LGBTQ+
257 articles
Report by Lillian Roxon, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 17 July 1969
BLACK POWER, WHITE POWER, STUDENT POWER, KID POWER, MATRON POWER, MOON POWER ...
The Cockettes: Vulgarity or Vanguard?
Profile by Lillian Roxon, New York Sunday News, 14 November 1971
A SHOW came to New York this week that many people found tedious, offensive and unspeakably vulgar. I want to remind all those people who ...
David Bowie: Oh, You Pretty Thing: David Bowie
Profile and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 22 January 1972
DAVID BOWIE, rock's swishiest outrage; a self-confessed lover of effeminate clothes, Bowie, who has hardly performed in public since his 'Space Oddity' hit of three ...
Barry Manilow, Bette Midler: The Gold Lamé Dream of Bette Midler
Profile and Interview by Ed McCormack, Rolling Stone, 15 February 1973
"Puh-leez, Honey" ...
Sylvester & the Hot Band: Whisky a Go Go, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 6 July 1973
Hot Band Sizzles for Fourth ...
Jobriath: Superstar or Superhype?
Interview by Rob Partridge, Melody Maker, 12 January 1974
"If hype means projecting your artist, I'm going to produce the biggest hype ever" – Jerry Brandt talking to ROBERT PARTRIDGE about his latest discovery, ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 26 January 1974
YOU WILL soon be told that this cat is going to be the big breeze in 1974. Receive this piece of information with sceptical, though ...
The Ronettes, Ronnie Spector: Ronnie Spector: The Continental Baths, New York NY
Live Review by Vicki Wickham, Melody Maker, 4 May 1974
NEW YORK: 42nd Street and 8th Avenue met at the Continental Baths last night! In true Midler-style, "tacky" was the word, but it was glorious ...
Jobriath: The Bottom Line, New York NY
Live Review by Ian Dove, The New York Times, 26 July 1974
Jobriath Displays A New Rock Voice But Familiar Face ...
Jobriath, Pamela Polland: Jobriath, Melba Rounds: Boarding House, San Francisco CA
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 14 August 1974
Boarding House turnout turned on ...
Report by Dave Marsh, Newsday, 3 November 1974
I like sex, because sex is not dangerous. Violence is dangerous, that's why I leave my violence on stage. But we've never been into glitter. ...
Gloria Gaynor, Labelle, Barry White: Disco: "Kids Want Something Different — This Is It!"
Report and Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 5 April 1975
...so says Billy Smith, an expert on New York's booming discos. In a country where radio rules, it's an amazing phenomenon. CHRIS CHARLESWORTH reports... ...
Bette Midler, Barbra Streisand: The Dark Side of Bette Midler
Essay by Richard Goldstein, The Village Voice, 21 April 1975
I wear a red heart like others, and have a dark, inconsolate, ugly destiny. — Rahel Varnhagen, in Hannah Arendt's study ...
Profile and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 24 June 1975
WITHOUT A shadow of doubt, one of the most controversial records of all time within our musical sphere is Valentino's 'I Was Born This Way'. ...
Charlie & Ray, Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon, Valentino: Gay Soul
Overview by Tony Cummings, Black Music, August 1975
Valentino's 'I Was Born This Way' is probably the most upfront "gay" record ever to get played in the discos (where it's a big hit). ...
Report by Ed McCormack, Rolling Stone, 28 August 1975
In which a suburban prole decadent does battle with a hot midtown Manhattan discotheque — two out of three falls, no curfew ...
Report by Richard Cromelin, Rolling Stone, 28 August 1975
Where cycle sluts, tanktoppers and dedicated bumpers dance, dance, dance, stick poppers up adversity's nose and dodge surging roachers... ...
Interview by Susan Whitall, Creem, June 1976
NEW YORK — One early spring evening at CBGB's Wayne County was wrapping up his parody of Patti Smith when a disturbance erupted. All that ...
Joan Armatrading, Moon: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by David Hepworth, New Musical Express, 2 October 1976
MOON GET better weekly. Disciplined, tight, colourful but most important eager to please. They got an encore. Between their leaving the stage and Joan Armatrading ...
D.C LaRue: DC LaRue: Gay Clubs Give Birth To Hetero Hit
Profile and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 18 January 1977
PERHAPS THE final bolt in the ages old controversy about soul and colour was nailed in just a month back when D.C. LaRue's 'Cathedrals' topped ...
Wayne County & the Electric Chairs: Roxy, London
Live Review by Barry Cain, Sounds, 12 March 1977
NOW YOU can take this on two levels — the gimmick and the serious. ...
Sylvester: Old Waldorf, San Francisco CA
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 21 July 1977
Sylvester: A turn in the right direction ...
Tom Robinson Band: Tom Robinson: Rock Voice Of '78?
Profile and Interview by James Johnson, Evening News, London, December 1977
MUSIC WITH a hard-core political bias could soon become a regular feature of the Top ten if a singer called Tom Robinson continues his sudden ...
Sylvester: How an ex-Cockette named Ruby Blue became Sylvester...
Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 6 December 1977
How an ex-Cockette named Ruby Blue became Sylvester... ...
Tom Robinson Band: Tom Robinson: Happy The Way He Is
Profile by Paul Rambali, Trouser Press, February 1978
SOME PEOPLE are worried that the next few years in Britain will see the rise of extreme right wing sentiments turning the country into an ...
Interview by Davitt Sigerson, Sounds, 26 August 1978
WEBSTER’S gives "Excessive, extravagant; Fanciful, fantastic; violent, unrestrained" as definitions of "outrageous". ...
Interview by Barry Cain, Record Mirror, 7 October 1978
I THOUGHT I TAW A PUDDYTAT A creepin' up on me. I DID! I TAW A PUDDYTAT As plain as he can be. ...
Sylvester: Step II (Fantasy FT549)
Review by Paul Sexton, Record Mirror, 7 October 1978
I'LL BET Sylvester loves being called outrageous, but that description fits his appearance far better than his music. Not that his album is unremarkable; it ...
Wayne County & the Electric Chairs: Music Machine, London
Live Review by Harry Doherty, Melody Maker, 14 October 1978
WEIRD IS the word that immediately springs to mind; the detached weirdness of viewing a transvestite play hard rock, of being part of an audience ...
Sylvester: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Davitt Sigerson, Melody Maker, 16 December 1978
SYLVESTER, DISCO'S hermaphrodite darling, delivered one of the best shows in world history last weekend. ...
Sylvester: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Barry Cain, Record Mirror, 16 December 1978
WHAT A DRAG ...
Amanda Lear: The Secret Life of Amanda Lear
Interview by Jeffrey Morgan, Creem, February 1979
SHE'S BEEN called everything from the Renee Richards of Rock to Miss Before and After Science of 1984. And although she's sold millions of albums ...
Village People: People Are Strange
Interview by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 10 February 1979
BUT CANCEL THAT BOOKING FOR THE YMCA, YOUNG MAN, 'COS VILLAGE PEOPLE AIN'T THAT STRANGE, CLAIMS HUGH 'MACHO MAN' FIELDER ...
Village People: The Annals Of Disco
Report and Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 17 February 1979
DANNY BAKER tests the dancefloor action 1979 from uptown Manhattan to downtown Rotherhithe, interviews THE VILLAGE PEOPLE people, lays on a historical overview of Disco, ...
Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 13 March 1979
The man triumphed in both Disco sections of the annual B&S Poll but, surprisingly, tells us that his next album might actually be his last ...
Sylvester: War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco CA
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 13 March 1979
Disco at the Opera House ...
Buzzcocks: The Buzzcocks: Inside the Hit Factory
Report and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 7 April 1979
(PETE SHELLEY'S BACK PARLOUR IN GOSPORT, ACTUALLY, REVEALS PETE SILVERTON) ...
Wayne County & the Electric Chairs: Things Your Mother Never Told You (Safari GOOD 2) *****
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 12 May 1979
More songs about toilets and marines ...
Gloria Gaynor, Village People: Village People, Gloria Gaynor: Greek Theatre, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 30 June 1979
TONIGHT I learnt why discos are held indoors. The Beautiful People look a bit silly with water splashing around in their transparent sandals and rain ...
Shirley Bassey: Apollo, Victoria, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 16 September 1980
TWO BOUTS of middle-aged hysteria within the space of seven days is surely almost more than the body can decently stand. Still shell-shocked from religious ...
David Bowie: The Gender Bender
Comment by Jon Savage, The Face, November 1980
"WHAT DO YOU want to be when you grow up, David?" ...
Village People: Renaissance (RCA)
Review by Jim Farber, Creem, October 1981
WHAT IS this? The Village Ant-People? Spandau Village Ballet? How sad that the re-vamped V.P.s (read: Jacques Morali) would try to "cash" in on the ...
Soft Cell: Marc Almond: The Whip Hand
Interview by Jon Savage, The Face, January 1982
…and who holds it? The pop process, alienation and sexuality discussed with Marc Almond. By JON SAVAGE. ...
Soft Cell: Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret (Sire)
Review by Jim Farber, Creem, April 1982
WOW — A TRENDY electronic dance band that isn't awful! In fact, they're pretty good. Most of these not-so-new-fangled computerized groups sound just fab in ...
Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 12 June 1982
"PEOPLE THAT plan interviews are really boring. I just say what I want when it comes into my head. People in Scunthorpe don't care what ...
Sylvester: Woofers And Tweeters
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 25 September 1982
HAD I BEEN expecting some shimmering trans-sexual diva to sweep into the room like a hostess into her salon, the rotund, maternal figure who welcomed ...
Culture Club: Kissing To Be Clever (Virgin V2232) *½
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 16 October 1982
IS IT a boy? Is it a girl? Is it a plane? Is 'it' a goldfish? What colour of underpants does 'it'/he/she/the goldfish wear? ...
Divine: The First Lady of Filth
Interview by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 12 March 1983
Divine pits his 300lbs of solid glamour against Elizabeth Taylor, Diane Keaton and Bette Midler. Don Watson referees. ...
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 10 September 1983
BARNEY HOSKYNS GOES BARMY OVER THE MUSAK MONSTER AT BLENHEIM. ...
Report by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 13 October 1983
Sixteen years after the Summer of Love, the bands that made the Fillmore famous are as mainstream as Tony Bennett. Meanwhile, a new generation of ...
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 24 December 1983
Prince or showgirl? Paul Morley tussles with Marilyn on a soft sofa and wonders if the seduction of pop has a more explicit meaning. ...
Morrissey, The Smiths: The Year Of The Smiths
Comment by Barney Hoskyns, The Virgin Yearbook, 1984
GAY MEN PAVED pop’s way this year. With Boy George’s wardrobe fully open, all the closet cases came spilling forth: Burns and The Bronskis, Frankie ...
Bronski Beat: Runaway Boys: Bronski Beat
Interview by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, 21 June 1984
Bronski Beat are young, talented and they've only played a handful of concerts. And suddenly everyone's asking them questions. Questions about their "stance" as a ...
Bronski Beat: St James' Church, London
Live Review by Helen Fitzgerald, Melody Maker, 4 August 1984
SONGS OF PRAISE ...
Frankie Goes To Hollywood: Chain Reaction
Interview by Max Bell, No. 1, 4 August 1984
Frankie Goes To Hollywood are what's been happening while we've been away. They've been at Ho. 1 with 'Two Tribes' and at No.2 with 'Relax'. ...
Bronski Beat: St James Church, Piccadilly, London
Live Review by Leyla Sanai, New Musical Express, 11 August 1984
THE BRONSKIS have a knack of being roped in to playing unconventional venues but they always manage to cut through the atmosphere. ...
Profile and Interview by Fiona Russell Powell, The Face, September 1984
Glen Milston has dedicated his life to glamour, in the guise of the 'outrageous', 'disgusting' Divine. After a career in films and on stage, Divine ...
Jayne County: The Pink Palace, Liverpool
Live Review by Penny Kiley, Melody Maker, 8 September 1984
THE FIRST thing Jayne County has to say is "It's a bit short, can't you make it any longer?" And she was only talking about ...
Bronski Beat: Dark Side of the Beat
Interview by Helen Fitzgerald, Melody Maker, 15 September 1984
After the haunting 'Smalltown Boy' BRONSKI BEAT take sexual politics right to the edge with their daring new single, 'Why'. In America completing their debut ...
Frankie Goes To Hollywood: Welcome To The Pleasuredome (ZTT IQ1)
Review by Max Bell, The Times, 3 November 1984
Frankie say pleasure can pay ...
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 1 December 1984
NOT EVEN the New York cool that infests a group like The Force MD's can prevent the obvious excitement that sweeps through them as Sylvester ...
Frankie Goes to Hollywood: The American Dream: Frankie Goes To America, The Diary
Report by Max Bell, No. 1, 1 December 1984
Max Bell joins Frankie Goes to Hollywood for a week of high excitement on the road in the U.S.A. ...
Frankie Goes to Hollywood: The Holly Johnson Interview: "You've Got Fifteen Minutes, Christians."
Interview by Max Bell, No. 1, 1 December 1984
HOLLY JOHNSON keeps himself to himself for much of the tour. ...
Frankie Goes To Hollywood: Welcome To The Pleasure Dome (ZTT/Island)
Review by J.D. Considine, Record, January 1985
ACCORDING TO the press out of Britain, Frankie Goes To Hollywood is the hottest thing since Duran Duran discovered eye-liner. ...
Frankie Goes To Hollywood: Royal Court, Liverpool
Live Review by Penny Kiley, Melody Maker, 5 January 1985
HOMETOWN BOYS ...
Frankie Goes to Hollywood: Frankie Say Buzz Off
Profile and Interview by Jim Sullivan, Record, February 1985
WELL, HOLLY Johnson, lead singer of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, would use a more explicit four-letter word than buzz to express his feelings toward anyone ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 4 March 1985
The former Wayne County talks about where she's at now: splitting her time between London and Berlin; making a new album and touring Europe; planning to study Biblical Archaeology [we kid you not]; her gender reassignment... and paying for it by sex work in Berlin.
File format: mp3; file size: 10.6mb, interview length: 11' 03" sound quality: ** (phoner)
Report and Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 16 March 1985
Has he let the bouquet slip through his fingers? Richard Cook sees Marilyn's stage debut turn into disaster in New York and talks to the ...
Bronski Beat: What Is Bronski Beat?
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Spin, May 1985
MEET WHAT IS perhaps the first real gay group in the history of pop. They’re not drag queens, not even sure they want to be ...
Interview by Cath Carroll, New Musical Express, 25 May 1985
Just when you thought it was safe to watch Top Of The Pops again... along comes the monumental DIVINE, determined to get his own back ...
Bronski Beat, The Communards: Jimmy Somerville: The Age of Dissent
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 25 May 1985
In his first major interview since quitting pop stardom with Bronski Beat, Jimmy Somerville talks candidly to Paolo Hewitt about the political dilemmas success brings, ...
Marc Almond: Fridge, Brixton, London
Live Review by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 22 June 1985
BREL OF ST. MARC! ...
Marc Almond: Mother Hen In Love
Interview by Cath Carroll, New Musical Express, 21 September 1985
MARC ALMOND drops an egg or two on fame, success, romance, and the little "chicks" who dog his sequinned tootsie-steps. CATH CARROLL adds them up. ...
Bronski Beat, The Communards: The Communards: Turning Pink into Red
Interview by Paul Mathur, Blitz, October 1985
A step forward, both emotionally and politically, from Bronski Beat, Jimmy Somerville's new project, the Communards, promises to take an even harder political line. ...
Divine: Palace Theatre, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 5 November 1985
AS A SINGER NOW, DIVINE ISN'T QUITE AS DIVINE ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, uncredited writer, Rock's Backpages audio, Spring 1985
The two-thirds Glaswegian trio talk about their relationship with the press: homophobia, and the fixation with their sexuality; not being a conventional band, and the developments in electro pop; Jimmy Sommerville discovering his voice; 'Small Town Boy'; on being a trio, and their stage show; the US release of album The Age of Consent; being gay in Glasgow, and on the London gay scene; the importance of Tom Robinson; Jimmy's lyrics, and on looking forward to their US visit.
File format: mp3; total file size: 37.2mb, total interview length: 38' 46" sound quality: ****
Bronski Beat: Truthdare Doubledare (London BITLP3) *
Review by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 10 May 1986
THE POOR, confused homosexual teenager shaves his head and packs his rucksack. On the train south he stares through the window and impersonates melancholy, just ...
Frankie Goes To Hollywood: They're Back!
Interview by Chris Heath, Smash Hits, 27 August 1986
Back! BACK! Yes, after 18 months of faffing about and not making any records and getting married and painting and motor racing and selling egg-cups ...
Phranc, The Smiths: The Smiths, Phranc: Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 27 August 1986
MORRISSEY SPILLS HIS SOUL FOR FANS ...
Poison, Ratt, The Who: Eleganza: Our Wacky, Wacky World
Column by John Mendelssohn, Creem, September 1986
IN THE EARLY '70s, we Americans called it glitter and the English glam, but by any other name it would still be mass transvestitism. It's ...
The Communards: Royal Court, Liverpool
Live Review by Penny Kiley, Melody Maker, 29 November 1986
YOU KNEW as soon as you saw the big vases of flowers on each side of the stage that this wasn't going to be a ...
Sylvester: Mutual Admiration Time
Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 3 February 1987
For his new Mutual Attraction album, Sylvester has cut his version of Stevie Wonder's 'Living For The City', which he first heard at a club ...
Frankie Goes to Hollywood: Is this the end of Frankie Goes To Hollywood?
Report and Interview by Sylvia Patterson, Smash Hits, 25 March 1987
Just two years ago they were one of the biggest pop groups ever. Now, it all seems to be going horribly, horribly wrong. V. sad ...
Profile and Interview by Frank Owen, Melody Maker, 11 April 1987
YOU MAY KNOW ARTHUR RUSSELL FOR HIS WORLD OF ECHO ALBUM. THEN AGAIN, YOU MAY REMEMBER DINOSAUR L OR THE NECESSARIES OR... WELL. FRANK OWEN TAKES US ON A TRIP ...
Erasure: Central Hall, Westminster, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 11 April 1987
THANKS MOSTLY to the glittering Andy Bell, Erasure manage not to be the cold stew of circuits and digital read-outs decried by some. Certainly, much ...
George Michael: Love, Sex and Stupid Wigs
Interview by Chris Heath, Smash Hits, 3 June 1987
George Michael's new single, 'I Want Your Sex', has been banned by the radio. His new video has been banned by the TV. And George ...
Pet Shop Boys: Actually (Parlophone)
Review by Paul Mathur, Melody Maker, 5 September 1987
ACTUALLY BRILLIANT ...
George Michael, Wham!: George Michael (1987)
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages audio, November 1987
On the release of his solo debut Faith, George Michael talks about his complex relationship with the press; his split from Simon Napier-Bell's management; his confidence from an early age and what excited him starting out; his run-in with miners' leader Arthur Scargill, the miners' benefit debacle and his personal politics; the crazy Wham! fame days; Boy George's attempts to out him as gay; the new album and its songs, including 'I Want Your Sex'... and his general outlook on life.
File format: mp3; file size: 59.5mb, total interview length: 1h 02' 00" sound quality: ***
Interview by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 20 February 1988
When two tribes go to war... As the Great Frankie Case ends, MICHELE KIRSCH talks to the victorious HOLLY JOHNSON ...
Pet Shop Boys: Cheeseburgers, Carrot Cake and Coffee (yum!?)
Report and Interview by Chris Heath, Smash Hits, 27 March 1988
That's the rather odd "combination" that the Pet Shop Boys seek out when they have some time to "kill" in New York. "I'll have some ...
Interview by Mat Snow, Rock's Backpages audio, August 1988
Messrs. Tennant & Lowe discuss Thatcherite anti-gay legislation and pop politics; making movies; their fans; pop associates Depeche Mode, Morrissey and George Michael; singles, albums and the music business; being starstruck by Dusty Springfield, and dressing up!
File format: mp3; file size: 83.9mb, interview length: 1h 31' 35" sound quality: ***
Upchuck: Charles "Upchuck" Garrish: One Man's Battle
Interview by Gillian G. Gaar, The Rocket, October 1988
AIDS AND THE MUSICIAN BY GILLIAN G . GAAR ...
Interview by Mark Sinker, Rock's Backpages audio, Fall 1988
La Galás talks about the impact of the AIDS crisis on her work; her latest album You Must Be Certain Of The Devil; the motivation for her work; how it informs the format of her current show; her concern for mortality. She also talks about her voice, on training it to become "the perfect machine"; her admiration for Gore Vidal; her fear of plane crashes; English free improvisers like Derek Bailey and Evan Parker; on San Diego and Berlin, and a whole lot more.
File format: mp3; file size: 130.8mb, interview length: 2h 16' 15" sound quality: *** (background noise)
Pet Shop Boys: The Pet Shop Boys: NEC Arena, Birmingham
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 17 July 1989
All good guilty fun. Adam Sweeting watches the Pet Shop Boys come to life ...
Phranc: Folk Singer Enjoys Being Phranc at Last
Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 22 July 1989
'I ENJOY Being a Girl' is the title song of Phranc's new album, and when she sings the 1958 Rodgers & Hammerstein show tune it ...
Holly Johnson: What does Holly Johnson get up to on his days off?
Report and Interview by Tom Doyle, Smash Hits, 26 July 1989
★ Well he potters around posh art galleries with his pals, he browses round the odd with-it clothes shop, and he has a spot of ...
Jayne County: The Duchess Of York, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, Melody Maker, 2 September 1989
FLASHBACK TO 1977. Punk rock sets England ablaze and in a sweaty club somewhere near you a transvestite called Wayne County shrieks "If you don't ...
Dusty Springfield: Starring role
Comment by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 27 September 1989
Any woman pop star who comes out puts her career on the line as Dusty Springfield discovered. Lucy O'Brien reports ...
Phranc: I Enjoy Being a Girl (Island)
Review by Deborah Frost, Rolling Stone, 5 October 1989
'FOLKSINGER', THE opening cut on I Enjoy Being a Girl, instantly encapsulates everything that is right — as well as everything that is wrong — ...
Guns N' Roses, Frankie Knuckles, Tone Lōc: Friend or Phobic?
Comment by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 17 March 1990
STEVEN WELLS investigates American rock's backlash against gays ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, Smash Hits, 19 September 1990
THE FINAL date of Erasure's world tour, "The Wild Party", takes place on a windswept grassy slope so the atmosphere's not especially "partylike", but everyone ...
Marc Almond: Stray Hello Waif Goodbye
Interview by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 8 December 1990
Nine years on from 'Tainted Love', MARC ALMOND is back working with Soft Cellmate Dave Ball on his new single 'Waifs And Strays'. BARBARA ELLEN ...
Interview by Amy Linden, Hits, 20 May 1991
Time for a cup of joe and a doughnut with Phranc ...
Pet Shop Boys: Radio City Music Hall, New York NY
Live Review by Rob Tannenbaum, Rolling Stone, 30 May 1991
UNLESS ELVIS Presley reappears in Las Vegas, the curiosity and expectations that preceded the Pet Shop Boys' first American tour are unlikely to be equaled ...
Pet Shop Boys: Opera House, Blackpool
Live Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 8 June 1991
"WELL, MY mother would agree with you," says Neil Tennant after. "She doesn't like the first half either." ...
Interview by Mark Dery, Guitar Player, October 1991
PIERCED LABIA. Khaki-clad lesbian soldiers, posing topless in the Saudi Arabian sun. Advertisements for adult toys that resemble Star Trek props — the sort of ...
Marc Almond: Tenement Symphony (WEA/All formats)
Review by Betty Page, New Musical Express, 19 October 1991
A PLUCKY '80s survivor, Marc Almond is now on his tenth life. Having had dealings with almost every major label in the land, he's now ...
Erasure: Gdansk for the Memories
Report and Interview by David Quantick, Vox, November 1991
East-West relations continue to thaw, and what better cultural emissaries to Poland than Erasure's sparky popsters Andy Bell and Vince Clarke? On a recent jaunt ...
Live Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 2 November 1991
"WE'VE PLAYED 17 times," beams Neil Tennant, "and this is the first time the computers have gone down." While programmers rush round looking under lids, ...
Neneh Cherry: Strictly personal
Interview by Helen Mead, i-D, January 1992
No product-pushing, no image-making, no small talk: Neneh Cherry talks personal about AIDS, life and the death of her friend. ...
Live Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 11 May 1992
Capital of her country ...
Erasure, Right Said Fred: When the flirting stops
Report and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 9 July 1992
Sex is back in the charts. But it doesn't seem to be using a condom. Caroline Sullivan reports ...
Junior Vasquez: Out in New York
Report by Frank Broughton, Mixmag, September 1992
Despite a million AIDS warnings, New York clubbers are going wild. Clubs like the Roxy and the Sound Factory are packed with acres of exposed ...
Who the hell does GARRY BUSHELL think he is?
Interview by Tom Hibbert, Q, September 1992
Here he comes, Mr Lager Top, with his shining nose and monstrous grin and unsupportable beard, talking about "poofs" and "Oi!" and "invalidated Socialism" and ...
Marc Almond: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Simon Price, Melody Maker, 10 October 1992
NIGHT IN SHINING AMOUR ...
Right Said Fred: This Ain't Rock'n'roll...This is Spermicide!
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 31 October 1992
Oo-er! Sex rears its ugly Fred this week, as those saucy HEAVENLY artistes release a charidee EP of rubber soul classics, namely RIGHT SAID FRED ...
Right Said Fred, Saint Etienne: St. Etienne: Saint Misbehavin'
Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 31 October 1992
POP QUIZ! Which band have covered a Neil Young song, a Fall song, and a Right Said Fred song? St Etienne — who else but, ...
Check Yo’self At The Door: Cryptoheterosexuality and the Black Music Underground
Essay by Carol Cooper, Vibe, 1993
I) Time Considered as a Helix of Semilegal Nightclubs ...
Jason Donovan: Identitiy: Jason Donovan — What's Your Problem?
Interview by Mal Peachey, Vox, January 1993
Jason Donovan was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1968. Neighbours made him a teeny idol in 1986, and SAW made him a pop star. He ...
RuPaul: The World According to RuPaul
Interview by David A. Keeps, Details, March 1993
Singer, supermodel, and trans-American success story ...
k.d. lang: k.d. Sings The Blues
Profile and Interview by Mat Snow, Q, April 1993
She’s a genre-hopping pantheist, Lesbian, vegetarian, big-mouthed aromatherapist. In big boots. Yet despite unpromising ingredients, k.d. lang’s multi-layered cake continues to rise quite beautifully and ...
Interview by Bill Brewster, Mixmag, December 1993
They're back and Bill Brewster wants to know if they go shopping dressed like that. "Lets put the cards on the table," says The Cowboy, ...
Pansy Division, RPLA, Sister George, Tongue Man: Queer to the core
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 17 December 1993
The pop establishment has always had a handful of gay stars — colourful, eccentric, lovable. But now there's 'queercore', a radical gay music movement with ...
Sister George: Queercore: Come Out Feel The Noise!
Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 5 February 1994
Alienated by the white, middle-class, mostly male gay scene and spurred on by riot grrrl, the exponents of QUEERCORE are young, working class, politically motivated ...
Morrissey: Homme alone 2 — Lost in Los Angeles
Interview by William Shaw, Details, April 1994
With the release of Vauxhall and I, Morrissey intends to take over America. If only he can get over himself. William Shaw gets down with ...
Erasure: I Say I Say I Say I Say (Mute/All formats)
Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 21 May 1994
DURING THE recent furore over the homosexual age of consent, nobody saw fit to introduce into the debate the on-going 30-year-old love affair between straight ...
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! ...
Comment by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 2 September 1994
From Pink Floyd to the pink pound, pop has provided a lifeline for the young to find heroes often denied a voice elsewhere ...
Interview by Evelyn McDonnell, Rolling Stone, 29 December 1994
WHAT A DIFFERENCE a year makes. Twelve months ago bassist and band leader Me'Shell NdegeOcello's debut album, Plantation Lullabies, had just been released by Maverick. ...
Richard Hell: Victor Bockris presents Susan Sontag & Richard Hell, New York City, 1978
Interview by Victor Bockris, The Poetry Project, February 1995
IT WAS THE EVENING of the fifteen-foot snow blizzard and SUSAN SONTAG was due at my Greenwich Village apartment from her 107th Street penthouse at ...
Retrospective by David Toop, The Wire, April 1995
This New York composer, who died in obscurity of AIDS in 1992, was a true visionary, traversing dub, disco and minimalism and anticipating the '90s ...
McAlmont & Butler: Drag Man Star
Interview by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 13 May 1995
Charged up by men in frocks, with a voice like Al Green meets Liz Cocteau, there's no mistaking McALMONT. But who's the reticent guitarist? BERNARD ...
Stephin Merritt: Man With A Plan
Profile and Interview by Michael Azerrad, Rolling Stone, 13 July 1995
Stephin Merritt: Low-fi Svengali ...
k.d. lang: No more ingenue: The Constant Craving of k.d. lang
Profile and Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 8 October 1995
NEW YORK – Curled up on a couch in a hotel suite, dressed in baggy black athletic garb, k.d. lang ponders the nature of the ...
McAlmont & Butler, David McAlmont: McAlmont & Butler: Nil communication
Interview by Sylvia Patterson, New Musical Express, 21 October 1995
Acrimonious split alert! McALMONT AND BUTLER have come to a sticky end and all that's left is an embarrassing silence. David, meanwhile, can't get laid ...
Melissa Etheridge: Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 31 January 1996
Perky pioneer lacking magic ...
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 23 April 1996
She has been described as Naomi Campbell crossed with Tank Girl, but is there more to the singer with Skunk Anansie than just good cheekbones? ...
k.d. lang: Academy, Birmingham
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 24 April 1996
A big-boned gal among friends ...
k.d. lang: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Paul Sexton, The Times, 11 May 1996
Ingénue no longer ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, Rolling Stone, 31 October 1996
PET SHOP BOYS have become an institution. The quintessential '80s act, Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant have stuck to their guns and refused to defer ...
Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant (1996)
Interview by Steven Daly, Rock's Backpages audio, November 1996
Starting off with an hilarious account of how 'Go West' became a football chant, Neil Tennant goes into a treatise on British pop culture: the limitations of irony; the ideologies of the '80s against the triumphalist '90s; sexuality as cultural choice, and politics. He also looks back on his time at Smash Hits, and feeling beaten to it musically by New Order's 'Blue Monday'.
File format: mp3; file size: 56mb, interview length: 58' 17" sound quality: ***
Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant (1996) [transcript]
Audio transcript of interview by Steven Daly, Rock's Backpages transcripts, November 1996
This is a transcript of Steven's audio interview with Neil. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Ash: TFI Friday, Saturday, Sunday...
Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 8 March 1997
They've been on the rock'n'roller coaster since they were bagging off school to play gigs but there's just the little matter of five sell-out shows ...
Village People: "Macho Types Wanted, Must Have Moustache"
Retrospective and Interview by William Shaw, The Face, April 1997
Young man! There's no need to feel down... Until you've heard the strange and tragic tale of the man behind the biggest disco sensation of ...
RuPaul, Spice Girls: RuPaul and the Spice Girls: Mean Streaks
Report by Chris Heath, The Face, May 1997
Chris Heath discovers which magazine RuPaul really really hates. Go on, guess... ...
Retrospective and Interview by Peter Silverton, The Observer, 4 May 1997
The song that makes bad dancers worse. ...
Obituary by Miles, MOJO, June 1997
ALLEN GINSBERG and I were friends for over 30 years, and even though I am his "official" biographer, it is hard to sum up so ...
k.d. lang: fi interview: k.d. lang
Interview by Gene Santoro, Fi, September 1997
IN POSTWAR America, pumped with the energy of victory and prosperity and the conflicts of changing social attitudes, pop culture opened up new frontiers. The ...
RuPaul: Billboard Live, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Marc Weingarten, Los Angeles Times, 19 December 1997
RuPaul's Act Could Use Dressing Up ...
Marc Bolan, David Bowie, Freddie Mercury: The Androgynous Mirror
Book Excerpt by Jim Farber, 'Rolling Stone: The Seventies' (Little, Brown), 1998
ON A SWAMPY July night in 1974, I left my suburban home bound for David Bowie's Diamond Dogs concert, dressed in midnight-blue eyeliner, hepatitis-yellow platforms ...
George Michael: My High Times with Gay George
Retrospective by Fiona Russell Powell, Punch, March 1998
George Michael made £50 million as the music businesses ultimate pin-up. It wouldn't do to compromise that by coming out as gay. But his carefully ...
George Michael, Solo Artist: Flash in the Pan
Profile by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 12 April 1998
ON TUESDAY this week, one Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, 34, was arrested for "lewd conduct" in a public toilet in Beverly Hills, only a few blocks ...
Ian Brown, The Stone Roses: Ian Brown: Stone crazy
Report by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 14 May 1998
Ian Brown, former singer in the Stone Roses, has caused a storm in the music press by comparing homosexuals to Nazis. Jon Savage wants to ...
Interview by Bill Brewster, Frank Broughton, Rock's Backpages audio, 3 October 1998
The Godfather of Disco takes us right back to NYC in the '70s and his legendary Loft parties: the gay/straight, black/white clientele; the search for perfect sound; the community of like-minded DJs and much more.
File format: mp3; file size: 73.5mb, interview length: 1h 20' 19" sound quality: ***
Jobriath: I'm Ready For My Close-Up
Retrospective by Rob Cochrane, MOJO, November 1998
Glam rock was a movie in search of a soundtrack. Today, Velvet Goldmine is that movie, but 25 years ago the publicity machine roared into ...
Retrospective by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 18 December 1998
Jon Savage describes how Brian Epstein fell victim to drugs and the pressures of being a secret homosexual. ...
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, 1999
IN THIS ISSUE of Q, Michael Stipe, whose public utterances have crept closer to coming out of late, finally does the deed in a cool ...
Rufus Wainwright: Embassy Rooms, London ****
Live Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 21 May 1999
And mother came too ...
Marc Almond, Labelle, Dusty Springfield: Vicki Wickham: Ready, Vicki, Go!
Retrospective and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 30 November 1999
She's managed stars from Dusty Springfield to Marc Almond and has just won an award for her lifetime's work in the music industry. But outside ...
Book Review by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 3 September 2000
THE WOMAN THE world remembers as kohl-eyed, bouffant-haired, nightingale-voiced Dusty Springfield was actually born Mary Isabel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien in 1939. ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001
Vince Clarke, b. 3 July 1960, Basildon, Essex, England; Andy Bell, b. 25 April 1964, Peterborough, Northants, England ...
Rufus Wainwright: The Rueful Master Wainwright
Interview by j. poet, Stereotype, 2001
"A LOT OF SONGWRITING is revenge," Rufus Wainwright quipped, from his New York City hotel room. ...
Charles Trenet: BOUM!: The Life And Art Of Charles Trenet
Obituary by Alan Clayson, unpublished, February 2001
A MORE TIDY-minded author might portray Charles Trenet (1913-2001) as a French Noel Coward. A multi-faceted talent, he was best known for combining qualities of ...
Rufus Wainwright: "My Parents the Folk Heroes"
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, The Guardian, 15 June 2001
THE WITTIEST REQUEST from the crowd at Rufus Wainwright's New York show last week was for ‘Rufus is a Tit Man’, a song written aeons ...
Boy George, Culture Club: Boy George (2002)
Interview by Bill Brewster, Rock's Backpages audio, 7 January 2002
The sometime Culture Club frontman talks about his involvement in the Taboo stage show; looks back at the '80s, the New Romantics and characters such as Steve Strange and Philip Salon; talks about Taboo's inspiration Leigh Bowery; discusses his relationship with the gay community; reflects on songwriting, clubbing, DJing... and reading Sasha's palm.
File format: mp3; file size: 59.8mb, interview length: 1h 02' 16" sound quality: ****
Melissa Etheridge: Dominion Theatre, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 5 February 2002
IT’S NOT every performer who could fill a theatre the size of the Dominion with just their voice and a guitar, but Melissa Etheridge pulled ...
Pet Shop Boys: Steve Pafford does lunch with the Pet Shop Boys
Interview by Steve Pafford, GAY TIMES, June 2002
"IS THE OTHER half of the group coming?" queries a Cappuccino-consuming Neil Tennant. ...
Tatu: We Have Seen The Future of Rock & Roll (and Gulp! It's Two Teenage "Lesbians" From Moscow)
Interview by Dorian Lynskey, Blender, June 2002
Two underage ambisexuals known as Tatu have turned the Russian pop world upside down. Now, led by their ex-psychiatrist manager, they've set their sights squarely ...
Tatu: 200 KM/H In The Wrong Lane (Interscope)
Review by Todd L. Burns, Stylus, 9 January 2003
DESPITE THE obviously imperfect title for American audiences, Tatu has constructed an admirable English language album rife with two potentially hit singles and one of ...
Morrissey: Mark Simpson: Saint Morrissey
Book Review by Simon Price, Independent on Sunday, 16 November 2003
Former World's Biggest Smiths Fan Simon Price checks his credentials against a passionately provocative analysis of Morrissey's art. ...
Scissor Sisters: Cut to the New York dolls
Interview by Lisa Verrico, The Times, 2 January 2004
Our critic goes to the cutting edge of glam as she meets Scissor Sisters, the band most likely to in 2004 ...
Boyfriends, The (UK): The Boyfriends: Dublin Castle, London
Live Review by Simon Price, The Independent, 15 February 2004
THERE'S A STRONG case to be made that camp only has any mileage when used by heterosexuals. Martin Wallace, singer with rising unsigned London band ...
Melissa Etheridge: Hitched, Happy, and On Tour
Interview by Bonnie J. Morris, Gay & Lesbian Review, The , March 2004
MELISSA ETHERIDGE has been a lesbian rock icon since 1988, when audiences who had not heard her at clubs and women's music festivals grabbed her ...
Scissor Sisters: Scissor Sisters
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, March 2004
IF FIRST IMPRESSIONS were king, I would hate the Scissor Sisters. ...
Frankie Goes to Hollywood: Frankie Says Come Again
Retrospective by Max Bell, Uncut, July 2004
The T-shirts. The gay sex imagery. That BBC ban for 'Relax'. Nine weeks at No. 1 with 'Two Tribes'. For one amazing year — 1984 ...
Review by Nick Southall, Stylus, 11 March 2005
EXCESS, THY NAME is Rufus. How else do you explain starting the most important album of your career with a 6-minute pseudo-classical drone of a ...
Peter Shapiro: Turn the Beat Around
Book Review by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 17 July 2005
GIVEN ITS frivolous image and naff rituals – fright wigs and flares, revolving glitterballs and girls dancing around their handbags – a serious book about ...
Interview by Maureen Paton, Rock's Backpages audio, 14 September 2005
The younger Wainwright talks about fighting his destiny to become a musician; his musical family background and traditions; his and sister Martha's childhoods, and his relationship with his father and mother; coming out and homophobia; HIV and AIDS, and his own promiscuity and addictions; his school days; his strengths and weaknesses, and his relationship with Martha.
File format: mp3; file size: 45mb, interview length: 46' 50" sound quality: ** (phoner)
Dusty Springfield: The Invention of Dusty Springfield
Retrospective and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Independent, 26 March 2006
Mary O'Brien was born with the voice that would make her our greatest female pop singer, but everything else that went to make the icon ...
Erasure: Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 18 April 2006
WITH BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN dominating the recent Academy Awards, 2006 is shaping up to be a vintage year for camp cowboys. ...
Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 4 June 2006
"Opinionated" barely begins to cover it. Barbara Ellen meets the ballsy, bolshy pop star who has refreshingly barbed advice for Prince William, the Queen, shallow ...
Review by Steve Pafford, QX, October 2006
Steve Pafford presents a track-by-track review of quite possibly the gayest album of the year… ...
Review by Alfred Soto, Stylus, 3 October 2006
MORE THAN A FEW CRITICS have knocked The Killers for recording a soupy version of Bruce Springsteen's 'Born to Run', but they haven't suggested which ...
Report and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Inside Entertainment, 2007
WHAT A DIFFERENCE a few decades make. When Queen first came to prominence in the early 1970s, the British band was panned for its bombastic ...
The Associates, Billy Mackenzie: The Associates: Wild and lonely
Retrospective and Interview by Paul Lester, Record Collector, April 2007
In January 1997, Billy Mackenzie, the most astonishing singer of his generation, was found dead. 10 years on, no one quite knows why the mercurial ...
George Michael, Wham!: George Michael (2007)
Interview by Steve Pafford, Rock's Backpages audio, June 2007
The man born Georgios Kyricacos Panayiotou talks at length about his family's attitudes towards homosexuality; his relationship with his mother; coming out to his parents; on his own gayness, and not being part of the gay community; on Wham! bandmate Andrew Ridgeley; on songs and videos such 'Wham Rap', 'Club Tropicana' and 'Young Guns'; manager Simon Napier-Bell's shenanigans; the L.A. cruising incident and his American career; meeting Anselmo Feleppa; meeting Kenny Goss; his love of David Bowie; the rivalry between the Brit MTV bands; the state of current pop, and how he sees his future.
File format: mp3; file size: 109.1mb, interview length: 1h 53' 40" sound quality: ***
George Michael, Wham!: George Talks: His Frankest Interview Ever
Interview by Steve Pafford, Richard Smith, GAY TIMES, July 2007
ALTHOUGH IT'S probably not what George Michael would like to be remembered for, something happened a year ago that summed him up beautifully. George was ...
Scissor Sisters: O2 Arena, London
Live Review by Lisa Verrico, The Times, 30 July 2007
SCISSOR SISTERS' last hurrah before retreating to New York to start work on album No 3 should have been a camp carnival. ...
Interview by Sheryl Garratt, Observer Music Monthly, 10 August 2008
Katy Perry's 'I Kissed a Girl' is a runaway hit in the States – and she's now repeating that success over here. Sheryl Garratt caught ...
Anohni (Antony & the Johnsons): Antony and the Johnsons
Interview by Stephen Dalton, The Times, October 2008
ONSTAGE AT Harlem's fabled Apollo Theatre, Antony Hegarty cuts an imposing figure. Swept along by a 20-piece orchestra, New York City's reigning demi-monde diva sobs ...
Profile and Interview by Sheryl Garratt, Daily Telegraph, 28 November 2008
Since winning Pop Idol in 2002, Will Young has had huge commercial success, yet depression and self-doubt have dogged his achievements. Now with his critically ...
Pet Shop Boys: Animal Instinct
Interview by Luke Turner, The Stool Pigeon, May 2009
Pet Shops Boys done good these last three decades, and they're still playing cat-and-mouse with expectation. ...
David Bowie: The making of 'Starman'
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, June 2009
In 1972 this space-age hit — and an onstage "electric blow job" — turned Ziggy and his Spiders From Mars into megastars. "But the outfits... ...
Wendy And Lisa: Wendy & Lisa's impressive post-Prince parade
Comment by Simon Warner, Rock's Backpages, 8 January 2010
TWO US TELEVISION shows with little in common beyond the fact that they have made their mark on the viewing public and garnered critical warmth, ...
Jobriath: Cult Heroes No. 4: Jobriath
Retrospective by Geoff Barton, Classic Rock, 26 February 2010
He was launched amid a mountain of publicity as the world's first openly gay rock star – but the world wasn't ready. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Kris Needs, MOJO, May 2010
"I'VE GOT so much to do. All the music in the world," wrote Arthur Russell to a San Francisco friend after arriving in New York ...
Interview by John Lewis, Hotline, May 2010
The lead singer of Sigur Ros, Jón "Jónsi" Þór Birgisson talks to John Lewis about David Attenborough, Bing Crosby and getting shitfaced in advance of ...
Katy Perry: What Katy Perry did next
Comment by Sophie Heawood, The Times, 27 August 2010
For a moment Lady Gaga looked to have outgunned her, but the singer is back on top. We look at what drives her ...
Scissor Sisters: "Being on stage is some sort of revenge"
Report and Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Times, 11 September 2010
Scissor Sisters talk supporting Lady Gaga, breaking the no-clowns rule at Bestival and their filthy new live show ...
Profile and Interview by David Quantick, Uncut, January 2011
John Grant overcame religious bigotry, homophobia, drug addiction and depression to make one of the greatest albums of 2010. But why does one of his ...
Lady Gaga, Valentino: Lady Gaga's New Gay Anthem
Comment by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 14 February 2011
Has Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way' got what it takes to be a classic gay anthem? Jon Savage on the debt she owes to a ...
Beth Ditto: Winning The Fame Game With No Regrets
Interview by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 1 March 2011
As she prepares to release her new EP with Simian Mobile Disco, Luke Turner sits down with Beth Ditto and finds that, a million record ...
Perfume Genius: Put Your Back N 2 It
Review by Martin Aston, bbc.co.uk, 20 February 2012
Music from a bleakly beautiful twilight zone entirely of its own design. ...
Frank Ocean Comes Out: A Brave Move In The Exaggeratedly Heterosexual World Of Hip Hop
Comment by Dorian Lynskey, New Statesman, 4 July 2012
What it means to be the first out gay star in urban music. ...
Interview by Kate Mossman, The Word, August 2012
ANTONY HEGARTY is a very persuasive man. He rarely smiles, he doesn't crack jokes, but there's something about that whisper, which at first sounds cool ...
Chely Wright's Rediscovered Country
Profile by Charles Bermant, No Depression, 24 September 2012
WE ALL HOLD our own set of prejudices and preconceptions, with clear ideas about politics and religion, tolerance and hatred for country music singers and ...
Mika meets Dita Von Teese: "I've had to work hard to stay like this"
Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 11 October 2012
The flamboyant singer and the burlesque performer share their thoughts on fetishism, sexuality and pop as the ultimate masquerade. ...
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 29 April 2013
The Berlin-based provocateur's orgy of hypersexualised party-pop is midway between a DJ set and soft-porn cabaret show ...
Michelle Shocked: "My reputation was sacrificed years ago!" The strange return of Michelle Shocked
Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, June 2013
AS LIVE MELTDOWNS GO, it wasn't quite up there with George Jones announcing he was Donald Duck or Grace Slick goosestepping across a Hamburg stage. ...
Janelle Monáe: The Electric Lady
Review by Holly Gleason, Paste, 10 September 2013
AN ENNIO MORRICONE sonic vista opens The Electric Lady, the sequel to Janelle Monáe's The ArchAndroid, making its ambition obvious. Overture burning off, a tugging ...
Kitchens of Distinction: An Accidental Comeback: Reassembling Kitchens of Distinction
Retrospective and Interview by Wyndham Wallace, The Quietus, 23 September 2013
The return of Kitchens of Distinction was unexpected, even for the band. Wyndham Wallace joins them for their first face-to-face interview together in almost two ...
Tom Moulton: Zing Went The Strings: Tom Moulton's Disco Remixes Reviewed
Review by John Doran, The Quietus, 5 November 2013
"You wait forty years for a boxset of Tom Moulton Philly disco remixes on heavyweight vinyl, and then two turn up at once." John Doran ...
Frankie Goes To Hollywood: Frankie Says Pop Revolution
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Hughes, Record Collector, January 2014
It's easy to forget how big an explosion Frankie Goes To Hollywood caused in the '80s. Rob Hughes peers through the cracked windows of the ...
Report and Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Guardian, 10 April 2014
Country music is known for tears, beers and big hats – not gay anthems. One singer set out 40 years ago to change that, but ...
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 17 February 2015
Singer whose passionate teen anthems of the '60s included 'It's My Party' and 'You Don't Own Me'. ...
Marc Almond: Let's Talk About Death
Interview by Simon Price, The Independent, 17 February 2015
Simon Price talks to the enigmatic singer about Soho, Soft Cell and mortality. ...
David Bowie's DNA: Spaceboy Keeps Swinging
Essay by Steve Pafford, DNA, June 2015
David Bowie was the bisexual alien rock star who sold genderfuck to the world. He's also claimed to be the first pop star to declare ...
Elton John, Mika: Is There a "Gay Aesthetic" to Pop Music?
Comment by Geoffrey Himes, Smithsonian , 12 August 2015
From Elton John to Mika, the "glam piano" genre may be as integral to the Gay American experience as hip-hop and the blues are to ...
Fanny: The Untold Story of the original Queens of Noise
Retrospective and Interview by Geoff Barton, Classic Rock, September 2015
They may have been overshadowed by the Runaways, but nobody did it quite like Fanny, the original all-girl rock'n'roll band who blazed a trail through the ...
Ezra Furman: MOJO Rising: Ezra Furman
Profile and Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, October 2015
The "gender-wobbly", weirdo Springsteen talks doo wop, fearlessness and Judaism. ...
Prince: How Prince's Androgynous Genius Changed the Way We Think About Music and Gender
Essay by Simon Reynolds, Pitchfork, 22 April 2016
His clothes, songwriting, and production prowess all played a part in breaking through any and every type of convention. ...
Shura on her debut album, Nothing's Real
Interview by Pip Williams, Coup De Main, 5 July 2016
Musically, Shura is an enigmatic beast. She remixed her own disco-infused pop into the echoing and eerie 'Space Tapes', and has worked with everyone from ...
Against Me!: Shape Shift With Me
Review by Maura Johnston, The Boston Globe, 15 September 2016
THE FLORIDA-BORN Against Me! has been one of the standard-bearers of politicized nth-generation punk since their debut in 1998, thanks to the strangled voice and ...
Marc Almond: "I've had the chance to be subversive in the mainstream"
Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 23 October 2016
With a career-spanning 10-album box set coming out, the Soft Cell star reflects on the '80s, Brexit and his fading love affair with London. ...
David Bowie, Freddie Mercury: Growing Up Gay to a Glam Rock soundtrack
Memoir by Jim Farber, The New York Times, 3 November 2016
Freddie Mercury, David Bowie and Alice Cooper send signals to a semi-closeted gay teen in the '70s. ...
Psychic TV's Genesis P-Orridge (2016)
Interview by Jim Sullivan, Boston Rock/Talk, 22 November 2016
The Psychic TV mainperson talks about the sonic evolution of PTV; collaboration and connectivity, fear and totalitarianism; the 1992 police raid and exile; the changing personnel, and about S/he, Lady Jaye and Pandrogeny.
File format: mp3; file size: 29mb, interview length: 31' 41" sound quality: ** (phoner)
George Michael: Why George Michael was the greatest pop star of the MTV era
Comment by Maura Johnston, The Guardian, 26 December 2016
Jackson had the moves, Madonna had the moxie, Prince had the sex – but George Michael had the voice … and thrilling songs like spinning ...
MUNA's About U—an unflinching and unapologetic record of the lives of queer women the world over
Review by Pip Williams, The Line of Best Fit, 6 February 2017
It's hard to review an album when your words just don't feel big enough. ...
Declan McKenna on debut album What Do You Think About The Car?
Interview by Pip Williams, The Line of Best Fit, 13 April 2017
It's no mean feat, being labelled the voice of a generation. ...
PWR BTTM: Rock BTTM: Why PWR BTTM Were Dropped So Fast
Comment by Pip Williams, Hiskind, 16 May 2017
Content warning: assault This Friday, rising queer punk duo PWR BTTM released their sophomore album, Pageant. What looked set to be a celebration of non-conformity and ...
Lou Reed's friends dismiss claim that 'Walk on the Wild Side' is transphobic
Report and Interview by Edward Helmore, The Guardian, 20 May 2017
Defence came after Canadian student body apologized for "hurtful" lyrics to the trans community after including the 1972 hit on a playlist at a campus ...
Report and Interview by Steven R Rosen, Cincinnati CityBeat, 7 June 2017
Genesis Breyer P-Orridge has had a long career on the cutting edge of creative thought and confrontational art. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Simon Reynolds, Pitchfork, 29 June 2017
Forty years after its release, the ingenious studio gurus behind the robot-funk masterpiece talk about how it came to be. ...
Report and Interview by Roy Trakin, Variety, 21 July 2017
IF THE HISTORIES of Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre warrant four hours of prime HBO real estate in The Defiant Ones, then certainly Michael Alago, ...
Tyler, the Creator: Flower Boy
Review by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 21 July 2017
Is the rapper once banned from the UK for homophobic lyrics now coming out? Either way, this heavenly hip-hop record visits multicoloured corners of his ...
Big Mama Thornton: Big Mama's Blues
Retrospective by David Burke, Vintage Rock, November 2017
BIG MAMA THORNTON – alias Willie Mae Thornton – knew how it worked. Like her black R&B contemporaries, male and female (but especially female), she ...
Charli XCX: LGBTQ+ production company launches with alternative music video for Charli XCX's 'Boys'
Report and Interview by Pip Williams, The Line of Best Fit, 9 December 2017
YOU ALREADY know the song — the ubiquitous 'Boy' (pipped to the top spot in our tracks of the year by SZA's potent 'Drew Barrymore') ...
Fred Hersch: Open Book May Rewrite Hersch's Grammy History
Interview by Kirk Silsbee, Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, 3 January 2018
TOP CONTEMPORARY JAZZ pianist Fred Hersch, who is nominated for two 2018 Grammy Awards, has long channeled his turbulent life into his work. The 62-year-old ...
Retrospective by Stephen Dalton, BFI, 22 May 2018
In the Britpop era, few films came more wildly ambitious than Todd Haynes' kaleidoscopic glam-rock epic. Now Bowie is dead and Britain has turned a ...
Blood Orange’s Haunted, Sexy Negro Swan
Review by Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 27 August 2018
Dev Hynes delivers praise songs to self-realization and fluidity, with help from Janet Mock, A$AP Rocky, P-Diddy and others. ...
Queen: The cartoon unreality of Bohemian Rhapsody reveals how Queen see themselves
Film/DVD/TV Review by Kate Mossman, New Statesman, 25 October 2018
This is a group who wrote their songs not for personal reasons but with tens of thousands of people in mind. ...
David Bowie's DNA: Spaceboy Keeps Swinging
Retrospective by Steve Pafford, DNA, 3 November 2018
David Bowie was the bisexual alien rock star who sold genderfuck to the world. He's also claimed to be the first pop star to declare ...
Comment by Kate Mossman, New Statesman, 28 November 2018
SHORTLY BEFORE THE end of her gig last week at the Hammersmith Apollo, Héloïse Letissier, in bra and trousers, ran from the upper circle back ...
Arlo Parks: On The Rise: Arlo Parks
Interview by Pip Williams, The Line of Best Fit, 28 January 2019
18-year-old South Londoner Arlo Parks puts identity and generational anxiety at the heart of her affecting, soulful left-field pop. ...
Comment by Jason King, Pitchfork, 21 February 2019
The classic rock band has always been savvy about its own branding and legacy, but their Oscar-nominated film takes things too far. ...
Jackie Shane: Transgender soul singer thrilled crowds
Obituary by Nicholas Jennings, The Globe and Mail, 2 March 2019
JACKIE SHANE broke all the rules. An American-born, black, transgender woman, Ms. Shane first came to Canada in the conservative early 1960s and won over ...
Profile and Interview by Kate Mossman, New Statesman, 10 April 2019
Bell was an openly gay pop star "bubbling up from Boy George and Jimmy Somerville", in an era when pop stars weren't openly gay. ...
Bronski Beat: The Godfather of Pop: Steve Bronski
Interview by David Burke, Classic Pop, June 2019
SEMINAL SYNTHPOP outfit Bronski Beat – Steve Bronski, Jimmy Somerville and Larry Steinbachek – unwittingly became a mouthpiece for gay issues with their 1984 debut ...
Elton John with Alexis Petridis: Me
Book Review by Chris Charlesworth, Just Backdated, October 2019
A POPULAR musician who has stepped on stage dressed as Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse and Amadeus Mozart, complete with elevated, powdered wig, is unlikely to ...
Patrick Cowley's pioneering electronica
Retrospective by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 30 October 2019
Today, Patrick Cowley is barely known outside record-collecting circles: but his ecstatic electronic disco left an indelible mark on the music scene. ...
Marc Almond: "The Royal Family are the one continuous thread that holds Britain together"
Interview by Ian Winwood, Daily Telegraph, 13 February 2020
The non-stop Soft Cell singer on his confrontational past, Twitter troubles, and why he doesn't mind being part of "the establishment". ...
Retrospective by Jason King, Pitchfork, 11 May 2020
Remembering the undisputed architect of rock'n'roll ...
Review by Pip Williams, The Line of Best Fit, 21 September 2020
Rife with tenderness and restless energy, Free Love is Sylvan Esso at their most cohesive ...
Pale Waves: A Different Kind of Love
Interview by Pip Williams, The Line of Best Fit, 23 February 2021
Heather Baron-Gracie reflects on the creative and personal freedom she found within Pale Waves as the band celebrate the release of new album Who Am ...
Interview by Larry LeBlanc, Celebrity Access, 29 March 2021
This week In the Hot Seat with Larry LeBlanc: Desmond Child, songwriter and producer. ...
Retrospective by Ian Winwood, Daily Telegraph, 26 November 2021
The revered keyboardist saved Let It Be and put his fingerprints on countless rock classics. But he kept his true self hidden to the end. ...
Marc Almond, Soft Cell: Soft Cell's Marc Almond is Prepared to Say Good-bye
Interview by Jim Farber, Vulture, 5 May 2022
MARC ALMOND of Soft Cell has an apt metaphor for life at his age. He likens it to the bars that measure the power left ...
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