Drugs
Teen Panel: The Use Of Drugs By American Teens
Interview by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 28 January 1967
In this issue, The BEAT's Teen Panel discusses another of the hottest subjects of the day – the use of drugs by teenagers. ...
Teen Panel: Teenagers And Drugs, Part II
Interview by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 11 February 1967
This is the second half of The BEAT'S Teen Panel discussion on the subject of "drugs," Part One appeared in the last issue. ...
War Between the Generations: 'This Thing Can't Be Stopped'
Report by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 11 February 1967
Or Beware The Postage Stamps You Lick! ...
The Small Faces: The Many Faces of Steve Marriott
Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 29 April 1967
POP STARS and the Establishment seem to be ever at loggerheads. Cliff Richard and Elvis Presley used to be accused of corrupting teenage morals. Quite ...
The Yardbirds: Bill Harry's Pop Talk: The Yardbirds
Interview by Bill Harry, Record Mirror, 20 May 1967
KEITH RELF, Chris Dreja and Jimmy Page are quite angry about the continuous, almost hysterical attacks the pop world has been receiving from all directions ...
The Rolling Stones: Pop In The Police State
Comment by Mick Farren, International Times, 2 June 1967
"People try to put us down just because we get around."The Who – 'My Generation' ...
The Beatles, Paul McCartney: Paul McCartney: 'If You'll Shut Up About It I Will'
Report by Tony Barrow, KRLA Beat, 15 July 1967
ON THE evening of Monday June 19, thirty six hours after the British press had reported and examined Paul McCartney's statement regarding LSD (originally contained ...
George Harrison, Ravi Shankar: Ravi Shankar: 'My Music Not For Addicts'
Interview by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 29 July 1967
"THE MESSAGE I'm trying to get through is that our music is very sacred to us and is not meant for people who are alcoholic, ...
Mick Jagger, The Rolling Stones: Aftermath: Mick Jagger Answers Some Questions
Interview by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 26 August 1967
WHEN I SPOKE to Mick Jagger everything was "nice" and "groovy" with him, so don't believe everything you read in the papers. And he's happy ...
The Beatles, George Harrison: The George Harrison Interview
Interview by Alan Walsh, Melody Maker, 2 September 1967
"You may think this interview is of no importance to me," said George Harrison across a table in NEM's Enterprises Mayfair offices. "But you'd be ...
The Beatles, Cilla Black: Brian Epstein's Death Is Ruled Accidental Overdose
Report by Tony Barrow, KRLA Beat, 7 October 1967
THE NEWS OF Brian Epstein's tragic death led to an immediate storm of speculation about the future of his artists and his various pop empires ...
Frankie Lymon: I’m Not A Juvenile Delinquent: The Death of Frankie Lymon
Obituary by Bill Millar, Soul Music Monthly, 8 March 1968
THE LAST TWO months have been sad times for blues, rock and soul fans all the world over. All three idioms have had their brutal ...
The Who: Bus Ride Back To Pop 30 For Who
Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 21 September 1968
THE STATES are where the Who now have their biggest hits, most fan fever, and excitement. Pete Townsend, Keith Moon, Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle ...
Lady Wootton talks to Caroline Coon about Pot
Interview by Caroline Coon, International Times, 31 January 1969
THE BARONESS Wootton of Abinger was chairman of the subcommittee on 'Cannabis' of the Advisory Committee on Drug Dependence whose Report was published on 8th ...
Report and Interview by Miller Francis jr., Great Speckled Bird, The, 20 October 1969
OURS IS AN age of reluctant ambivalence. The impact of the new is devastatingly real, but the clinging corpse of what has been and what ...
The Beatles, The Chambers Brothers: The Chambers Brothers: 'They Put Us Up for Sale; People Bought'
Interview by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 31 October 1969
THE CHAMBERS Brothers, who are Willie, George, Joe and Lester Chambers plus Brian Keenan, were dressed in the usual cool clothes they've been noted for ...
The Rolling Stones: King Hash Is Sure To Come
Report and Interview by Sheila Weller, Rolling Stone, 14 May 1970
TANGIER – He shakes another pebble oul of the foot-long, coral-and silver-encrusted stash pouch, pokes an amber-ringed forefinger under the schlockedelic fake-silk ascot he has ...
Caroline Coon: The Underground Angel Of Mercy...
Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 30 January 1971
Michael Watts talks to CAROLINE COON of Release ...
Report by Dave Marsh, Creem, March 1971
ALGIERS, Algeria (UPS) — Timothy Leary has once again spent some time in jail — and this time his jailer was none less than Eldridge ...
If You Think It's Groovy To Rap, You're Shucking
Overview by Mike Jahn, New York Times, The, 6 June 1971
WHEN YOU are trying to be a suburban Dharma Bum you have to try harder. Between the tennis court and the parking lot I read ...
Charles Manson, Ed Sanders: Charles Manson: Stalking Manson – The Sanders Saga
Essay by Nick Tosches, Fusion, 24 December 1971
Ed Sanders spent the summer of the Tate-LaBianca murders yodeling the ditties that were to come to comprise Sanders Truckstop into an overhead mike at ...
Jerry Garcia, Grateful Dead: Grateful Dead: Jerry Garcia Interview
Interview by uncredited writer, Mutha Grumble, May 1972
ON TUESDAY 11 April, an American rock n' roll band, the Grateful Dead, played to a packed house at Newcastle City Hall. Two hours before ...
"I'm Down, I'm Really Down" — The Emerging Sopor Culture
Report by Wayne Robins, Creem, October 1972
SINCE HE got out of the army, my friend Tony has been getting by wheeling vats of boiling liquid from one tank to another in ...
Interview by James Johnson, Rock's Backpages Audio, Spring 1972
The vibrato in his body, the band in his head and the drugs in his veins: the legendary singer-songwriter in revealing, if somewhat dazed conversation.
File format: mp3; file size: 29mb, interview length: 31' 37" sound quality: ****
Chet Baker: The Man Who Came Back From The Dead
Report and Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 21 July 1973
The Return of Chet Baker ...
The Dramatics: A Dramatic Experience
Report and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, April 1974
OVER THE past two years, the Dramatics have become established as one of the most consistently successful vocal groups in America. The success streak began ...
Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd: The Cracked Ballad of Syd Barrett
Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 April 1974
The summer of '67 went up like a psychedelic mushroom-cloud – and some of the fall-out's still coming down. Brian Jones was casually snuffed out, ...
What Made Rizla Famous Made A Loser Out Of Me
Comment by Penny Reel, International Times, May 1974
AFTER YEARS OF shadowy unwillingness as one of the mainstays of the dope scene, Rizla and their finest quality gummed papers have finally put one ...
Rick Wakeman: Beers of the World
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 21 December 1974
"ON OUR rider for the tour of America – for the seven of us – we had twelve six-packs of Budweiser, two bottles of tequila, ...
Iggy Pop, The Stooges: Iggy Pop: The Mighty Pop vs. the Hand of Blight
Special Feature by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 3 May 1975
Never before told! The story of a brilliant monster called IGGY POP, whose life and countless near-demises have provided Rock with one of its most ...
Neil Young: Tonight's The Night
Review by Bud Scoppa, Phonograph Record, June 1975
...At the canyon bottom, four cruisers were spinning blue light; there was an ambulance and four civilian cars, all balanced on the sloping shoulder of ...
Perspectives on Ralph J. Gleason
Memoir by j. poet, Rolling Stone, 17 July 1975
ONE OF THE things that inspired me to become a record reviewer was Ralph Gleason's record collection. It completely filled all the walls of his ...
Lynyrd Skynyrd: The 100 Proof Blues
Report by Jim Esposito, Creem, October 1975
2009 note: In the Summer of '75 The Editors of Creem decided to do a Special Report on Rock 'n Roll and booze. They called ...
10cc, Donna Summer, Jane Birkin, Max Romeo, Serge Gainsbourg: Banned — Why?: What Turns Censors On…
Report by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 21 February 1976
It's Donna Summer at the moment, but the Beatles, Stones even Lena Horne have all run into radio censorship. So this week, MM examines that ...
Obituary by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 27 March 1976
WHAT CAN you do but grieve. Just grieve. Too close to the edge, always. Pain, so much pain, so much of the time it seemed. ...
The Rolling Stones: Keith Richard: One Man's Week OFF THE HOOK
Report and Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 22 January 1977
MONDAY, JANUARY 10th. In Colorado, Claudine Longet, ex-wife of singer Andy Williams, stood trial for allegedly murdering her lover. On America's west coast, kidnap victim/revolutionary ...
Eric Clapton: Give Me Strength
Interview by Steve Turner, Sounds, 19 February 1977
Meg and George Patterson's cure for heroin addiction ...
Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers, The Ramones: The Ramones: So The New Wave Have Scruples Too
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 18 June 1977
JOHNNY RAMONE is quite definitely pissed off. ...
Mahogany Rush: And This Little Piggy Took Too Much Acid
Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 25 June 1977
If we tell you that Frank Marino of Mahogany Rush took 1500 trips in a month, you won't be surprised that the tale he tells ...
Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd: Syd Barrett: Careening Through Life...
Retrospective by Kris DiLorenzo, Trouser Press, February 1978
THE COLOR black is not a solitary real color. Nor is it the total absence of color. A black hole in space, in fact, is ...
Jerry Lee Lewis: Loud Covenants: Jerry Lee Lewis, God's Garbage Man
Book Excerpt by Nick Tosches, Creem, March 1978
[The following is excerpted from the book, COUNTRY: The Biggest Music In America by Nick Tosches, published by Stein & Day Publishers.] ...
The Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: Sid and Nancy: Life In The Vicious Circle
Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 21 October 1978
SID VICIOUS (born John Simon Ritchie — though his mother's remarried name is Mrs. Ann Beverley) may hold the all-time record for building up an ...
The Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: Sid and Nancy
Comment by uncredited writer, New York Rocker, November 1978
WHAT MORE can we add to the pathetic, sordid tale of Nancy Spungen and Sid Vicious? ...
The Only Ones: Another Year Another Planet
Report and Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 30 December 1978
1979 is the year of the Only Ones sez GIOVANNI DADOMO ...
Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones: An Outlaw At The Ritz: Keith Richards
Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 13 January 1979
In which Keef holds up the price of Smirnoff shares, little Marlon holds up his Dad, Anita Pallenberg holds up the interview, and CHRIS WELCH ...
Rock Mortality: They Gave Their Souls For Rock 'n Roll
Essay by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 27 January 1979
THE WRITER can eventually put down his pen, close the book and turn on the TV. The actor can take off his makeup and go ...
Report by uncredited writer, Creem, May 1979
IT MIGHT seem that just about everything's been said about Sid's death on February 2, of a heroin overdose. The newspapers reported every detail with ...
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 16 June 1979
THE HEARTBREAKERS have abandoned the conceit of billing each of their now regular appearances at Max's as a 'farewell' gig and it looks a safe ...
Herman Brood: Brood Back On The Nest
Report and Interview by Chris Bohn, Melody Maker, 23 June 1979
German rock star Nina Hagen's upset because her Dutch rock 'n' rolling boyfriend, Herman Brood, has disappeared. Will our intrepid CHRIS BOHN track him down? ...
Elvis Presley: Elvis Still Dead Shock
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 22 September 1979
Drugs Probe — Doc Probe ...
Marianne Faithfull: The Ballad of Marianne Faithfull
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, December 1979
MARIANNE FAITHFULL was the Face of the '60s Fragile, damaged little bird with the voice of an angel, broken on a spike and filled with ...
Paul McCartney, Wings: Paul McCartney: The Yellow Perils Of Paulie
Report by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 26 January 1980
The Nips nabbed Big Macca last week as he allegedly lugged half-a-pound of marijuana through the Japanese customs. Is the naughty 'former Beatle' set for ...
Report by Mick Farren, Trouser Press, May 1982
AS I WRITE THIS, the tabloids tell me we're having a cocaine war in New York City. Not that there's anything novel about a cocaine ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 22 May 1982
Two of the original New York Dolls are in London. BARNEY HOSKYNS charts their destinies. ...
The Pretenders: Leather Wears Better Than Dreams
Profile and Interview by Lesley White, Face, The, February 1984
In the last two turbulent years, Chrissie Hynde has had a baby by the man who once personified for her the rock and roll myth, ...
Report by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 22 September 1984
Go-go's got a godfather and a group in every area!! RICHARD GRABEL goes ga-ga in Washington as he uncovers the biggest show in those suburbs. He ...
The Sid Presley Experience: Going Cold Turkey with the Sid Presley Experience
Report and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 19 January 1985
Why reheat ‘Cold Turkey’? BARNEY HOSKYNS TALKS TO THE SID PRESLEY EXPERIENCE about their protest against council block smack. ...
Profile and Interview by Laura Fissinger, Creem, February 1986
ROSANNE CASH, a very young and dishy 30-year-old, has just celebrated the start of her second year without drugs. "Being on drugs is like being ...
Boy George, Culture Club: Boy George: Chasing the Dragon
Report by Jon Savage, Observer, The, 13 July 1986
JON SAVAGE reports on the rise and fall of Boy George ...
Boy George: From Culture Club To Vulture Club
Comment by Paolo Hewitt, Don Watson, New Musical Express, 26 July 1986
Boy George's romance with the Fleet Street scandal sheets came to an abrupt end when they turned on him in an hysterical anti-drugs campaign. But ...
Boy George, Culture Club: Boy George's Nightmare
Report by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 28 August 1986
A SPECIAL REPORT ON THE FALLEN POP IDOL'S BOUT WITH HIS DRUG ADDICTION ...
Overview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 27 September 1986
AFTER TWO false starts due to bad weather, the wide-eyed and jittery paratroopers swallowed their third load of benzedrines in three nights and flew off ...
The Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: Sid And Nancy (Dir. Alex Cox; Samuel Goldwyn Co.)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Kris Needs, Creem, December 1986
LOVE IS A ROSE ...
Boy George, Culture Club: Boy George: Mr. Clean
Report and Interview by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 8 October 1987
Boy George Straightens Up His Act ...
The Beatles, George Harrison: Fab! Gear! The George Harrison Interview (part 2)
Interview by J. Kordosh, Creem, January 1988
DID YOU ever see that show in London: John, Paul, George, Ringo & Bert? ...
The Shamen: Shamen Scandal: Angus At The Fungus
Interview by Robin Gibson, Sounds, 20 February 1988
The hip hop psychedelia of Aberdeen's THE SHAMEN probably has its roots in the mushrooms that grow in abundance along the North East coast. ROBIN GIBSON sips ...
Nick Cave, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Nick Cave: The Needle And The Damage Done
Report and Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 13 August 1988
NICK CAVE – the voice of desperation; singer, writer, actor, junkie! JACK BARRON, branded by the Bad Seed a "filthy little prick", gets to grips ...
Report by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 17 November 1988
Friends of the soul singer say drug has 'whipped him' ...
Acid Crackdown: Get Right Off One Chummy
Report by Paolo Hewitt, Sean O'Hagan, Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 19 November 1988
With the hysteria now reaching fever pitch and questions being asked in the (non-Acid) House, NME calls a time out to assess the damage in the tab-mad ...
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Elysees Montmartre, Paris
Live Review by Simon Price, Melody Maker, 17 December 1988
TONIGHT THE Angel saw the Ass, and still isn't convinced. ...
Interview by Richard North, Rock's Backpages Audio, Fall 1988
Mr P-Orridge talks at length about psychedelics, acid house, sexuality, ritual, Tantra, and about Psychic TV, Throbbing Gristle and Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth.
File format: mp3; file size: 125.7mb, interview length: 2h 17' 19" sound quality: ***
Spacemen 3: Urine Salesmen Of The Apocalpyse [sic]
Interview by Byron Coley, Forced Exposure, Fall 1988
SWEETLY, simply put, Spacemen 3 are the only English band that I'd walk across the street to piss on. Meaning mostly that I wouldn't even ...
Profile and Interview by Martin Aston, Auckland Star, 1989
IF PUNK WAS the answer to the broad lack of genuine invention in the musical mid-70s, then the Acid House phenomenon answered those who believed ...
Report by Sean O'Hagan, Spin, January 1989
A heady mix of sex, drugs, and trance dance music, Acid House has swept England with a wave of hedonism and made going out fun ...
David Crosby: A Hippy out of Hell
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, 3 March 1989
David Crosby is back with an album and autobiography. He talks to Adam Sweeting ...
Johnny Thunders: An American In Sweden
Report and Interview by Richard North, Offbeat, April 1989
SO, WHY did I wait around half a day for a three-minute interview with Johnny Thunders? ...
James Brown: Wrestling With The Devil
Report and Interview by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 6 April 1989
The struggle for the soul of the Godfather of Soul ...
The Ramones: Dee Dee Ramone's Rap'n'Roll
Report and Interview by Jim Sullivan, Boston Globe, The, 17 April 1989
DEE DEE RAMONE, bassist of the Ramones, pops up in concert or on record every so often to sing a hardcore punk song like 'Warthog'. ...
James Brown, Bobby Byrd: Bobby Byrd: Rare Byrd
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 6 May 1989
Over the years, BOBBY BYRD has been an integral part of JAMES BROWN'S career. PAOLO HEWITT spoke to him about his hot-and-cold relationship with the ...
Interview by Push, Melody Maker, 5 August 1989
Just when you thought Public Enemy had pushed as far as it could go, just when you thought rap outrage had peaked, along come N.W.A. ...
Report by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 30 September 1989
This week NME devotes its Dance/Club page to a cool and unsensational look at the drug Ecstasy. Report by JACK BARRON ...
808 State, A Guy Called Gerald: House-proud
Report by Len Brown, Observer, The, 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 ...
Chet Baker: Let's Get Lost (15) (Bruce Weber)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Lloyd Bradley, Q, February 1990
CHET BAKER'S James Deanish looks, rebel-type lifestyle and romantic jazz style made him a cult figure in the '50s, when he became one of photographer ...
Report and Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 14 April 1990
With The Stone Roses at Spike Island, the Mondays at Glastonbury and numerous other raves, the summer of 1990 should be one to remember. John ...
Grateful Dead: Bring Out Your Dead
Report and Interview by Max Bell, Vox, November 1990
Hey, man. Whatever happened to the summer of love? It’s taking dedication a bit far when in a year, three fans die at Grateful Dead ...
The Doors: Jim Morrison: Last Meeting With a Fallen Star
Memoir by Ben Fong-Torres, San Francisco Chronicle, 1991
NEAR THE END of his 27-year life, was Jim Morrison – as depicted in Oliver Stone's new movie, The Doors – a fat, abusive, alcoholic, ...
Interview by Mat Snow, Rock's Backpages Audio, March 1991
The British Blues-rock bass wunderkind talks about joining John Mayall at 15, then of his years with the fabulous Free, including the writing of the iconic 'All Right Now', and Paul Kossoff's descent into drugs.
File format: mp3; in 2 parts, total file sizes: 40.7meg, total interview length: 44' 26" sound quality: ***
Boy George, Culture Club: Jesus Loves You: The Last Temptation of Boy George
Report and Interview by Lucy O'Brien, Select, April 1991
Four years ago BOY GEORGE'S world crashed, his career in shreds as he struggled to come off heroin. He became a bitter, paranoid recluse, shunning the same media he'd once courted. In this rare interview, ...
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, 30 April 1991
JOHNNY THUNDERS had long been a by-word for self-destruction through drugs and hard living. In 1981, Trouser Press magazine cynically declared Thunders "legally dead" alongside a cartoon ...
EMF: E.M.F.: A New Band That's All the Rave
Report and Interview by Simon Reynolds, New York Times, The, 30 June 1991
LONDON — The trance-dance rhythms and euphoric aura of acid house music have drastically altered the outlook and aspirations of most British rock groups. ...
Elton John: The Rebirth of Elton John
Interview by Philip Norman, Rolling Stone, 19 March 1992
Drugs, fame and alcohol turned him into a monster. Now, after rehab, he's clean, happy and in love. ...
Report and Interview by Push, Melody Maker, 18 April 1992
TRUST FLOWERED UP to come up with the name "Debauchery" for the unofficial launch party for their new single, 'Weekender'. And trust them to take ...
Overview by David Toop, Mixmag, June 1992
WHEN PHUTURE'S 'Acid Tracks' hit the decks in 1987, the title of this minimalist techno-homage to the Roland TR-303 blinded most of us to the ...
Report by Simon Reynolds, Melody Maker, 6 June 1992
Castlemorton was the site of the biggest illegal rave to date. But, as SIMON REYNOLDS discovered, it was only a prelude to what's to come ...
Guide by Tom Hibbert, Q, September 1992
Music and drugs have always been promiscuously compatible bedfellows. How many of the great albums would exist had their creators not been "shedded" at the ...
The Shamen: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Simon Price, Melody Maker, 17 October 1992
CHAS N'RAVE ...
Happy Mondays: That Monday Mourning Feeling
Report and Interview by Tom Hibbert, Q, December 1992
FOR NO IMMEDIATELY discernible reason, Shaun Ryder is attempting to perform a party trick and failing miserably. He is trying to flick a cigarette (one ...
Nirvana: Winners Get Scars, Too
Book Excerpt by Michael Azerrad, Vox, October 1993
Nirvana's meteoric rise was a classic example of the American Dream in action — until heroin turned it into a nightmare for singer Kurt Cobain. ...
Retrospective by Frank Owen, Vibe, November 1993
For over a decade, Larry Levan ruled the dance-music world from his roost in the DJ booth at New York's legendary Paradise Garage. Last November, ...
Cypress Hill And The New US Rap
Report by David Bennun, Melody Maker, 19 February 1994
IN AMERICA, rap is big, big business. ...
Marvin Gaye: The Ostend of the Road
Film/DVD/TV Review by Caroline Sullivan, Guardian, The, 28 March 1994
Arena's vivid documentary evokes Marvin Gaye's final years ...
Interview by Michael Goldberg, Vibe, April 1994
While Rick James was ruling the charts with hits like 'Super Freak' and 'Give It To Me Baby', he was descending into the drug addiction ...
The Rolling Stones: Twilight in Babylon: Adventures with the Rolling Stones
Retrospective by Nick Kent, MOJO, April 1994
THE FIRST THING you need to know about my adventures with the Rolling Stones is that they pretty much all took place once the basic ...
Aerosmith: Sex'n'Drugs'n'Rock'n'Roll!
Memoir by Pete Makowski, Kerrang!, 6 April 1994
Up until the early '80s, Aerosmith indulged in every rock 'n'roll excess! "It's a miracle they survived!" says Dr. Pete Makowski, who met Steven Tyler ...
The Beatles, Bob Dylan: Eyewitness: Dylan Turns The Beatles On To Dope
Essay by Al Aronowitz, Q, May 1994
History ahoy! In the second of our new series, journalist Al Aronowitz recalls introducing Bob Dylan to The Beatles and how His Bobness turned the ...
Report and Interview by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 9 July 1994
"AAAARGH! F*** YOU ASSHOLE! GET OUT MY FACE!" ...errrrrrk!..."YEAH I'M DOIN' A F***IN' U-TURN – WHAT'S THE GODDAMN PROBLEM?!" errrrrrrk! "Oh jeeezuuus! We've been past ...
Chrissie Hynde: "Guys in bands are pussies"
Interview by Max Bell, Vox, October 1994
Should Kurt Cobain have unplugged his fax or Evan Dando blabbed about crack? Should Brian Jones have smoked in public? Chrissie Hynde has the answers ...
Retrospective by Richard Cook, MOJO, April 1995
Four decades on from the premature death of Charlie Parker in March 1955 the world remains split between the dazzled – including fans as disparate ...
Interview by Adrian Deevoy, Q, April 1995
Especially Elton John. Cocaine seizures, Martini marathons, curry 'n' cockle blow-outs, condom-free congress, surprising marriages, violent evacuations, rent boys… he's had a few. But that ...
Guns N' Roses: The Ten That Matter Most '85-'95: Guns N' Roses
Retrospective by Chuck Eddy, Spin, April 1995
GUNS N' ROSES surprised me in 1987 simply by being search-and-destroy young punks who weren't afraid to sing and dance. ...
Report by Bethan Cole, Mixmag, July 1995
Jellies used to be heavy shit, for addicts and desperados. Then serious clubland hedonists started taking them to come down. Now, in the search for ...
Cypress Hill: Back in the Daze
Interview by Andrew Smith, Face, The, October 1995
CYPRESS HILL used cannabis to devastating effect in the marketing of their Black Sunday — racking up best-selling rap album in the process. Can they pull the ...
Report and Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 28 October 1995
Forget all you may have read about TRICKY. Forget that he once admitted being the father of MARTINA's child. Forget that he and Björk, at ...
Steve Earle: Back in the Saddle
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Rolling Stone, 18 April 1996
C&W outlaw STEVE EARLE returns from his lost years ...
Report and Interview by Bethan Cole, i-D, June 1996
You reckoned the rave dream died years ago? Think again! They may have hung up their whistles and white gloves, but Scotland's musical youth are ...
Report by Frank Owen, Village Voice, The, 25 June 1996
Looking for Angel: Did King of Club Kids Michael Alig really Kill Angel Melendez? Or is it all a hoax? By Frank Owen ...
Interview by Jim Sullivan, Boston Globe, The, July 1996
RICHARD HELL had an idea earlier this year. ...
Drugs In Rock Culture: Don’t Try This At Home
Essay by Ian Penman, Guardian, The, 2 August 1996
TAKING DRUGS CHANGES things. It changes your blood stream and brain waves and bank balance; your heart rate and slang of choice and the circumference ...
The Needle And The Damage Done
Report by Jim Sullivan, Boston Globe, The, 10 August 1996
"I've seen the needle and the damage done / A little part of it in everyone / But every junkie's like a setting sun" — ...
Secret Knowledge: Hi Bunny, I'm Home!
Interview by Push, Muzik, September 1996
Kris Needs and Wonder. A boy from Aylesbury and a girl from Ohio. Music from the heart, some hard lessons from the street... and a ...
Evan Dando, The Lemonheads: Evan Dando: Reckless Idol Through The Lens Darkly
Interview by Jim Sullivan, Boston Globe, The, 20 September 1996
GAY HEAD — It's nearing summer's end on Martha's Vineyard, and Evan Dando, the 29-year-old guiding voice and vision of the Lemonheads, is chilling on ...
Alice Cooper, The Who: Alice Cooper on Keith Moon
Interview by Tony Fletcher, iJamming.net, 12 November 1996
ONE REASON I've been looking forward to getting this site up is to make available some of the interviews I conducted for the Keith Moon ...
Report by Caroline Sullivan, Guardian, The, 16 December 1996
They're mad, bad and dangerous to know, and the apple of their mothers eyes. Caroline Sullivan examines the closest of all relationships... ...
Black Grape: Straight to Stupid: Black Grape
Interview by Dave Thompson, Alternative Press, 1997
DANNY SABER'S been a busy boy. Produced the Rolling Stones, remixed David Bowie, and then seven weeks recording the new Black Grape album, climbing ...
The Beatles: The Sound of Acid
Overview by Jon Savage, Guardian, The, 31 January 1997
Hey man — it's time to beat that cosmic tabla and slap on a droning tape loop. Drug-infused psychedelia, says Jon Savage, never went away ...
James Brown: Eyewitness: James Brown is arrested after a Car Chase
Retrospective by Johnny Black, Q, March 1997
1988, SEPT 24: HIGH ON PCP, SHOTGUN-WIELDING JAMES BROWN GETS ARRESTED IN AUGUSTA, GEORGIA, AFTER AN INTER-STATE CAR CHASE. ...
Robbie Williams: "I am not a pie eater!"
Interview by Caitlin Moran, Select, May 1997
...well, you must like your chips, then. Robbie Williams has seen better times. The post-That fallout began at Glasto '95 and spiralled into an 18-month ...
Profile and Interview by Simon Garfield, Mail On Sunday, July 1997
"THEY TAKE A vein from your leg, and chop it up four times." Rick Parfitt, the big-haired, blond singer-guitarist with Status Quo for the past 30 ...
Janis Joplin: Eyewitness: Janis Joplin's Last 24 Hours
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Q, October 1997
It's October 3, 1970 and after an exhausting tour Janis Joplin and her new group, the Full Tilt Boogie Band are holed up in Sunset ...
Interview by David Stubbs, Rock's Backpages Audio, October 1997
The Ozzmeister effs and blinds his way through subjects ranging from the death of Princess Diana to the myth of Sabbath's Satanism and the US religious backlash, via a detailed description of his substance abuse and much more.
File format: mp3; file size: 62.6mb, interview length: 1h 08' 22" sound quality: ****
The Pogues, Shane MacGowan: Shane MacGowan: One More For The Road
Profile and Interview by Mick Brown, Daily Telegraph, 29 November 1997
THERE ARE THOSE who believe that Shane MacGowan is among the most gifted and singular singer-songwriters to have emerged in British music in the past ...
Sublime: Bradley Nowell: Life After Death
Retrospective and Interview by Mark Kemp, Rolling Stone, 25 December 1997
Two months before the release of his band's finest album, Bradley Nowell stuck a needle in his arm and died. In the 18 months since, ...
Retrospective by Johnny Black, MOJO, February 1998
"I WAS MERELY a pawn in a big chess game," said Frankie Lymon, just months before he died of a heroin overdose on February 28, ...
Spiritualized: The Mile High Club: Spiritualized in the Sky
Report and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, February 1998
SPIRITUALIZED: a concoction of the cosmological and the pharmaceutical enjoying high times in Britain. Now Jason Pierce is spending two months turning on America. Barney ...
Dance Culture: One Nation Under A Groove
Essay by Bethan Cole, Muzik, March 1998
Ten years ago, a few hundred people were raving all night to the sounds of acid house. A year later there were a few thousand ...
Scott Weiland: The Man Who Fell To Earth
Profile and Interview by Marc Weingarten, Request, April 1998
AFTER A SIX-YEAR battle with heroin addiction and two stints in rehab, Scott Weiland, frontman for Stone Temple Pilots and would-be solo artist, is in ...
Stone Temple Pilots, Scott Weiland: Scott Weiland: No More Mr Vice Guy
Interview by Andrew Mueller, Vox, June 1998
As leader of the Stone Temple Pilots, he took lots of drugs, sold lots of records and was hated by the critics. Now he's off ...
Depeche Mode, Primal Scream: Depeche Mode and Primal Scream: The Most Debauched Tour Ever
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Q, August 1998
Depeche Mode have been touring for almost a year. Drug and alcohol abuse is rife and the group are close to breaking point. The obvious ...
Monster Magnet: Life After Mood-Altering: Monster Magnet
Interview by Ian Fortnam, Kerrang!, February 1999
SIT A SPELL in the stark and featureless foyer of the current temple of the Monster Magnet dreams, a half-built Sunset Strip hotel of rare ...
Report by Frank Owen, Village Voice, The, 9 February 1999
New details about Tunnel drug overdose allegation ...
Sammy Hagar, Metallica: Bottoms up: Topping the Billboard
Comment by Chuck Eddy, Village Voice, The, 12 May 1999
FOR THE PAST month, two of the top five tracks pissing their night away on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart have been celebrations of alcohol consumption, ...
Ike Turner, Ike & Tina Turner: Ike Turner: What Love Had To Do With It
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, Guardian, The, 26 May 1999
Ike Turner last spoke to his ex-wife Tina in 1986. Since then, he tells Caroline Sullivan, he's taken too much flak ...
Interview by Tom Doyle, Face, The, June 1999
HEROIN. ARSON. DEATH. DESTROYED STUDIOS. BLOWN OPPORTUNITIES. THE BALLAD OF SHACK IS HARDLY EASY LISTENING. BUT NOW, WITH A GLORIOUS NEW ALBUM, BRITAIN'S GREAT LOST ...
Johnny Thunders: Forewarned: Johnny Thunders
Book Excerpt by Nina Antonia, Cherry Red Books, August 1999
JOHNNY THUNDERS didn’t just flirt with death, he courted it. Even so, his eventual demise in New Orleans on 23rd April 1991 still came as ...
Secret Knowledge: Kris Needs: I Snogged Debbie Harry
Profile and Interview by Dave Simpson, Guardian, The, 3 August 1999
If you can't be a rock star, you can always get your kicks by hanging out with them. Kris Needs tells Dave Simpson how it's ...
Whitney Houston: Sheffield Arena **
Live Review by Dave Simpson, Guardian, The, 11 September 1999
Diva takes a nosedive ...
Review by David Bennun, Guardian, The, October 1999
IF EVER a Central Committee for Naming Things should be summoned into existence, I would like to nominate, for the chair, the inventor of the ...
Heroin: The Secret Drug Of The'90s
Report by Tom Doyle, Q, December 1999
It offed grunge. It killed Britpop. It claimed actual human lives. Heroin began the '90s as a retro drug with insalubrious associations. It ended the ...
Profile and Interview by David Bennun, Guardian, The, 2000
"I CAN," says Glen Campbell, "wriggle my right breast." He demonstrates. It's true. He can. ...
David Bowie, Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones: I Was A Pop Star's Arse-wiper!
Report by Martin Aston, Q, January 2000
For as long as there have been rock stars, there have been rock star "support systems", from the Memphis Mafia to "Spanish" Tony Sanchez to ...
Shane MacGowan, Sinead O'Connor: The Terrible State Of Shane MacGowan
Report by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, March 2000
Skint, on drugs, walking a tightrope life, a young man dead in his flat: things could hardly have looked worse for Shane MacGowan. Then, astonishingly, ...
Wu-Tang Clan is Sumthing ta Fuck Wit
Report by Frank Owen, Village Voice, The, 23 May 2000
The world-famous Staten Island hip-hop collective has a government informer working within its ranks; at the same time, the group is being investigated by the ...
Interview by Adrian Deevoy, Q, August 2000
He's hard. He's funny. He flirts dramatically with mental illness and he's back with the best pop music of his life. No argument: the Ferrari ...
Bleachin': Jeremy Healy and Amos Pizzey: Club Class
Interview by Sheryl Garratt, Observer, The, 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 ...
Dope Smugglaz Allstars: Toke Implosion: Dope Smugglaz Allstars
Report and Interview by Neil Mason, Melody Maker, 6 September 2000
THERE ARE some moments in life when you have to take a good look around. Some moments that hurt when you pinch yourself because, in ...
Queens Of The Stone Age: We Pride Ourselves On Giving You A Night You'll Never Remember
Report and Interview by Everett True, Melody Maker, 29 November 2000
WE JOIN QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, ROCK'S ULTIMATE HEDONISTS, ON THE ROAD IN THE UK FOR TALES OF DRUGS, DRINK AND ONSTAGE PENIS SHRINKAGE. ...
Stevie Nicks: Queen Of The Stoned Age
Interview by Paul Elliott, Q, May 2001
Fleetwood Mac's full-pelt excess and partner-swapping made for rock's most incredible soap opera. But there's one question everyone wants to ask Stevie Nicks. It concerns ...
Report by Toby Manning, Face, The, August 2001
The pills are getting cheaper, the music's getting faster, the nights are getting longer. Now the club promoters have joined police and newspapers in telling ...
Spiritualized: Jason Pierce: The Urban Spaceman Falls To Earth
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, September 2001
COSMIC OR WHAT? Jason Pierce has conducted Q to a yellowed Hoxton hostelry called the Macbeth. By the door it sports a tiled mural illustrating ...
Aerosmith: Tales of Toys and Toxic Twins: Aerosmith
Retrospective and Interview by Ian Fortnam, Classic Rock, 2002
SPOOL BACK four years to the Virginia Beach Resort Hotel on America’s sun-kissed East Coast and I’m sharing a sumptuous afternoon repast with Aerosmith’s Steven ...
Flying High With The General Patton Of Pot: Smokescreen By Robert Sabbag (Canongate Books)
Book Review by James Maycock, Independent, The, January 2002
ROBERT SABBAG'S Smokescreen, subtitled "A True Adventure," reads like a Boy's Own escapade. Its swashbuckling protagonist, Allen Long, blessed with a princely face and an ...
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, February 2002
"I WAS TRYING to prove I could do it and come out alive." That was Eric Clapton's account of his immersion in heroin from 1970-74. ...
Report and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Vogue, March 2002
ON A DAMP December afternoon in bucolic Buckinghamshire, a legendary female icon of the '60s is leading her Noughties counterpart down the garden path. Literally. ...
Ol' Dirty Bastard, Wu-Tang Clan: Ol' Dirty Bastard: Portrait Of The Artist In Jail
Report and Interview by William Shaw, Guardian, The, 22 March 2002
He was the clown prince of hip-hop, famously appearing onstage with the Wu-Tang Clan while on the run from the police. Now Ol' Dirty Bastard ...
Kurt Cobain, Nirvana: The Last Star: Kurt Cobain
Essay by Barney Hoskyns, Observer Music Monthly, June 2002
Why Kurt Cobain's legacy is worth fighting – or at least waiting – for ...
Essay by Clinton Walker, Meanjin, 1 June 2002
I CAN STILL remember my first joint. All the usual jibes notwithstanding (memory loss, not inhaling, whatever), I remember it vividly: It was at the ...
Chet Baker: James Gavin: Deep in a Dream – The Long Night of Chet Baker
Book Review by Gene Santoro, Nation, The, 27 June 2002
IT'S EASY TO rephrase Tolstoy's opening to Anna Karenina so it describes junkies, who all share an essential plot line: Who and how to hustle ...
The Rolling Stones: The Crowning of King Mick
Retrospective by Chris Salewicz, Sunday Times, 27 October 2002
It is hard to believe that Mick Jagger was once just another Rolling Stone. How did he become an idol? Chris Salewicz, his biographer, tells ...
The Germs: St. Anger: Darby Crash
Retrospective by Chris Campion, Dazed & Confused, November 2002
HE WAS Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious rolled into one. A befuddled punk prophet with a brilliant mind whose rise was as shocking as his ...
Jefferson Airplane: High Priestess: Grace Slick and ‘White Rabbit’
Retrospective and Interview by Mark Paytress, Guardian, The, 15 November 2002
White Rabbit has just come out top in a poll to find the finest drug song ever. Mark Paytress discovers that its writer/singer Grace Slick ...
Bob Dylan: Just Bend Your Mind A Little…
Retrospective by Andy Gill, MOJO, December 2002
BOB DYLAN WAS NOT THE FIRST SONGWRITER to write about – or under the influence of – drugs, though you could be forgiven for assuming ...
Retrospective and Interview by Ian Fortnam, Classic Rock, 2003
BY DECEMBER 1984, having exploded onto a decidedly lacklustre rock scene blighted by vacuous new romanticism, post-punk austerity and backward glancing metal Gumby-ism, the five ...
Fleetwood Mac's Mick Fleetwood and Stevie Nicks (2003)
Interview by Gavin Martin, Rock's Backpages Audio, April 2003
Mick Fleetwood on getting it on with Stevie Nicks, his place in the band and cocaine; Stevie Nicks on her relationship with Lindsey Buckingham, dud boob jobs, songwriting and cocaine.
File format: mp3; in 2 parts, total file sizes: 64.6mb, total interview length: 1h 10' 38" sound quality: ****
Book Excerpt by Gene Santoro, 'Highway 61 Revisited...', 2004
IT'S EASY TO rephrase Tolstoy's opening to Anna Karenina so it describes junkies, who all share an essential plotline: Who and how to hustle in ...
Elliott Smith: You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
Retrospective and Interview by R.J. Smith, Spin, 18 February 2004
WHEN ELLIOTT SMITH played Los Angeles in the fall of 2002, after more than a year of semi-seclusion, he didn't look so good. His hands ...
The Beach Boys, Van Dyke Parks, Brian Wilson: Brian Wilson: Smile? Don't mind if I do…
Retrospective and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, March 2004
It was due in January 1967. But the Beach Boys' Smile LP was shelved when its creator Brian Wilson refused to finish it. Now he ...
Essay by Nick Kent, Guardian, The, 19 April 2004
THEY ASKED ME to write this piece about "self-destruction and its place in rock" and that immediately set me to thinking: what do they mean ...
Gil Scott-Heron: Chasing The Heron
Report and Interview by James Maycock, Times, The, 16 July 2004
"I'M ADDICTED to creating," mutters a grizzled, slightly stoned Gil Scott-Heron. "I use other things from time to time." It's late afternoon on Friday 3rd ...
Review by Fred Mills, No Depression, September 2004
IF YOU HAVE no tolerance for revolving-door "recovering" addicts who feel compelled to chronicle, on record after record, every opium-drenched near-death vision and every groveling ...
Retrospective and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, November 2004
A year on, the world is still reeling from the death of Johnny Cash, the speed-crazed rock'n'roller who became America's defining voice. From tragedy to ...
Pete Doherty: "I haven't taken crack for 14 days"
Interview by Ian Watson, Scotland on Sunday, 12 December 2004
HE SAUNTERS in, over an hour late. ...
Babyshambles, Pete Doherty, The Libertines: Babyshambles: Grow up, for Pete's sake
Comment by Caitlin Moran, Times, The, 17 December 2004
Fans deify Pete Doherty for his 'old school' hedonism. Actually, he's a tragic junkie du jour ...
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, February 2005
Wooed by Dylan, ripped off by Jagger, too hardcore for Burroughs. A drug addict who recovered to make grainy, dramatic music rife with sex and ...
Sid Vicious: "Nothing can hurt him anymore"
Retrospective by Jon Savage, MOJO, February 2005
Sid's mother Anne Beverley died of a heroin overdose in 1996, but not before sharing her side of Sid's story. As told to Jon Savage. ...
The Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: Sid Vicious: A Star Is Born!
Retrospective by David Dalton, MOJO, February 2005
When Sid Vicious joined the Sex Pistols in 1977 it was the end of the band and the beginning of his metamorphosis into mythic rock ...
Babyshambles: Pete Doherty And The New Decadence
Comment by Charles Shaar Murray, Independent on Sunday, 6 February 2005
PERHAPS MARC ALMOND put it best: "To me a star is someone who has something extra, and something missing at the same time – ...
Ozzy Osbourne: The Jon Wilde Interview
Interview by Jon Wilde, Uncut, March 2005
WILDE: Your house in Buckinghamshire was burgled in November 2004. What was that like? ...
Retrospective by Mick Houghton, Uncut, April 2005
UNTIL RECENTLY, Judee Sill and her two Asylum albums were all but forgotten. Her story is so tragic as to be nearly unbelievable, the antithesis ...
Babyshambles, Pete Doherty, The Libertines: Kate Moss' Prince Alarming: Pete Doherty
Profile and Interview by Edward Helmore, Vanity Fair, July 2005
IT'S 9 PM AT the Boogaloo in north London and Gerry O'Boyle, the proprietor of this dingy pub, says Kate and Pete are on their ...
The Only Ones: Another Boy, Another Planet
Retrospective and Interview by Nina Antonia, Uncut, October 2005
If you thought Pete Doherty and the Libertines were the ultimate in glorious, shambling rock 'n' roll then try THE ONLY ONES, the brilliant late-'70s ...
John Martyn: I've Had a Wonderful Time
Report and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Herald, The, November 2005
IT IS FAR from unusual to discover whole fathoms of deep blue sea between the artist and their art. Nothing, however, quite prepares you for ...
Review by Pete Paphides, Times, The, 11 November 2005
HOW TONY PARSONS delighted in playing the contrarian on last Friday's Newsnight Review. Having lived with Babyshambles' long-awaited debut album for a week, the Mirror columnist took ...
Interview by Gavin Martin, Uncut, June 2006
MARCH 2006, and in Liverpool feral rat-faced folk with the lean and hungry look seem to be everywhere. Junkies – on the street or selling ...
Report by Ian Gittins, Guardian, The, 16 September 2006
What do Pete Doherty, Justin Hawkins and Keane's Tom Chaplin have in common? All have been in rehab recently, some for the first time. But ...
John Phillips: John Phillips (John, The Wolfking of L.A.)
Review and Interview by Mick Houghton, Uncut, November 2006
HIPPY DREAMS DEFILED, HOLLYWOOD AFFAIRS, HERCULEAN DRUG USE: THE LONG-LOST SOLO ALBUM FROM MAMAS & PAPAS LYNCHPIN. ...
Profile and Interview by Caitlin Moran, Times, The, 9 November 2006
Courtney Love was rejected by her parents at 9, raised in institutions and grew into the wild woman of rock. Our correspondent spent the weekend ...
Pete Doherty: For Pete's Sake, Let's Hope There's No Snow At Christmas
Comment by Caitlin Moran, Times, The, 27 November 2006
I WONDER what Pete Doherty will be doing for Christmas? I know you're wondering, too. It is a poser. While it's difficult enough being a ...
Judee Sill: A Brief Life, an Enduring Musical Impression
Retrospective by Tim Page, Washington Post, The, 30 December 2006
ON THE DAY after Thanksgiving 1979, Judee Sill, a 35-year-old, deeply depressed and physically broken singer-songwriter, took an overdose of opiates and cocaine in her ...
The Hours: Back From The Brink
Interview by Dave Simpson, Guardian, The, 12 January 2007
The Hours have been through drugs, death and abandonment. But adversity has turned them into Britain's most powerful new band. Dave Simpson caught up with ...
The Only Ones: Night Of The Living Dead
Report and Interview by David Sinclair, Word, The, June 2007
COME TOGETHER: After 26 years apart, the Only Ones have climbed aboard the reunion bandwagon. They have more reasons than most, as they tell DAVID ...
Grateful Dead: For The Unrepentant Patriarch Of LSD, Long, Strange Trip Winds Back To Bay Area
Profile and Interview by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, 12 July 2007
THE SMALL, barefoot man in black T-shirt and blue jeans barely rates a second glance from the other Starbucks patrons in downtown San Rafael, although ...
Mötley Crüe: Ban this Sixx filth!
Report by Ian Gittins, Guardian, The, 27 October 2007
Thought Mötley Crüe's biog The Dirt was the ultimate rock read? Pah! Ian Gittins helped bassist Nikki Sixx write his gruesome journals. Those of a ...
Interview by Robin Eggar, Live Magazine, 30 December 2007
NIKKI SIXX is the bassplayer and chief songwriter in Mötley Crüe, the LA hard rockers who became a byword for rock and roll excess, while ...
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Stop Smiling, Winter 2007
FROM CINEMATIC outlaws Vito Corleone (The Godfather) and Priest (Super Fly) to real life dons like John Gotti and Nicky Barnes, the mythology of gangsterism ...
The Beatles: When Acid Reigned
Retrospective by Harry Shapiro, MOJO, Summer 2007
Hippies tripped, tabloids raged and police cheered as Engelbert Humperdinck's Jan '67 hit, 'Release Me' became the real theme tune for the Summer of Love. ...
Amy Winehouse: Life Imitating Art...
Comment by Kate Mossman, Word, The, January 2008
...imitating life. When did Amy Winehouse start to inhabit her songs, wonders KATE MOSSMAN. ...
Amy Winehouse: The Slow Blackout of Amy Winehouse
Comment by Amy Linden, Village Voice, The, 15 January 2008
How a troubled r&b mega-talent's breakout hit turned against her ...
Amy Winehouse: Why Amy Winehouse is On The Rocks
Essay by Nick Kent, Times, The, 24 January 2008
As troubled singer Amy Winehouse is filmed smoking crack cocaine, our writer, a veteran of the 1970s music and drug culture, explains why we view ...
Velvet Revolver: And Now Let's Go Over to the Leather Report: Velvet Revolver
Profile and Interview by Dan Gennoe, Mail On Sunday, March 2008
IF THERE'S A definition of a rock star, Scott Weiland is it. The ever-present Aviator sunglasses; the hip-jutting swagger; the slow croak of an LA ...
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Q, May 2008
Stevie Nicks is the epitome of California rock excess. While in Fleetwood Mac, she sold millions and snorted half of Colombia. Solo, she sold millions ...
Amy Winehouse: Can Amy Winehouse be saved?
Report by Robert Sandall, Sunday Times, 27 July 2008
Her phenomenal talent has been eclipsed by her terrifying ability to self-destruct. Can anything save Amy from herself? ...
Nick Cave, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Grinderman: Nick Cave: King of Pain
Profile and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, March 2009
"TEA? PIECE OF CAKE?" says Nick Cave civilly. After an earlier on-tour interview at the Malmaison Hotel, Manchester, he's invited MOJO to his office, a ...
John Phillips, The Mamas and The Papas: King of the Wild Frontier: Papa John Phillips
Retrospective and Interview by Chris Campion, Observer Music Monthly, 15 March 2009
IN AUGUST 1977, John Phillips was supposed to be recording the album with Keith Richards that would mark his comeback. ...
The Rolling Stones: Villa Nellcote: Tommy Weber Arrives at the Rolling Stones' French Stronghold
Book Excerpt by Robert Greenfield, 'A Day in the Life' (Da Capo), July 2009
In this excerpt from his brilliant new A Day in the Life: One Family, the Beautiful People, and the End of the '60s, Robert Greenfield ...
The Rolling Stones: The Gimme Shelter You Didn't See
Review by Michael Azerrad, Rock's Backpages, 24 November 2009
GIMME SHELTER is generally considered one of the best rock documentaries ever made, perhaps one of the best documentaries on any topic. ...
Primal Scream: Bobby Gillespie and Primal Scream
Retrospective and Interview by James Brown, Sabotage Times, 23 February 2010
Primal Scream are the last great band of the original Creation Records roster, still rocking on, un-interrupted by break-ups or break-downs. James Brown gets down ...
Whitney Houston: Why someone in Whitney Houston's condition shouldn't be on stage
Report by Dave Simpson, Guardian, The, 24 February 2010
WHITNEY HOUSTON has a problem. In fact, she seems to have a lot of problems. According to reports from Monday night's concert in Brisbane, Australia ...
Kyuss: Kings of the Stoner Age
Retrospective and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, Guardian, The, 25 March 2011
"I DIDN'T THINK THAT at 40 years of age I would still be talking about generator parties," Kyuss frontman John Garcia says with a puzzled ...
Smokey Robinson: My Date With Smokey
Interview by Jon Wilde, Sabotage Times, 27 March 2011
On his seventieth birthday William "Smokey" Robinson grants exclusive access to Jon Wilde to talk cocaine, the roots of Motown and why The Stones still ...
David Bowie, Kraftwerk: Taxi zum Klo's Berlin is a sexual playground
Retrospective by Jon Savage, Guardian, The, 21 April 2011
Bowie, Christiane F and Taxi zum Klo: these are the things that made Berlin so alluring to the British pop culture of the late '70s ...
Rickie Lee Jones: Bohemian Rhapsody
Interview by Bob Mehr, MOJO, July 2011
Fuelled by a bitter split with lover Tom Waits, scarred by spiraling addictions and underwritten by her traumatic childhood, Rickie Lee Jones' Pirates album took ...
Obituary by Caroline Sullivan, Guardian, The, 23 July 2011
Singer with a soul-steeped voice whose instantly successful Back to Black album reflected her tormented experience of love ...
Amy Winehouse: A Rock Star Dead Again at 27
Comment by Wayne Robins, Rock's Backpages, 23 July 2011
THE OTHER DAY I was listening to Amy Winehouse sing "You Know I'm No Good" on WFUV, and thought about how authentic she sounded. Not ...
Music And Drugs — It's A Hard Habit To Break
Overview by Andy Gill, Independent, The, 29 July 2011
Amy Winehouse's popularity came in part, says Andy Gill, from the honesty with which she sang of her addictions. But pop hasn't always faced up ...
Queen Of Nude Orleans: 1978, October 31
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Classic Rock, October 2011
IT WAS THE aftershow party to end all aftershow parties. The champagne flowed like water, couples coupled under the tables and the entertainment included strippers, ...
Hank Williams: On The Lost Highway: Hank Williams
Retrospective by Mark Mordue, Australian, The, 22 October 2011
DAMNED cold. An ice storm over Nashville has closed down flights across the state of Tennessee. ...
Tim Hardin: The Unforgiven: Tim Hardin
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, February 2012
AS CONCEPT ALBUMS go it was one of the more eccentric creations of the late 1960s. The mouthful of a title alone (Suite for Susan ...
Tim Hardin: The Unforgiven: Tim Hardin and the Shock of Grace
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, February 2012
NOTE: This is the "director's cut" version – at almost twice the length – of a piece written for MOJO and subsequently used as the ...
Obituary by Caroline Sullivan, Guardian, The, 13 February 2012
Superstar singer credited as the first 'pop diva', whose compelling talent was lost to drug addiction ...
Perfume Genius: "I've learned not to trust myself"
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, Guardian, The, 16 February 2012
Porn footage and his mum were two of the inspirations for songs on Mike Hadreas's second album, which, yes, features the same themes of lurid ...
Gram Parsons: Gram Theft Parsons Revisited
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Classic Rock, March 2012
LATE IN THE evening of September 20, 1973, two drunk men clad in rhinestoned jackets and cowboy hats drove a hearse into Los Angeles Airport ...
Memoir by Michael A. Gonzales, Complex, 20 April 2012
"Most marijuana smokers are Negroes, Hispanics, jazz musicians, and entertainers, Their satanic music is driven by marijuana."— Harry J. Anslinger, America's First Drug Czar ...
Levitation: Whirled Around: The Rise & Fall Of Levitation
Retrospective and Interview by Wyndham Wallace, Quietus, The, 23 May 2012
20 years ago, on the eve of their debut album's release, Levitation looked like they'd explode. Instead, a year later, they imploded. Wyndham Wallace invites ...
Memoir by John Pidgeon, Rock's Backpages, 8 June 2012
I'M IDLING ALONG the High Street in my tan sit-up-and-beg Ford Pop, when 'Whatcha Gonna Do About It' comes on the radio. ...
Amy Winehouse: Lost Girl: The Fierce Life and Tortured Times of Amy Winehouse
Retrospective by William Shaw, Q, August 2012
The force of nature who made Back To Black was also a vulnerable daddy's girl, a harsh taskmistress, a woman with a weakness for the ...
The Rolling Stones: A Sweet Tooth for the Stones: 'Brown Sugar'
Comment by Barney Hoskyns, Sabotage Times, Summer 2012
GOD IT'S TEDIOUS when ancient hacks wax nostalgic about formative pop memories – memories sacred to them but rarely to their readers. So stop reading ...
Ginger Baker: "I came off heroin something like 29 times"
Profile and Interview by Edward Helmore, Observer, The, 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 ...
Obituary by Richard Williams, Guardian, The, 28 October 2013
Velvet Underground frontman and solo artist whose hymns to transgressive behaviour created an audience of outsiders. ...
Book Review by Ian Penman, London Review of Books, 23 January 2014
"There was a lot of racial tension around bebop. Black men were going with fine, rich white bitches. They were all over these niggers out ...
Interview by Adrian Deevoy, Guardian, The, 23 January 2014
HELLO GEORGE. First things first: what are you wearing? I got my suit on, baby. I like to change things up every now and then. So ...
Alex Chilton, Jim Dickinson, The Sex Pistols: Flies on Shit: Alex Chilton Goes Back to Memphis
Book Excerpt by Holly George-Warren, Viking Books, March 2014
The former Big Star man sees the Sex Pistols in Memphis and limbers up for the shambolic Like Flies On Sherbert. An exclusive excerpt from ...
Jay Z, Public Enemy: Still Smokin': 30 Years of Crack's Influence on Pop Culture
Essay by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 2 May 2014
With Showtime announcing John Singleton's upcoming Snowfall series, crack cocaine's sway on pop culture continues to grow ...
Randy California, Spirit: 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 ...
Book Review by Ian Penman, London Review of Books, 25 September 2014
IN THE SPRING of 1965, on the road between Memphis and Hollywood, desert plains all around, his bloodstream torqued by a tinnital static of prescription ...
Retrospective and Interview by Adrian Deevoy, Event Magazine, 11 October 2014
THE SIGNATURE sneer is nowhere to be seen, the rebellious fist, so often raised and pumping, rests limply in his lap. Billy Idol, the wild ...
Chet Baker, Trumpeter, 1929-1988
Book Excerpt by Brian Case, On the Snap (Caught by the River, 2015), 2015
I CAN REMEMBER that Chet was major despondent. A black cloud marking time. Why was I interviewing him? No particular reason. The Jazz Centre Society ...
Hunter Thompson Pays a Visit to Babylon
Retrospective by Bill Wasserzieher, Rock's Backpages, 2015
HUNTER THOMPSON'S SUICIDE ten years ago this month should not have come as a surprise. His dark tales about riding with a biker gang, Mace-spraying ...
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 ...
James Taylor: "A big part of my story is recovery from addiction"
Profile and Interview by Paul Sexton, Daily Telegraph, 20 June 2015
At the age of 67, James Taylor has made his 16th album, his first in 13 years. After spending his early career addicted to heroin, ...
Natalie Cole: A Remembrance (1950-2015)
Obituary by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, December 2015
STELLAR SINGER and showbiz royalty Natalie Cole has passed away at the age of 65. ...
Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd: Overdrive! Syd Barrett Part 2
Retrospective by Kris Needs, Shindig, November 2016
LAST MONTH WE looked at Syd's childhood and the birth of Pink Floyd up to releasing 'Arnold Layne'. ...
Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan: "Why I don't understand my own band"
Profile and Interview by Kate Mossman, New Statesman, 1 June 2017
WHEN NEIL TENNANT of the Pet Shop Boys was the assistant editor of Smash Hits, he made the following observation: ...
back to LIBRARY
