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Drugs and alcohol

663 articles

Billie Holiday: "They won't let me work in New York, so I'm settling in London"

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 28 February 1959

Billie Holiday was in London this week for a TV date. She returned to the States on Wednesday ...

Billie Holiday: She was original, honest — unique says Max Jones

Obituary by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 8 August 1959

WHAT A sad, bad year it has been for jazz. The deaths of Baby Dodds, Lester Young and Sidney Bechet have been followed with tragic ...

Zoot Money: The trouble with Zoot Money is that he can't get his hands on any

Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 13 November 1965

ZOOT MONEY is the son of Oscar Money. Mr. Oscar Money is half Italian and works as a wine waiter in Bournemouth. "He speaks very ...

Is Trips Festival Really Necessary?

Report by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 24 January 1966

AFTER THREE weekend nights of ear-splitting, head-aching, eye-straining audio-visual bedlam in the Longshoremen's Hall, a collective patronage of 10,000 kicks-seekers should be wondering by now, ...

The Moody Blues, St. Louis Union, The Who, The Yardbirds: Drugs. Yes or No?

Report and Interview by uncredited writer, Rave, March 1966

Drugs are always in the news. And always in the news with them, are pop stars. This month four famous stars give their views on ...

The Who: Who Knows

Interview by Dawn James, Rave, March 1966

Who really knows what the Who are like? RAVE'S Dawn James does. She met them for this very special RAVE interview. ...

The Beatles, The Byrds, The Velvet Underground: Psychedelics: That's The New Fad

Report by Lillian Roxon, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 17 July 1966

The Pop movement has become old-hat now. In its place a brand new gimmick has started to sweep American discotheques. ...

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! ...

Donovan, The Lovin' Spoonful, The Rolling Stones: The Psychedelic Yenta Strikes Again!

Report by Richard Goldstein, The Village Voice, 23 March 1967

THE LOVIN' Spoonful may soon find their names anathema to the very underground which nurtured them. ...

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 ...

Pills (not THE Pill but Pills for the Mind): Hollywood Grasps a Hot Theme

Report by Ivor Davis, Daily Express, 3 May 1967

ONCE HOLLYWOOD shunned controversial subjects for its pictures. Now it has became even bolder than some of the European film-makers. ...

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 ...

Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane: California Dreamin'

Report by Nick Jones, Melody Maker, 27 May 1967

AMERICA'S WEST COAST — ESPECIALLY SAN FRANCISCO — IS WHERE IT'S ALL AT NOW. WHAT LESSON CAN WE LEARN FROM IT? NICK JONES EXPLAINS ...

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 ...

The Rolling Stones: The fearful treatment and unfair torture of the Rolling Stones

Comment by Derek Taylor, Disc and Music Echo, 15 July 1967

Our man in America Derek Taylor, Hollywood, Tuesday ...

The Rolling Stones, The Who: The Rolling Stones drugs bust: Time Is On Our Side

Report by uncredited writer, International Times, 28 July 1967

THE SUN isn't known to have two faces, only the moon, but in England we have the lunatic Sun (a newspaper it thinks) with as ...

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, ...

The Beatles, The Byrds, Jefferson Airplane: Pills and Pop Music: A Psychedelicate Subject

Comment by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 30 July 1967

One pill makes you larger And one pill makes you small And the ones that mother gives you Don't do anything at all." ...

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: Harrison Arrives Stateside; Explains Controversial Ad

Report and Interview by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 27 August 1967

LOS ANGELES — Beatle George Harrison arrived at the Los Angeles International Airport for what he described as a "little bit of business and pleasure." ...

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 ...

The Supremes: The Smell Of Flower Power

Readers' Letters by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 21 October 1967

Dear BEAT: ...

Charles Aznavour, Donovan: Donovan: "I Don't Need Drugs for Strength"

Report by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 17 November 1967

PROPOSES BANNING ALL FALSE-GOD TRIPS ...

Report from swinging London town

Report by Miles, Los Angeles Free Press, 26 January 1968

LITTLE HAS happened since winter came upon us and forced London's underground underground. The organisation called RELEASE has become one of the most valuable community ...

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 ...

Donovan (Cocktails)

Report and Interview by Miller Francis jr., The Great Speckled Bird, 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 ...

Tim Leary: Riding The Crest

Interview by Dave Marsh, Creem, November 1969

NOW THAT Timothy Leary has chosen to run for governor in California, while at the same time recording and performing with rock groups (as he ...

Charles Manson, John Phillips: You just don't know Hollywood

Report by Lillian Roxon, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 1 November 1969

More things there than murder are bizarre, reports Lillian Roxon ...

The Dope Prosecution Process

Essay by John Sinclair, Los Angeles Free Press, 19 December 1969

From one who knows the hemp ropes... ...

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 ...

The Beatles, The Byrds, Jefferson Airplane: Agnew urges curbs on "brainwashing" lyrics

Report by Lillian Roxon, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 16 September 1970

NEW YORK, Tuesday. — The Vice-President, Mr Spiro Agnew, last night accused some songwriters and motion picture makers of "brainwashing" young Americans with lyrics and ...

The "famous" children are going to pot...

Report by Lillian Roxon, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 4 October 1970

More and more big names are cropping up in the round-up of dangerous narcotics-takers ...

Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin: Death joins the electric band

Report by Lillian Roxon, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 10 October 1970

JIMI HENDRIX died last week. Janis Joplin died this week. The needle is picking off the electric generation one by one with the precision of ...

Eric Burdon, Canned Heat, Michael Chapman, John Sebastian, Stoneground, War: Canned Heat: The People Leave Hyde Park Slowly

Report by Robert Greenfield, Rolling Stone, 29 October 1970

LONDON — Rain is sloshing down all the streets and windows, and when Bob Hite of Canned Heat wakes up in his hotel room in ...

Tim Leary: or, Bomb for Buddha

Interview by Robert Greenfield, Rolling Stone, 10 December 1970

JUST OUTSIDE Algiers, on the balcony of a white stone hotel by the sea, Timothy Leary sits in the sunlight. Aquiline nose, high cheekbones, eyes ...

Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Charles Manson: The Maggot in the Rose

Comment by Geoffrey Cannon, unpublished, 1971

Author's note, 2018: Nobody talked about flower power or summers of love or fun, fun, fun after the Manson and the Altamont murders, followed by ...

The Beatles, Jefferson Airplane, Country Joe McDonald: Rock Music: Drumbeat For Drugs?

Essay by Mike Jahn, New York Times Special Features Syndication, 3 January 1971

"If you're tired or a bit run down, can't seem to get your feet off the ground Maybe you oughta try a little bit ...

Caroline Coon: The Underground Angel Of Mercy...

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 30 January 1971

Michael Watts talks to CAROLINE COON of Release ...

Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin: Jimi and Janis: Victims of the Plague

Essay by Frank Bach, The Ann Arbor Sun, February 1971

EARLY IN the morning of Monday, October 5, 1970, Janis Joplin was found dead in an apartment in San Francisco, her arms filled with tracks, ...

Cleaver Freaks, Leary Busted

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 ...

Junk Time in Old Piccadilly

Report by Robert Greenfield, Rolling Stone, 4 March 1971

LONDON — With any kind of luck, you could sleep long enough to save two hits. Take them down to Piccadilly and sell one, then ...

Mott The Hoople: America's druggies scared Mott to death

Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 27 March 1971

"IF PEOPLE want revolution then they should join an organised party en block instead of sitting on their backsides bemoaning their fate. It's absolutely no ...

If You Think It's Groovy To Rap, You're Shucking

Overview by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 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 ...

Rick Derringer, Johnny Winter: Johnny Winter: Behind the Scene With Steve Paul

Report and Interview by Ed McCormack, Rolling Stone, 14 October 1971

THE BIG dusty black Cadillac limousine comes rolling around the comer at Twenty-First Street, turns into the dimly-lighted stage-set stillness of Gramercy Park East, and ...

The Beach Boys, Van Dyke Parks, Brian Wilson: The Beach Boys: A California Saga

Special Feature by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 28 October 1971

Part One: Mr. Everything ...

John Lennon, Yoko Ono, John Sinclair: John and Yoko "go protest"

Report by Lillian Roxon, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 19 December 1971

NO SOONER did Bob Dylan astonish everyone by going back to "protest" and coming out with a song protesting the death of convict George Jackson ...

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 ...

Syd Barrett, MC5: Syd Barrett: The Madcap returns

Report by Roy Hollingworth, Melody Maker, 4 March 1972

SYD BARRETT'S new band, Stars, made their strange debut at Cambridge Corn Exchange last week. Roy Hollingworth reports... ...

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 ...

Yes: Confessions Of a Musical Idiot

Interview by Tony Norman, New Musical Express, 3 June 1972

JON ANDERSON OF YES TALKS TO TONY NORMAN ...

"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 ...

Curtis Mayfield: Curtis the Crusader

Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 18 November 1972

FIGHTING A DRUG MENACE IN AMERICAN GHETTOES ...

Tim Hardin (1972)

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: ****

Tim Hardin (1972) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by James Johnson, Rock's Backpages transcripts, Spring 1972

This is a transcript of James's audio interview with Tim. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Marianne Faithfull: Somewhere in Her Soul...

Interview by Andrew Bailey, Rolling Stone, 12 April 1973

LONDON — She once said: "It's like there's this chant — 'Poor, tragic Marianne, poor, tragic Marianne.'" Tragic is a word that has cropped up ...

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 ...

Manassas, Stephen Stills: Stephen Stills: The Reformation Of a "Jive" Artist

Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 27 September 1973

LOS ANGELES — It's difficult to name a rock & roll star who's been put down, chopped up, dismissed and generally hated as much as ...

Gram Parsons: Ashes In the Morning

Memoir by Eve Babitz, Rolling Stone, 25 October 1973

Eve Babitz is an artist and author of a column and an upcoming book entitled Eve's Hollywood. — Editor ...

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 ...

The Doors, Jim Morrison: Pam Morrison: A Final Curtain on Her Affair with Life

Report by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 6 June 1974

LOS ANGELES — "Pamela was Jim's other half," said ex-Door Ray Manzarek. "The two of them were a perfect combination; I never knew another person ...

Etta James

Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 2 July 1974

THE WELCOME revival in the musical fate of Etta James is highlighted by the release of a fine new album, produced by Gabriel Mekler and ...

Joe Cocker: Academy of Music, New York NY

Live Review by Ian Dove, Rolling Stone, 24 October 1974

WELL, HE went on. Stood out there in the spotlight and sang. Out in the street the freeloaders and ticket beggars were truly frenzied, having ...

Average White Band Member ODs

Report by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 7 November 1974

LOS ANGELES — Robbie McIntosh, 24, drummer with the Average White Band, died in his North Hollywood hotel room September 23rd of an overdose of ...

Average White Band: White Band with Soul

Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 19 December 1974

LOS ANGELES — Their name has a nice sense of irony and confidence, because the Average White Band plays music that is anything but white; ...

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 ...

Neil Young: Tonight's the Night: Play It Loud and Stay in the Other Room!

Interview by Bud Scoppa, New Musical Express, 28 June 1975

NEIL YOUNG isn't out to win any popularity contest. Just as he reached the top of the heap three years ago with the huge-selling Harvest, ...

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 ...

Tim Buckley Dead at 28; Murder Charged

Report by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 14 August 1975

LOS ANGELES — Singer/songwriter Tim Buckley died at the Santa Monica Hospital emergency room at 9:42 p.m. on June 29th. At first police suspected that ...

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 ...

Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, Grace Slick: Grace Slick (1976) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Jim Esposito, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 1976

This is a transcript of Jim's audio interview with Grace. Note that almost all his questions are inaudible on his tape. Listen to the audio ...

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 ...

Paul Kossoff R.I.P.

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 Tubes: Special Drug Report: GREEN — Every Day Is St. Patrick's Day!

Report by Robert Duncan, Creem, June 1976

WILLY HAS just returned from Los Angeles where he has found the perfect drug. Obsessional as he is on these jags of his, after several ...

Blondie Cometh

Profile and Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 13 November 1976

THE SENSUOUS POUT FROM CBGB ...

Peter Tosh: Tosh Spreads the Message

Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 13 November 1976

"REGGAE IS black. It was held back but you can't keep a good man down. It was just a manifestation but it had to happen. ...

James Booker: A winner never quits, a quitter never wins...

Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 30 November 1976

'THE BLACK LIBERATCHI' That's what it says on the card and you can tell that it's going to be one of those interviews when you ...

New York Dolls: Meet The Boys In The Band: The New York Dolls

Retrospective by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 4 December 1976

Prime movers of P**K, this gang of poseurs were wearing safety pins when they were still in diapers. ...

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 ...

Keith Richards: Keith And The Cockroaches Rip This Joint

Report and Interview by Barbara Charone, Creem, June 1977

Take me to the airportAnd put me on a planeI've got no expectationsTo pass through here again('No Expectations', Jagger/Richards) ...

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. ...

Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers: Bring a freezer, you're gonna need it

Report by Barry Cain, Record Mirror, 25 June 1977

THE HEARTBREAKERS (make that THE JUNKIES), St Albans and Birmingham ...

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 ...

Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones: Keith Richard Caught Live

Interview by Paul Nelson, Circus, 29 September 1977

A Long Look at the Rolling Stones, Love You Live, and the Journey Between Then and Now ...

R.I.P.: Calendar of Death in Rock

Special Feature by Michael Gray, Record Mirror, 29 October 1977

WE'VE HAD heavy rock, blues rock, folk rock, glam rock and punk rock. And now, in 1977, it's... snuff rock. ...

Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones: Keith Richards: Heroin, old age, rhythm and blues

Interview by Victor Bockris, High Times, February 1978

KEITH RICHARD has been the Rolling Stones' lead guitarist for the last 15 years and one of rock's leading crusaders and criminals. His most recent ...

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 ...

Art Pepper, Before And After Life

Profile and Interview by Roy Carr, Brian Case, New Musical Express, 11 February 1978

And still going strong. The alto legend is working again after beating heroin addiction and 12 years in jail. ...

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.] ...

William Burroughs: Junkie, Junkey... An Interview With William Burroughs

Interview by Jeffrey Morgan, Creem, April 1978

"I WAS AROUND people who were using it. Then I started, you know, taking an occasional shot. It is, for most people, I think, a ...

Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen: Sex, Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll

Interview by Rosalind Russell, Record Mirror, 8 April 1978

When SID VICIOUS was at the height of fame with the Sex Pistols, be was supporting an £80 a day heroin habit. His fix cost ...

Grateful Dead, Bob Weir: Alone again gratefully: Bob Weir proves he's more than Dead

Interview by John Swenson, Rolling Stone, 20 April 1978

"THIS DOESN'T represent me correctly," Bob Weir complains to a photographer as he gestures at the half-empty dishes before him. "I hardly ever drink tea, ...

Jimmy Buffett: Red-Eyed Sails in the Sunset

Profile by Fred Schruers, Circus, 8 June 1978

Jimmy Buffett Floats Home Another Relaxing Rock Monster ...

Jefferson Starship: Starship Aim To Stay On Course

Report and Interview by David Hancock, Evening News, London, 24 June 1978

FOR MANY fans the most disappointing news today is that legendary rock singer Grace Slick will not perform with the Jefferson Starship. ...

Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones: "I've Only Fallen Over Twice In Fifteen Gigs..." The Keith Richards Interview

Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 5 August 1978

  CONTRARY TO legend, out on the road the Rolling Stones attempt to lead as normal a life as one can expect when living out of ...

Keith Moon, The Who: The Who Come To a Fork in the Road

Interview by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 5 October 1978

"THIS POOR hotel," says Pete Townshend, gesturing at his spacious suite in the Navarro Hotel on New York's posh Central Park South. "Mr. Russell, the ...

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: Keith Richards (and Anita Pallenberg) (1979)

Interview by Chris Welch, Rock's Backpages audio, January 1979

Holding court at London's Ritz Hotel – and with frequent interjections from Pallenberg – the Rolling Stones guitarist talks about the band's most recent tour; why he's back in London; being in tax exile; punk and the Pistols; Keith Moon's death; working with Peter Tosh, and reggae and Jamaica in general; the etymology of the terms "Blood Claat"; his Canadian drug bust and being a junkie; writing with Mick Jagger and the Stones' Some Girls; how he and Mick became known as "the Glimmer Twins"; Edith Grove flatmate Jimmy Phelge; Bill Wyman; his various house fires, and... enter son Marlon! (Read the resulting Melody Maker piece "An Outlaw at the Ritz")...

File format: mp3; file size: 82mb, interview length: 1h 25' 24" sound quality: ***

Roky Erickson, 13th Floor Elevators: Roky Erickson: Darkness at the edge of your mind...

Profile by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 6 January 1979

...and other remembrances of psychedelic times past and future. ROKY ERICKSON, the Martian Van Morrison, will be visiting your town in "person" next month with ...

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 ...

Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: Sid Vicious Dies of Overdose

Report by Wayne Robins, Newsday, 3 February 1979

NEW YORK — Sid Vicious joined his girlfriend Nancy in death yesterday. ...

Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: Sid Vicious: A Rocky Lifestyle Played Out to Its Extreme End

Obituary by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, 18 February 1979

EPITAPH FOR a punk: Even before his somehow not too surprising drug overdose death at age 21, Sid Vicious already scrawled his name indelibly in ...

Sid Vicious: Sid 1957-1979

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 ...

Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers: Max's Kansas City, New York NY

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? ...

The Who is undated in a new age

Interview by Wayne Robins, Newsday, 24 June 1979

THE WHO may have won and maintained its devoted and massive following thanks to the flamboyant intensity of its peerless live performances and the surging ...

Peter Tosh, The Wailers: Peter Tosh: The Bush Doctor is in

Interview by Howard Wuelfing, Unicorn Times, August 1979

  FIRST TACTICAL error: having arranged earlier in the day to meet with a long admired reggae legend at a given place and hour, I trust ...

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 ...

Keith Moon, The Who: The Who's Pete Townshend on Keith Moon (1980)

Interview by Keith Altham, Rock's Backpages audio, 1980

Pete describes first meeting Keith Moon and the drummer's immediate impact on the band; Moon's conflict with Roger Daltrey, mostly over women, and the changing personal dynamics within the band; the musical intuition between Townshend, Entwistle and Moon; Keith's eccentricities and lunacy; gear-smashing, women, drugs and drink... and the inevitable fist fights.

File format: mp3; file size: 25.7mb, interview length: 26' 44" sound quality: ****

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 ...

Marianne Faithfull: Broken English (Island ILPS 9570)

Review by Toby Goldstein, High Fidelity, March 1980

MARIANNE FAITHFULL cut her first record, 'As Tears Go By', fifteen years ago. She was seventeen and fresh out of pre-convent boarding school — a ...

Warren Zevon: How L.A.'s 'Excitable Boy' Won the Battle with the Bottle

Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 10 April 1980

"L.A. rock's newest darling desperado, Warren Zevon, likes to start his day with a screwdriver, then clear his head with coffee and a side of ...

Marianne Faithfull: Rave Girl To Brave Girl: True Confessions Of Marianne Faithful

Report and Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, May 1980

"GOOD LORD, why?" rasps Marianne Faithfull, as she sinks into the hotel's rumpled bedding. "It's so strange, why would you be a fan of somebody ...

Motörhead: Must We Fling This Filth At Our Pop Kids

Interview by Ronnie Gurr, Record Mirror, 7 June 1980

RONNIE GURR thinks we should and MOTÖRHEAD want to get even dirtier. ...

Paul McCartney, Wings: Paul McCartney: Once Nipped, Twice Shy

Interview by Paul Gambaccini, Record Mirror, 12 July 1980

PAUL McCARTNEY tells PAUL GAMBACCINI how he avoided going to pot in a Jap jail ...

Warren Zevon: Hollywood's Prince of Darkness

Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 28 February 1981

I SHOULD'VE known better with an excitable boy like him. "You misjudge my sense of humour," said Warren Zevon, carefully disarming me of my .44 ...

Warren Zevon: How He Saved Himself from a Coward's Death

Special Feature by Paul Nelson, Rolling Stone, 19 March 1981

  ALCOHOLISM. THAT'S what this story's supposed to be about. How Warren Zevon, after some heartwarming and colorful misadventures, licked the Big A and lived happily ...

George Jones: Back From the Road to Ruin

Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 25 May 1981

George Jones' Singing Rebound From Lost Love and Liquor ...

Jerry Lee Lewis: Hellfire

Special Feature by Nick Tosches, Penthouse, March 1982

IT WAS 3 O'CLOCK in the morning and the master bedroom of Graceland was still. Elvis Presley lay in his blue cotton pajamas dreaming. ...

That Baaad Cocaine

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 ...

New York Dolls, Sylvain Sylvain, Johnny Thunders, Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers: Sylvain Sylvain and Johnny Thunders: Lonely Planet Boys

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. ...

William Burroughs: The Beat Guru Loaded For Bear

Interview by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 1 October 1982

Burroughs is in Britain for a series of readings. Mick Brown reports. ...

The Beach Boys, Charles Manson, Dennis Wilson: Manson and Drugs — A Beach Boy's Troubled Life

Retrospective by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, 8 January 1984

DENNIS WILSON, the Beach Boy who drowned a week ago last Wednesday, never got that many headlines in life. He may have been the most ...

The Pretenders: Leather Wears Better Than Dreams

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

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

Dennis Wilson: The Beach Boy Who Went Overboard

Report by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 7 June 1984

He was the wild one. He could never get enough of anything: drugs, women or booze. But in the end, he had nothing. ...

Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers, Experience Unlimited (EU), Trouble Funk: Go-Go: Drop The Bomb On The Love Boat

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. ...

Sam Moore, Sam & Dave: Sam Moore: The Soul Man Makes A Comeback From Heroin

Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 26 October 1984

IN THE late '60s, Sam & Dave were right up there with Otis Redding as stars of Memphis' legendary Stax Records. Singles like 'Hold On, ...

The Replacements: Going Down With the Replacements

Special Feature by RJ Smith, The Village Voice, 11 December 1984

Not a Bunch of Loads ...

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. ...

Natalie Cole Is Back From the Fast Lane

Interview by Ben Fong-Torres, San Francisco Chronicle, 24 February 1985

SINGER'S DRUG REHABILITATION ...

The Faces, Humble Pie, Steve Marriott, The Small Faces: The Small Faces' Steve Marriott (1985)

Interview by Chris Welch, Rock's Backpages audio, 29 May 1985

The smallest Face takes us back to the band's beginning: meeting Ronnie Lane and Kenney Jones and starting the Small Faces; the Man with the Van, Jimmy Winston; signing up with manager Don Arden; sacking Winston and Ian McLagan joining; the hits, and wild times on the road; leaving Decca and Don Arden and joing Immediate; leaving the band and forming Humble Pie with Peter Frampton; his uneasy relationship with psychedelics and his cocaine years.

File format: mp3; file size: 85.2mb, interview length: 1h 28' 44" sound quality: ****

Rick James, The Mary Jane Girls, Process & the Doo Rags, Teena Marie, Val Young: The Rick James Interview: The Buffalo Man Takes Aim...

Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 9 July 1985

David Nathan conducts a very sober and enlightening interview with the former Wild Man of Funk whose drug and alcohol abuse took him to the ...

Rick James, The Mary Jane Girls, Process & the Doo Rags: Rick James: "I Was Having Seizures"

Interview by Paul Sexton, Record Mirror, 13 July 1985

...this is a public admission by Rick James, naughty boy of soul who up till now has been getting high on more than the charts, ...

Neil Young (1985)

Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages audio, August 1985

Over the course of almost two hours, Neil talks about world politics, the state of America today, his philosophical outlook, his current country-music tour and his love of that music; and about the transition from 'Heart of Gold' to Tonight's the Night, drugs and David Crosby, meeting Charles Manson... and the event that became Farm Aid.

File format: mp3; file size: 101.2mb, interview length: 1h 45' 24" sound quality: ***

Mötley Crüe: Theatre of War

Interview by Howard Johnson, Kerrang!, 8 August 1985

HOWARD JOHNSON goes beyond the Pain barrier with MÖTLEY CRÜE. ...

Jerry Lee Lewis: No Sinner Like An Old 'Un

Interview by Jim Sullivan, New Musical Express, 14 September 1985

Not for JERRY LEE LEWIS the cosy trail from rocker to rocking chair. Last year a rollercoaster life and career hit a new low when ...

Richard Lloyd, Television: Richard Lloyd: The Well-Tempered Guitarist

Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 16 November 1985

When RICHARD LLOYD turned off the Television, he switched to drug and alcohol abuse. A nervous breakdown followed... RICHARD GRABEL hears how the new Field ...

Alex Chilton (1986) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 1986

This is a transcript of Martin's audio interview with Alex. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Art Pepper: The Art of darkness

Retrospective by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 11 January 1986

His story is a 'feast of rape, voyeurism, compulsive masturbation and armed robbery'. Brian Case on the legend of former drug addict, jailbird and sax ...

Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Sin, 'bourne to be wild

Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 11 January 1986

OZZY OSBOURNE is a particular man. He wouldn't walk out in the street with shit on his trousers, he is not colour prejudiced and he'd ...

Jeffrey Lee Pierce: impurely an entertainer

Interview by Jack Barron, Sounds, 25 January 1986

JEFFREY LEE PIERCE is a nice man when he's sober but when he's got three fingers in his mouth he's a scream. JACK BARRON held ...

Rosanne Cash: No Cash Down

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, The Observer, 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 ...

Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: Sid And Nancy (Dir. Alex Cox; Palace Pictures, 18, 92 minutes)

Film/DVD/TV Review by Sylvia Patterson, Smash Hits, 30 July 1986

ALEX COX, film director: "In 1980 I tried to write a screenplay called 'Too Kool To Die'. It was about an English rock 'n' roll ...

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

Retrospective by Nick Kent, The Face, August 1986

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

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 ...

Drugs: Out Of Our Heads

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 Ramones, The Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: "Poor Sid — You were a good guy, but..."

Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 7 November 1986

SID AND Nancy, Alex Cox's film about the life and death of the Sex Pistols' bassist, Sid Vicious, and his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, is a ...

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 ...

David Crosby: Scared Straight

Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, 16 January 1987

THE FIRST thing you notice is the twinkle in his eyes. That is the clearest signal that David Crosby is, indeed, back among the living. ...

Sam Moore, Lou Reed, Sam & Dave: Sam & Dave & Lou

Interview by Roger St. Pierre, Blues & Soul, 3 February 1987

Golden oldies never die, but they come back in different guises. Sam Moore and Lou Reed are currently scoring with 'Soul Man' — a veritable ...

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 ...

The Smiths: The Band With The Thorn In Its Side

Report by Nick Kent, The Face, April 1987

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

Depeche Mode: Fzss!... Zwiing! Aaargh!... Hahahahah!!

Report by Sylvia Patterson, Smash Hits, 6 May 1987

Hark! Depeche Mode are having a party — i.e. they're having "a" drink, scoffing streamers, pretending to be space-men, cavorting under tables, stealing "a" drink ...

Boy George, Culture Club, Heartbeat UK: Jon Moss: "Culture Club is the last thing on my mind"

Interview by William Shaw, Smash Hits, 3 June 1987

Why does Culture Club's drummer Jon Moss not want to think about his old pal Boy George? Is it because their last few months together ...

A-ha, The Beastie Boys, Boy George, The Communards, Curiosity Killed The Cat, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, Whitney Houston, Nick Kamen, Simply Red, Spandau Ballet, Swing Out Sister, UB40: The Montreux Pop Festival

Report and Interview by William Shaw, Smash Hits, 3 June 1987

What are Curiosity Killed The Cat, Boy George, Whitney Houston, Beastie Boys, A-ha and three squillion other pop stars doing in a little town in ...

The Mamas and The Papas, John Phillips: John Phillips with Jim Jerome: Papa John (W.H. Allen/Virgin)

Book Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 6 June 1987

PAPA DON'T PREACH ...

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 ...

John Hiatt: Return of the Demon Conqueror

Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 9 October 1987

Singer-songwriter John Hiatt is back — at his best — from the drugs-and-booze brink. Adam Sweeting reports ...

The Pogues, Joe Strummer: The Pogues: "The first thing people think... is that we're a load of moronic drunk cartoon characters playing folk music"

Report and Interview by Stuart Bailie, Record Mirror, 19 December 1987

But no one thinks the Pogues are really like that, surely? To celebrate the hit status of 'A Fairytale In New York', Stuart Bailie legs ...

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 ...

Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe: Doc McGhee: Top rock manager pleads guilty to drug charges

Report by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 10 March 1988

Bon Jovi and Mötley Crüe boss tied to international smuggling ring ...

Miles Davis: The Man With The Horn

Retrospective and Interview by Gene Santoro, Pulse!, June 1988

IT'S DRIZZLING on an unseasonably warm spring day in New York; even the huge bay windows in this suite on the upper reaches of the ...

The Wild Swans: Return of the Swan

Interview by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 16 July 1988

In 1982 the Wild Swans looked set for something special. Instead they split up. Now Liverpool's finest have reformed. Jonh Wilde witnesses the resurrection. ...

Beats Workin': Turn On, Drop Out

Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 16 July 1988

Methylenedioxymetheamphetamine, aka Ecstasy has been described as a "love drug" and "a new age mind bender". Whatever, there is no doubting its effect on a ...

Nico, The Velvet Underground: Nico: Last of the Bohemians

Obituary by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 30 July 1988

NICO, HIGH priestess of Teutonic angst, died in Ibiza last Monday night of a brain haemorrhage. She was found unconscious by the side of her ...

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 ...

Paul Oakenfold, Danny Rampling: From Acid House to the Balearics

Report by David Toop, The Times, 18 August 1988

What is the link between acid and House, between Ibiza and a music that does not exist? ...

Chuck Berry, Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones, The Who: Keith Richards (1988)

Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 19 September 1988

Keith opens by criticising Mick Jagger as a solo artist, then goes on to talk about being in the Rolling Stones; talks about the art of rhythm guitar; making the Chuck Berry movie; the great players on his first solo album Talk is Cheap; the Stones' future and how a band can grow old; the recent CD reissues of the group's catalogue; the "fragile monster" that was Brian Jones; their evolution as songwriters; the establishment's hounding of them; his drug use... and being in the public eye.

File format: mp3; file size: 89.3mb, interview length: 1h 33' 04" sound quality: ***½

The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: Dr. Eugene Landy on Brian Wilson (1988)

Interview by Andy Gill, Rock's Backpages audio, 25 September 1988

The notorious Dr. Landy talks about his long association with Brian Wilson, going back to helping produce 15 Big Ones in 1976: his own background in the music business with Frankie Avalon and George Benson; becoming a psychologist; what was wrong with Wilson, and how he fixed him; the Capitol reissues of the Beach Boys' catalogue; his break with Wilson, and being called back by the band; dealing with Wilson's health issues; the complexities surrounding the production of Wilson's first solo record; the involvement of his wife Alexandra (who appears here), and his on-off relationship with the Beach Boys.

File format: mp3; file size: 83mb, interview length: 1h 26' 30" sound quality: ****

James Brown Addicted To PCP

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 ...

Crosby and Nash, David Crosby, Crosby Stills and Nash, Crosby Stills Nash & Young: David Crosby with Carl Gottlieb: Long Time Gone (Doubleday)

Book Review by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 1 December 1988

DAVID CROSBY'S autobiography, Long Time Gone, provides a gripping, sometimes terrifying portrait of a rock stars personal and professional decline through drug addiction. As an ...

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. ...

Genesis P-Orridge (1988)

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 ...

David Crosby (1989) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by John Pidgeon, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 1989

This is a transcript of John's interview. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Happy Mondays

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 ...

Acid House

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 ...

Boy George, Culture Club: Boy George: Culture Shock

Interview by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 18 February 1989

THREE YEARS AFTER HIS DRUG-INDUCED DOWNFALL, TABLOID VILIFICATION AND COMMERCIAL FAILURE, THE GOLDEN BOY OF EIGHTIES POP HAS FINALLY MANAGED TO REBUILD A SOLO CAREER. ...

The Byrds, David Crosby, Crosby Stills and Nash, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Graham Nash: David Crosby: An Interview

Interview by Johnny Black, unpublished, 22 February 1989

INTERVIEW CONDUCTED in the Halcyon Hotel, Holland Park, London, 22.2.89. Crosby casual in jumper, white shirt and slacks. Seriously overweight and often short of breath, ...

David Crosby: A Hippy out of Hell

Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 3 March 1989

David Crosby is back with an album and autobiography. He talks to Adam Sweeting ...

James Brown: Concurrent Terms

Report by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 9 March 1989

SOUL SINGER James Brown has received a second six-year prison sentence. The sentence will run concurrently with the six-year term Brown is already serving at ...

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, The Boston Globe, 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 ...

Happy Mondays: Haçi*nda, Manch*st*r

Live Review by Helen Mead, New Musical Express, 20 May 1989

THAT MONDAY FEELING ...

N.W.A.: Street Hassle

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. ...

Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones: Keith Richards: Sealed with a disc

Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 25 August 1989

Keith Richards bridles at the suggestion that rock is a young man's game. Spruced up, rifts with Mick Jagger all forgotten, he and the Stones ...

Happy Mondays: Thieves Like Us (and so do the police)

Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 16 September 1989

Just back from their first trip (sic) into the Satan-worshippin' heart of Amerika, HAPPY MONDAYS tell JACK BARRON how they proved more than a match ...

Ecstasy: Easy Does It

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 ...

Guns N' Roses, Living Colour, The Rolling Stones: The Rolling Stones, Guns N' Roses, Living Colour: Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 21 October 1989

Guns N' Roses Shows Some Mettle ...

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 Beloved: They Wanna Be Loved

Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 27 January 1990

THE BELOVED may have started life as dodgy New Order copyists with that ubiquitous Peel session under their studded leather belts, but now they're Dance ...

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 ...

Happy Mondays, Primal Scream, Spacemen 3, The Stone Roses, Andrew Weatherall, Tony Wilson: Summer 1990: The Madness

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 ...

Chet Baker Gets Lost In Time

Retrospective by Paul Nelson, Musician, October 1990

It takes a tough hopper to be cool ...

Johnny Cash: Back in Black

Report and Interview by Mal Peachey, Daily Telegraph, 13 October 1990

FOR 35 YEARS, he has begun every performance with the line, "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash", as if anyone needs telling. He greets people personally with ...

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 ...

Stevie Ray Vaughan: Lost and Found and Lost Again: Stevie Ray Vaughan 1954-1990

Retrospective by Tony Scherman, Musician, November 1990

"STEVIE WAS on it. Playin' great, kickin' butt," says Robert Cray, and when Double Trouble was done, everybody — the Vaughan brothers, Cray, Buddy Guy ...

Shane MacGowan, The Pogues: Shane MacGowan: Dark Side of the Hooligan

Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, Vox, November 1990

Shane MacGowan has not been a happy man since the 'natural living' days of punk. Now he's disillusioned with the Pogues and a recent medical ...

The House Of Love: Burning Down The House

Interview by Max Bell, Vox, November 1990

The House Of Love became a house of ill repute as they binged, boozed and vindalooed their way through the tour that never ended, burning ...

Roky Erickson, 13th Floor Elevators: Roky Erickson: I Walked With a Zombie

Retrospective and Interview by John Morthland, L.A. Weekly, 22 November 1990

Roky Erickson, at ultra-high frequency ...

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, ...

The Ronettes, Ronnie Spector: Ronnie Spector (1991) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 13 February 1991

This is a transcript of Barney's audio interview with Ronnie. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Free's Andy Fraser (1991)

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: 42.8meg, total interview length: 54' 35" sound quality: ***

Jim Morrison: Roll Over Elvis : The Second Coming Of Jim Morrison

Memoir by Eve Babitz, Esquire, March 1991

I know why I loved him. I know why lots of women loved him. But what I want to know is this: Why now, does ...

Tad: Mad, Tad and Dangerous to Know!!

Interview by Steffan Chirazi, Kerrang!, 23 March 1991

With a new LP 8-Way Santa ready to shred your eardrums at any moment, TAD are back with a vengeance. It might be a dangerous ...

Boy George, Culture Club, Jesus Loves You: 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, ...

New York Dolls, Johnny Thunders, Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers: Johnny Thunders: Punk and Drugs and Warhol

Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 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 ...

The Doors: Paul Rothchild: Open Doors

Retrospective and Interview by Tom Doyle, Melody Maker, 4 May 1991

As producer of nearly all of The Doors' albums, PAUL ROTHCHILD knew Morrison and the band better than anyone else. TOM DOYLE relives the invention ...

Jane's Addiction: The Shocking Truth

Interview by Paul Elliott, Vox, June 1991

"Okay, so we do music from time to time. But we can control it..." Jane's Addiction have cleaned up their habits of late, but just ...

EMF: E.M.F.: A New Band That's All the Rave

Report and Interview by Simon Reynolds, The New York Times, 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. ...

The Band, Bob Dylan: Al Aronowitz (1991)

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, 10 August 1991

Hired and fired by the New York Post; having "total phoney" Andy Warhol steal the Velvets from him; running with Dylan and, extensively, his dealings with The Band – "blacklisted journalist" Al Aronowitz vents his not-inconsiderable spleen.

File format: mp3; total file sizes: 73.8meg, interview length: 1h 16' 53" sound quality: ***

Happy Mondays: Renting and raving

Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 26 October 1991

SHAUN RYDER Is suing News Of The World after they alleged he was a rent boy before he was a singer. JAMES BROWN hears the ...

Poison: Scarred but Smarter

Interview by Steffan Chirazi, Kerrang!, 31 October 1991

With their devils, of more accurately CC DeVille, exorcised, POISON are ready to add thoroughbred musicianship to mass popularity. With a new guitarist, Richie Kotzen, ...

Happy Mondays: Working Class Zero

Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 16 November 1991

1990 was the year HAPPY MONDAYS could do no wrong. But this year they've made more headlines than records — Ronnie Biggs, editing Penthouse, the ...

Def Leppard's Joe Elliott (1991)

Interview by Mat Snow, Rock's Backpages audio, December 1991

The Leppard frontman looks back at guitarist Steve Clark's descent into alcoholism and eventual death: how it impacted the making of latest album Adrenalize; guitarist Phil Collen stepping up in Clark's absence; how it is possible for rockers to grow old; the essential escapism of metal, and how marvellously uncool it is.

File format: mp3; file size: 45.4mb, interview length: 47' 15" sound quality: ***

Bob Dylan, Eric Von Schmidt: Eric Von Schmidt on Bob Dylan (1992)

Interview by Larry Jaffee, Rock's Backpages audio, 1992

The venerable folkie looks back to the Yale folk scene, and first meeting Dylan; discusses who actually wrote 'Baby Let Me Follow You Down' — the Rev. Gary Davis? Blind Boy Fuller? Von Schmidt? — and Dylan's magpie tendencies; he also recounts meeting Dylan in London in 1963 with Richard Fariña, and drinking gin and smoking pot.

File format: mp3; file size: 37.8mb, interview length: 39' 47" sound quality: ** (phoner)

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. ...

Flowered Up: Crocus Pocus

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 ...

El DeBarge: Storm Warning

Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 19 May 1992

FLASHBACK: it's 1989 and El DeBarge is sitting in a conference room at Motown Records discussing his then new album, Gemini (his first in three ...

Cypress Hill: The Disciples of Pot

Interview by Rob Tannenbaum, Rolling Stone, 28 May 1992

Cypress Hill says marijuana's getting a bad rap ...

Drug Culture As Pop Culture

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 ...

The Shamen: Open up your head

Interview by Helen Mead, i-D, June 1992

After achieving pop success and suffering the death of Will Sin last year, the Shamen are back.New singer, new songs, but an enduring interest in ...

Gathering of the Tribes

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 ...

Altern-8, Derrick May, Orbital, Spiral Tribe: The Techno Revolution

Report by Simon Reynolds, Details, July 1992

Four years after its invention in a Detroit bedroom, techno is now dominating dance floors from London to L.A. Is it the next musical insurrection ...

What's Your Tipple?

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 ...

Guns N' Roses, Izzy Stradlin: Izzy Stradlin: Happy to be fretting out on his own

Report and Interview by David Sinclair, The Times, 12 October 1992

Izzy Stradlin, lead guitarist with Guns N' Roses, has left the band he helped to create. Now, as he tells David Sinclair, he plays to ...

The Shamen: Brixton Academy, London

Live Review by Simon Price, Melody Maker, 17 October 1992

CHAS N'RAVE ...

Flowered Up, Right Said Fred: Flowered Up: Sex Pistils

Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 31 October 1992

  YOU HEAR all these outrageous rumours about Flowered Up. About lavish parties which degenerate into Roman orgies where whole mansions get trashed while Kylie and ...

Etta James: Rollin' With Etta

Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 1 November 1992

Etta James has sung and lived the blues, but these are good times for the R&B matriarch bound for the Rock and Roll Hall of ...

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 ...

Sade

Interview by Bill Holdship, Pulse!, December 1992

Cool, smooth & refreshing, Britain's sultry siren of song checks in with her first new album in four years, Love Deluxe. ...

Megadeth's Dave Mustaine (1992)

Interview by Andy Gill, Rock's Backpages audio, Fall 1992

The Megadeth leader talks about taking up Martial Arts; keeping it simple on stage; about not being such a dickhead anymore; his time with Metallica, and getting fired; his huge drug intake, and getting clean; being a father; his religious beliefs, and his view of the world and politics.

File format: mp3; file size: 55.2mb, interview length: 57' 27" sound quality: **** (after a dodgy start)

Where now for Manchester?

Report by John Robb, i-D, April 1993

Three years ago Manchester was famous for flares, clubs and the Happy Mondays. Now it's guns, drugs and violence. How accurate is the city's media ...

Cockney Rebel, Steve Harley: Steve Harley: How I Survived, by the Cocaine Rebel

Interview by Mal Peachey, Mail On Sunday, 2 May 1993

  ONCE STEVE Harley had it all. Every song he wrote was a hit, every friend he made was famous and every lover was a fashion ...

Reefer Redux: Why Pot Is Hot

Essay by Richard Goldstein, The Village Voice, 22 June 1993

"Let me tell you about the first time I got high. It was 1966, and I was a young reporter... There, sitting on the floor, ...

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. ...

Lisa Stansfield: Singing The Booze

Interview by Nick Coleman, Time Out, 13 October 1993

She speaks as she finds, does Lisa Stansfield. Over in Dublin cutting her third album, So Natural, she lays it on the line about heavy ...

Larry Levan: Paradise Lost

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, ...

The Shangri-Las: Shadow Morton (1993)

Interview by Tony Scherman, Rock's Backpages audio, Fall 1993

The legendary songwriter/producer takes us back to his days in the Brill Building: the Shangri-Las' '(Remember) Walking In The Sand'; the people who surrounded him: Leiber & Stoller, Jeff Barry & Ellie Greenwich, George Goldner, Cynthia Weill & Barry Mann, and Seymour Stein; Kama Sutra and Red Bird records; the insanity of the scene, and his personal style. He also talks about his Brooklyn and Long Island childhood, his alcoholism, his break from music and surviving his aneurysm.

File format: mp3; file size: 118.3mb, interview length: 2h 03' 14" sound quality: ** (background noise)

Cypress Hill And The New US Rap

Report by David Bennun, Melody Maker, 19 February 1994

IN AMERICA, rap is big, big business. ...

Elastica, John Lydon, S*M*A*S*H, These Animal Men: Speed: Sinus Of The Times

Report by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 19 March 1994

Hey, you! Are you trying to coat your lungs with a half-pound bag of baking soda mixed with industrial-strength heroin and dealer's dandruff? STEVEN 'Just ...

Jefferson Airplane, Moby Grape, Skip Spence: Skip Spence: The Next Big That Never Was

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Angel, L.A. Weekly, 25 March 1994

IT'S EARLY December, 1966, at San Francisco's Avalon Ballroom. The Summer of Love is a good seven months off, the Avalon scene still small and ...

Marvin Gaye: The Ostend of the Road

Film/DVD/TV Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 28 March 1994

Arena's vivid documentary evokes Marvin Gaye's final years ...

Rick James: The Untold Story

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 ...

Dr. John (1994)

Interview by Andy Schwartz, Rock's Backpages audio, 18 April 1994

The erstwhile Night Tripper on writing his autobiography Under a Hoodoo Moon; on the New Orleans music business — the rip-offs, lousy studios, useless Musician's Union, Jim Garrison; on his new album Television; on drugs and recovery; on moving to New York City; on the modern recording scene (and being sampled by Beck); on his early involvement in N.Y. hip hop... and how he started out just playing for fun.

File format: mp3; file size: 72.1mb, interview length: 1h 15' 03" sound quality: ****

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 ...

Buffalo Tom, Kurt Cobain, The Lemonheads: The Lemonheads: Come On Feel The Suedehead

Report and Interview by John Harris, New Musical Express, 7 May 1994

EVAN DANDO has been marketed as teen sex symbol, scagged out hippy doper and serious artiste, but now THE LEMONHEADS' main squeeze is trying to ...

The Rolling Stones, The Sex Pistols, The Stooges: Nick Kent: Hack From The Brink

Interview by Paul Lester, Melody Maker, 28 May 1994

Wanna find out where MM acquired its taste for livid purple prose? Then let PAUL LESTER introduce you to legendary rock journalist NICK KENT, whose ...

Erasure: Super Stereo Brothers

Interview by Siân Pattenden, Select, June 1994

Erasure: the electronic Status Quo, or bleep-pop's High Score? Insert Coin for three rounds with Mr Andy Bell! ...

Hole, Mother Love Bone, Nirvana: Rock 'N' Roll Suicide?

Report by Paul Elliott, Pete Makowski, Kerrang!, 9 July 1994

Seattle's heroin nightmare continues. First ANDY WOOD of the seminal MOTHER LOVE BONE overdosed and died. Then KURT COBAIN ended his desperate addiction by committing ...

The Breeders

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 ...

Oasis: Shake'n'vac

Report and Interview by Lisa Verrico, Vox, August 1994

They rant against rock'n'rollers in leather keks, yet their hotel-trashing, drug-snorting lifestyle is becoming legendary. Are Oasis hypocrites or Britain's most sussed rock band? ...

Public Enemy: Flavor Flav: Coke Adds Strife

Interview by John Harris, New Musical Express, 13 August 1994

While PUBLIC ENEMY have been lying low for the past two years, errant rapper FLAVOR FLAV has been having very personal, and very public problems ...

Aerosmith, Allman Brothers Band, The Band, Joe Cocker, The Cranberries, Bob Dylan, Green Day, Jane's Addiction, The Orb, The Red Hot Chili Peppers: Woodstock II: Sodden Life Is Rubbish

Report by John Harris, New Musical Express, 27 August 1994

Take 250,000 hippy children (Please! — Ed) and baby boomers reliving the 'glories' of the '60s, stick them in a sea of mud and charge ...

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 ...

Richie Hawtin: Weird Science

Report and Interview by Calvin Bush, i-D, November 1994

Driving and driven. A DJ, record label boss, club promoter and artist, at just 23 Richie Hawtin is pushing his body and music to the ...

Shane MacGowan, The Pogues: Shane MacGowan: Lush life

Interview by Chris Heath, The Face, November 1994

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

The Sabres of Paradise, Andrew Weatherall: Andrew Weatherall: Sabre as a Judge

Interview by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 17 December 1994

ANDREW WEATHERALL was a wanker, but he's alright new. At least that what he tells TED KESSLER in the wake of his girlfriend ditching him ...

Suede: Horse and Hounded

Report and Interview by John Harris, New Musical Express, 14 January 1995

Has it all gone wrong for SUEDE? Dog Man Star not accorded the status they wished for, doubt over Richard Oakes' ability to better Bernard, ...

Jerry Garcia, Grateful Dead: Sandy Troy: Captain Trips — The Life And Fast Times Of Jerry Garcia (Virgin £9.99)

Book Review by Cliff Jones, MOJO, March 1995

IMAGINE BEING able to skip through time and witness historv first-hand. On my own list of happening temporal destinations would be McGoo's Pizza Parlour in ...

Charlie Parker

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 ...

Elton John: Nobody's Perfect

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. ...

Kurt Cobain, Nirvana: Washington's State

Report and Interview by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 8 April 1995

If Cobain's death shook the rock world, its impact on his hometown went off the scales. BARBARA ELLEN visited Seattle to find out how much ...

Grooverider, Moby, Orbital: Tribal and Strife

Report by Andrew Smith, The Guardian, 8 May 1995

The Criminal Justice Act put the rave under House arrest. But it's out and it's phat in Oxfordshire ...

Björk: Army of Her

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

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

Roky Erickson, 13th Floor Elevators: His Own Private Realm: Roky Erickson

Interview by Tom Hibbert, MOJO, June 1995

Come with us now to the home of erstwhile 13th Floor Elevator Roky Erickson: a little shack on the outskirts of reality. And marvel how, ...

Temazepam: Monging Out

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 ...

Dodgy, Menswear, The Prodigy: Glastonbury: "Like Croatia with a bit of music"

Report by Sylvia Patterson, New Musical Express, 1 July 1995

So, apart from ace music, what was it actually like "out there" on the fringes of Glasto's thrilling fields? SYLVIA PATTERSON ventured far to bring ...

Blur: The great escape — live!

Report by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 22 September 1995

Caitlin Moran catches up with Blur's whimsical tour of unlikely seaside resorts ...

Pulp: The Dandy Man Can

Interview by Sylvia Patterson, New Musical Express, 23 September 1995

Wow! Grab your shades, pull on that glitter top and slip into your favourite brown nylon flared trousers 'cos PULP'S JARVIS COCKER is in the ...

Cypress Hill: Back in the Daze

Interview by Andrew Smith, The Face, October 1995

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

E: Safer House

Report by Andrew Smith, The Face, October 1995

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

Tricky: Vampire of the Sensi

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 ...

Juno Reactor: Goa: Trance tripping

Report by Bethan Cole, i-D, November 1995

Goa's legendary party scene has turned a global network of travellers on to its unique sound. Spiritual, psychedelic and blowing up across the world: is ...

Heroin Sells Even As It Kills

Report by Susan Corrigan, i-D, November 1995

JUNK CULTURE IS NOT MERELY FASHIONABLE ANYMORE, IT'S GONE MAINSTREAM Heroin kills two people every week in Glasgow. It's the most common street drug in Manchester. ...

David Lee Roth, Van Halen: David Lee Roth (1995)

Interview by Steven Daly, Rock's Backpages audio, December 1995

The erstwhile Van Halen frontman talks about his youth, and his memories of uncle Manny Roth, who started the Greenwich Village Café Wha?; on being first turned on to music; his love of boats; his current gig playing Las Vegas, and the uniform blandness of the modern world. He also revisits the end of Van Halen and their legacy, and the part cocaine played in their break-up.

File format: mp3; file size: 93.8mb, interview length: 1h 37' 44" sound quality: ***

Charlatans, The (UK): The Charlatans: Up For It

Interview by Dave Simpson, i-D, December 1995

Dismissed as Madchester's also-rans, the Charlatans gave out but never gave up. While their peers crashed and burned, Burgess and his boys simply survived. A ...

Warren Zevon (1995)

Interview by Andy Gill, Rock's Backpages audio, Summer 1995

Zevon talks about recording new album Mutineer using modern technology; his early musical activities including being musical director for the Everly Brothers; his various record labels; his songwriting viewpoint, and not being a cynic; his drink and drugs use, and detoxing; being happy with his career; the success of ‘Werewolves of London’; meeting Stravinsky; novelists he likes; his fascination with the dark side of society; albums like Transverse City and Mr Bad Example; classical and other modern serious music; the Oklahoma bombing; writing with Carl Hiaasen, and writing music for television.

File format: mp3; file size: 103mb, interview length: 1h 47' 16" sound quality: ****

Coolio: Paradise Lost And Found

Profile and Interview by Bethan Cole, i-D, January 1996

Once the grim fictions of gangsta rap were Coolio's reality: gangs, guns, crack addiction, jail. Now he's swapped sin for salvation and notoriety for celebrity. ...

The Stone Roses: Still Storming Heaven

Interview by Dave Simpson, i-D, January 1996

Stoned and dethroned? This was a strange year for the Roses. Resurrection, personal dilemma, professional discontent... and finally, with their first British tour in five ...

Steve Earle (1996)

Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages audio, April 1996

Fourteen months into sobriety, the country rebel discusses his multiple marriages; his anger at the press and ex-colleagues; his admiration for Bruce Springsteen; country radio and the Nashville establishment... and talks at length about addiction and recovery.

File format: mp3; file size: 76.3mb, interview length: 1h 19' 25" sound quality: ****

Steve Earle: New habit for Earle of excess

Profile and Interview by David Sinclair, The Times, 5 April 1996

Country-rocker Steve Earle switched tracks, and feels all the better for it. David Sinclair reports ...

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 ...

Smashing Pumpkins: Mellow, Jolly and the Infinite Madness

Interview by Paul Elliott, Kerrang!, 4 May 1996

It's all gone weird in Amsterdam — the Smashing Pumpkins are eating hash cakes, visiting gay bars, getting chatted up by lesbians and generally having ...

Ultra Sonic: Raveheart

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 ...

A Murder In Clubland?

Report by Frank Owen, The Village Voice, 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 ...

Richard Hell: Go Now

Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, July 1996

RICHARD HELL had an idea earlier this year. ...

Björk: Lunatic Ginge

Interview by Sylvia Patterson, New Musical Express, 20 July 1996

Of course, us pop kids have always known BJÖRK was a nutter, but when she battered a journalist in Bangkok she became tabloid property and, ...

Drugs In Rock Culture: Don’t Try This At Home

Essay by Ian Penman, The Guardian, 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, The Boston Globe, 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, Oasis: The Lemonheads: "I guess I got a little lost there for a while..."

Interview by Sylvia Patterson, New Musical Express, 14 September 1996

It was all going so well for EVAN DANDO and THE LEMONHEADS. Following their 1992 breakthrough album It's A Shame About Ray, Evan was hailed ...

Evan Dando, The Lemonheads: Evan Dando: Reckless Idol Through The Lens Darkly

Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 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 ...

Smashing Pumpkins: Out on a limb

Interview by Pat Blashill, Details, October 1996

Billy Corgan is the zero who became a hero. But when Jonathan Melvoin died and Jimmy Chamberlin was dismissed from the Smashing Pumpkins, the world ...

Blondie, Debbie Harry: The HT Interview: Debbie Harry

Interview by Victor Bockris, High Times, October 1996

(RBP Editor's note — the original article in High Times was printed missing a section. Victor Bockris provided us with material which, in part, filled ...

Alexander O'Neal: Alexander the grateful

Interview by Paul Sexton, The Times, 8 November 1996

Finding God helped soul survivor Alexander O'Neal to straighten up and fly right. Paul Sexton reports ...

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 ...

Johnny Cash: From Rags to Ostriches!

Interview by Sylvia Patterson, New Musical Express, 16 November 1996

Speed, booze, burning mountains, then, of course, the killer ostrich. Country legend JOHNNY CASH has had them all (plus a heap more) and still lived ...

Kurt Cobain, Bob Marley & the Wailers, Elvis Presley, Thin Lizzy, Sid Vicious: Mummy's Little Rock'n'Roll Soldier

Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 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, Black Grape, Boy George, Paul McCartney, Oasis, The Rolling Stones: ...And The Arrest is History: Great Rock'n'Roll Drug Busts Through the Ages

Retrospective by Stuart Bailie, New Musical Express, 25 January 1997

Liam Gallagher's caution for possession of cocaine is the latest in a long line of rock'n'roll drug busts. STUART BAILIE remembers those other pop stars ...

Depeche Mode: Synth and Sensibilities

Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 25 January 1997

Last week Dave Gahan flabbered your collective 'gast with his terrible tale of all-round narcotic foolishness. In the second part of our DEPECHE MODE exclusive ...

The Beatles: The Sound of Acid

Overview by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 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. ...

Goldie, Menswear, Tricky: Pre Millennium Tension

Report by Bethan Cole, i-D, March 1997

Adolescent angst and twentysomething trauma used to be something of a cliché. But no longer. With admissions of young people to hospital at an all-time ...

Manic Street Preachers: Richey Edwards: Missing street preacher

Retrospective by Andy Beckett, The Independent, 2 March 1997

LATE LAST MONDAY night, near the weary end of the televised blare called the Brits Awards, three dressed-down Welshmen — two small, one awkwardly tall ...

Robbie Williams: The devil in the teen angel

Interview by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 18 April 1997

Basically, Robbie Williams should not have been in Take That. He was much better suited to Bad Boys Inc ...

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 ...

Peter Green: Things are rosier for Peter Green, but does he still have the blues?

Report and Interview by Colin Harper, The Scotsman, 5 May 1997

"I JUST took too many LSD trips," says Peter Green. "I couldn't get back from it – I didn't want to get back ... I ...

Heroin: Pop's killing fields

Report by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 16 May 1997

Heroin abuse is gaining depressing and dangerous ground among music's super-famous ...

Sly & the Family Stone: On The Record: Sly & the Family Stone

Book Excerpt by Joel Selvin, Simon & Schuster, July 1997

Introduction & Voices ...

Status Quo Keep It Real

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 ...

Thomas Jefferson Kaye, Bob Neuwirth: A Movie For David Geffen

Retrospective and Interview by Al Aronowitz, The Blacklisted Journalist, 1 July 1997

I. WHEN I TELL people that Bobby Neuwirth was one of the hippest men I ever knew, they say, "Who?" They want to know didn't I ...

The Jesus & Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, Oasis, Primal Scream: Alan McGee: The father of Creation

Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 5 July 1997

Hedonism was a way of life for Alan McGee. And who would expect anything less from the man behind Oasis? But the road to pop-tycoon ...

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 ...

Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne: Ozzy Osbourne (1997)

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: ****

Keith Richards (1997) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages transcripts, November 1997

This is a transcript of Barney's audio interview with Keith. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Shane MacGowan, The Pogues: 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 ...

Jamiroquai: Battersea Power Station, London

Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 16 December 1997

ON THE face of it, Jamiroquai are an unlikely group to excite the passions they do. Singer Jason "Jay" Kay is the only member familiar ...

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, ...

Scott Weiland: Lone Temple Pilot

Interview by James Hunter, Details, January 1998

"TODAY, I am not suffering," Scott Weiland says. "I am not dope sick." The frontman for Stone Temple Pilots claims his fuckup days are behind ...

Frankie Lymon

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 ...

Drugs: Ill Communication

Report by Sheryl Garratt, The Face, March 1998

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

Marilyn Manson: The Long Road Out of Hell (ReganBooks)

Book Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 19 March 1998

MANSON'S LITTLE BLACK BOOK: MARILYN MANSON UNLEASHES THE ULTIMATE TELL-ALL ...

Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page/Robert Plant: Page & Plant: Help! The Aged!

Interview by Sylvia Patterson, New Musical Express, 28 March 1998

Hey! Come back! Haven't you heard? Old blokes are cool, the past is the future and prog rock is back. In fact, the perfect time ...

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 ...

A Guy Called Gerald, Bomb The Bass, Happy Mondays, Paul Oakenfold, Oasis, Orbital, Primal Scream, Danny Rampling, T-Coy, Andrew Weatherall: Acid House: '88 State

Retrospective and Interview by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 25 April 1998

Disco biscuits, gurning, raves, sartorial bonkersness, and, um, Guru Josh! The ACID HOUSE scene brought us many things when it exploded in 1988; it also ...

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 ...

Cigarettes: 121,000 deaths a year; Alcohol: 33,000 deaths a year; Ecstasy: between twenty and one hundred deaths in the last ten years

Report by Toby Manning, Jockey Slut, August 1998

CIGARETTES AND ALCOHOL KILL 400 TIMES MORE PEOPLE EVERY YEAR THAN DEATHS FROM ALL ILLEGAL DRUGS PUT TOGETHER. SO WHY ARE THEY LEGAL WHILE OTHER ...

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 ...

Grateful Dead: Ken Kesey: The prank outsider

Interview by Max Bell, The Evening Standard, 12 August 1998

In the Sixties the Beatles stitched him up. But chemically challenged cult novelist Ken Kesey still loves London in the summer. MAX BELL meets the ...

Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Elvis Presley, Super Furry Animals: Consuming Passions: Howard Marks

Interview by Terry Staunton, Uncut, September 1998

Skinning up from Lennon's stash box, securing dentures with a luxury adhesive, and watching lizards drown in brandy — a typical evening at home with ...

The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, International Submarine Band, Gram Parsons: Gram Parsons: Another Country

Retrospective by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 12 September 1998

Twenty-five years ago, Gram Parsons died in a remote desert motel, the victim of a prodigious appetite for drugs and alcohol that shocked even Keith ...

Marilyn Manson: The Love Song of Marilyn Manson

Special Feature by Chris Heath, Rolling Stone, 15 October 1998

In which our hero, trapped in the hills of Los Angeles, finds a girl, discovers his emotions and consumes copious amounts of drugs ...

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 ...

Death of a Disco Dancer

Report by Frank Owen, The Village Voice, 9 February 1999

New details about Tunnel drug overdose allegation ...

Arthur Lee: Love hurts

Retrospective and Interview by Sara Scribner, L.A. Weekly, 25 March 1999

SOMETHING ABOUT Arthur Lee invites myth. Lee – the cantankerous, charismatic singer and guitarist of the groundbreaking yet largely forgotten band Love – inspires tales ...

Paul Oakenfold (1999) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Frank Broughton, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 7 April 1999

This is a transcript of Frank's audio interview with Paul. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Suede: Glorious Kinky

Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 30 April 1999

It is ten years since Suede released their seminal debut album. Caroline Sullivan meets one of the most influential bands of the nineties ...

Sammy Hagar, Metallica: Bottoms up: Topping the Billboard

Comment by Chuck Eddy, The Village Voice, 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, ...

Happy Mondays: 192-Hour Party People

Report and Interview by Jack Barron, Melody Maker, 15 May 1999

The Kings of hedonism HAPPY MONDAYS have just completed their triumphant eight-date comeback tour. We joined them on the road to hear about their slightly ...

Ike Turner, Ike & Tina Turner: Ike Turner: What Love Had To Do With It

Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 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 ...

Shack: Mersey Blues

Interview by Tom Doyle, The Face, June 1999

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

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 ...

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, The Guardian, 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, The Guardian, 11 September 1999

Diva takes a nosedive ...

Alice In Chains: Music Bank

Review by David Bennun, The Guardian, 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 ...

The Chemical Brothers: Dark Side of the Rave

Report by Pat Blashill, Rolling Stone, 11 November 1999

Drug deaths and police crackdowns threaten the national rave scene ...

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 ...

Glen Campbell

Profile and Interview by David Bennun, The Guardian, 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 ...

Primal Scream: "I Am A Drug Addict"

Profile and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, Select, February 2000

Primal Scream are off the smack (but not the speed, coke and E) and on a mission – kill Sporty Spice, kick the shit out ...

Curtis Mayfield: The Soul of Soul: Curtis Mayfield 1942–1999

Obituary by Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone, 3 February 2000

"EVERYTHING WAS A SONG," Curtis Mayfield once said. "Every conversation, every personal hurt, every observance of people in stress, happiness and love ... if you ...

Machine Head: Truth Or Dare

Interview by Ben Myers, Kerrang!, 15 February 2000

For some bands, Kerrang!'s legendary Truth Or Dare grilling provides the opportunity to delve into their respective psyches. For Machine Head it's an excuse to ...

Primal Scream: Bobby Gillespie

Interview by Tom Doyle, Q, March 2000

Mr Primal Scream was "remedial" in Geography, but that doesn't matter now he's a reckless rock'n'roll revolutionary on the way to the chemist with an ...

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, ...

The Life and Work of Basquiat

Essay by Victor Bockris, Gadfly, May 2000

Somebody once asked who Andy Warhol reminded me of. My answer, Muhammad Ali, tickled the artist so much that he used the statement in a ...

Warren Zevon (2000)

Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages audio, May 2000

Taking tea in Soho's brand-new Sanderson Hotel, the great singer-songwriter talks about... well, almost everything: getting older; being perceived as a "dark" moralist; not being commercial; his good pal Jackson Browne; David Geffen; addiction, sobriety and therapy; his parents; plus songwriting and his diffidence in talking about it.

File format: mp3; total file size: 43.6mb, interview length: 45' 22" sound quality: ***

Wu-Tang Clan is Sumthing ta Fuck Wit

Report by Frank Owen, The Village Voice, 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 ...

Kyuss, Queens Of The Stone Age: Queens of the Stone Age make an offer you can't refuse

Interview by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 29 July 2000

"SOME OF YOU DRUGGERS, SOME OF YOU SOBER PEOPLE, SOME OF YOU SEX FIENDS, SOME OF YOU VIRGINS. COME TO OUR CLIQUE. YOU JOIN THE ...

Robbie Williams: Maximum Bob

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, 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 ...

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 ...

Finley Quaye

Interview by Dorian Lynskey, Select, October 2000

Soup Is Blood! Tony Blair's Baby Was Born At Sea! Finley Ouaye Is Reborn As A Manic Street Preacher And He'll Smack You If You ...

Jason Donovan: Jason gets sorted

Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 19 October 2000

Jason Donovan was the golden boy of soap and pop 10 years ago. Then he went bald and it all fell apart. Now he's reinvented ...

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. ...

Jimmy Reed, Emancipator of the South: An Oral History

Retrospective and Interview by Joe Nick Patoski, Blues Access, Summer 2000

IT BEGINS WITH the discovery of a black-and-white photograph dated 1961. The setting is Walker's Auditorium, a chitlin' circuit showcase for touring black musicians in ...

Silverchair: From Despair To Here

Interview by Steve Mascord, Kerrang!, 10 February 2001

NOTE: This is the original "director's cut" version of the piece that ran in the Kerrang! ...

Trick Daddy: Trouble in Motion

Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, The Source, April 2001

On the run from the ghetto vices of hard drugs, fast women and sheisty po-po, Trick Daddy sees peace at the finish line. But is ...

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 ...

Catatonia, Cerys Matthews: Cerys Matthews: "I'll end up a spinster, like my role model Anne Widdecombe"

Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 20 July 2001

A year ago, after a rumoured nervous breakdown, a rift within the band and a cancelled tour, the music press had consigned Cerys Matthews and ...

Drugs: Out of Control?

Report by Toby Manning, The Face, August 2001

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

Crazy Town: U are now entering Crazy Town

Interview by David A. Keeps, Rolling Stone, 2 August 2001

Population: Six metalheads hung up on hip-hop, tattoos drugs, crime, rehab and surviving their stint on this summer's Ozzfest ...

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, The Independent, 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 ...

Whitney Houston, OutKast: Whitney Houston: Houston, still a problem

Review by Lisa Verrico, The Times, 4 January 2002

Troubled superstar Whitney Houston overdoses on sugar, says Lisa Verrico ...

Bad Religion, Black Flag, The Offspring, Social Distortion, X: The violence. The drugs. The death. From Black Flag and Social Distortion to Bad Religion and The Offspring, this is the story of 20 years of LA punk.

Retrospective by Ian Winwood, Kerrang!, 19 January 2002

On the long, straight drive from Los Angeles airport, down a curving freeway, past oil wells and gas stations, diners and office supply stores, onto ...

Rehab'n'Roll

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. ...

Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Robbie Williams: The Rat Pack: Boys Keep Swinging

Retrospective by Dorian Lynskey, Q, February 2002

They were a gang of hard-drinking, soft-crooning, middle-aged smart alecs, and they were the walking, talking, wise-cracking definition of cool. Now, half a century later, ...

Marianne Faithfull: Rock Steady

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, The Guardian, 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 ...

Dexys Midnight Runners, Kevin Rowland: Kevin Rowland: A dark knight of the soul

Interview by Simon Price, The Independent, 5 April 2002

When his solo album bombed in 1999, Kevin Rowland considered retiring. Now he's back on tour and plugging a re-release of Dexy's Midnight Runners' greatest ...

Lisa Lopes, TLC: Lisa Lopes: Rollercoaster career of a troubled star

Obituary by Lisa Verrico, The Times, 27 April 2002

THE POP world lost one of its most colourful characters yesterday with the death of Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes. ...

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 ...

Nick Cave, Michael Hutchence, Johnny O'Keefe, Paul Kelly (singer-songwriter): Co-Dependent: A Potted History of Drugs and Australian Music

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, The Nation, 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 ...

Alice In Chains: The Man Boxed In: Layne Staley, 1967-2002

Obituary by Jason Cohen, Spin, July 2002

LAYNE STALEY was already something of a ghost. Alice in Chains, the Seattle band he'd fronted since 1987, was officially on "hiatus," a two-year respite ...

The Flaming Lips: Waitin' for a superman

Interview by Paul Lester, Uncut, August 2002

The Flaming Lips, the world's most inventive band, have followed up Uncut's album of 1999, The Soft Bulletin, with a record about death, overcoming sadness, ...

Grateful Dead: Dennis McNally: A Long Strange Trip – The inside history of the Grateful Dead (Broadway Books)

Book Review by Will Hermes, The New York Times, 25 August 2002

Do Not Speak Ill of the Dead ...

The Rolling Stones: The Crowning of King Mick

Retrospective by Chris Salewicz, The 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, The Guardian, 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 ...

Hanoi Rocks

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 ...

Evan Dando: Baby I'm Back

Interview by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 8 March 2003

FEW ROCK'N'ROLLERS have crashed from such a spectacular height as Evan Dando. Fewer still live to tell the tale. In 1992, he was primed to ...

Evan Dando: Baby I'm Bored

Review and Interview by Max Bell, Uncut, April 2003

The mighty Lemonhead gets seven-year-itch and returns a much-changed man. ...

Fleetwood Mac (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: ****

Jane's Addiction: Is this the band that saved rock?

Profile and Interview by Lisa Verrico, The Times, 30 July 2003

Groundbreaking rock band Jane's Addiction are back to inspire a new generation of fans. ...

The Libertines: The decline and fall of the Albion Empire

Profile and Interview by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 20 September 2003

THE LAST TIME Pete Doherty and Carl Barat played on the same stage together was at the summit of the Libertines' explosive career in May. ...

The Byrds, David Crosby: David Crosby: A Long Strange Trip

Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, November 2003

Over the past 40 years David Crosby has done it all, from crafting transcendental, psychedelic harmonies for the Byrds and CSNY to living a life ...

Hundred Reasons: A Cut Above

Interview by Ian Winwood, Kerrang!, 8 November 2003

Hundred Reasons make terrible rock stars. They do, however, make fantastic rock albums. This despite being crippled by panic attacks, chronic geekyness and rampant alcohol ...

David Amram, Jack Kerouac: David Amram's Beat Memories

Retrospective and Interview by Victor Bockris, High Times, December 2003

David Amram is an American treasure. A multi-instrumentalist who can play in all styles, he's composed classical concertos and symphonies, accompanied poets on spoken-word records, ...

Chet Baker

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 ...

Lenny Bruce

Book Excerpt by Gene Santoro, 'Highway 61 Revisited', 2004

THE SCENE: MIAMI in 1951. A 25-year-old strip show emcee initiates his first public demonstration of what would, decades later, be called performance art. It ...

The Move: Hello Goodbye: Ace Kefford and the Move

Interview by Mark Paytress, MOJO, February 2004

Hello: October 1965 ...

The Distillers: The Ballad of Brody Dalle

Interview by Sylvia Patterson, The Face, February 2004

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

Elliott Smith: You've Got To Hide Your Love Away

Retrospective and Interview by RJ 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 ...

Walter Yetnikoff with David Ritz: Howling at the Moon (Little, Brown)

Book Review by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 22 February 2004

DURING WALTER Yetnikoff's reign as president of CBS Records (later Sony Music), the music industry generated unprecedented profits, and commensurately large corporate egos. ...

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 ...

Pink: Shocking Pink

Interview by Ian Watson, The Evening Standard, 18 March 2004

She nearly killed herself with drugs, but now pop's wild child has cleaned up her act. As she prepares to play Wembley, Pink tells Ian ...

Stairway To Hell

Essay by Nick Kent, The Guardian, 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 ...

Marvin Gaye: Time Machine June 1981: Marvin the Paranoid Singer

Retrospective by Fred Dellar, MOJO, June 2004

"MARVIN GAYE'S British tour is back on again," claimed a press report. "The dates originally announced were scrapped 48 hours later, on the grounds that ...

Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver: Velvet Revolver's Slash (2004) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages transcripts, June 2004

This is a transcript of Adam's audio interview with Slash. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

The Red Hot Chili Peppers: Red Hot Chili Peppers

Profile and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, July 2004

Clowntime is over for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the L.A. punks who defied death, grunge and a burning crack den to play the music ...

Wilco: Troubled troubadours

Interview by Tim Cooper, The Evening Standard, 9 July 2004

After a decade of crises that would have finished off most bands, Wilco are back ...

Gil Scott-Heron: Chasing The Heron

Report and Interview by James Maycock, The Times, 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 ...

Mark Lanegan: Bubblegum

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 ...

Crosby and Nash: Crosby & Nash: O Lucky Men!

Interview by Andy Gill, The Word, October 2004

David Crosby is rock's most improbable survivor; Graham Nash one bolshie hippie from Manchester. Together they make music so pure it disappears into the ether. ...

Johnny Cash: The Gunslinger

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, The Times, 17 December 2004

Fans deify Pete Doherty for his 'old school' hedonism. Actually, he's a tragic junkie du jour ...

Mary J. Blige (2005) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Gavin Martin, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 2005

This is a transcription of Gavin's audio interview with Mary J. Blige. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz: Lil Jon: Time to crunk it up

Report and Interview by Angus Batey, The Times, 15 January 2005

He's crazy. He's drunk. He is "crunk". Angus Batey meets Lil Jon ...

Marianne Faithfull

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 – ...

Terry Farley (2005)

Interview by Bill Brewster, Frank Broughton, Rock's Backpages audio, 23 February 2005

The pioneering House DJ tells the whole story, from a tin bath in Notting Dale to Shoom and beyond: his youth in Slough; discovering the club Crackers; the soul all-dayers and weekenders; the warehouse scene and rare groove; the dawn of House and Ecstacy; the opening of Shoom; his and Andrew Weatherall's Boy's Own fanzine; Danny Rampling; the emergence of the superstar DJ... and House's longevity.

File format: mp3; file size: 117.9mb, interview length: 2h 02' 50" sound quality: ****

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? ...

Billie Holiday: Julia Blackburn: With Billie (Cape)

Book Review by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 27 March 2005

BILLIE HOLIDAY famously led a chaotic, dissolute life that has attracted biographers like rubberneckers to a car crash. ...

Dr. John: The MOJO Interview

Interview by Paul Trynka, MOJO, April 2005

Shopped by Zappa, hooked on heroin and chased by the Feds, Dr. John dodged death and digit loss to become New Orleans' "fonk" ambassador in ...

Judee Sill: Spirited Away

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 ...

Roky Erickson, 13th Floor Elevators: Roky Erickson: I Have Always Been Here Before – The Roky Erickson Anthology

Review and Interview by Luke Torn, Uncut, May 2005

Astral Peaks: thirty years of incandescent psychedelia from rock's mercurial "madman". ...

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 ...

Circulus, The Incredible String Band: Nowt so queer as acid folk

Report and Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 15 July 2005

In a parallel world alongside mainstream rock lies a folk revival. Pete Paphides enters the zone ...

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, The Herald, 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 ...

Babyshambles: Down in Albion

Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 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 ...

David Crosby, The Eagles, Joni Mitchell: Barney Hoskyns: Hotel California – Singer-Songwriters & Cocaine Cowboys in the L.A. Canyons, 1967-1976

Book Review by Nick Coleman, Independent on Sunday, 13 November 2005

DOES NARCISSISM have a sound? If it does, it is surely a dulcet, soft, melodic, tender sound. The music – for narcissism is nothing if ...

The Darkness: The gathering Darkness

Interview by Simon Price, The Independent, 13 November 2005

What a year it's been for Lowestoft's campest band of brothers. They've lost a bass player, found a new one (it took, ooh, seconds) and ...

Babyshambles: Down In Albion

Review by Johnny Sharp, MOJO, January 2006

SOME PUBLIC figures make reality TV shows about their turbulent tabloid lives. Here, Pete Doherty and his band have made Being Pete Doherty — The ...

Nick Drake: Trevor Dann: Darker Than The Deepest Sea – The Search for Nick Drake (Portrait)

Book Review by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 5 February 2006

THIS BOOK IS surprisingly topical, and not just because of the deepening spell cast by Nick Drake, the English singer-songwriter, 31 years after his death. ...

Candi Staton: "I was so drunk I fell on to the stage"

Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 24 March 2006

DISCO DIVA CANDI STATON lost everything to alcohol and abuse, but the song she recorded for a diet video saved her. Now, at 66, she's ...

Leaf Hound: Growers Of Mushroom

Retrospective and Interview by Colin Harper, MOJO, May 2006

Horror stories, heavy riffs and heroic failure. ...

Michael Head, The Pale Fountains, Shack: Shack (2006)

Interview by Gavin Martin, Rock's Backpages audio, May 2006

John Head talks about the brothers' childhood; borrowing his dad's guitar, the family being musical, and their mother's death. Mick Head talks about becoming a musician and forming the Pale Fountains; signing to Virgin, John joining the band; moving to London and the end of the Pale Fountains. Mick talks about his heroin habit and being a songwriter. They talk about returning to Liverpool and starting Shack; the albums Zilch and Waterpistol; backing Love's Arthur Lee; kicking heroin and recording H.M.S. Fable; the new album ... the Corner of Miles and Gil; getting his teeth knocked out, and signing to Noel Gallagher's label.

File format: mp3; file size: 92.4mb, interview length: 1h 36' 13" sound quality: ** (background noise)

Shack: Heads Down: Shack

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 ...

Johnny Thunders: In Cold Blood: The Death of Johnny Thunders

Retrospective by Kris Needs, MOJO, June 2006

How much do we know about the death of Johnny Thunders? That it was murder, says Kris Needs. ...

New York Dolls: Make-up America!

Retrospective and Interview by Kris Needs, MOJO, June 2006

In 1971 Manhattan, five teenage toughs in make-up, tried to kick-start the punk revolution. By 1976 the New York Dolls seemed finished, poleaxed by drugs, ...

Syd Barrett, 1946-2006

Obituary by Alan Clayson, The Guardian, 11 July 2006

Former lead singer of Pink Floyd whose drug-induced breakdown and reclusive retirement created a musical legend ...

Blaze Foley: The Fall and Rise of Blaze Foley

Retrospective by Joe Nick Patoski, No Depression, September 2006

THE BLACK GRANITE headstone is lost among the other markers in the Live Oak Cemetery in deep South Austin. Several small objects including a small ...

Rehab: The Funky Check-In

Report by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 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 ...

Primal Scream: Bobby Gillespie

Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, November 2006

He's the jive-talking jackdaw who's led Primal Scream through foul weather and, er...foul. Yet, 22 years on, what has Bobby Gillespie learned? "It's not nice ...

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. ...

Amy Winehouse: She's Class with a Glass: Amy Winehouse

Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Times, 3 November 2006

Cockney chanteuse Amy Winehouse thinks rehab is for wimps. But will her battles with her addictive personality deprive her of her rightful place in musical ...

Courtney Love: Love, Actually

Profile and Interview by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 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, The Times, 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 ...

Status Quo: Whatever You Want (To Eat): Having Lunch With Status Quo

Interview by Rob Fitzpatrick, The Word, December 2006

Note: This is the original "director's cut" version of the piece that ran in The Word. ...

Babyshambles: The Blinding (Capitol)

Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 3 December 2006

WHEN Rough Trade Records released Babyshambles’ debut album, Down in Albion, early this year, it was a natural pairing: a maverick U.K. independent label of ...

The Gutter Twins, The Twilight Singers: Bad news boys

Profile and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 8 December 2006

Tattoos, drugs, beatings, stalkers, prison, betrayal and years of making great music — could Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan be any more rock'n'roll? They talk ...

Judee Sill: A Brief Life, an Enduring Musical Impression

Retrospective by Tim Page, The Washington Post, 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, The Guardian, 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 ...

Peter Perrett

Report and Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, February 2007

The Only One wants to cut one more LP "before death comes". ...

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 ...

Elliott Smith: New Moon

Review by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, June 2007

Astonishing Two-Disc Trove Of Unreleased Mid-'90s Vintage. ...

The Only Ones: Night Of The Living Dead

Report and Interview by David Sinclair, The Word, 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 ...

Blur: Alex James: Where There's Muck, There's Blur

Interview by James Medd, The Word, July 2007

Britpop pin-up, champagne-guzzler and gentleman farmer... Just how much of Alex James's extraordinary life has gone into his new book? ...

The Libertines: Up The Bracket

Review by Paul Moody, Uncut, July 2007

Before the supermodels, the drug busts and the tabloid fallouts, Doherty and Barat cooked up a little cracker. ...

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 ...

The Beatles, The Rolling Stones: Summer of Love: London

Retrospective by Alan Light, Rolling Stone, 12 July 2007

Tightly knit, decadent and explosively creative, the scene was too good to last ...

Sly & the Family Stone: Sly Stone's Higher Power

Profile and Interview by David Kamp, Vanity Fair, August 2007

Sly Stone vanished into rumor in the 1980s, remembered only by the great songs ('I Want to Take You Higher', 'Dance to the Music') he ...

Stevie Nicks: A Survivor's Story

Profile and Interview by Mick Brown, Telegraph Magazine, 8 September 2007

Thirty years after she sold her soul to the devil and, with Fleetwood Mac, set new records for rock'n'roll overindulgence, Stevie Nicks has somehow lived ...

Eric Clapton: The Autobiography (Century)

Book Review by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 14 October 2007

IT IS HARD to believe that the first book to spill the beans on Eric Clapton should arrive more than 40 years after the graffitied ...

Mötley Crüe: Ban this Sixx filth!

Report by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 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 ...

Lily Allen, Amy Winehouse: I need a break, what shall I have: heroin or a baby?

Comment by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 20 December 2007

As Amy Winehouse's problems mount, and Lily Allen announces that she is pregnant, Caitlin Moran explains that the two young singers are under the same ...

Mötley Crüe: Nikki Sixx

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 ...

Sia: A woman on the verge

Interview by Lisa Verrico, The Sunday Times, 30 December 2007

Sia has endured failure and heartache, but the Australian singer's luck is starting to turn ...

Jay-Z: Change the Game

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. ...

Willy DeVille

Retrospective and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, 2008

The artist formally known as Mink demonstrates a direct and colourful use of language as he discusses his rich and varied career with David Burke. ...

Amy Winehouse: Killing Me Softly

Report by Paul Elliott, MOJO, January 2008

She is the finest female vocalist of her generation, but in 2007 Amy Winehouse became an easy mark for the tabloids, with tales of drugs, ...

Amy Winehouse: Life Imitating Art...

Comment by Kate Mossman, The Word, January 2008

...imitating life. When did Amy Winehouse start to inhabit her songs, wonders KATE MOSSMAN. ...

Kate Nash: Singing oh oh on a Friday night

Interview by Scott McLennan, Rip It Up (Australia), January 2008

WHILE TOM MORELLO strums away in his Nightwatchman guise around the corner, British newcomer Kate Nash is sitting backstage in her dressing room at the ...

Amy Winehouse: The Slow Blackout of Amy Winehouse

Comment by Amy Linden, The Village Voice, 15 January 2008

How a troubled r&b mega-talent's breakout hit turned against her ...

Amy Winehouse: How popular is crack?

Comment by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 23 January 2008

FOOTAGE HAS emerged of the troubled songstress Amy Winehouse apparently smoking crack at her home in east London. The substance is widely regarded as the ...

Amy Winehouse: Why Amy Winehouse is On The Rocks

Essay by Nick Kent, The Times, 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 ...

Grant Hart: Intolerance

Review by Roy Wilkinson, MOJO, March 2008

This month in our dusting-off of the ignored: post-punk's answer to Lou Reed's Transformer. ...

The Black Crowes: The Return of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers

Interview by Paul Elliott, MOJO, April 2008

After seven years in the wilderness, the Black Crowes, America's freewheelin', dope-smokin', warring Blues Brotherhood are back. And this time their singer Chris Robinson is ...

The Byrds, Gene Clark, Bob Dylan, Gram Parsons, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Gene Clark remembered: "Genius and insanity hand in hand…"

Retrospective by Luke Torn, Uncut, May 2008

IT'S ANOTHER DAY in the busy life of one of the biggest bands in America. The Byrds have just recorded 'Eight Miles High', and are ...

Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks: The Q Interview: Stevie Nicks: "I had to be strong otherwise I would never have gotten through all this."

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, The Sunday Times, 27 July 2008

Her phenomenal talent has been eclipsed by her terrifying ability to self-destruct. Can anything save Amy from herself? ...

Cheech & Chong: Lost in the ozone again

Interview by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 17 September 2008

CHEECH MARIN AND Tommy Chong require little introduction. The countercultural comedy heroes turned movie superstars took several decades off to pursue solo careers (and Chong ...

Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five: Grandmaster Flash (2009) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Andrew Purcell, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 2009

This is a transcript of Andrew's audio interview with Flash. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Sly & the Family Stone: There's a Riot Goin' On

Review by Stevie Chick, bbc.co.uk, 2009

Dark, troubled and brilliant funk from kaleidoscopic soul-rock legends ...

The Notorious B.I.G., Puff Daddy: Notorious (dir. George Tillman Jr.)

Film/DVD/TV Review by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, January 2009

Despite some excellent acting and drama, Notorious biopic whitewashes Biggie Small’s gangsta life and death ...

Lily Allen: Celebrity: Lily Allen

Interview by James Medd, GQ (Australia), February 2009

She's released a new album and that string of expletives at Elton John at the UK Men of the Year Awards. So how will GQ ...

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 ...

Fatboy Slim, Paul Oakenfold: Superstar DJs: Here We Go! by Dom Phillips

Book Review by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 1 March 2009

They're mostly gone now, but back in the 1990s Britain's superjocks could coin thousands for a single night. A lucid history charts their excesses ...

The Mamas and The Papas, John Phillips: 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 ...

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. ...

Roky Erickson: He has never been here before …

Interview by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 28 October 2009

ALTHOUGH THERE ARE certainly other candidates, the man born Roger Kynard Erickson 62 years ago in Dallas, Texas, just might be the greatest rock 'n' ...

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. ...

Snoop (Doggy) Dogg: The new mellow Snoop Dogg still has bite

Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Times, 4 December 2009

Snoop Dogg: "Now that I'm more concerned and caring and a father and a husband — it seems the less respect I get" ...

Julian Casablancas on the Strokes and going solo

Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Sunday Times, 18 January 2010

He's the privileged kid who with The Strokes shaped the future of, among others, Kings Of Leon and Arctic Monkeys. Now he's all alone ...

John Lennon, Harry Nilsson, Phil Spector: Going Under: John Lennon's Lost Weekend

Retrospective and Interview by Tom Doyle, Q, February 2010

Separated from Yoko, at war with McCartney, his phone tapped by the US government... by 1974 JOHN LENNON was a mess. The solution: hook up ...

Gil Scott-Heron: An Interview

Interview by Rob Fitzpatrick, Daily Telegraph, 17 February 2010

NOTE: This is the original "director's cut" version of the piece that ran in the Daily Telegraph. ...

Nick Kent, The Rolling Stones, The Sex Pistols: Nick Kent: Apathy for the Devil – A 1970s Memoir

Book Review by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 21 February 2010

AS AN EYEWITNESS account of the dangerous excesses of the 1970s rock scene, Apathy for the Devil is in a compulsively readable class of its ...

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, The Guardian, 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 ...

Bob Gibson: Unsung Heroes: Bob Gibson

Retrospective by Mick Houghton, Uncut, March 2010

From the dawn of the folk revival – a clean-cut junkie troubadour... ...

Gil Scott-Heron

Profile and Interview by John Lewis, Hotline, April 2010

GIL SCOTT-HERON has long been a regular and popular visitor to the UK's jazz and soul venues. However, by the late 1990s, he'd become an ...

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 ...

Grand Funk Railroad: We're An American Band

Retrospective and Interview by Jaan Uhelszki, Uncut, July 2010

Grand Funk Railroad shared drugs with Hendrix, helped Janis Joplin play tricks on the Stones, immortalised groupies, worked with Zappa and Rundgren, had the most ...

Roky Erickson, Okkervil River: Roky Erickson with Okkervil River: True Love Cast Out All Evil (Chemikal Underground)

Review by Bill Holdship, MOJO, July 2010

THIS IS one of those wonderful, unexpected releases that many people once believed could never exist. ...

Plan B on overcoming his anger

Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 17 July 2010

His hit 'She Said' is the song of the year so far, and half a million people have bought his critically acclaimed album. But if ...

The Doors, Jim Morrison: L.A. Woman and the Last Days of Jim Morrison

Retrospective and Interview by Max Bell, Classic Rock, August 2010

Forget what you think you know. How Jim Morrison REALLY died, by the people who found the body, moved the body and buried him… ...

Sandy Denny, Fairport Convention, Fotheringay: Sandy Denny: "I don't think she ever gave the future the time of day…"

Retrospective by Rob Young, Uncut, October 2010

When Sandy Denny left Fairport Convention at the height of their success, she seemed destined for solo stardom. What went wrong? With the help of ...

Kings of Leon: Joel McIver: Holy Rock 'n Rollers – The Story of Kings of Leon (Omnibus Press)

Book Review by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 25 October 2010

JUST IN TIME for the release of their fifth record, Come Around Sundown, comes the second biography (after Michael Heatley's Kings of Leon: Sex on ...

Elliott Smith: The Lost Boy

Retrospective by Keith Cameron, Q, January 2011

He was the modern-day Nick Drake: a brilliant, troubled troubadour whose life was cut tragically short in mysterious circumstances, leaving a small but influential legacy. ...

Thin Lizzy: Phil Lynott — Vagabond Of The Western World

Retrospective by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, February 2011

The story of Phil Lynott reads like one of the Irish fables he loved. A buccaneering tale of wine, women and rock'n'roll that mixes poetry ...

Led Zeppelin: Houses of the Unholy: Aubrey Powell on Led Zeppelin

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, unpublished, March 2011

NOTE: This is a transcription from an interview that Hipgnosis co-founder Aubrey Powell gave me in March 2011, for Trampled Under Foot, my 2012 oral ...

Kyuss: Kings of the Stoner Age

Retrospective and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 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 70th birthday, William "Smokey" Robinson grants exclusive access to Jon Wilde to talk cocaine, the roots of Motown and why the Stones still ...

The Louvin Brothers, Charlie Louvin: Charlie Louvin, 1927-2011

Obituary by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, April 2011

THE PASSING OF Charlie Louvin on January 26,2011, aged 83, from complications associated with pancreatic cancer, detaches country music from a vital living root. ...

David Bowie, Kraftwerk: Taxi zum Klo's Berlin is a sexual playground

Retrospective by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 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 ...

Derek & The Dominos, Bobby Whitlock: Bobby Whitlock: Derek's Main Domino Dishes On Layla and More

Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 25 May 2011

IT'S BEEN AN active, and retroactive, time for singer-songwriter/keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, best known as one of the playing pieces in the Eric Clapton-led group Derek ...

Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones: Keith Richards: The Rake's Progress

Interview by Mark Ellen, The Word, June 2011

From the coal smoke of '40s Dartford to a one-million concert audience in the 21st Century, Keith Richards' rollicking memoir is the tale of an ...

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 ...

Amy Winehouse

Obituary by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 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, The Independent, 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, The Australian, 22 October 2011

DAMNED cold. An ice storm over Nashville has closed down flights across the state of Tennessee. ...

Jackie Leven, 1950–2011: "I'm too connected to the pain of other people. It really breaks me up."

Retrospective and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, February 2012

In his life as in his music, the Scottish singer-songwriter who died last November found inspiration in the raw extremes of human behaviour, which he ...

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 ...

Whitney Houston

Obituary by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 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, The Guardian, 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 ...

Big Brother & The Holding Company, Dave Getz: Janis Joplin And Her "Big Brothers" Come Back Live And Raw

Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 13 March 2012

A BOON FOR classic-rock fans in recent years has been an increased activity in vault-mining, as record labels are discovering, polishing up, and releasing a ...

Whitney Houston, 1963-2012

Obituary by David Hepworth, The Word, April 2012

IN SEPTEMBER 2009, Whitney Houston performed in Central Park for the TV show Good Morning America. ...

Cypress Hill, D'Angelo, The Notorious B.I.G., Snoop (Doggy) Dogg, Tricky: Blunted On Reality: A Journalist Recalls Smoking With Snoop Dogg, Biggie, Cypress Hill & More

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 ...

Keane

Interview by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 20 April 2012

A RAINY NIGHT in Zurich. These streets may be paved with Nazi gold, but tonight they are also alive with the sound of music. On ...

Alex Chilton: O My Soul!

Retrospective by David Cavanagh, Uncut, May 2012

Evil spirits. "Trotsky. Machiavelli. Sports. Astrology." Sessions with the Cramps and Tav Falco. Periods without shoes. Dishwashing and tree-climbing. And a heroic last stand against ...

Levitation: Whirled Around: The Rise & Fall Of Levitation

Retrospective and Interview by Wyndham Wallace, The Quietus, 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 ...

The Beautiful South, The Housemartins: Paul Heaton: "Armed Revolution Is The Only Cure"

Interview by Rob Hughes, The Word, June 2012

Baleful tunesmith, habitual cyclist, pub-owner, radical — Paul Heaton puts a foot on the ball and surveys the pitch ...

The Flamingo Club Revisited

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. ...

Joe Walsh: Taking It Easy: Joe Walsh Of The Eagles Interviewed

Interview by Julian Marszalek, The Quietus, 21 June 2012

Julian Marszalek speaks to Joe Walsh about life with the world's biggest rock group, going solo and, er, boshing pills and going out raving to ...

Big Brother & The Holding Company, Charlatans, The (US), Country Joe & The Fish, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Grace Slick: Suddenly That Summer

Retrospective and Interview by Sheila Weller, Vanity Fair, July 2012

It was billed as "the Summer of Love", a blast of glamour, ecstasy, and Utopianism that drew some 75,000 young people to the San Francisco ...

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, 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 ...

Come: Chris Brokaw and Thalia Zadek: Come On My Shirt, Come In My Ear

Interview by Neil Kulkarni, The Quietus, 17 January 2013

I'LL NEVER FORGET. 1994. A cold Wednesday morning in March. The Embassy Hotel, Bayswater. I'm sat down, inside, smoking 'cos you could back then, and ...

Tim Hardin: Remembering the lost genius of his music

Retrospective by Graeme Thomson, Daily Telegraph, 18 January 2013

BOB DYLAN once called him "the greatest songwriter alive" and Joe Strummer regarded him as a "lost genius of music". Yet when Tim Hardin died ...

Etta James

Retrospective by Lois Wilson, MOJO, February 2013

Abandoned as a child, addicted as an adult, Etta James lived a life punctuated by self-destruction and "wrong-headed men". Then came redemption. As the first ...

Marianne Faithfull: Ca$h for Questions

Interview by Sylvia Patterson, Q, February 2013

She was the sensuous '60s starlet who flew too close to the sun, only to emerge from addiction as a rasp-voiced grande dame of the ...

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 ...

Suede: The Wild Ones

Retrospective and Interview by Jude Rogers, Q, August 2013

Suede kick-started Britpop 20 years ago, but their arty glam-indie rock was soon overtaken by the more laddish likes of Oasis and Blur. Today, singer ...

Lou Reed, 1942-2013

Obituary by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 28 October 2013

Velvet Underground frontman and solo artist whose hymns to transgressive behaviour created an audience of outsiders. ...

Derek & The Dominos, Bobby Whitlock: The strange tale of Derek, Gordon, George …and Bobby Whitlock

Retrospective and Interview by Max Bell, unpublished, Summer 2013

AUGUST 14. Summer of 1969. Oakland Coliseum. Eric Clapton, Rick Grech, Ginger Baker and Steve Winwood are on stage during the US tour to promote ...

Lou Reed: A Last Waltz on the Wild Side

Memoir by Ed McCormack, Vanity Fair, 13 January 2014

In an excerpt from his in-progress memoir, former Rolling Stone writer Ed McCormack remembers his friend Lou Reed, and the small theft and turn on ...

Charlie Parker: Gary Giddins: Celebrating Bird/Stanley Crouch: Kansas City Lightning/Chuck Haddix: Bird

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 ...

George Clinton, Funkadelic: George Clinton: "I was born in a lavatory, so I have a legitimate claim on the funk"

Interview by Adrian Deevoy, The Guardian, 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 ...

Mark Lanegan, Screaming Trees: Mark Lanegan: Shadow Play

Interview by Rob Hughes, Record Collector, February 2014

Over a series of solo albums, work with Screaming Trees and Queens Of The Stone Age, among others, Mark Lanegan has proved his worth as ...

David Crosby: "The FBI scare me more than Hell's Angels"

Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 26 February 2014

The legendary songwriter on Janis Joplin, being "the voice of cosmic America" and Croz, his first solo album in 20 years.   ...

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 ...

Jean-Jacques Burnel, The Stranglers: Mr Dojo Rising: JJ Burnel of The Stranglers interviewed

Interview by Julian Marszalek, The Quietus, 4 March 2014

Julian Marszalek looks beyond the ugliness, violence and "intellectual thuggery" to find punk's genuine outsiders.  ...

Big Star, The Box Tops, Alex Chilton: Holly George-Warren's Alex Chilton

Memoir by Binky Philips, Huffington Post, 11 April 2014

When I was running the East Village record store, St Mark's Sounds in the 1980s, Alex Chilton's LP Like Flies On Sherbert [sic] was a ...

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 ...

The Kooks' Luke Pritchard: "When I look back on some of the songs I wrote, it makes me laugh"

Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 22 August 2014

The new Kooks record features electric church music, a strong Ethiopian-jazz influence ... and no songs about the singer's penis. No wonder Luke Pritchard thinks ...

Elvis Presley: Dylan Jones: Elvis Has Left the Building (Duckworth)/Joel Williamson: Elvis Presley – A Southern Life (Oxford)

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 ...

Nick Cave, Marianne Faithfull: Marianne Faithfull: Give My Love To London

Review and Interview by Terry Staunton, Uncut, October 2014

Recuperating from serious injury, the veteran chanteuse puts her back into one of her most personal records... ...

Billy Idol: "I've been a total idiot, but now I'm approaching 60... clean and soberish": Billy Idol confesses all

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 ...

The Beach Boys, The Eagles, Charles Manson: Charles Manson and the Death of the Californian Dream

Retrospective by Gavin Martin, Sabotage Times, 17 November 2014

The swinging '60s in the Golden State – California. A decade of sex, drink, drugs and debauchery soundtracked by the Beach Boys, the Eagles and ...

Jess Glynne: The chart-topper who lives with her mum

Profile and Interview by Paul Lester, The Jewish Chronicle, 25 November 2014

The pop sensation explains how being a family girl helps her keep fame in perspective ...

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 ...

Ginger Baker (2015)

Interview by Jim Sullivan, Rock's Backpages audio, 2015

The ex-Cream drummer refuses to divulge much about working with PiL; the Beware of Mr. Baker movie; his Nigerian experiences; being an improvising musician; his friendship with the jazz greats; the Cream reunion; leaving South Africa; his relationship with his family and his health. He's marginally more forthcoming about his experiences with heroin.

File format: mp3; file size: 10.6mb, interview length: 29' 27" sound quality: ** (phoner)

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 ...

Canned Heat: The badass blues band that death couldn't kill

Retrospective and Interview by Max Bell, Classic Rock, January 2015

PICTURE THE SCENE: April 4, 1981, outside the World Famous Palomino Club in North Hollywood. The members of Canned Heat and their friends are smoking ...

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 ...

Sleaford Mods: Grammar Wanker: Sleaford Mods 2007‑2014 by Jason Williamson (Bracketpress)

Book Review by John Harris, The Guardian, 18 March 2015

Drug comedowns and fist fights — an angry and uncompromising collection of lyrics. Who else in modern English music is doing anything quite like this? ...

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, ...

Willie Nelson: Willie and the Weed Factory

Profile and Interview by Chris Heath, GQ, 31 August 2015

Marijuana's state-by-state march toward full legalization would never have happened without Willie Nelson. He's 82 now, and he's spent nearly half his life as America's ...

Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones: Black and Blue: Keith Richards interviewed

Interview by Julian Marszalek, The Quietus, 16 September 2015

Julian Marszalek meets the Rolling Stones guitarist and living legend to talk race, drugs and persistence. ...

The Eagles, Don Henley: Don Henley

Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 1 October 2015

YOU WOULD NEVER know that a member of the biggest American band in history had just entered the building. Dressed down in chequered shirt and ...

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Warren Zanes: Petty – The Biography (Henry Holt)

Book Review by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 11 November 2015

YOU WOULD THINK that Tom Petty had it all in the mid to late '90s. On the backside of his forties, he had already enjoyed ...

Amy Winehouse: Asif Kapadia: Amy (Island/Universal DVD)

Film/DVD/TV Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, December 2015

WHILE GIFTED, tragic figures are the very bread and butter of the music documentarian, has there ever been a film in which the downward spiral ...

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. ...

The Replacements: Bob Mehr: Trouble Boys – The True Story of the Replacements

Book Review by Caryn Rose, salon.com, 14 March 2016

The new biography, Trouble Boys, is an unflinching, uncompromising look at the band and the legend ...

Arab Strap: The Cluny, Newcastle upon Tyne

Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 13 October 2016

Aidan Moffatt and Malcolm Middleton revive tales of chaotic lifestyles for Brexit Britain, with music that ricochets between folk, pop and intense dance. ...

Amy Winehouse's Back to Black: 10 Things You Didn't Know

Retrospective by Maura Johnston, Rolling Stone, 27 October 2016

How 'Rehab' came to be, which song Nas inspired and other behind-the-scenes facts about singer-songwriter's 2006 smash ...

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'. ...

Skid Row: Sebastian Bach: 18 and Life on Skid Row (Dey St. Books)

Book Review by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 13 December 2016

FOR ANYONE WHO has seen an interview with Sebastian Bach, he of the motor-mouth, hellzapoppin', frenetic energy and a constant stream of verbal non sequiturs, two ...

Karen Dalton: Are You Leaving for the Country? Karen Dalton in Woodstock

Book Excerpt by Barney Hoskyns, 'Small Town Talk' (Da Capo), Spring 2016

FRED NEIL had returned to his beloved Florida by the early '70s, but from 1970 onwards Karen Dalton spent much of her time in Woodstock. ...

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: ...

Benjamin Booker: How I turned my personal meltdown into a rallying cry for black America

Profile and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 21 June 2017

He was overweight, abusing drugs and fleeing from his self-harming past. So he took all his problems – and turned them into the sensational new ...

Madonna: Another view: My night with Madonna (and Sean Hughes)

Memoir by Tim Cooper, The Evening Standard, 20 October 2017

BACK IN THE LATE 1990s I used to run into Sean Hughes all the time at parties. He was a Perrier Award-winning stand-up comedian and ...

Alice Cooper: Alice's biggest shock of all

Profile and Interview by Adrian Deevoy, Event Magazine, 18 November 2017

Forget the guillotine, noose and snakes – the master of the macabre's fans will be stunned by his enduring passion for God, golf and marriage ...

Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks: Stephen Davis: Gold Dust Woman – The Biography of Stevie Nicks

Book Review by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 24 November 2017

Stand Back! New Bio on Stevie Nicks Has Plenty of Gold-and-Fairy Dust ...

Neil Young: Roxy – Tonight's the Night Live

Review by Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 23 April 2018

The songwriter opened a legendary L.A. club in 1973 with an incredible performance that spotlighted his classic album. ...

The 1975: How The 1975's Matty Healy Kicked Heroin and Took the Band to New Heights

Interview by Dorian Lynskey, Billboard, 2 August 2018

The most ambitious pop-rock band of its generation nearly succumbed to Matty Healy's heroin addiction. Now clean, the flamboyant frontman is taking his group to ...

Chrissie Hynde, The Pretenders: Chrissie Hynde

Interview by Adrian Deevoy, Event Magazine, 4 August 2018

Still super-hip (and all lip) at 66, the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde tells Event why she swears at fans, enrages sex abuse victims… and has swapped ...

Wayne Kramer: MC5's Wayne Kramer Testifies about Music, Drugs, and Not Being "Revolutionary" Enough?

Report and Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 13 August 2018

IT'S HARD TO fathom today that the FBI would be interested in the daily activities of, say, the Foo Fighters, Imagine Dragons, or Fall Out ...

The Beasts of Bourbon: Beasts of Bourbon's Spencer P Jones: hellraiser among Australian rock greats

Obituary by Andrew Stafford, The Guardian, 23 August 2018

Some were scared off by the guitarist's snarling delivery and reputation, but you'd be hard pressed to name a bad song. ...

The Beatles, Paul McCartney: The Untold Stories of Paul McCartney

Interview by Chris Heath, GQ, 11 September 2018

He's as famous and accomplished as a man can be. He could just stay home, relax, and count his money. But Paul McCartney is as ...

Wayne Kramer, MC5, MC50: Legendary Rock Guitarist Wayne Kramer Talks MC5 Tour, Free Jazz Influences

Interview by Steven R Rosen, Cincinnati CityBeat, 23 October 2018

AMONG THE IMMORTAL rallying cries of Rock & Roll — a list that includes "You gotta fight for your right to party", "Sex and drugs ...

Billie Holiday: Lady Sings the Blues

Book Review by Nick Hornby, The Sunday Times, 9 December 2018

Unsparing in its portrayal of addiction, divorce and racism, Billie Holiday's memoir is now a Penguin Modern Classic. ...

The GTOs: 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 ...

Buckcherry

Interview by Henry Yates, Classic Rock, March 2019

Frontman Josh Todd on addiction, tattoos and the death of rock radio… ...

The Chills: Martin Phillipps' triumph and tragedy told with extraordinary candour

Film/DVD/TV Review by Andrew Stafford, The Guardian, 14 June 2019

THE INDEPENDENT scene that emerged from Dunedin, New Zealand, in the early 1980s had all the strange qualities musical trainspotters around the world associate with ...

Blondie, Debbie Harry: Debbie Harry: Face It

Book Review by Chris Charlesworth, Just Backdated, October 2019

IT IS A popular misconception that – once they have tasted chart success and seen their faces in magazines – music stars like Debbie Harry ...

Tim Hardin: The Haunted Saga of Tim Hardin

Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, November 2019

TIM HARDIN DIED in December 1980, not quite a week after his 39th birthday, and to the extent that his passing was felt in the ...

Aerosmith: How Aerosmith are still rocking after 49 years: "We did drugs, drugs - and more drugs"

Retrospective and Interview by Ian Winwood, Daily Telegraph, 28 January 2020

IN THE AUTUMN of 1972, Aerosmith's Joey Kramer was walking in the group's adopted home-city of Boston. With work finished on the quintet's eponymous debut ...

John Entwistle, The Who: Paul Rees: The Ox – The Last Of The Great Rock Stars, the Authorised Biography Of John Entwistle

Book Review by Chris Charlesworth, Just Backdated, March 2020

IN 1990, JOHN Entwistle spent two months in the region of Connemara on the west coast of Ireland, where fierce winds coming off the Atlantic ...

The Flamin' Groovies, Kim Fowley, The Stooges: Farewell to Marc Zermati

Memoir by Nick Kent, unpublished, 15 June 2020

IT'S BEEN FIVE hours now since I received the news that Marc Zermati died in his sleep and — as with all deaths of those ...

Lamb of God: Metal's moral backbone: the uncompromising, righteous rise of Lamb Of God

Interview by Ian Winwood, Daily Telegraph, 23 June 2020

AS A YOUNGER man, D. Randall Blythe conducted social experiments with bleach. As jocks in passing cars screamed insults, the singer with the metal band ...

Iggy Pop, The Stooges: Between Fun House & 'Funtime': Iggy Pop in the '70s

Retrospective by Simon Reynolds, TIDAL, 7 July 2020

Brilliantly out of step, the rock provocateur architected revolutionary sounds with the Stooges and Bowie. ...

The GTOs, Frank Zappa: Miss Mercy, colourful L.A. rock fixture and cofounder of Frank Zappa's GTOs, dies at 71

Obituary by Chris Campion, Los Angeles Times, 31 July 2020

MISS MERCY, the effervescent rock 'n' roll superfan who found fame as a member of Frank Zappa's "groupie" girl-group the GTOs (Girls Together Outrageously), died ...

Jimi Hendrix: So who killed Jimi Hendrix?

Book Excerpt by Philip Norman, 'Wild Thing' (Weidenfeld & Nicholson), 5 August 2020

50 years after musician's death, Philip Norman tracks down the key players to tell the definitive story of one of rock's most tantalising mysteries - ...

Jimi Hendrix: Philip Norman: Wild Thing – The Short, Spellbinding Life of Jimi Hendrix

Book Review by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 11 September 2020

Wild Thing: the Latest — and best? — look at the Life of Jimi Hendrix ...

Tommy Lee, Mötley Crüe: Tommy Lee: "Back then, there were no consequences – excess was a daily thing"

Retrospective and Interview by Ian Winwood, Daily Telegraph, 16 October 2020

IN THE SUMMER of 1987, Mötley Crüe embarked on a tour of the largest indoors venues in North America. Travelling aboard a private jet, the ...

James Taylor: "I took legal heroin – it's the safest way to be an addict"

Retrospective and Interview by Ian Winwood, Daily Telegraph, 7 December 2020

ON THE AFTERNOON of 7th December 1980, James Taylor was accosted by a stranger who knew his name. As the singer-songwriter battled his way home ...

Charlie Parker: The Savoy 10" LP Collection

Review by Tony Burke, Vintage Jazz Mart, Fall 2020

2020 MARKS Charlie Parker's Centennial and as part of the celebrations Craft Recordings have re-issued Parker's 10" Savoy LPs with restored original album artwork, detailed booklet ...

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 ...

Nick Cave: The Journalist and the Singer

Book Excerpt by Mark Mordue, 'Boy On Fire' (Allen & Unwin), February 2021

THE FIRST TIME I ever spoke to Nick Cave was in a phone interview to promote his second solo album, The Firstborn Is Dead (1985), ...

Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Sid Vicious: Inside the Chelsea Hotel, New York's infamous house of pleasure and pain

Retrospective by Mick Brown, Daily Telegraph, 18 August 2021

Bob Dylan has just been accused of a sexual assault there in 1965 - the latest in a long line of claims about the storied ...

Gerry Rafferty: Blue Is The Colour

Interview by Paul Sexton, The Independent, 29 August 2021

Ten years after his death, a new record, Rest in Blue, adds to Gerry Rafferty's treasured legacy. Paul Sexton speaks to his daughter Martha about ...

Rick James: "There's a lot to unpack": the dark, difficult life of Rick James

Retrospective by Jim Farber, The Guardian, 2 September 2021

In a new documentary, the defining funk artist's ups and many downs are examined with a clear eye and a lack of sugar-coating. ...

Jackie Leven: "Strong on the outside, brittle on the inside": the life, death and genius of Jackie Leven

Retrospective by Graeme Thomson, Daily Telegraph, 15 September 2021

The troubled, genre-defying Scot told stories that no one else dared to. Who cares if they weren't all true? ...

Shane MacGowan: Richard Balls: A Furious Devotion – The Authorised Story Of Shane MacGowan

Book Review by Chris Charlesworth, Just Backdated, December 2021

WITH HIS uncombed hair, rotten teeth and charity shop clothes, not to mention the obligatory bottle, Shane MacGowan presented himself to the world as a ...

Keith Richards: Playing Air Guitar With Keith Richards

Memoir by Wayne Robins, Critical Conditions, 4 January 2022

It was a pretty good afternoon, bourbon included. ...

Alice Cooper, Lemmy: A Walk on the Wild Side of Sunset: Remembering Lemmy and the Hollywood Vampires

Book Excerpt by Ian Winwood, 'Bodies' (Faber & Faber), April 2022

This is an excerpt from Ian's new book Bodies: Life and Death in Music, published by Faber on April 21. ...

Nick Cave: "I don't think art should be in the hands of the virtuous"

Interview by Kate Mossman, New Statesman, 24 November 2022

The musician on why Morrissey matters, his deepening faith and grieving for his sons. ...

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