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 18 January 2015

FEW PEOPLE IN pop music spanned such a range as Kim Fowley, the record producer, songwriter and Sunset Strip svengali who has died aged 75. ...

Ramones, The: Marky Ramone Gabba Gabbas Away in New Memoir

Report and Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 22 January 2015

IN HIS BAND of Bruddahs, Marky Ramone's primary role was that of drummer, the pounding heartbeat and engine of so many of the legendary punk-rock ...

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 ...

Dead Kennedys: Highway to Hell: My Life on the Road with the Dead Kennedys

Memoir by Amy Linden, Cuepoint, 3 February 2015

IN 1981, I MOVED back to New York City after spending four years in San Francisco. I was 22, and a childhood friend and I ...

Lulu: "I've had the most unbelievable life"

Retrospective and Interview by Adrian Deevoy, Event Magazine, 28 February 2015

POP STARDOM at 15. Two failed marriages – one to a hard-drinking Bee Gee. An "insane" affair with David Bowie. Turning down Frank Sinatra. Cheating ...

Raury: The ego has landed

Interview by Paul Lester, Sunday Times, 1 March 2015

Touted by Lorde and Kanye West, Raury has the nerve to live up to his billing ...

Charli XCX: Concorde 2, Brighton

Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 25 March 2015

"BRIGHTON, put your fucking middle fingers up!" are Charli XCX's first words as she launches her first UK tour as headliner. Brighton needs no encouragement: ...

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 ...

Lionel Richie: "There was something seriously wrong with Michael Jackson. But this is Hollywood"

Profile and Interview by Adrian Deevoy, Event Magazine, 25 April 2015

The downside of marrying a model half his age. The day he discovered Michael Jackson was as mad as a snake. And why the Ku ...

Taylor Swift: Apple royalties U-turn: is Taylor Swift the most powerful woman in music?

Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 22 June 2015

Viewed as an advocate for artists and a game-changer, almost no other pop star could have made the corporate behemoth roll over. ...