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Politics, Race, Religion and Society

1,440 articles

Screaming Lord Sutch: Two Sides Of Sutch

Report and Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 23 March 1963

ROCK SINGING, horror, comedy – and now politics. Such are the interests, professional and personal, of Screamin' Lord Sutch. ...

The arts in society: You're Sick, Daddy

Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, New Society, 25 April 1963

2018 author's note: My very first published piece, written for New Society, of which I was a founder-member of staff as the sub-editor and production ...

Oscar Brown Jr.: A Very Cheerful Man Is Oscar Cicero Brown

Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 29 June 1963

OSCAR BROWN JR. is an extremely cheerful person. From his riotously checked shirt to his shoes with funny little thongs at the side, he exudes ...

Pete Seeger: Rights Song Has Own History of Integration

Retrospective by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 23 July 1963

Theme Well-Known Despite Lack of A Single Disk ...

Anita Bryant, Brenda Lee: Teenage Marriage... Are You Ready For It? By Anita Bryant

Comment by uncredited writer, 16 Magazine, September 1963

WHICH OF THESE THREE ALL-IMPORTANT CATEGORIES OF TEENAGE ROMANCE DO YOU FALL INTO? ONLY ONE OUT OF THE THREE OPENS THE DOOR TO A HAPPY ...

Peter, Paul & Mary: Peter, Paul and Mary and the Sweet Smell of Cerebral Involvement

Profile and Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 28 September 1963

YOU DON'T often find a beard in the hit parade — or a waistcoat for that matter. We have Acker Bilk sporting both in ours, ...

The Beatles: Part II Of "The Year of the Beatles": This is where the 'O' level world becomes Rock...

Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 18 October 1963

WHAT DISTINGUISHES the Beatles and the Liverpool Movement from the rest is their self-confidence. ...

The Rolling Stones: This Horrible Lot – Not Quite What They Seem

Report and Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 21 March 1964

"BUT WOULD YOU LIKE your daughter to marry one?" is what you ask yourself about the Rolling Stones. They've done terrible things to the musical ...

Bob Dylan: If Bob can't sing it, it must be a poem or a novel or something...

Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 16 May 1964

SOME SAY that Bob Dylan is a genius; others say he is a very moderate folk singer but not bad at the guitar. I say ...

Dusty Springfield: Dusty — There Were Threats

Report by uncredited writer, Record Mirror, 26 December 1964

DUSTY SPRINGFIELD flew home on Friday morning to a heroine's welcome. Half of Fleet Street waited at London Airport to greet her on her return ...

The Beatles: George, M.B.E., Always Knew...

Comment by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 12 June 1965

SO THE Beatles have the MBE; they may be pleased but I doubt whether they're surprised. If they'd been made dukes I doubt whether they ...

Joan Baez — Big Surprise

Report by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 9 July 1965

HOW MANY people thought that Joan Baez would be seen back in the NME Chart again, once 'We Shall Overcome' had faded into the distance? Not many, ...

Joan Baez, Donovan: It's School-Marm Joan Baez Now!

Profile by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 13 August 1965

JOAN BAEZ has turned school-marm. In a Californian town she has started an unusual "School For Non-Violence", where children turn up to sit in silence. ...

Ken Dodd, Donovan, Bob Dylan, Hedgehoppers Anonymous, The Hollies, Barry McGuire, Peter, Paul & Mary, Dusty Springfield: Protest Songs: How sick will they get? asks Alan Smith

Report and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 24 September 1965

SING A SONG of protest — and you, too, could find yourself there in the charts. Suddenly a whole flood of these let's-put-the-world-right numbers has ...

Joan Baez: What money, love, and the wear and tear of life have done to Joan Baez, folk singer

Profile and Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 4 October 1965

MAUREEN CLEAVE interviewing the darling of smart young Americans ...

The Beatles: It's a keen pad... Cyril Lord could make a fortune in this place, say the Beatles

Report by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 26 October 1965

THE BEATLES went to Buckingham Palace this morning to see the Queen. The occasion was the presentation of their MBEs. But the confrontation was inevitable, ...

Phil Ochs and Protest Songs

Interview by Jane Heil, Hit Parader, January 1966

AS EVERYONE already knows, folk songs have come off the back porch and out of the pads, and are now very big business. Everybody listens ...

Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler: Barry Sadler Sings Of War Without Protest

Profile by Carol Deck, KRLA Beat, 26 February 1966

ON THE POP charts right now are songs by attractive young men and women about love and the loss of it, about silence and stomachs ...

The Beatles, John Lennon: How Does a Beatle Live? John Lennon

Profile and Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 4 March 1966

ON A HILL IN SURREY... A YOUNG MAN, FAMOUS, LOADED AND WAITING FOR SOMETHING ...

Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler: Ballads: Of Men And Green Berets

Comment by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 26 March 1966

THE "GREEN BERETS" are a special group within the Army who carry out special missions beyond the scope of regular troops. ...

The Association: Vietnam: War!

Comment by Louise Criscione, KRLA Beat, 16 April 1966

THERE IS A war going on in Vietnam and whether the United States has officially declared war or not – it is there, it's happening. ...

Barry McGuire, Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler: Teen Panel Discussion: Green Berets and Barry McGuire

Interview by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 30 April 1966

THE ARTICLE you're about to read is the first in a series of teen discussions which will be sponsored and published in The BEAT. ...

Otis Redding: Local Girl Joins Otis Redding Show at the Apollo Theater

Interview by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 9 July 1966

AN ATTRACTIVE 23-year-old blond dancer from Hollywood is currently appearing at the Apollo Theater in New York with the fantastic Otis Redding Show. ...

Phil Ochs: Phil Ochs In Concert (Elektra EKL 310)

Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 20 August 1966

Vicious, brilliant dynamite from Phil ...

The Beatles: Beatles 'Ban-Wagon' Rolls!

Report by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 27 August 1966

Epstein Fears Security Dangers During U.S. Tour ...

Cliff Richard: Double Double Vision Vision

Interview by Dawn James, Rave, September 1966

Rave's Dawn James sees Cliff and gets double vision! Cliff the Christian who wants to quit the pop world, and Cliff the film star... ...

The Beatles, John Lennon: Letters to the Editor: Lennon Vs. Christianity

Readers' Letters by Various Writers, KRLA Beat, 10 September 1966

(Ed. NOTE: The BEAT has received hundreds of letters, both pro and con, concerning John Lennon's remarks about Christianity. Unfortunately, we do not have nearly ...

The Sir Douglas Quintet: Sir Douglas Quintet: "Adults Resent Groups"

Interview by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 10 September 1966

SOME ENGLISH performers, it seems, have done nothing recently but knock America: the people, their attitudes, their way of life. ...

Janis Ian: Censors and the "New Reality"

Comment by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 25 September 1966

A FOLK-ROCK disk issued earlier this month which spotlights a shining new singing and song-writing talent, also throws some rays of light into the shadowy ...

Janis Ian, Jimmy Ruffin, The Supremes: Who Else but the Supremes Would Pedal a Rickshaw?

Report and Interview by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 30 September 1966

IMAGINE DIANA Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard in Taipei, pedalling rickshaws and letting the regular drivers ride in the seat. Picture Mary falling off ...

Cliff Richard: Empire Theatre, Liverpool

Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 4 November 1966

ON HIS LATEST TOUR CLIFF CHANGES DYLAN'S WORDS ...

Chaos On The Sunset Strip

Report by Mike Tuck, KRLA Beat, 17 December 1966

Teens Demonstrate For Dance Rights ...

Riots on Sunset Strip: Strip Of No Man's Land

Comment by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 31 December 1966

The following is the first half of an opinion poll where teenagers give their views on the Sunset Strip controversy. Part II of this series ...

Joan Baez: A Study In Protest

Report and Interview by Rochelle Reed, KRLA Beat, 14 January 1967

WHEN THE curtains draw back and the spotlight silhouettes her against an empty stage, it's difficult to believe that slight, dark-haired Joan Baez is standing ...

Riots on Sunset Strip: Strip Of No Man's Land (part 2)

Comment by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 14 January 1967

This is the second half of The BEAT'S opinion poll where teens express their feelings about the Sunset Strip controversy. Part I appeared in the ...

Marvin Gaye: "The Music Really Saves Me"

Interview by Eden, KRLA Beat, 28 January 1967

THERE ARE some performers who succeed in escaping the boundaries and restrictions normally imposed upon their profession. They somehow manage to go "above and beyond ...

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. ...

The Rolling Stones: Sex, Stones & Sullivan

Comment by Tony Barrow, KRLA Beat, 11 February 1967

"I'M NOT superstitious" remarked Mick Jagger at London Airport on Friday January 13. And to prove his point he marched jauntily beneath a couple of ...

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! ...

Hippies take over from the Beatniks

Report by Lillian Roxon, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 4 March 1967

A new youth grouping, the Hippies, has sprung up in San Francisco and promises to spread over America and to Europe. Hippies are still way-out, ...

The Diggers: In Search of George Metesky

Report by Richard Goldstein, The Village Voice, 16 March 1967

ON A WINTER evening, knots of anxious hippies assembled at San Francisco's Howard Presbyterian Church, overlooking the treelined mall called the Panhandle. Now and then ...

MC5: An Interview with Rob Tyner

Interview by John Sinclair, The Warren-Forest Sun, May 1967

The following interview with ROBIN TYNER, the lead singer of the MC5, the major Detroit avant-rock band, was recorded by JOHN SINCLAIR in the first ...

The Beach Boys: Beach Boy Defies Draft, Would Rather Go To Jail

Report by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 20 May 1967

CARL WILSON of the Beach Boys has decided to risk jail rather than report for induction into the Army. ...

The Flower Children and How They Grow

Essay by Richard Goldstein, Los Angeles Times, 28 May 1967

Richard Goldstein is a young writer with a special view of the Flower Children and their contribution to modern American culture. He has been called ...

MC5: 'Aid, Comfort For Parents Of Hippies'

Readers' Letters by uncredited writer, Detroit Free Press, 2 June 1967

In response to the story on the parents of hippies which appeared in the Free Press Women's Section last Sunday, and the two stories about ...

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 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 ...

The Mothers Of Invention, Frank Zappa: Frank Zappa: Meet the Boss Mother, Sussing Out Britain...

Interview by Nick Jones, Melody Maker, 26 August 1967

IF AFFLUENCE and power is the Great American Dream, Frank Zappa is the Great American Nightmare. ...

The Byrds, David Crosby: The Byrds' David Crosby (1967)

Interview by Ted Alvy, Rock's Backpages audio, 30 August 1967

The Cros talks about the new vibe of co-operation between musicians, Monterey, the disintegration of Haight-Ashbury, seeing Cream play the Fillmore the night before, and all kinds of other fine stuff

File format: mp3; file size: 36.4mb, interview length: 39' 47" sound quality: ***

The Beatles, Arthur Brown, Pink Floyd, Soft Machine: The Flower Game

Report by Maureen O'Grady, Rave, September 1967

What do flowers mean to you? To the Flower People (the Gentle People, the Beautiful People) they signify love, freedom, goodness, fun and new experiences. ...

The Beatles, The Byrds: Allen Ginsberg: Poet Who Swam in the Ganges — And Started Something

Report by Lillian Roxon, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 10 September 1967

NEWS THAT the Beatles were flying to India for two months in October, that they were giving up drugs and taking up Indian mysticism may ...

The Beatles, Mick Jagger: Beatles And A Stone To Wales With Mystic

Report by Tony Barrow, KRLA Beat, 23 September 1967

ANY GOOD groupie and, indeed, any teenybopper of average intellect would assure you that one of the least likely places top pop people are to ...

Buffy Sainte-Marie: "It's More Dangerous To Be An American Indian Under 18 Than To Be In Viet Nam" — Buffy Sainte-Marie

Interview by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 7 October 1967

BUFFY SAINTE-Maric is one of the most unique performers around. Possessing an almost incredible voice which ranges from the deep blues tones to the pure ...

The Who: The Zombie Cometh!

Comment by Nick Jones, Melody Maker, 7 October 1967

NICK JONES is worried about British pop audiences. Here he explains why. ...

The Supremes: The Smell Of Flower Power

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

Dear BEAT: ...

The Beatles: Harrison & Lennon Discuss Religion

Interview by Tony Barrow, KRLA Beat, 4 November 1967

BEFORE DEPARTING for India and the beginning of a two to three month meditation study course under the guidance of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Beatles John ...

The Beatles, George Harrison: Beatle George And Where He's At

Interview by Nick Jones, Melody Maker, 16 December 1967

For many people, the Beatles have long passed the stage where they are merely a pop group. The first indication of this development was probably ...

The Beach Boys: 1968 Will See Better Things From The Beach Boys

Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 30 December 1967

DESPITE THE fact that the Beach Boys new single, 'Wild Honey' is having a sticky time in the charts, the group is still able to ...

Dusty Springfield, Mickie Most, P.J. Proby, Spencer Davis Group: Right Then, Who's Backing Britain?

Comment by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 20 January 1968

IF BRITAIN is going to the dogs, it is obvious a large section of the (older) community are convinced that sinful pop stars are prime ...

The Beach Boys, The Beatles: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: The Politics of Salvation

Report by Richard Goldstein, The Village Voice, 25 January 1968

The question of the hour is: can an honest man still be a fraud? ...

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 ...

The Beach Boys: The Maharishi, The Beach Boys and the Heathens

Report by Loraine Alterman, New York Magazine, 6 March 1968

"IN BALTIMORE last night in the middle of the Maharishi's talk, a kid got up and yelled 'Maharishi, you're full of it'." Beach Boy Bruce ...

The Foundations: Foundation Clem Reveals Popland's 'Black Spots'

Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 9 March 1968

MENTION SCOTLAND to Clem Curtis and he grimaces. Mention Ireland and you get an "Oh man" reply, with an anguished expression. But mention Amsterdam and ...

Yippies Head for Chicago

Report and Interview by Mike Jahn, Pop Scene Service, 23 March 1968

"OURS IS THE politics of ecstasy," said Abbie Hoffman, the New York Digger leader, for whom ecstasy is as much a public as a private ...

The Beach Boys, The Beatles: Maharishi links Beatles and Beach Boys

Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 6 April 1968

NME helps find World Peace venue ...

The Beach Boys: A Brave New World – Through Pop

Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 6 April 1968

IT'S GOING to be a Brave New World through pop. That's the hope of men like George Harrison, Donovan and Mike Love, bearded, humourous hell-raiser ...

The Deviants: Guerilla Pop

Comment by Mick Farren, International Times, 14 June 1968

POP MUSIC is one of the last free mediums, but is quickly becoming entangled in its own and society's games. ...

The Fugs: Dirty Words Are Hurled At Public

Comment by Mike Jahn, Pop Scene Service, 14 June 1968

DESPITE THE fact that it is almost impossible to shock people anymore, the bad-word business flourishes. ...

Nina Simone

Interview by Dave Godin, Blues & Soul, July 1968

ONE IS always apprehensive about meeting artists for whom one has a great admiration or burning passion – I deliberately avoided meeting the one and ...

O.C. Smith Fights For Poor People

Interview by Alan Walsh, Melody Maker, 6 July 1968

THERE was a familiar face at the head of last week's Poor People's March in Washington, USA,the protest on behalf of America's underprivileged classes led ...

MC5: Rock & Roll Dope #4

Report by John Sinclair, Fifth Estate, 18 July 1968

IN THE past two weeks since the last issue of this paper a bunch of new developments have taken place: Almost every job for the ...

MC5, John Sinclair: Flash! July 26th, 1968: MC5 Attacked By Police On Job

Report by uncredited writer, The Warren-Forest Sun, 26 July 1968

JOHN SINCLAIR, FRED SMITH BEATEN, MACED, ARRESTED — CHARGED WITH ASSAULTING POLICE OFFICERS ...

MC5 Deposition 7/23/68

Press Release by uncredited writer, The Warren-Forest Sun, 26 July 1968

WHAT FOLLOWS is a deposition written by Rob Tyner, Wayne Kramer and Dennis Thompson of the MC5 upon their return from the Loft and the ...

Phil Ochs: The War Isn't Over for Phil Ochs Yet

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 27 July 1968

WHEN PHIL OCHS arrived in England on his recent visit the immigration people almost didn't let him in. "They asked me did I want to ...

MC5: Rock & Roll Dope #5

Report by John Sinclair, Fifth Estate, 1 August 1968

Poet-MC5 manager John Sinclair and MC5 guitarist Fred Smith were brutally assaulted, beaten, MACEd, and arrested by members of the National Security Police, the Oakland ...

Theatre of Fear: One on the Aisle

Report by Richard Goldstein, The Village Voice, 5 September 1968

CHICAGO — I brought the Fear out with me from New York, a white plastic helmet and a bottle of Vaseline. The same fear that ...

Up Against The Wall, Bill Graham!

Report by Lita Eliscu, East Village Other, 25 October 1968

PEOPLE WERE going around saying, It's an obscenity or an insanity or if they could get their heads together, they said both, fast and in ...

B.B. King Sings the Blues Evra Day, Evra Day

Report and Interview by Michael Lydon, The New York Times, 27 October 1968

A COOL breeze blew in the night outside, across the Mississippi and the cane fields that press against the town of Port Allen, La. Inside ...

MC5: White Panther Statement

Essay by John Sinclair, The Warren-Forest Sun, 1 November 1968

FIRST I MUST say that this statement, like all statements is bullshit without an active program to back it up. We have a program which ...

The Deviants: Revolution — With Guitars, Not Bullets

Interview by Hugh Nolan, Disc and Music Echo, 2 November 1968

FOR MICK FARREN, magnificently hairy leader of the (formerly Social) Deviants, the underground is a very definite force against the establishment, blind authority and the ...

The Deviants: From the Underground: The Deviants

Profile and Interview by Derek Boltwood, Record Mirror, 23 November 1968

IT'S BEEN SAID of the Deviants that they are the only real underground group. Like roots of the underground perhaps – because Mick Farren, first ...

Diana Ross, The Supremes: Diana Ross: A Talking Instead Of Just A Walking Doll

Report and Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 30 November 1968

DIANA ROSS is a living doll. But as an all-talking living doll, her new image came as quite a surprise to the pop scene last ...

Country Joe & The Fish, Country Joe McDonald: An Interview with Country Joe McDonald

Interview by Paul Nelson, Hullabaloo, December 1968

I HAVE BEEN an admirer of Country Joe McDonald and the Fish ever since I first heard them years ago on tape at a friend's ...

MC5: The MC5: Rock frenzy points a way

Report by Lillian Roxon, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 4 January 1969

THOSE OF us who have watched rock with interest, believing it to be as good a barometer of the changing times as art or the ...

Poetry is Revolution: Underground Radio

Essay by John Sinclair, Ann Arbor Argus, 13 February 1969

"In a modern telecommunications society, the radio station is one of the real seats of authority; its seizure the seal of a successful revolution." — ...

Charley Pride: Country Pride

Comment by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 17 March 1969

IT WAS COUNTRY Music Week in Nashville, Tennessee, during the fall of 1966. Several of us from the Southern Student Organizing Committee were in town ...

MC5: The MC5: Kick Out the Jams (Elektra)

Review by Miller Francis jr., The Great Speckled Bird, 17 March 1969

"Works of art which lack artistic quality have no force, however progressive they are politically. Therefore, we oppose both works of art with a wrong ...

MC5: The Story Of The MC5 On The West Coast In March Part One

Report by John Sinclair, Ann Arbor Argus, 28 March 1969

John Sinclair, Minister of Information, White Panther Party ...

Nina Simone: Nina's The Medium For The Message

Interview by Royston Eldridge, Melody Maker, 19 April 1969

NINA SIMONE, the artist, is the High Priestess of Soul, the blues singer and the jazz pianist. Nina Simone, the person, is compelling, formidable, and ...

MC5: The MC5

Profile and Interview by Lita Eliscu, East Village Other, 14 May 1969

ROCKET ROCKET ROCKET to the — YEAHHHHH the — Fuckit yeah yeah sheeeeit baby Get. Down. On. It. Cmon mothahfuckahs CMON MOTHAH-FUCKAHS MAKE FUCK A ...

Allman Brothers Band: The Allman Brothers Band

Special Feature by Miller Francis Jr., The Great Speckled Bird, 19 May 1969

Upon first seeing the Allman Brothers Band, an interracial rock and roll band from the heart of segregated, reactionary Georgia not only calling themselves brothers, ...

Country Joe & The Fish, Dr. John, Flying Burrito Brothers, The Fugs: Rocking into religion

Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 27 May 1969

Gods, bishops, priests and worshippers ...

Biff Rose Raps!

Interview by uncredited writer, Flip, June 1969

Sometimes you meet a person you can be happy just grooving with...rapping back and forth about how life should be lived and what's wrong and ...

Canned Heat, Muddy Waters, Johnny Winter: The Blues

Essay by Miller Francis Jr., The Great Speckled Bird, 16 June 1969

"All new technologies bring on the cultural blues, just as the old ones evoke phantom pain after they have disappeared." — Marshall McLuhan, War and ...

Atlanta International Pop Festival

Comment by Miller Francis jr., The Great Speckled Bird, 30 June 1969

"If you want to come up with a singular, most important trend in this new music, I think it has to be something like: it ...

The Beach Boys, Charles Manson, Dennis Wilson: The Continuing Story Of Beach Boy Dennis Wilson

Interview by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 5 July 1969

...and his house of seventeen women. RM'S Lon Goddard reports from the loo!!! ...

The Beach Boys: Beach Boy Mike Would Love To Convert You

Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 26 July 1969

Richard Green Tries A Spot Of Meditation ...

John Lennon, Yoko Ono: John and Yoko: Can YOU Afford To Laugh At Them?

Interview by Tony Norman, Top Pops, 9 August 1969

In Vietnam, young men are killing each other every day. In Biafra, young children are dying of starvation. Across the Continents of the world there ...

Blodwyn Pig: Ahead Speaks Out

Interview by Mark Williams, International Times, 26 September 1969

I'D NEVER seen Mick Abrahams in a suit before. In fact, he'd confessed to me that he'd never bought a suit in his life. He'd ...

Graham Bond

Interview by Mark Williams, International Times, 26 September 1969

AS ALL OF us who diligently study the music press will know, Graham Bond is back in Britain after nearly 2 years in America and ...

The Supremes, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder: Motowners have Racial Problems

Report by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 27 September 1969

SINCE SO many Motown artists are currently in the British charts, I thought I might pass on some things about them that have been circulating ...

Jane Birkin, Serge Gainsbourg: Jane Birkin: That Was The Week That Was...

Report by uncredited writer, Record Mirror, 18 October 1969

JANE BIRKIN: the inside story of what happened when the BBC found her at Number One... and the BBC-TV programme that played the record with ...

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 ...

Radha Krishna Temple, London: Are You Getting Krishna's Message?

Report and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 25 October 1969

...wonders ALAN SMITH ...

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 ...

Charles Manson: Death Valley Drop-outs

Report by Ivor Davis, Daily Express, 3 December 1969

IVOR DAVIS • HOLLYWOOD • TUESDAY ...

The Beatles, John Lennon, Yoko Ono: John Lennon: Bore, Fool or Saint?

Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 20 December 1969

THEY SAY John Lennon is insane, a fool, and a bore. They call him an embarrassment, a joke, and a man too interested in his ...

MC5: The MC5 is a Whole Thing

Press Release by John Sinclair, Countdown, 1970

THERE IS NO way to get at the music without taking the whole context of the music too – there is no separation. We say ...

Chairmen Of The Board, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Yoko Ono: John and Yoko Envisage Super Jam

Report by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 2 January 1970

IT'S A WELL known fact that John and Yoko Lennon were in Toronto and Ottawa recently to talk about their Peace Festival to be held ...

Carry That Weight: Music In The ‘60s

Overview by Lenny Kaye, Fusion, 20 January 1970

THE WAY IT WORKS is that someone picks up the torch and carries it for a while, and when they get tired, or irrelevant, or ...

Peter, Paul & Mary, Richie Havens, The Voices of East Harlem: Richie Havens, Peter, Paul & Mary, the Voices of East Harlem et al – Vietnam Moratorium Benefit, Madison Square Garden, New York NY

Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 29 January 1970

Garden Thronged for Songfest In Aid of Vietnam Moratorium ...

Black Widow, Myth and MAGICK...

Report and Interview by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 7 February 1970

BY THE GOAT, it was in the cards. Malcficium extends it's demonic fingers in the the sleeping bones of pop music and the Black Arts ...

The Beatles, John Lennon, Yoko Ono: John Lennon: A Private Talk With John

Interview by Ritchie Yorke, Rolling Stone, 7 February 1970

YOU'VE BEEN talking lately about the fact that the Beatles aren't the musical group they were two or three years ago — that you are ...

The Beatles, Ronnie Hawkins, John Lennon, Yoko Ono: John, Yoko & Year One

Report by Ritchie Yorke, Rolling Stone, 7 February 1970

TORONTO — The scene couldn't have been more appropriately peaceful if it had been staged by a film director. A color TV set flickered soundlessly ...

Merle Haggard

Comment by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 16 March 1970

IF MERLE Haggard wasn't one of the two or three most creative persons in country music, it would be easy to dismiss him as just ...

Allman Brothers Band, The Insect Trust, Santana: Santana, the Allman Brothers Band, the Insect Trust: A War On Rock

Report by Miller Francis Jr., The Great Speckled Bird, 30 March 1970

SANTANA AND the Allman Brothers Band flew right into a hornet's nest last week when they showed up to play at the Municipal Auditorium: there ...

Black Widow: White Witch Warns Black Widow

Interview by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, April 1970

A Crawling Eye special by Lon Goddard ...

Zabriskie Point (dir. Michelangelo Antonioni)

Film/DVD/TV Review by Miller Francis Jr., The Great Speckled Bird, 2 April 1970

"I understand man, with his faults and his virtues; those of many men I know, and no doubt my own as well. But what I ...

Woodstock

Essay by Miller Francis Jr., The Great Speckled Bird, 4 May 1970

Part 1 WOODSTOCK IS AN amazing piece of technology, one of the most important films ever made. We have long been accustomed to experiencing films as ...

Woodstock producer Bob Maurice

Interview by Miller Francis Jr., The Great Speckled Bird, 4 May 1970

(The following dialogue with Bob Maurice, producer of the Woodstock film, is an edited version of a long interview taped last week at the Marriott.) ...

Is Pop Music Putting The Boot In For Bovver?

Overview by Rob Partridge, Record Mirror, 9 May 1970

Robert Partridge argues that violence has taken on a different meaning ...

Black Sabbath: Black Magic Is Not Our Scene Say Black Sabbath

Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 13 June 1970

We're fed up with the confusion, they tell ROY CARR ...

The Who: Woodstock: Talking About My Generation

Essay by Miller Francis Jr., The Great Speckled Bird, 15 June 1970

"I'm looking for me, You're looking for you We're looking at each other and we don't know what to do." — 'The Seeker' by the Who ...

Country Joe & The Fish, Jefferson Airplane: Kent Aftermath: Teen Turmoil Poison At B.O.

Report and Interview by John Morthland, Rolling Stone, 25 June 1970

SAN FRANCISCO — Lou Rhode, a student at San Francisco City College, is a clerk at Tower Records, and wears an "Out Now" peace button ...

Graham Bond, Jack Bruce, Miles Davis, John McLaughlin, Tony Williams: John McLaughlin: The Truth Comes Out

Interview by Dave Marsh, Creem, July 1970

IT IS amazing that John McLaughlin has not become more renowned than he already is. He's the most thoroughly progressive genius of that instrument ever. ...

The Up: New Political Rock Group: The Up Begins Where the MC5 Left Off

Profile by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 3 July 1970

ABOVE AND beyond his highly publicized political life, John Sinclair had a great interest in the rock 'n roll world. His band, the MC5, attained ...

MC5, The Up: Rock For...

Essay by Frank Bach, The Ann Arbor Sun, 4 July 1970

THE LIFE of the young rock and roll musician is and has always been filled with the bitter contradictions of honko Amerika................. ...

Steppenwolf: On Politics and Pop

Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 11 July 1970

FOR YEARS popular rhythm artists have expressed often in fairly heated fashion, or occasionally with affected languor, political opinions. ...

Noir — and those good black vibrations

Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 18 July 1970

THERE ARE few groups around today who can boast that they are a "musicians' group" — a group whom musicians go out of their way ...

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 ...

Rock — Energy For Revolution

Comment by Mick Farren, Melody Maker, 3 October 1970

WHEN I first brought home Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry albums my parents didn't much like it. They made the mistake of thinking rock was ...

The Last Poets: Thoughts... and Music: The Last Poets

Comment by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 9 October 1970

AS EDITOR of Blues & Soul, I have always done my personal utmost to concentrate on the musical content of our music and the artists ...

Anthony Wedgwood Benn: Listening To The New Generation

Essay by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 24 October 1970

Former Technology Minister Anthony Wedgwood Benn replies to Mick Farren's analysis of Rock as a political force. ...

Mike Curb Congregation, John Sebastian: Mike Curb: Record Boss Keeps Mum

Report and Interview by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 6 December 1970

The 'Curb 18' Still Unidentified ...

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 ...

Germaine Greer: A Groupie in Women's Lib

Report and Interview by Robert Greenfield, Rolling Stone, 7 January 1971

LONDON — ON a crazy Sunday afternoon in London, Germaine Greer lolls in the corner of a crowded room with a silver knit flapper's hat ...

Caroline Coon: The Underground Angel Of Mercy...

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 30 January 1971

Michael Watts talks to CAROLINE COON of Release ...

Charles Manson: The Girls On The Corner

Readers' Letters by uncredited writer, The Great Speckled Bird, 8 February 1971

(This letter in defense of Charles Manson and the Family was sent to The Great Speckled Bird and other underground papers by Family member Sandra Good ...

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 ...

Bill Anderson, Bobby Bare, Tom T. Hall, Conway Twitty: Bill Anderson, Conway Twitty, Bobby Bare, Tom T. Hall: Shower Of Stars, City Auditorium, Atlanta GA

Live Review by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 15 March 1971

FROM TOP TO bottom, the Shower of Stars last Saturday night was really fine. The sound system was much improved and the sound it carried ...

James Brown: The Cassius Clay of Music

Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 20 March 1971

JAMES BROWN — broad and stocky — America's Soul Brother Supreme, with a warm smile etched deep into his granite face — perhaps the very ...

Bob Dylan: They Won't Invite Bob

Report by Lillian Roxon, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 18 April 1971

BOB DYLAN is having a birthday party the day he turns 30 — May 23 — and everyone's invited except him. ...

James Brown IS Super Bad

Report and Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Columbia Daily Spectator, 22 April 1971

WE'RE SITTING there rapping just before camera time. This evening James Brown is taping the Johnny Carson Show and he is in a good mood, having just ...

MC5, John Sinclair, The Up: Rock & Roll Dope: John Sinclair

Retrospective by Frank Bach, The Ann Arbor Sun, 28 May 1971

IT WAS back in the fall of 1966 when Rob Tyner, lead singer for the then "Avant Rock" MC5, and myself got in Rob's beat ...

Quintessence — sincere, or a fraud?

Interview by Caroline Boucher, Disc and Music Echo, 29 May 1971

SHIVA IS a Christian Hindu who lives in Notting Hill Gate downstairs from his Guru. He is 22, born in Australia and arrived here two ...

Elephant's Memory: Take It To The Streets (Metromedia)

Review by Toby Mamis, Creem, June 1971

NEW YORK City has no readily identifiable musical identity, as, say, San Francisco or the Ann Arbor/Detroit regions. But the Big Apple does have a ...

Marvin Gaye: A Study of Marvin Gaye's Liberation

Interview by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, 12 June 1971

MARVIN GAYE is a mystery man. Most people know him as the singer who made the biggest-selling Motown record ever – 'I Heard It Through ...

MC5: Rock And Roll Dope: MC5

Comment by Frank Bach, The Ann Arbor Sun, 25 June 1971

IT WAS A Friday night back in the fall of 1966 when Gary Grimshaw, myself and some brothers and sisters from Detroit set up some ...

Roberta Flack, The Last Poets, Leon Thomas: Roberta Flack, the Last Poets and Leon Thomas: New Breed Comin' Up

Profile and Interview by uncredited writer, Hit Parader, July 1971

There's a new, young breed of black singers coming up — a breed that is aware of the roots but doesn't get into the funky-jive-fingerpop-boogaloo ...

The Up: Rock And Roll Dope: the Up

Column by Frank Bach, The Ann Arbor Sun, 2 July 1971

UP PLAYED for the Scapegoat Six in Kennedy Square last Tuesday and after running a bunch of errands around the Motor City all afternoon we ...

Marvin Gaye: What's Going On (Tamla-Motown)

Review by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 23 July 1971

An in-depth review of Marvin Gaye's chart-topping American album, What's Going On. ...

Mick Farren: Rock Rebel with a Cause

Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 28 August 1971

TWENTY-SIX-year-old Mick Farren, ex-singer with the Deviants, writer, political activist and spokesman for the underground, has been called many things. However, he prefers to define ...

The Oz Obscenity Trial: Guilty

Report by Robert Greenfield, Rolling Stone, 2 September 1971

LONDON — Great Britain no longer need envy America its Chicago Conspiracy Trial. They've come up with a pretty good one of their own and ...

MC5, John Sinclair: Rock And Roll Dope: MC5 Kick Out The Jams At The Grande Ballroom

Column by Frank Bach, The Ann Arbor Sun, 29 October 1971

IT WAS back in the fall of 1966 when Rob Tyner, lead singer for the then "Avant Rock" MC5, and myself got in Rob's beat up ...

Spirit in Flesh: God Crazed Hippies Reap Boffo B.O.

Report by Nick Tosches, Creem, November 1971

HENNY YOUNGMAN SMASHES HIGHEST ENERGY FORCE IN UNIVERSE ...

Underground Press An Important Promotion Outlet

Overview by Lon Goddard, Billboard, 13 November 1971

THE BRITISH underground press, or experimental press serves the budding supporters of the "Alternative Society" in a manner that is easily digestible; from a literary ...

Fanny: Music by Women

Interview by uncredited writer, The Great Speckled Bird, 22 November 1971

IT ALL started Wednesday at the royal coach inn with Viva. The inn is some architect's nightmare of Lancelot and Arthur's court, wooden chandeliers and ...

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 ...

The Last Poets: This Is Madness (Douglas SDGL 69102, £2.49)

Review by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, 15 January 1972

THIS ALBUM has had tremendous success in America over the last year and practically become the testament of the Black American. It's not hard to ...

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 ...

Bob Dylan: How Does it Feel?

Essay by Dave Marsh, Creem, February 1972

PICKS OF THE WEEK: BOB DYLAN, 'GEORGE JACKSON' (Ram's Horn, BMI). Bringing it all back home, the ever-relevant Dylan, who watched the river flow for ...

MC5: The MC5: Back in the UK

Interview by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 12 February 1972

THE MC5 don't want to be stars, if you can dig that. They reason that they are there with you to fill the air with ...

MC5: The MC5 on Shock Rock

Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 19 February 1972

OF ALL THE groups who have dabbled in politics over the last few years, the MC5 seem to have gained the reputation as one of ...

Commander Cody, John Lennon, Joy of Cooking, Stevie Wonder, Yoko Ono: John Sinclair: Free John & Yoko

Report by uncredited writer, Dave Marsh, Creem, March 1972

The new Plastic Ono Band comes to Ann Arbor to Free John Sinclair – Starring David Peel, Archie Shepp, Ed Sanders, Stevie Wonder, Commander Cody, ...

Stackridge: 'If McCartney really wants to do something for Ireland why doesn't he stop singing about it and come here?'

Report by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 4 March 1972

Stackridge are one of the few bands to take their music to the people in the 'front line' in Ireland, Mark Plummer reports. ...

Nikki Giovanni, The Last Poets, Wanda Robinson: Wanda Robinson: Black Ivory; Nikki Giovanni: Truth Is On Its Way; The Last Poets: This Is Madness

Review by Sheila Weller, Fusion, May 1972

THE BLACK cultural tradition has always depended for its survival on oral, rather than written, communication: from the chants of tribal Africa to the folk-tales ...

Arthur Conley, Inez Foxx: From The Soul: Inez Foxx and Arthur Conley

Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 3 June 1972

INEZ FOXX is currently engaged on her 18th British tour — the fifth of sixth since she split from brother Charlie. ...

James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Donny Hathaway, Isaac Hayes, Melvin Van Peebles, The Staple Singers: R&B is B(l)ack and Involved

Comment by Bob Merlis, Words & Music, July 1972

WE'VE BEEN experiencing a remarkable phenomenon in recent months; the re-emergence of rhythm and blues as an important force in American popular music. Since it ...

John Lennon, Yoko Ono: Lennon-Ono: Deporting The Great Swan

Report by Jonathon Green, International Times, 2 November 1972

NEW YORK: 'It is with great pleasure that we wish to add PEN American Center's great Roc's voice to the vast chorus of poetic larks and ...

Curtis Mayfield: Curtis the Crusader

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

FIGHTING A DRUG MENACE IN AMERICAN GHETTOES ...

The Jackson 5 et al: Saving the Children

Report by Robin Katz, Record Mirror, 15 December 1972

AS I MENTIONED last week, the Jackson Five are currently appearing in a movie in the States. They're not the stars, and the film is ...

Stevie Wonder: The New Wonder Ingredient

Interview by Tony Norman, New Musical Express, 17 February 1973

BLACK AND PROUD, MUSIC FROM THE SOUL ...

David Bowie: Gay Guerillas & Private Movies

Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 24 February 1973

ALRIGHT, SO you're a rock singer out of Beckenham, Kent called David Bowie and you're hotter than a stolen atom bomb packed with pictures of ...

John Sinclair: Guitar Army (Douglas)

Book Review by Dave Marsh, Creem, March 1973

TO MOST people, John Sinclair looks like just another mutant dinosaur relic of the First Golden Age of Psychedelic Apocalypse. But that's not any more ...

The Incredible String Band #2: Scientology and the Incredibles

Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 17 March 1973

MacDONALD: Was there any consistent philosophical or spiritual attitude behind the group's work during the Elektra period, or were you just tossing in anything you ...

Henry Cow: Just Happy Playing Their Music

Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 7 April 1973

HENRY COW, a quintet formed at Cambridge University five years ago, are probably best known — though the group themselves would rather forget it — ...

Gil Scott-Heron: Pieces Of A Man (Philips 6369 415)

Review by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 12 May 1973

Heron, with the sound of the black revolution ...

Mahavishnu Orchestra, John McLaughlin: John McLaughlin: Gimme Dat 11/8 Time Religion

Overview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 14 July 1973

PART 2: IAN MacDONALD ON THE SPIRITUAL McLAUGHLIN ...

The Osmonds: Br-r-r-ring... Hi, this is Alan Osmond

Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 4 August 1973

WIMP ROCK AND WEIRD CITY. IT'S THE OSMONDS GROWING UP. IAN MacDONALD REPORTS ...

Plastic, paper and petrol famine shakes the whole music scene — ROCK CRISIS!

Report by Colin Irwin, Rob Partridge, Melody Maker, 1 December 1973

ROCK MUSIC is reaching a crisis point. The worldwide energy shortage threatens the future of the entire music industry while rock itself faces a ban ...

Country Joe McDonald (1974)

Interview by Mick Gold, Rock's Backpages audio, 1974

Country Joe talks about being brought up by communist parents, his current musical and political interests, the Paris Sessions album, songwriting, the Beats, jazz and... Bowie!

File format: mp3; file size: 81mb, interview length: 1h 28' 27" sound quality: ***

John McLaughlin, Santana: John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana: Cruisin' With The Guru

Interview by David Rensin, Creem, March 1974

The backseat revelations of Carlos Santana & Mahavishnu John McLaughlin ...

David Bowie, Elliott Murphy, New York Dolls, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, The Rolling Stones: Farewell Androgyny n. hermaphroditism (Gr. Gyne, woman)

Overview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 16 March 1974

Is it time to shut the closet door? OUR HERO SEES THROUGH THE SEE-THROUGHS AND COMES TO THE CONCLUSION THAT ELEGANCE IS MORE THAN A LIMP ...

Todd Rundgren, Utopia: Todd. Wizard? Or Silly Sod?

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 14 September 1974

Genius is paid — and none more highly than T. Rundgren, ace gelding of the New York Production Stud. Count his teeth! Hear him neigh! ...

Ian Tyson: Ian's 1st Solo Album Marks Return to Country Roots

Report and Interview by uncredited writer, Billboard, 23 November 1974

TORONTO – With the release of his first solo album, Ian Tyson, once one-half of the duo Ian & Sylvia, has returned to his musical ...

Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: Lively Up Yourself

Overview by Idris Walters, Let It Rock, December 1974

Idris Walters on the music, the history and the Rasta background of Bob Marley and The Wailers. ...

Toots & The Maytals: Fundamental reggae... that's Toots and the Maytals

Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Record Mirror, 14 December 1974

"THE REAL meaning of reggae is that the roots come from the heart — if you don't have love you can't play reggae." Thus spake ...

Utopia: Todd Rundgren: Out of the Mainstream, Into the Mystic

Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 26 January 1975

City in my head/Utopia/Heaven in my body/Utopia/It's time for me/For me to go — Todd Rundgren's 'Utopia' ...

Graham Central Station, Larry Graham: Graham Central Station: Platform Two

Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 4 February 1975

THE WARNER Brothers Music Show concert package that is currently touring Europe marks the arrival of the six-piece Californian band, Graham Central Station's at platform ...

Charlie Daniels, Lynyrd Skynyrd: Lynyrd Skynyrd, Charlie Daniels Band: Academy of Music, New York NY

Live Review by Wayne Robins, The Village Voice, 10 February 1975

Lynyrd Skynyrd's Closet Crackers ...

The Kids Are Not Necessarily Alright

Essay by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 1 March 1975

Or how the '70s has seen a limp-wristed sell-out of the ideals of the 60s. MICK FARREN discusses the way the Uncle Toms of Teendom ...

God is Alive and Well and Living Off Rock'n'Roll...

Essay by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 22 March 1975

Unfurling his roadmaps for the soul, MICK FARREN, Bachelor of Divinity of this parish, slumps grimly over his flea-ridden Olivetti to bang out the sandwich-luncher's ...

Dollar Brand/Abdullah Ibrahim: Dollar Brand: Improvisations on Life

Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 29 March 1975

DOLLAR BRAND don't take music lightly. No sir! So fasten your seat-belts please for a guided tour of Allah, the meaning of life, Africa, the ...

Tammy Wynette: Truckers' Choice

Interview by Rob Partridge, Melody Maker, 19 April 1975

No-one captures the ideals of Middle America quite like Tammy Wynette. And she's got the hits to prove it — an astounding 24 Number Ones. ...

Gil Scott-Heron: Black Interpreter

Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 17 May 1975

NEW YORK: "I hear they're asking Rockefeller to investigate the CIA. Well now, in my opinion that's stupid. Asking Rockefeller what's wrong with the CIA ...

Frank Zappa: What Did You Do In The Revolution, Dada?

Essay by Karl Dallas, Let It Rock, June 1975

Karl Dallas asks the pertinent questions... ...

Gil Scott-Heron

Interview by Richard Harrington, Unicorn Times, June 1975

"I'VE BEEN doing what I'm doing for five years on records and for longer in my life," says Gil Scott-Heron, who seems to be approaching ...

Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley (1975)

Interview by Karl Dallas, Rock's Backpages audio, 19 July 1975

The day after his legendary Lyceum show, Marley expounds on Babylon, Rastafari, Jamaica, his universal message, and the meaning of 'I Shot The Sheriff'.

File format: mp3; file size: 11.5mb, interview length: 25' 01" sound quality: ****

David Bowie: Watch Out Mate! Hitler’s On His Way Back

Interview by Anthony O'Grady, New Musical Express, August 1975

"WE THINK WE'VE got an audience," says the spokesperson in the Bowie suite. "We're pretty sure the operator will be listening in." ...

Brian Jackson, Gil Scott-Heron: Gil Scott Heron, Brian Jackson: Midnight Band: The First Minute Of A New Day (Arista Arty 103)

Review by Tony Cummings, Black Music, September 1975

THE REVOLUTION will not be televised... but then, neither will it be recorded. Gil Scott-Heron, the singer/composer/poet whose angry eloquence has gradually found the attentive ...

Victor Jara

Report and Interview by Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 4 October 1975

VICTOR JARA sang songs for the people of Chile. In 1973, in the Santiago boxing stadium, a soldier cut off Jara's fingers before six thousand ...

Joan Baez: Slack Time For The Revolution

Interview by Penny Valentine, Let It Rock, December 1975

JOAN BAEZ PUTS it bluntly: "If I'd done another political album at this point, I'd have been bankrupt. I had no money left. So I ...

Gil Scott-Heron (1976)

Interview by Cliff White, Rock's Backpages audio, February 1976

The soulful polemicist talks about his and Brian Jackson's Midnight Band; his diverse influences and the Spirit of the Drum; being a successful musician while doing other work; how he started writing prose as a kid; how black artists and writers are not recognised in the USA; 'Johannesburg' and apartheid; the value of correct information, and 'We Almost Lost Detroit'; writing his first novel and starting to record; 'The Bottle' as message and dance groove, and finally he and Brian Jackson explain how they write together...

File format: mp3; file size: 61.8mb, interview length: 1h 02' 01" sound quality: ****

Gil Scott-Heron (1976) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Cliff White, Rock's Backpages transcripts, February 1976

This is a transcript of Cliff's audio interview with Gil. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

The Jimmy Castor Bunch: Jimmy Castor: Portrait of an Angry Young Man

Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 10 February 1976

Jimmy Castor's out to revolutionise the business... ...

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 ...

Gil Scott-Heron: Manchester University, Manchester

Live Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 28 February 1976

Gil's the word! ...

Sex, Drugs And Violence In Rock: The Sexual Language Of Rock Part 1

Essay by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 28 February 1976

"Eddie please write me one line,Tell me your love is only mine,Please Eddie, don't make me wait so long,You left me last September,To return to ...

Gil Scott-Heron: Good Evening, Here Is The News on Gil Scott-Heron

Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 2 March 1976

The 'Jo'burg' man has a reputation for telling it like it is. However, John Abbey had his pre conceived notions of Gil completely and pleasantly ...

Sex, Drugs And Violence In Rock: The Sexual Language Of Rock Part 2

Essay by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 6 March 1976

"I'm gonna pick you up nowAnd carry you away,So you'd better pack up now, baby,Packin' up today,Here I come, just a big bad man,When I ...

Gil Scott-Heron: You Won't Be Able to Tune In, Turn On and Cop Out...

Interview by Davitt Sigerson, Black Music, April 1976

Davitt Sigerson goes to New York to rap with the angry poet of revolution, Gil Scott-Heron ...

Ted Nugent Unleashes His Little Ball of Fire

Report and Interview by Tom Vickers, Rolling Stone, 8 April 1976

HAMMOND, INDIANA —   Most rock stars look to groupies, drugs or hotel wrecking to relieve the tensions of the road. But Ted Nugent, who ...

Gil Scott-Heron: The Fire This Time

Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Playboy, July 1976

Gil Scott-Heron has been called the black Bob Dylan. He doesn't appreciate it. ...

Santana: The Ice Cream Man Cometh

Interview by John Swenson, Crawdaddy!, July 1976

LACROSSE, WISC – "Everything OK with the Dip?" ...

Bob Marley & the Wailers, Ras Michael & The Sons of Negus, Peter Tosh: Bob Marley with a Bullet

Report and Interview by Ed McCormack, Rolling Stone, 12 August 1976

Man to man is so unjust You don't know who to trust... Who the cap fit Let them wear it — 'Who ...

Clarence Reid (aka Blowfly): Sex and the Single

Comment by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 26 August 1976

TEN YEARS ago, the Kingsmen used to launch, full tilt, into their biggest hit, 'Louie Louie', then stop. "Hey, these guys never heard this song ...

Max Romeo and the Upsetters, Bunny Wailer: Bunny Wailer: Blackheart Man/Max Romeo & the Upsetters: War in a Babylon (Island)

Review by Rob Partridge, Melody Maker, 28 August 1976

IT HAS been a remarkable year for reggae, a year which has seen the full flowering of the music as a vehicle for social, political ...

Eric Clapton: Enoch Clapton?

Letter by uncredited writer, Sounds, 28 August 1976

WHEN I READ about Eric Clapton's Birmingham concert when he urged support for Enoch Powell I nearly puked. ...

Eric Clapton: Farther On Up The Road

Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 9 October 1976

DROUGHT? What drought? The green green grass of Surrey looks so healthy you'd think the local farmers had been secretly pumping chlorophyl injections into the ...

Bunny Wailer: Reincarnated Soul Makes Year's Best Album

Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 16 October 1976

"WHY DO THEY regard me with awe? I didn't know that people think of me as superhuman. I've never flown or anything of that type. ...

Allman Brothers Band: Elected! Rock and US Politics

Report by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 13 November 1976

After Jimmy Carter's victory in the U.S. Presidential elections, Chris Charlesworth in New York investigates the role of rock in American politics... ...

Sex Pistols: The Sex Pistols: Great Moments In Rock Part 4336 — It's Those F***ing Punks Again!

Report by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 11 December 1976

Thousands outraged by four-letter words ...

War (1976)

Interview by Cliff White, Rock's Backpages audio, Summer 1976

Howard E. Scott and Harold Ray Brown of the funk formation War on their two-year recording hiatus; collaboration with harmonica player Lee Oskar; commercial success versus be-your-natural-self approach; the American economic ethos: investment versus bank savings, capitalist society and its effect on War, and the dreams and myths it triggers; the necessity of cooling your mind on tour, and Baptism and salvation.

File format: mp3; file size: 79.5mb, interview length: 1h 22' 47" sound quality: ***

Minnie Riperton (1977)

Interview by Cliff White, Rock's Backpages audio, April 1977

The trilling songthrush talks about playing Las Vegas; about live arrangements; about her collaborators; her stage background; on relationships and self-awareness; on songwriting, and at some length on her struggle with breast cancer, and winning the American Cancer Society's Courage Award.

File format: mp3; file size: 42.1mb, interview length: 44' 54" sound quality: ***

The Sex Pistols: What Did You Do On The Jubilee? The Pistols on the Thames

Report by Jon Savage, Sounds, 18 June 1977

BEFORE THE POLICE came, it was a great party. Make that a capital G. ...

MC5: The MC5: How the Jams Were Kicked Out!

Retrospective by John Sinclair, ZigZag, July 1977

In Britain, the MC5 are now far more popular than they ever were in their heyday – a fact which has prompted the recent re-release ...

The Bay City Rollers, The Sex Pistols: GLC v Punk: Move Over, Sid Vicious

Report and Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 9 July 1977

GLC Tory jumps on "Good Kickin'" bandwagon ...

The Clash: Who's In Love With Janie Jones?

Interview by Caroline Coon, Sounds, 15 October 1977

DURING THE hot summer of 1976, a No. 31 bus jolts through Notting Hill Gate. On the top deck is Mick Jones, humming a riff. ...

The Clash, Sex Pistols: Beyond the Dole Queue: The Politics of Punk

Essay by Simon Frith, The Village Voice, 24 October 1977

The Clash and the Pistols have established social realism as an essential part of punk ideology, but this does not make their music the "direct ...

Sleaze: The '70s

Overview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 29 October 1977

THE MUTANTS, the dwarfs and the all night girls (that's right, the ones who still brag about escapades out on the D train, despite the ...

Bob Marley & the Wailers, Judy Mowatt: Judy Mowatt: The Grateful Dread

Profile and Interview by Susin Shapiro, Viva, November 1977

IN CORNERS cut off from the rude-boy violence in poor black Jamaican communities, reggae music took seed, an offshoot of calypso, ska, R&B, and, further ...

Bob Marley & the Wailers: Marley Beats the Devil

Report and Interview by John Swenson, Rolling Stone, 17 November 1977

A Rasta recovery ...

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 ...

Sex Pistols: The Sex Pistols: "Money doesn't talk, it swears" — official

Report by Caroline Coon, Sounds, 3 December 1977

Pistols album not guilty ...

Tom Robinson Band: The Tom Robinson Band: Lyceum, London

Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 8 December 1977

IT WAS ONLY A matter of time before the new wave explosion brought forth a performer like Tom Robinson, articulate enough to put into coherent ...

The Last Poets: Wake Up Limeys, The Last Poets Are Among You

Profile and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 14 January 1978

"Wheat's characteristics and nature make it wheat. It differs from barley because of its nature. Wheat perpetuates its own characteristics just as the white race ...

Rival gangs turn their war against Jamaica's politicians

Report and Interview by James Fox, The Observer, 22 January 1978

UNTIL TWO weeks ago today, Kingston was one of the most violent and frightening places on earth. ...

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 ...

Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: A Lickle Love An' T'ing

Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 18 February 1978

Interview CHARLES SHAAR MURRAY. From the Court of the Ranking Dread. ...

Jacob Miller, Tapper Zukie: Jamaica: Peace Conference In A Western Kingston

Report by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 11 March 1978

ON JANUARY 10 of this year, Samuel Dreckett — JLP (Jamaica Labour Party) Councillor for the Western Kingston district of Tivoli Gardens — entered the ...

It Can't Happen Here: The Man Who Would Be Führer

Interview by Caroline Coon, Sounds, 25 March 1978

Martin Webster: National Activities Organiser of the National Front ...

Eric Clapton: Return Of The Reluctant Hero

Interview by John Pidgeon, Creem, April 1978

THERE WAS once a movie actor who, having made his name as a heavy, took to playing the romantic lead. But no matter how often ...

Harry Chapin: Singing for the World's Supper

Report and Interview by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 6 April 1978

THE MORNING OF February 3rd, singer/ songwriter Harry Chapin flew to Washington D.C. from Ontario. He'd just done a concert and, having slept on the ...

The Clash, Tom Robinson Band, Steel Pulse, X-Ray Spex: Rock Against Racism Carnival: Victoria Park, Hackney, London

Report by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 6 May 1978

AS HE STOOD at the top of Whitehall at 10.35 last Sunday morning gazing impassively towards Nelson's Column, the optimism of Commander Walker of Scotland ...

Al Green: Crosstalk With Al Green

Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 9 May 1978

HE'S NOW acquired the tag "Minister of Soul" and "Love And Happiness" continues to be his message. He's racked up several millions in sales world-wide ...

Steel Pulse: Black Pride Don't Mean Black Racism... Meet — The Handsworth Klan

Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 10 June 1978

Steel Pulse guitarist DAVID HINDS talks to ROY CARR about the joys and vexations of a British reggae band. ...

Ronnie Biggs, Sex Pistols: The Sex Pistols: Biggsy

Interview by Tim Lott, Record Mirror, 15 July 1978

Ronald Biggs, one of the Great Train Robbers, speaks to TIM LOTT from Rio. Biggs under his new guise as punk poet talks about his ...

Buzzcocks: Rock Against Racism's Carnival Of The North: Chaos & Concern

Report by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 22 July 1978

THE ANTI-NAZI LEAGUE and Rock Against Racism were formed specifically as a reaction against racism. ...

R. D. Laing: Vinyl Head Shrinker Tells Of Life Before Death…

Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 21 October 1978

R. D. LAING – psychologist, psychiatrist, author, lecturer, institutional therapist and now rock star? ...

Jerry Lee Lewis (1978) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Cliff White, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 9 November 1978

This is a transcript of Cliff's audio interview with Jerry. Hear the interview here ...

The Clash: Give 'Em Enough Rope (CBS)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 November 1978

White Punks On Rope ...

Mike Oldfield: This Is The Year Of The Expanding Man...

Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 25 November 1978

What Scientology did for Chick Corea (and John Travolta), Exegesis is doing for mild, retiring Mike Oldfield. He puts the stare on KARL DALLAS ...

Eric Clapton: Portrait Of The Artist As A Working Man

Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 9 December 1978

IT HAS OFTEN been said that one of Eric Clapton's major problems over the years has been to find his own identity, a role in ...

Van Morrison, Them: Van Morrison (1979) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 1979

This is a transcription of John's interview with Van. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Stiff Little Fingers: Inflammable Material (Rough Trade)*****

Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 10 February 1979

POOR OLD Stiff Little Fingers. They stormed across the Irish Sea last year and confused most people by talking loudly about being Ulster Boys without ...

The Human League: Factory, Manchester

Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 17 February 1979

Discovering silliness in League with severity ...

Tom Robinson Band: The Tom Robinson Band: TRB Two (EMI)

Review by Jon Savage, Melody Maker, 10 March 1979

Just Easing The Liberal Guilt ...

The Pop Group: First Steps In The Primal Skank

Report and Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 24 March 1979

Tribal customs live on, even in the era of Afterpunk. RICHARD WILLIAMS investigates The Pop Group. ...

The Pop Group: We Know There’s Something Wrong Somewhere: The Pop Group

Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 24 March 1979

This and other astute observations on life, art and the consumer society in THE POP GROUP interview. ...

Crass, Poison Girls, The Wall: Acklam Hall, London

Live Review by Jon Savage, Melody Maker, 7 April 1979

A SPARSELY attended benefit for the Anarchist Black Cross Cienfuegos Press; a slow night — both the cause and its supporting groups (safely) out of ...

Linton Kwesi Johnson: Roots Inna Inglan?

Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 7 April 1979

Linton Kwesi Johnson, black poet and activist, sees the Rasta dream of Ethiopian exodus as irrelevant ganja-talk. His life and his art deal with reality: ...

Misty In Roots: Misty: One more victim of the Southall riot

Report and Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 5 May 1979

  "The scale of the violence in Southall, where 340 were arrested and more than 40 people were injured, has ensured that whichever party wins the ...

Misty In Roots: The Price Of Hate

Report by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 5 May 1979

Among the casualties of last week's confrontation between the police and anti-racist demonstrators in Southall was the Peoples Unite Centre, a haven for local musicians, ...

The Black Music Association Movement Of Jah People

Report by Carol Cooper, SoHo Weekly News, 28 June 1979

DURING A DEFINITIVE rendition of ‘Exodus’ which capped an hour-long show by the Wailers, Stevie Wonder joined Bob Marley on stage and moved 2,000 members ...

Elvis Costello: He'd Rather Be Anywhere Else But Here Today...

Report by Susan Whitall, Creem, July 1979

NEW YORK — By now, everybody but Bonnie Bramlett's dog have given their side of the Columbus, Ohio brawl between the forces of Stills and ...

Stiff Little Fingers: (F)Ireland Rockers

Interview by Garry Bushell, Trouser Press, July 1979

"TAKE A LOOK where you're living/You got the army on your street/ And the RUC dog of repression is barking at your feet..." Jake Burns ...

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 ...

Angelic Upstarts: Someone Else's Fight

Report and Interview by Chris Bohn, Melody Maker, 18 August 1979

INTOLERANCE FALLS like a heavy pall over the Angelic Upstarts – only they won't lie still and let it settle. Follow them round for a ...

Dire Straits, Bob Dylan: Bob Dylan: Slow Train Coming (CBS 86095)*****

Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 25 August 1979

Rich man enters kingdom of heaven shock ...

Sham 69: The Gab

Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 20 October 1979

JIMMY PURSEY talks about sex, Mod, the Pope, Christmas, Scum and stuff like that... GIOVANNI DADOMO listens and listens and listens and ...

Madness: Nice Band, Shame About The Fans

Report and Interview by Deanne Pearson, New Musical Express, 24 November 1979

Deanne Pearson puts the cat among the pigeons and scotches some nasty rumours. ...

Poison Girls: Old People Can Be Rebels Too: Poison Girls

Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 24 November 1979

LOOK AT Poison Girls on stage and you see a straight line of straight faces, clothes all red and black in front of a red ...

Deep Purple, Judas Priest, Marseille, Squeeze, Whitesnake: Are You A Whore For Rock 'N' Roll?

Report by Rosalind Russell, Record Mirror, 20 December 1979

ROSALIND RUSSELL thinks most of you are ...

Gang of Four: Agitprop Rock

Interview by Don Snowden, L.A. Weekly, 3 January 1980

AMERICAN PUNKS strike the Gang of Four, Britain's punk agitprop band, as people who aren't quite sure what they're rebelling against. "These California surf punks ...

Misty In Roots: Misty: Survival in Jah glory

Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 5 January 1980

Survival's the operative-word in Misty's case. Harassed for their prominent role in the Southall immigrant community, in and out of the magistrates' courts, you'd think ...

Crass are crass

Comment by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 2 February 1980

IT SEEMS, at the present at any rate, there's no escaping The Crass Phenomenon. The "alternative charts" (the accurate few at that!) see them emerging ...

Linton Kwesi Johnson: a poet turns to reggae

Interview by Mick Brown, Rolling Stone, 7 February 1980

Summoning Forces of Victory in Britain ...

Siouxsie & The Banshees: Siouxsie And The Bitter Pill

Interview by Rosalind Russell, Record Mirror, 23 February 1980

Siouxsie isn't just concerned about being a rock musician, she has strong feelings on other matters as well. Interview by ROSALIND RUSSELL ...

Linton Kwesi Johnson: Hour Of The Electric Rebel

Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, May 1980

Muzik of blood Black reared Pain rooted Heart geared('Bass Culture' by Linton Kwesi Johnson) ...

Linton Kwesi Johnson: All The Way With LKJ

Interview by Deanne Pearson, The Face, July 1980

Whenever it rains/I think of you And I always remember that day in May When I saw you walking in the rain I know not what it was nor why For ...

Charlie Daniels: Fiddlin' Dixie

Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, August 1980

Charlie Daniels, Up From Tobacco Road ...

T Bone Burnett: Born Again, But Still Looking

Interview by Bill Bentley, L.A. Weekly, 8 August 1980

IT HAPPENS nearly every year, and usually when you least expect it. From left field, you find a new record and end up with a ...

Blondie: Gimme Shelter

Interview by Rosalind Russell, Record Mirror, 16 August 1980

BLONDIE will head for the hills if there's a nuclear attack. ROSALIND RUSSELL will whitewash the windows and wrap her head in a towel. What ...

Bob Dylan: Saved (Columbia)

Review by Richard Riegel, Creem, October 1980

I NEVER bothered buying Bob Dylan's landmark albums when they were released, in the frantic 1960s. All my friends then already had all the albums, ...

Burning Spear: Searching for the Spear

Interview by Peter Murphy (British), The Face, October 1980

WINSTON RODNEY, a.k.a. the Burning Spear, is the enigma of the Jamaican music scene. In a dark and brooding voice that is the essence of ...

Ted Nugent

Interview by David Rensin, Playboy, October 1980

Ted Nugent on life, love, 
firearms, the coming holocaust
 and his own unique lifestyle. ...

John Lennon: Ghoulish Beatlemania

Essay by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 22 January 1981

WHEN A ROCK star dies in a plane crash or from an overdose of drugs and alcohol, the accident may seem tragic or repulsive, but ...

The 4-Skins, Angela Rippon's Bum, Angelic Upstarts, Cockney Rejects, Criminal Class, The Gonads, Infa-Riot, Splodgenessabounds, UK Subs: Oi! The Debate

Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 24 January 1981

...once again we bring together the finest minds of our generation. This week: New Punk/Skin music. Refereed by GARRY BUSHELL ...

Bruce Springsteen: The Man Who Would Save Rock And Roll

Essay by Greil Marcus, New West, February 1981

LAST OCTOBER Bruce Springsteen released his fifth album, The River, which went swiftly to number one in the States, and began a tour that will ...

Gang of Four: Outside the Bands Don't Toe the Line: Gang of Four Makes Music Their Way

Interview by Jon Young, Trouser Press, February 1981

WOULD YOU like your rock with politics or without? Today pop music offers a wide variety of choices: from the violent invective of stereotypic punk ...

Gang of Four, Sector 27: Gang of Four: Gang of Four (Warner Bros. EP); Tom Robinson: Sector 27 (IRS)

Review by Roy Trakin, Musician, April 1981

THE LAST twitches of the dying Left or the first angular thrusts of the New Right? It's your Move. The Gang of Four's solemn Marxist ...

Fela Kuti, Sonny Okosun, Sir Victor Uwaifo: Juju, Afrobeat and Highlife

Report and Interview by Peter Murphy (British), The Face, April 1981

Special report: Rock in Nigeria. ...

Misty in Roots: Must It Be Total Destruction

Interview by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 9 May 1981

...brimstone, fire, death in a Sodom and Gomorrah?... Reasoning with Misty In Roots By Penny Reel ...

Sam Charters: Chains that Gave Birth to the Blues

Profile and Interview by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 6 June 1981

Mick Brown reports how the musicologist Sam Charters learned to stop feeling guilty about slavery ...

T-Bone Burnett, Bob Dylan, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Clyde McPhatter, Van Morrison, Elvis Presley: Rock Returns to Holy Rolling

Essay by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 14 June 1981

ON SATURDAY nights in 1956, transistor radios in the hands of eager teenagers all over America shuddered with the sensual sound of Elvis Presley's 'Hound ...

Annie Anxiety, Crass, Flux of Pink Indians, Poison Girls: Crass, Poison Girls, Annie Anxiety, Flux Of Pink Indians: 100 Club, London

Live Review by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 20 June 1981

Tea and Anarchy: Edwin Pouncey sees Crass in action ...

Black Uhuru: Stepping On The Dragon

Report and Interview by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 18 July 1981

THE COACH journey from London to Bristol went quicker than I had originally expected. It hardly seemed five minutes since we were stepping aboard the ...

The Specials: English Music Scene Like a 'Ghost Town'

Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 15 August 1981

This town coming like a ghost town... Bands won't play no more — Too much fighting on the dance floor... Why must ...

Scritti Politti: Where Radical Meets Chic: Scritti Politti

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 31 October 1981

"SCRITTI POLITTI" – didn't you always wonder where their "political writings" were? I did. I always wondered whether their hearts were in their music or ...

Black Uhuru: Roots Reality

Profile and Interview by Richard Grabel, New York Rocker, November 1981

SEE BLOOD! ...

The Beat (1981)

Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages audio, November 1981

David Steele and Ranking Roger talk about playing political benefits; their unconcern with breaking America; changing producers; Malu Halasa's book about them; their record deal; their Go-Feet label, and working with the Congos' Cedric Myton; Saxa taking a back seat and his son Lionel taking over; doing cover versions; their new single 'Hit It', and their opposition to nuclear weapons.

File format: mp3; file size: 19.4mb, interview length: 20' 11" sound quality: *****

The Outcasts: Culture Shock Rock!

Report and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 28 November 1981

Barney Hoskyns and survives a night in Belfast with the town's longest surviving punk band, the Outcasts. ...

Dead Kennedys: Let Them Eat Jello Beings

Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 5 December 1981

Garry Bushell exhumes a living Dead Kennedy ...

The Beat, Joe Jackson, OK Jive, Tom Robinson Band: The Beat, Tom Robinson, OK Jive, Joe Jackson: Rainbow Theatre, London

Live Review by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 5 December 1981

Higher Ranking ...

Devo: Sixties Idealists or Nazis and Clowns?

Interview by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 10 December 1981

LOS ANGELES — "Someone wanted to know where your home is," the waitress said to Mark Mothersbaugh. "I don't have a home," Mothersbaugh replied softly, peering at ...

Pete Seeger: Johnny Appleseed

Retrospective by Dave Laing, The History of Rock, 1982

Pete Seeger spread the word throughout America ...

The Blank Generation — How Rock Moved From Political Opposition to Sheer Nihilism

Essay by Cynthia Rose, The History of Rock, 1982

ROCK HAS ALWAYS been about cultural and social conflict, ever since its birth in the Memphis-style boogie (over-amplified 'jump' tunes whose driving rhythms kept country ...

The Dilemmas of Sex and Romance in Fifties Rock

Essay by Cynthia Rose, The History of Rock, 1982

The screen door slamsMary's dress wavesLike a vision she dances across the porchAs the radio playsRoy Orbison singin' for the lonelyThat's me and I love ...

Fun Boy Three, The Specials: Fun Boy Three: Why?

Report by Fred Dellar, Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 16 January 1982

FRED DELLAR and ANDREW TYLER report on the vicious race attack that put Lynval Golding in hospital ...

Rhoda Dakar: Being Boiled – Rhoda Dakar

Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 23 January 1982

2-Tone's follow up to 'Ghost Town' is equally timely and a good deal more controversial. The single is 'The Boiler' and its subject is rape. ...

Fun Boy Three, Rico Rodriguez, The Specials: Rico Rodriguez: Rastaman

Profile and Interview by Deanne Pearson, The Face, February 1982

From the Wareika Hills to Top of the Pops. A profile of Rico, the Specials trombone ace, with a side order of oaths for the ...

The Beach Boys, Charles Manson: Surfin' Death Valley USA

Essay by David Toop, Collusion, February 1982

"WE'LL GET THE ROUGHEST AND THE TOUGHEST INITIATION WE CAN FIND."from Our Car Club (Brian Wilson/Mile Love) Beach Boys, 1963 What were the connections between Beach ...

Bob Dylan: More Of An Outlaw Than You Ever Were? (Hold The Mayo On The Golden Globe Awards)

Essay by Richard Riegel, Creem, March 1982

During the '70s, Dylan got swept up into those overblown, superstarred ships of fools which claimed so many promising prophets from the '60s. ...

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. ...

Attila the Stockbroker, The Redskins, Seething Wells: The Redskins, Attila the Stockbroker, Seething Wells: Right to Work March, Southwark, London

Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 6 March 1982

RIGHT TO Work Marchers, like punks, skins and soccer herberts, are apparently fair game for any Old Bill trying to keep his 'nick-nick' quota up ...

Gil Scott-Heron: The Homeland Is Where The Hatred Is

Interview by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 13 March 1982

JUST ONE CHANGE of buses, and the sound stages of Century City, Ca., where platinum-plated cowboys bite the props department dust, are replaced by the ...

UB40: "UB40 is just a normal bunch of blokes. But people ask us heavy political questions"

Interview by Lesley White, Sounds, 20 March 1982

LESLEY WHITE is one of them ...

Gil Scott-Heron: The Venue, London

Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 10 April 1982

THERE CAN surely be few performances in London this year which for intelligence, authority, musical expertise, and sheer style can hope to equal this by ...

Gil Scott-Heron: The Venue, London

Live Review by Richard Williams, The Times, 12 April 1982

Cause for concern ...

Fun Boy Three, The Jam, The Special AKA: Letter From Britain: Jammed Up, Jelly Tight

Comment by Penny Valentine, Creem, June 1982

Struggle after struggleYear after yearThe atmosphere's a fine blend of ice.I'm almost stone cold deadIn a town called malice.— 'Town Called Malice', the Jam. ...

The Weavers: The Warp and Woof of the Weavers' Decade

Profile and Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 24 June 1982

THE QUARTET came out of nowhere early in the decade and turned popular music around, taking over the Top 10 with a fresh sound that ...

Jimmy Page, Genesis P-Orridge, Throbbing Gristle: Mister Crowley

Retrospective by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 17 July 1982

Who the Hell is ALEISTER CROWLEY and why do pop people keep saying weird things about him? asks Sandy Robertson. ...

Solomon Burke, Little Richard: Little Richard and Solomon Burke: Sex & God & Rock & Roll

Report and Interview by Vernon Gibbs, The Village Voice, 10 August 1982

THE FIRST time I encountered Little Richard, his face was plastered against a Bedford-Stuyvesant wall — the poster advertised a show at the Breevort Theater. ...

Gang Of Four: The Revolution Lightens Up

Interview by J.D. Considine, Musician, October 1982

While their political passion remains undimmed, these post-punk party comrades are now using heinous capitalist tactics like great melodies, gang vocals and good humor. ...

Michael (Mikey) Smith, Mutabaruka, Oku Onuora: Dub Poets Of The Eighties

Interview by Paul Bradshaw, New Musical Express, 30 October 1982

Jamaica '82: the DJs rule the nation's charts and hearts but alternative voices are making themselves heard in the roots poetry of artists like MUTABARUKA and MICHAEL SMITH. PAUL ...

Angelic Upstarts, Cockney Rejects, Splodgenessabounds, UK Subs: Oi! and Skinheads: Coming a Cropper

Comment by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 6 November 1982

A passionate defence of skinhead culture by GARRY BUSHELL. ...

August Darnell, Kid Creole & The Coconuts: August Darnell Gets Even With Everybody (For Forcing Him To Make Race Music & Other Sins)

Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, December 1982

ON A hot Wednesday evening I'm playing flick-yer-bic with the dial on my television, you know: flick — Three's Company — flick — Masterpiece Theatre ...

Elvis Presley: Elvis: The New Deal Origins of Rock 'n' Roll

Essay by Dave Marsh, Musician, December 1982

EACH YEAR, on August 16, the anniversary of Elvis Presley's death, Memphis State University hosts a memorial service and seminar in his honor. ...

The Clash: Revolutionary Rock

Profile and Interview by Michael Goldberg, Downbeat, December 1982

IT'S AN ugly voice. Gruff, guttural, uncouth, barbaric at times. Joe Strummer can't sing, not like an Al Jarreau or a Joni Mitchell, anyway. Lyrics ...

Gregory Isaacs: Gregorian Rants

Interview by Jack Barron, Sounds, 4 December 1982

The elusive Mr Isaacs tracked down by Jack Barron ...

Fun Boy Three: The Message

Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 8 January 1983

TERRY HALL reckons the Funboy Three have grown up into a real group. The proof is threefold. First, the release of one of this year's ...

Where are the Blacks on MTV?

Report by Michael Goldberg, The San Francisco Examiner, 8 March 1983

WHEN BLACK superstar Rick James, who has sold more than 10 million albums during the past four years, first heard about MTV, he was enthusiastic. ...

Al Green: Sanctity & Sexuality on a Higher Plane

Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Musician, April 1983

LISTENING TO Al Green's three gospel albums for Myrrh Records is a disorienting experience. The songs are traditional hymns that have been sung in black ...

Robert Wyatt: Diving for Pearls

Interview by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, 4 June 1983

Adam Sweeting talks to ROBERT WYATT about shipbuilding, pop music, the Eurovision song contest, and revolutionary ideologies. ...

The Impressions, Curtis Mayfield: Curtis Mayfield: So Proud — The Moral Standard of Soul

Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 9 July 1983

Regarded by many people as the first conscience of American Black music, CURTIS MAYFIELD's illustrious career now spans 20 years — from being a teenager ...

Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger: Seeger and Guthrie: A Tradition Continues

Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 22 July 1983

WHEN ARLO Guthrie and Pete Seeger performed together at Wolf Trap three summers ago, they managed to convince the sell-out crowd that they weren't really ...

Heaven 17: The Luxury Gap (Arista)

Review by James Hunter, The Boston Phoenix, 9 August 1983

DISCRIMINATING rock-and-roll fans in this country can finally tone down their horrified wails about white British dance bands' ubiquitous, maddening, mosquito-whine electroboogie. Pride in shallowness ...

Michael (Mikey) Smith: Dub Poet Michael Smith Murdered

Report by Paul Bradshaw, New Musical Express, 27 August 1983

MICHAEL SMITH, Jamaica's foremost dub poet, was murdered last week, stoned to death by thugs suspected of being activists from the ruling Jamaica Labour Party ...

Fela Kuti: Fela: Return of the Afrobeat Rebel

Profile by Randall Grass, Musician, October 1983

KANO, NIGERIA, 1974: Sitting in the midst of a spacious, immaculate patio surrounded by manicured shrubbery and the graceful curved stone-and-glass walls of a post-modern restaurant, ...

Donna Summer: Sermon chanted evening

Interview by Graham K. Smith, Record Mirror, 15 October 1983

DONNA SUMMER is a star. ...

Al Green: "There are riders approaching"

Interview by James Hunter, Record, December 1983

THE CONTINUING TRANSFORMATION OF AL GREEN, MAN OF GOD ...

Fela Kuti: The Republic Of Kuti

Interview by Lynden Barber, Melody Maker, 3 December 1983

FELA KUTI gives Lynden Barber a lecture in African culture. ...

Husker Du, Omega Tribe: Omega Tribe: No Love Lost (Corpus Cristi)/Hüsker Dü: Metal Circus (SST)

Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 17 December 1983

"People talk about anarchy / and taking up a fight / Well I'm afraid of hings like that / I lock my doors at night" ...

T Bone Burnett: Just Plain Folks

Interview by David Gans, Record, January 1984

T-Bone Burnett makes a case for himself as a regular guy ...

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 ...

Billy Bragg, Bronski Beat, The Redskins: The Redskins, Billy Bragg, Bronski Beat: Institute of Contemporary Art, London

Live Review by Paul Bradshaw, New Musical Express, 14 January 1984

...THE POWER... THE GLORY... THE RED HARRINGTON!!! ...

Bob Dylan: Infidels (Columbia)

Review by John Swenson, Record, February 1984

BOB DYLAN is the most consistently misunderstood figure in pop music history. Dylan's approach to songwriting, and to his public persona in general, has always ...

The Redskins: Keeping On And On

Interview by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, 11 February 1984

Adam Sweeting weathers a storm of political invective from THE REDSKINS ...

T Bone Burnett: Proof Through The Night (Warner Bros.)

Review by RJ Smith, Creem, March 1984

LIKE A DUST devil rolling across the arid nothing of Texas, T-Bone Burnett was recently barnstorming the nation. Though he's long been a moralizing rock ...

Gil Scott-Heron, John Cooper Clarke: Gil Scott-Heron/John Cooper Clarke: Brixton Academy, London

Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 24 March 1984

SCOTT-HERON OF THE ANTARCTIC ...

Keith LeBlanc: X Marks the Spot

Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 14 April 1984

"You only get action as a black man if you are regarded by the white man as irresponsible." (from The Autobiography of Malcolm X) ...

Michael Jackson: The Big Thrill

Report by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 15 May 1984

"WELL, ISN'T this a thriller," said President Reagan. "We haven't seen this many people since we left China." ...

Stevie Wonder Has a Dream

Report and Interview by Carol Cooper, The Face, June 1984

In 1981 Stevie Wonder led the first of three marches in Washington D.C. calling for the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, the black civil ...

Joan Baez: The Folk Heroine Mellows With Age

Interview by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 22 June 1984

IN 1959 JOAN BAEZ walked out on stage at the Newport Folk Festival and touched off a wave of adulation that was to reach almost ...

Charley Pride: Pride In His Country

Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 6 July 1984

The Black Singer Who Crossed Over ...

Aswad, Jimmy Cliff: Jimmy Cliff, Aswad: Crystal Palace Bowl, London

Live Review by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 30 July 1984

THE ANNUAL Nelson Mandela festival was held in perfect sunlight in the secluded grassy amphitheatre at Crystal Palace. Unfortunately one reason why it was so ...

Working Week: Hot News for Cool Cats!

Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, August 1984

As a new jazz scene begins to blow hot, SIMON BOOTH and LARRY STABBINS get hip with PAOLO HEWITT, rappin' about their new musical adventure ...

The Last Poets: The Last Poets (Celluloid)

Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 11 August 1984

THEY CAME, SORE... ...

Milton Nascimento

Interview by Carol Cooper, Downbeat, September 1984

For over a decade one of the most popular post-bossa Brazilian singer/composers, Nascimento finally arrives in the U.S. to demonstrate his particular brand of politically ...

Elektrobus, Extempore, Jasná Páka, Letadlo, The Plastic People Of The Universe, Pražský Výběr, Švehlík: Prague: The Death of the Merry Ghetto

Report by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1 September 1984

Earlier this year, BARNEY HOSKYNS visited Prague to find out if Czechoslovakia's heavily repressed rock scene could have any effect on loosening the European blocs. ...

Heaven 17: The Heaven 17 Manifesto

Interview by Max Bell, No. 1, 1 September 1984

Once upon a time, Heaven 17 presented themselves as the dynamic young businessmen of pop. But now they've crossed sides to support the miners, the Labour ...

The Style Council, Wham!: Wham! Style Council: Miners' Benefit, Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, 15 September 1984

Pit-Head Ballet ...

Everything But The Girl, The Style Council, Wham!, Working Week: Wham!, Style Council et al: Miners' Benefit Finale, Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 22 September 1984

SLAG! ...

The Last Poets: Young Master

Interview by Lynden Barber, Melody Maker, 13 October 1984

Kidnapped heiress Patti Hearst is said to have listened to him incessantly during her captivity and the hip-hop crowd regard him as a guru. His ...

The Last Poets: Last Poets: The First And Lost Poets Of Rap

Retrospective by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 14 October 1984

Group: The Last Poets. Record: The Last Poets (Celluloid 6101). Personnel: Abiodun Oyewole, Alafia Pudim, Omar Ben Hassen, vocals. Nilaja, percussion. ...

Steven Van Zandt: Little Steven: Threat or Menace?

Interview by Laura Fissinger, Creem, November 1984

ONCE UPON a time the Federal Bureau of Investigation was more talked about than Michael Jackson is now. Seems that lots of folks got disrespectful ...

Bronski Beat: Bronski Beefs

Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 10 November 1984

SUNDAY, 'ROUND about lunchtime, and Jimi Bronski is scurrying around his small council flat in a vain attempt to clean up the mess. I stand ...

Wham!: The Bigger They Come, The Harder They Bite

Interview by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 17 November 1984

In an historic encounter, Colin Irwin confronts WHAM! on such burning issues as sexism, politics, wallyism and taking your shirt off in public. ...

Everything But The Girl: Take The Melancholy Strain

Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 1 December 1984

PUT SIMPLY, I wanted more than just a musical chit chat. ...

The Redskins: Red On Arrival: The Redskins

Report and Interview by Lynden Barber, Melody Maker, 8 December 1984

"TUC LEADER Norman Willis tells Arthur Scargill a few home truths," they said on Channel 4 news last night (and this is the Left Wing ...

XTC: The Agony and the...

Interview by Mick Sinclair, ZigZag, January 1985

Contemporary Note: This interview took place at Virgin Records' London HQ during the height of the year-long miner's strike (led by the National Union of ...

Thomas Mapfumo: The Lion of Zimbabwe

Profile and Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 5 January 1985

Inspiration to freedom fighters and creator of the Zimbabwean sound, THOMAS MAPFUMO is ready to conquer the world. VIVIEN GOLDMAN talks to Africa's Bob Marley. ...

The Special AKA: Jerry Can

Interview by Jack Barron, Sounds, 19 January 1985

JERRY DAMMERS cut himself with a razor this morning. A short tear of paper covers the wound just below his equally brief right sideburn. ...

The Special AKA: Memoirs of a Survivor

Interview by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 19 January 1985

Few artists are entitled to hold their heads as high as JERRY DAMMERS. He hasn't yet managed to free Nelson Mandela, but Dammers has managed ...

Newtown Neurotics

Profile and Interview by Jack Barron, Sounds, 29 January 1985

"LAYDEEZ AND gentlemen, will you please take your seats for Dick Whittington now, the show starts in five minutes," wheezes a voice from the Tannoy ...

Fela Kuti: Music Is the Weapon

Film/DVD/TV Review by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 23 February 1985

THE IDEA of combining music with a strong political message is a romantic notion to many young musicians, but the concept is a harsh reality ...

Wanda Jackson (1985)

Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 6 March 1985

The erstwhile Fujiyama Mama talks about combining singing rock'n'roll with her deeply held religious beliefs; considers cover versions of her hits, and recording her recent rockabilly album in Sweden!

File format: mp3; file size: 18mb, interview length: 19' 38" sound quality: * (phoner)

Harry Belafonte, Bob Dylan, Bob Geldof, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Prince, Lionel Richie, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder: USA for Africa: Record could raise millions for hungry

Report by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 14 March 1985

"CHECK YOUR ego at the door." That was the message producer Quincy Jones sent to Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Willie Nelson, Diana Ross ...

Little Richard: Even God can do better with Little Richard on his side

Interview by Maureen Cleave, London Express Service, 24 March 1985

GOD ALWAYS addresses Little Richard by name — it was the same with Moses and the prophet Samuel and St. Paul. ...

The Last Poets: Bardcore!

Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 13 April 1985

THE LAST POETS were the first rappers — the voice of ghetto anger and fiery jazzoetry. Their "exile" over, they're back with a new LP ...

Fela Kuti: Fela: Rebel On Ice

Special Feature by Randall Grass, Spin, May 1985

The King of Afrobeat enjoyed a reign of sex, hemp, jazz and rock 'n' roll — then the empire struck back, trumping up charges to ...

Steve Arrington: Robes to Freedom

Interview by Paul Sexton, Record Mirror, 4 May 1985

STEVE ARRINGTON SAYS NO MORE FORNICATING. PAUL SEXTON SAYS PSALM GUYS HAVE ALL THE LUCK... ...

Steve Arrington: A Real Man

Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 25 May 1985

STEVE ARRINGTON: a man who doesn't know who Tony Blackburn is, who counts Yes among his influences, and who's got God on his side... ...

The Smiths

Profile by Jon Savage, Spin, June 1985

They aren't teen idols, but have a number-one album thanks mainly to Morrissey, their asexual, charismatic singer-writer. ...

Michael Jackson, Huey Lewis and the News, The Pointer Sisters, Prince, Lionel Richie, Kenny Rogers, Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner: Various Artists: We Are The World (Columbia)

Review by Mark Rowland, Musician, June 1985

Industry of Mercy: Bruce & Tina lead a parade of mobilized mega-stars. ...

Gil Scott-Heron: Ronnie Scott's, London

Live Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 4 June 1985

ALTHOUGH HE does not like being labelled, particularly as a "protest singer", Gil Scott-Heron may fairly be described as a radical black poet and jazz-funk ...

John Cooper Clarke, Gil Scott-Heron: Gil Scott-Heron, John Cooper Clarke: Greenwich Festival, Borough Hall, Greenwich, London

Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 22 June 1985

WORLDLY RAPPING HOODS ...

The Redskins: The Insanity Clause

Interview by Helen Fitzgerald, Melody Maker, 29 June 1985

Back on the road and with their new single 'Bring It Down' receiving accolades from all directions, THE REDSKINS are demonstrating that there's still life ...

The Communards: Heaven, London

Live Review by Paul Mathur, Melody Maker, 6 July 1985

GAY'S THE WORD ...

The Redskins: * William Shaw Sympathises With... The Redskins

Interview by William Shaw, Smash Hits, 17 July 1985

* They think Live Aid is sickening* They reckon the Queen must feel a complete wally"* They want to bring down "post-war consumer capitalism"* They're ...

Bob Geldof: Life After Live Aid? Keeping Pop's Conscience In Focus

Comment by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 20 July 1985

Can Live Aid really be more than a cosmetic exercise, a massive sop to the conscience of the West, or at best a temporary solution ...

Bob Geldof: Live Aid: Transmission Of Mercy

Comment by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 20 July 1985

JUST ABOUT the time that the 70,000 in the centre of the mediarena were filing, as instructed, towards the exits, I was emerging from the ...

Mutabaruka: Reggae Star Is More Than A Poet

Report and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 26 July 1985

"I DON'T LIKE being classified as a dub poet because dub poetry is a limit to one's expression," Mutabaruka declares. "It's like saying that you're ...

Chicago, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper, Huey Lewis and the News, The Pointer Sisters, Prince, Lionel Richie, Kenny Rogers, Tina Turner, Stevie Wonder: USA For Africa: We Are The World (Columbia)

Review by J. Kordosh, Creem, August 1985

OUCHLESS BAND-AID ...

Rubén Blades: Casino de Montreux, Montreux, Switzerland

Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 3 August 1985

FLASHING BLADES! ...

Johnny Otis, Little Richard, Solomon Burke, Thee Midniters: Solomon Burke, Willie Garcia, Johnny Otis, Little Richard: Four Souls – From Music To The Ministry

Profile and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 4 August 1985

SOLOMON BURKE looked more like Don Corleone surveying his domain in The Godfather than a preacher preparing to conduct a recent late-afternoon service. ...

Bob Geldof: Live Aid take may hit $60 million

Report by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 29 August 1985

As many as 2 billion people watched the event ...

Midnight Oil: The Only Band That Really Matters

Interview by J.D. Considine, Musician, September 1985

THERE'S A TV commercial running on television stations in Sydney that explains a lot about modern-day Australia. The ad is for McDonald's, and seeks to ...

The Style Council: Internationalists (Geffen)

Review by Rob Tannenbaum, Musician, September 1985

LEADING THE Jam, Paul Weller was usually eloquent about the ineloquence of youth. Now he's an adult, and he's learned all about monetarism (it's bad) ...

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 ...

J.G. Ballard: Closely Observed Trains

Profile and Interview by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 26 October 1985

He never listens to music but he inspired the writing of 'Warm Leatherette' and Magazine's 'Motorcade', his trilogy of Crash, High Rise and Concrete Island ...

Prince: Rock 'N' Roll Feels The Fire

Report by John Morthland, High Fidelity, December 1985

The PMRC isn't only out to censor sex and violence. John Denver could be next. ...

Cliff Richard: The Man Who Invented Rock'n'roll (With A Little Help From Elvis Presley And Shakespeare)

Interview by Tom Hibbert, Smash Hits, 4 December 1985

"I SUPPOSE many of the young rock fans who are always looking for something new and exciting find me terribly boring. But if you think about ...

Alan Hull: Hull's Teeth: An Interview with Alan Hull

Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 14 December 1985

HARD TIMES on Tyneside. So what's new, pussycats? There's snow storms, there's no jobs (30% unemployment), and worst of all, the by-election bigwigs – Brittan, ...

Stevie Wonder: Ever Decreasing Circles

Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 21 December 1985

Is STEVIE WONDER's giant talent exhausted or just sleeping? GAVIN MARTIN seeks the truth, but finds the man cocooned from the nitty gritty by an ...

The Redskins: Central Polytechnic, London

Live Review by Simon Reynolds, Melody Maker, 4 January 1986

THE ONLY soul we got tonight was the pre-gig tape, sublime Seventies slices of Billy Paul, Fontella Bass, Womack... Personally, I was grateful — I ...

Alice Cooper, Twisted Sister: Twisted Sister: New Year's Dee

Interview by Helen Fitzgerald, Melody Maker, 4 January 1986

DEE SNIDER, fang-toothed leader of outrageous HM maniacs TWISTED SISTER lets his tongue gallop over a few topics suggested by Helen 'Tape-deck' FitzGerald. ...

Little Steven & The Disciples Of Soul: Q&A: Little Steven

Interview by Fred Schruers, Rolling Stone, 16 January 1986

LITTLE STEVEN Van Zandt, to his simultaneous worriment and gratification, has become the symbol of the antiapartheid movement outside of South Africa. It's not surprising ...

Billy Bragg: Bill of Rights

Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 18 January 1986

Can RED WEDGE kick new life into old Labour? Will our lovable lefty pop heroes transform Kinnock's party into a stylish outfit prepared for government? ...

The Icicle Works: In At The Deep End

Interview by Penny Kiley, Melody Maker, 18 January 1986

Have THE ICICLE WORKS suddenly become hip? Do they actually have something to say? Penny Kiley thinks so. ...

The Redskins: Acne In The UK

Interview by Jack Barron, Sounds, 18 January 1986

Kicking and screaming into '86 against injustices to the oppressed and themselves come THE REDSKINS. JACK BARRON explores the left side of their collective brain ...

Morgan Khan: Flag Day

Interview by Frank Owen, Melody Maker, 25 January 1986

StreetSounds supremo and entrepreneur of the modern dance MORGAN KHAN thinks the Welfare State sucks, that charity begins at home and that the Union Jack ...

Billy Bragg, Junior Giscombe, Spandau Ballet, The Style Council: Red Wedge

Report and Interview by William Shaw, Smash Hits, 12 February 1986

"It's no good just complaining in your beer about things — you've got to come out and say it..." So says Spandau Ballet's Gary Kemp. ...

The Smiths: Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool

Live Review by Betty Page, Record Mirror, 22 February 1986

"FROM MANCHESTER WITH LOVE", it was billed. But love was the last thing in the air on this freezing cold Saturday night at Liverpool's Royal ...

Jackson Browne: Lives In The Balance (Asylum EKT 31)*****

Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 8 March 1986

BROWNE SUGAR ...

Fela Kuti: Zombie, No Agreement, Shuffering And Shmlling (Celluloid)

Review by Rob Tannenbaum, Rolling Stone, 13 March 1986

ALTHOUGH HE is virtually unknown in the United States, Fela Kuti of Nigeria is the most dangerous musician in the world. For two decades, Fela ...

Ewan MacColl, Paul Weller, Tom Robinson Band: A Concert For Heroes: Paul Weller, Tom Robinson, Ewan McColl at the Royal Albert Hall

Live Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 15 March 1986

A WORKING-CLASS hero is something to be; it gets more difficult by the day. Under a Government that puts Profit and Progress before People (don't ...

Betty Wright: Getting It Wright

Interview by Frank Owen, Melody Maker, 15 March 1986

BETTY WRIGHT is back with 'Pain', but she doesn't feel any because she's got religion. Frank Owen is in two minds. ...

Garry Bushell Ate My Hamster

Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 22 March 1986

Soaraway Sun scribe GARRY BUSHELL finds himself on the other side of the fantastic fact-finding fence. STEVEN 'Scoop' WELLS digs a grave. ...

Queen

Interview by William Shaw, Smash Hits, 26 March 1986

Were they wrong to play in Sun City? Did the cash in on Live Aid with their single 'One Vision'? At last their gracious majesties ...

Sweet Honey in the Rock: Sting in the Tale

Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 19 April 1986

SEAN O'HAGAN makes a journey to the land of SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK where heavenly voices have their say. ...

Test Dept.: Freedom is Frightening

Interview by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 19 April 1986

On the abandoned building sites of Britain, a new life is stirring. TEST DEPT. sound the charge on scrap metal and bugle, waging a war ...

Sweet Honey In The Rock: B&S talks to Bernice Reagon — a lady with a mission...

Interview by Roger St. Pierre, Blues & Soul, 22 April 1986

Her mission is to get black music the recognition it is due from the world at large and, equally important, to persuade America's black population ...

Jackson Browne: Lives In The Balance (Asylum)

Review by Jon Young, Musician, May 1986

JACKSON BROWNE is mad as hell. He's also a gentleman, which removes the sting from his expressions of outrage on Lives In The Balance. Although ...

Garry Bushell: The Most Evil Man In Pop

Interview by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 10 May 1986

Scourge of the Looney Left, creator of Oi and prime exponent of the dreaded 'Sunspeak', GARRY BUSHELL makes a clean breast of it to Prof ...

Gil Scott-Heron: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Frank Owen, Melody Maker, 5 July 1986

NORMALLY, I HATE protest pop, especially the born-again Methodism of the likes of Bragg and Moore with that heavy evangelical tone. So why do I ...

Joan Baez, Jackson Browne, Peter Gabriel, The Neville Brothers, Lou Reed, Sting, U2: U2, Sting et al: Amnesty International, Conspiracy of Hope Benefit, Cow Palace, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 17 July 1986

Amnesty's rock & roll roadshow All-star lineup gives America the message ...

Gil Scott-Heron: Word War Fighter

Report by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 19 July 1986

Prophet, poet and rap pioneer GIL SCOTT-HERON was calling for sanctions against South Africa a decade ago in his hit ‘Johannesburg’. Currently due to appear ...

Gil Scott-Heron (1986)

Interview by Larry Jaffee, Rock's Backpages audio, August 1986

Scott-Heron talks about music and politics, Reron and B Movie, Sun City, Clive Davis and Arista/RCA, and ruminates on favourites old and new.

File format: mp3; file size: 18.1mb, interview length: 19' 42" sound quality: * (phoner)

The Fall: Watching The City Hobgoblins: The Fall

Profile and Interview by Mark Sinker, The Wire, August 1986

Author's 2005 note: In which I find my voice? In between all the "important rock does this" droning. ...

Stevie Wonder: Pop Music Or Politics, He Sings Out And Speaks Up For His Beliefs

Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 14 August 1986

P.W. BOTHA was on television Tuesday afternoon and Stevie Wonder was steamed Tuesday night. Wonder had been listening to the South African president on a ...

Dead Kennedys: The Dead Kennedys: Goodnight, Democracy

Report by Chuck Eddy, Spin, September 1986

Sure, the Dead Kennedys are offensive, but obscene? It must be Jello, because jam don't shock like that. ...

LL Cool J, Run-DMC, Schoolly D: Yo Boys: Boys Keep Killing

Report by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 13 September 1986

The pervasive sound of hip hop becomes punctuated by an altogether more sinister noise — the bark of hand-guns — as, on the streets of ...

Fela Kuti: Africa's Cult Musician: Fela Anikulapo Kuti

Report by Nicholas Jennings, Maclean's, 13 October 1986

WHEN ONE OF Africa's most celebrated musicians receives visitors at his home in the Nigerian capital of Lagos, he lounges in little more than a ...

Crass: a Militant Tendency?

Interview by Hugh Fielder, Neil Perry, Sounds, 25 October 1986

Two years ago CRASS couldn't decide whether to blow up the country or grow cabbages — fortunately for the Tory Tyrants, they chose the latter. ...

Peter Guralnick's Soul Hits Sweet Spot

Interview by Don Waller, Los Angeles Times, 9 November 1986

DO YA LIKE good music? (Yeah, yeah.) Then Peter Guralnick's new book Sweet Soul Music (Harper & Row) is right down your alley, two steps ...

Just Ice: Justice And The Law

Report and Interview by Frank Owen, Melody Maker, 15 November 1986

Hard core rapper JUST ICE is out on bail following a murder charge. Frank Owen talks to him and investigates the background to the case ...

Dexter Gordon: Bertrand Tavernier on Round Midnight

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 6 December 1986

THE DIRECTOR of Round Midnight is extremely un-Bebop in appearance. His supine bearing and serene features suggest a cross between Roland Barthes and Claude Chabrol, ...

What's Missing: On Pop's Eternal Dilemma

Essay by Simon Reynolds, Monitor, Summer 1986

SOMETHING'S WRONG. Everyone knows this, acknowledges it, but it's still hard to point out, precisely, what's supposed to have slipped into abeyance, eluded us in ...

Metal: What The Censor Saw

Report and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Mega Metal Kerrang!, 1987

Would you regard this issue off Mega Metal Kerrang! as 'subversive', 'pornographic' or 'objectionable'? No, of course you wouldn't – 'harmless fun' is a term ...

Jackson Browne: "A Dixie Cup of Nuclear Waste Could Kill the Planet"

Interview by Steve Turner, Q, January 1987

Jackson Browne used to hang his head and weep when he considered the folly of Man. These days he doesn't bother. These days he gets ...

Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Paul Simon: UN Group Attacks Paul Simon

Report by Rob Tannenbaum, Rolling Stone, 12 February 1987

Says Graceland broke cultural boycott of South Africa ...

Public Enemy: Hip Hop Wig Out '87: Public Enemy – Def Not Dumb

Interview by Frank Owen, Melody Maker, 21 March 1987

In the first of a series of reports from New York, Frank Owen steals the rhythm of the moment as he surveys hip hop's newest ...

The Margaret Thatcher Interview!!?

Interview by Tom Hibbert, Smash Hits, 25 March 1987

Come with us, why don't you, inside the hallowed portals of Number 10 Downing Street where the so-called "Iron Lady" awaits your "pleasure"... ...

Charlie Haden Recalls Lessons Of Cuba Visit

Report and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 27 March 1987

CUBA IS A RARE tour stopover for any American, artist, but Charlie Haden’s appearance in Havana last month fulfilled a dream the eminent bassist had ...

Paul Simon: The Boy in the Boycott

Report by Mark Sinker, Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 4 April 1987

Is PAUL SIMON "a genius and a loathsome coward"? Does the lack of anti-apartheid statements on Graceland amount to condonation of Botha's regime? Or has ...

Slayer: Blood Money

Interview by Paul Elliott, Sounds, 18 April 1987

Nazi apologists or naive dickheads? Either way, SLAYER are the foulest, most provocative and probably the best speed metal band yet. But have they gone ...

Labi Siffre: No Stool Pigeon

Interview by Lucy O'Brien, New Musical Express, 2 May 1987

LABI SIFFRE is off his stool and back on the charts, singing against apartheid. LUCY O'BRIEN joins him on the fence. ...

Slayer: Cash from Genocide

Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 2 May 1987

OK, SLAYER. So you're the world's top death-metal thrash outfit, and you're playing to thousands all over Britain. But now you must justify your appalling ...

The Blow Monkeys, Curtis Mayfield: Rejoice!

Interview by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 9 May 1987

Surgery's open, and here's busy Doctor Robert of THE BLOW MONKEYS: banned by the BBC, co-singing with Chicago soul legend CURTIS MAYFIELD and activating with ...

Public Enemy: The Enemy Without

Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 16 May 1987

PUBLIC ENEMY are the latest hard rap attack from Def Jam's box of tricks, but very different from all that's gone before. Toting Uzi machine ...

Chumbawamba, Class War, Conflict, Crass, Flux of Pink Indians: Anarcho-Punk: Veg Wedge

Report by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 23 May 1987

With Crass, Poison Girls and Flux in either retirement or a state of change, and Conflict in trouble, the anarcho-punk movement is in tatters. STEVEN ...

U2: Glory Days

Interview by Colin Irwin, Spin, June 1987

With a platinum-bound LP and sell-out tour, U2 have finally conquered America. But first they had to conquer the problem of being a political band ...

The Beastie Boys In Montreux: What Really Happened!

Report and Interview by Chris Heath, Smash Hits, 3 June 1987

• According to the "news"papers, the Beastie Boys arrived in Montreux, swore at a group of sick children, threw a bottle at Run DMC, turned ...

Eastie Boys: Real Life in London's East End

Report by Paul Wellings, The Evening Standard, 24 July 1987

IT IS A HOT day in London’s East End. I’m sitting in my home of Stepney, sipping an ice-cool lager outside the infamous Blind ...

The Christians: Rock On Commie: The Christians In East Berlin

Report and Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 1 August 1987

WHERE AM I? The hotel receptionist says, "Have a nice day". There's Gershwin muzak in the lift. There's Sade on the radio. There's no bugging ...

Terence Trent D'Arby, Prince: Terence Trent D'Arby: Storm in a T-Shirt; Prince: Prince of Darkness

Report by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 1 August 1987

"RACIST" D'ARBY T-SHIRT ROW... DEMONIC PRINCE IS "SATAN'S TOOL"... STEVEN WELLS INVESTIGATES ...

Cliff Richard: The World According to Cliff

Interview by Jon Wilde, Blitz, September 1987

EXACTLY THIRTY YEARS AGO, Harry Rodger Webb was stripped of his prefect's badge for playing truant from school and going to a cinema in Edmonton ...

Hugh Masekela, Paul Simon: Hugh Masekela: Grazing in Graceland

Interview by Roy Trakin, Creem, October 1987

HUGH MASEKELA hasn't been back to South Africa since he left his homeland 27 years ago to study trumpet in London and New York, but ...

What's The Matter With Kids Today?

Comment by John Mendelsohn, Creem, October 1987

THERE ARE lots of wide open spaces around where I live. In the late spring, I can gaze out from the window of my study ...

Public Enemy: Rebels With a Cause

Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 10 October 1987

They understand Malcolm X and they dig James Brown. Right now PUBLIC ENEMY are making all the noise and SEAN O'HAGAN is ready to take the rap. ...

Public Enemy: Strength to Strength

Interview by Simon Reynolds, Melody Maker, 17 October 1987

PUBLIC ENEMY PLAY BRITAIN IN NOVEMBER AND SIMON REYNOLDS TAKES A LONG HARD LOOK AT THE SURVIVALIST PHILOSOPHY BEHIND SOME OF THE TOUGHEST NOISE OF ...

Billy Bragg (1987)

Interview by Mat Snow, Rock's Backpages audio, November 1987

Art vs. commerce; pop and politics; materialism; the Second World War – the Bard of Barking on all of that and more.

File format: mp3; file size: 59.8mb, interview length: 1h 02' 14" sound quality: ***

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: ***

The Beastie Boys: The Beastie Bit

Report by John McCready, New Musical Express, 21 November 1987

JOHN McCREADY on the Beastie Boys court case... ...

Public Enemy

Interview by Chris Heath, Smash Hits, 15 December 1987

Chuck D. and Griff of Public Enemy tell Chris Heath about their hit single 'Rebel Without A Pause' and explain why they're "deadly serious" about ...

The Fall, Madness, The Smiths: England: Look Back In Anguish

Essay by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 2 January 1988

"Oh, grassy dale and lowland scene/Come see, come hear the English Scheme!" (The Fall)"You might sleep, but you will never dream/Oh, Manchester! So much to ...

The Clash, Joe Strummer: Joe Strummer (1988)

Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages audio, February 1988

The former Clash front-man on recording the soundtrack to Permanent Record; his musical and acting participation in Walker and Straight to Hell; on the Clash compilation Story of the Clash Vol. 1; how touring with the Who led to the end of the Clash; playing with the Pogues, and his hatred of being spat at onstage; on Reagan and Thatcher; his (now) dislike of drugs; on his diplomat father; forming the 101ers, and the Rude Boy movie.

File format: mp3; file size: 83.8mb, interview length: 1h 27' 20" sound quality: *** (background noise)

The Cure: Race and Gender: Thisism, Thatism

Comment by Iman Lababedi, Creem, February 1988

IN 1981 I interviewed the Cure for CREEM. That was three years after they'd released their paean to Albert Camus's superb existentialist novel, The Stranger. ...

Afrika Bambaataa: The Funky Cassandra

Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 19 February 1988

Adam Sweeting spreads Bambaataa's word for Planet Earth ...

Living Colour's Vernon Reid (1988)

Interview by Mark Sinker, Rock's Backpages audio, April 1988

Vernon Reid talks about Living Colour signing to Epic Records; about his other projects and producing other acts; the state of Black music in America; the life and death of disco; the importance of Prince; his early days with Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society and Defunkt; the Black Rock Coalition; negative energy, drugs and racism; and the clichéd perceptions of African-Americans.

File format: mp3; file size: 78.9mb, interview length: 1h 22' 12" sound quality: ***

Janice Long: The Long Goodbye

Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 23 April 1988

From presenting the only four nights a week show to play the Primitives next to Prince, JANICE LONG has felt the cold shoulder from the ...

KRS-One: KRS-1: View From The Bridge

Interview by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 21 May 1988

KRS-1, tough turned thinker, raps for condoms and chillin' against crack and killin'. And yet he's seen toting a gun and posing a la Black ...

Public Enemy: Too Black Too Strong

Interview by Jack Barron, James Brown, New Musical Express, 21 May 1988

PUBLIC ENEMY — simply the most creative rappers around? Or a dangerous game with the politics of race? JAMES BROWN and JACK BARRON lay it ...

Ted Nugent: Crime and Punishment: The Ted Nugent Interview

Interview by Jeffrey Morgan, Creem, June 1988

IF ANYONE deserves the title of Hardest Working Man In Rock 'n' Roll, Ted Nugent does. It's a reputation that dates back to 1963 and ...

Scritti Politti: Pretension and polish

Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 10 June 1988

Adam Sweeting drops in on one of the pop world's top name-droppers ...

Public Enemy, Muddy Waters: Public Enemy: It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (Def Jam DEF 462415); Muddy Waters: Hoochie Coochie Man (Epic 461186)

Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 16 July 1988

Fast and furious ...

Nelson George: The Death Of Rhythm & Blues (Pantheon, 256 pages, $18.95 hardcover)

Book Review by Mark Dery, L.A. Weekly, 28 July 1988

SOLD BROTHERS ...

Joe Strummer: Your Money Or Your Life!

Report and Interview by Robin Gibson, Sounds, 6 August 1988

For over a month, JOE STRUMMER has blazed a trail of passionate, powerful, politico rock across the UK with his LATINO ROCKABILLY WAR. ROBIN GIBSON ...

Everything But The Girl, Tracey Thorn: Tracey Thorn: Doctorate feelgood

Interview by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 10 August 1988

A daughter of punk, Tracey Thorn is riding high in the pop charts. But academia looms just as large in her life. ...

Psychic TV: The Genesis P-Orridge stitch up — Is This Man Sick?

Report and Interview by Neil Perry, Sounds, 13 August 1988

NEIL PERRY goes behind enemy lines to discover the truth behind The People's expose off Psychic TV's GENESIS P-ORRIDGE ...

Patti Smith Resurfaces

Profile and Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 27 August 1988

DETROIT – "I'm still shaky from this," says Patti Smith, who's been driven by her husband, Fred Smith, through a hellish rainstorm and rush-hour traffic ...

Tipper Gore and the PMRC: Not In Front Of The Parents

Report and Interview by Ralph Traitor, Sounds, 10 September 1988

The PMRC scored major brownie points recently when its chief, Tipper Gore, appeared on MTV. RALPH TRAITOR hears the woman who Guns N' Roses' Slash ...

Public Enemy: Rockin' The Joint

Interview by Michael Azerrad, Rolling Stone, 22 September 1988

The incendiary rappers preach black self-sufficiency at New York's Riker's Island. But are they prisoners of their own racist doctrine? By Michael Azerrad ...

Bunny Wailer (1988)

Interview by Mark Sinker, Rock's Backpages audio, October 1988

The erstwhile Neville O'Riley Livingston ruminates on the Wailers' legacy; on returning to England after 16 years; on the poor state of reggae today and the serious side of the Jamaican genre; on Ziggy Marley as a successor to his father Bob; on political violence in Jamaica and Peter Tosh's untimely death; on the rise of African reggae and his new album Liberation.

File format: mp3; file size: 37.3mb, interview length: 38' 49" sound quality: *** (background noise)

Michelle Shocked: Shock Tactics

Interview by Ralph Traitor, Sounds, 1 October 1988

With her synthesis of folk and hardcore, Michelle Shocked has successfully created a new vehicle for political pop. Ralph Traitor tunes into the voice of ...

Midnight Oil Burns With Activist Fervor

Report and Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 6 October 1988

PETER GARRETT, outspoken singer of Midnight Oil, is on the phone, ticking off things the Australian rock 'n' roll group is not. ...

Jon Savage: Cool and the Crazy

Interview by Richard North, Offbeat, November 1988

Richard North tackles post-punk pessimist, writer, dreamer and rebel without a cause – Jon Savage ...

Run-DMC: Concert Violence: Who's to Blame?

Report by Michael Azerrad, Rolling Stone, 3 November 1988

Action needed in the wake of recent deaths at rap and metal shows ...

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 ...

Judas Priest: Heavy metal on trial

Report by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 1 December 1988

Judas Priest suicide suit takes 'subliminal message' tack ...

Diamanda Galás (1988)

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)

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. ...

Malcolm McLaren (1989)

Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages audio, 1989

The manager/artist/impresario bemoans the state of the music business today: the conservative corporate culture; the equally conservative artists; the inability to create new Gods; becoming an artists himself, and the manager as artist; his ambitions and predictions; how England hates artists, and his optimism for Europe.

File format: mp3; file size: 26.8meg, interview length: 27' 57" sound quality: *****

Malcolm McLaren (1989) [transcript]

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

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

Dusty Springfield: Scandal In The Wind: Dusty Springfield

Report and Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 1989

As the sex-in-high-places Profumo Scandal returns to this nation's screens, Dusty Springfield (with the Pet Shop Boys) brings us the single soundtrack. Len Brown met ...

Nelson George: Nelson's column

Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 6 January 1989

American Black Music writer Nelson George talks to Andy Gill about the "death of Rhythm and Blues" ...

KRS-One: The Rap Trap

Report and Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 7 January 1989

And the kids keep dying. Armed with only a Sony Walkman and a pen, PAOLO HEWITT goes looking for the solution to Rap's vicious side, ...

Diamanda Galás: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

Live Review by Simon Reynolds, Melody Maker, 14 January 1989

DIAMANDA GALAS' AIDS trilogy Masque Of The Red Death draws a mixed bunch to the Queen Elizabeth Hall on New Year's Day — 50 per ...

Nelson George: Soul Destroyer

Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 14 January 1989

As a columnist for Billboard and The Village Voice, Nelson George has been America's most incisive commentator on the changing face of black music culture. ...

Johnny Cash (1989)

Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages audio, 17 March 1989

The Man in Black on the controversy surrounding the 'Til Things Are Brighter tribute album; being threatened by the Klan for hugging Charley Pride; his friendship with Roy Orbison; the state of current country, and his Scottish roots. He also shows Sweeting his coin, gun and guitar collection!

File format: mp3; file size: 30.9mb, interview length: 32' 11" sound quality: ***

Cat Stevens: Fundamentally Speaking: Cat Stevens vs. Salman Rushdie

Comment by Penny Reel, Sounds, 25 March 1989

AN ASPECT of the Salman Rushdie episode that particularly intrigues is the way passions have been so readily aroused. It is as if the text ...

The Jungle Brothers: Pure Righteousness

Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 1 April 1989

Can the creators of powerful positive Afro-rap THE JUNGLE BROTHERS also be true believers of Islamic fundamentalist, black separatist Louis Farrakhan? SEAN O'HAGAN explores the ...

Stevie Wonder: Breaking The Square Circle

Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 22 April 1989

Perhaps the most innovative musician of the '70s, STEVIE WONDER has enjoyed mixed fortunes in the '80s, dividing his time between duets with Dionne Warwick ...

Big Daddy Kane: Raw Like Sushi

Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 6 May 1989

Christened The Grasshopper Of Rap for his black belt lyrics, Big Daddy Kane is a hero to rap's hard core followers. With hits for Roxanne ...

New Model Army: Henry Moore Gallery Forecourt, Leeds

Live Review by Dave Simpson, Melody Maker, 6 May 1989

THE PERFECT setting fora New Model Army open air bash: a drab, dull, grey, freezing cold afternoon in a rain-pelted northern town. The drizzle washes ...

Boogie Down Productions, KRS-One: KRS-1: We Are 1

Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 22 July 1989

Metaphysics... conspiracy theories...the harmony of the Universe...and YOU thought KRS-1 was just a hot rapper! JACK BARRON gets philosophical with the boss of Boogie Down. ...

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. ...

Guns N' Roses, Public Enemy: Public Enemy and Guns N' Roses: Busted Axl

Report by RJ Smith, The Village Voice, 22 August 1989

FORTY-EIGHT hours in the feeding-cycle of New York City. There were Uzis, Public Enemy regrouping, and a clique of blond babes orbiting Axl Rose at ...

Schoolly D: D for Delinquent

Interview by Damon Wise, Sounds, 23 September 1989

Schoolly D has given up on his gangster past to direct his rap at the problems facing black America. Damon Wise asks what happened to ...

Ice Cube, N.W.A: N.W.A.: Wanted For Attitude

Report by Dave Marsh, The Village Voice, 10 October 1989

HOW'S THIS for government intimidation? In early August, a letter arrived on the desk of Priority Records president Brian Turner. Written on Department of Justice ...

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 ...

Don Henley: Eagle's elegy

Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 28 October 1989

Don Henley of the Eagles is 42. Mark Cooper found him lamenting lost youth as he prepares for his London concert. ...

Breaks For The Border

Report by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 25 November 1989

In search of Die Neue Deutsche Tanz (New German Dance) JACK BARRON travelled to Berlin to meet the artists behind the Teutonic Beats label — ...

Living Colour, Public Enemy: Talking Loud & Saying Nothing: The Electricity of Afrocentricity

Report and Interview by Chris Bourke, Rip It Up (New Zealand), December 1989

SUMMER IN THE city, New York City, and the place smells. Hot times, an expected high of 90 today, and more than the back of ...

Jello Biafra, Lydia Lunch, Henry Rollins: Spoken Word: Jello Biafria, Lydia Lunch, Henry Rollins

Report and Interview by Martin Aston, The Independent, Winter 1989

ONCE UPON a time, people took to the stage without the blast of music behind them, and people would take them seriously. Poetry and the ...

Kirsty MacColl (1990) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 1990

This is a transcript of Ira's audio interview with Kirsty. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

The Greening of Planet Pop

Report by Frank Owen, Spin, January 1990

Ecology is the greatest thing on a lot of rock stars' minds these days. But what about all the plastic wrap on their albums? ...

The Beatles, Bulat Okudshava, The Rolling Stones, Vladimir Vysotsky: Timothy W. Ryback: Rock Around The Bloc – A History Of Rock Music In Eastern Europe And The Soviet Union (Oxford University Press)

Book Review by Tim Riley, The Boston Phoenix, February 1990

WHEN PAUL MCCARTNEY announced his $8.5 million promotion deal with Visa at a recent press conference, he was challenged to explain how his new sideline ...

They're Raving Mad!

Report and Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 10 February 1990

Rave promoters gathered with Dance fans in London's Trafalgar Square last week to protest against proposed legislation to outlaw all-night parties. JACK BARRON joined the ...

Public Enemy: Public Service: Public Enemy

Interview by Frank Owen, Spin, March 1990

With their third album, Fear of a Black Planet, about to be released, Public Enemy proclaims the death of European predominance. Pop goes Afrocentric for ...

Public Enemy: Beat Cops

Report by RJ Smith, L.A. Weekly, 8 March 1990

The LAPD drops in on Public Enemy at the PALACE ...

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 ...

Professor Griff: 100 Per Cent Prof.

Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 31 March 1990

Accused of anti-Semitism, dissing the President, condoning Idi Amin and generally being a bit of a foam-flecked Rottweiler, Public Enemy's Minister Of Information PROFESSOR GRIFF ...

Ice Cube, N.W.A: NWA: Hanging Tough

Interview by Frank Owen, Spin, April 1990

Hounded by the FBI and acclaimed as the new, new Sex Pistols, NWA's rise has been rapid and sensational. But now that chief spokesman and ...

The Jungle Brothers, KRS-One, Public Enemy: Rapped in Black

Report and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 5 April 1990

An Africa-shaped pendant has become the new badge of honour for American rappers, reports Mark Cooper ...

The Jungle Brothers, KRS-One, Public Enemy: Rapped in Black

Report and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 5 April 1990

An Africa-shaped pendant has become the new badge of honour for American rappers, reports Mark Cooper ...

Public Enemy: Fear of a Black Planet (Def Jam/Columbia)

Review by Tim Riley, The Boston Phoenix, 22 April 1990

Their Own Worst Enemy? Fear of a Black Planet; seductive music, muddled message ...

Billy Bragg (1990)

Interview by Larry Jaffee, Rock's Backpages audio, May 1990

The Bard of Barking talks about being politicised, the Miners' Strike, experiences of racism in the Army, his new album The Internationale... and rather a lot about Margaret Thatcher.

File format: mp3; file size: 30.1mb, interview length: 32' 54" sound quality: ****

Stanley Crouch: Notes of a Hanging Judge (Oxford University Press)/Gerald Early: Tuxedo Junction (Ecco Press)

Book Review by Tim Riley, The Boston Phoenix, May 1990

IN A CLIMATE where the Reverend Louis Farrakhan can make a comeback on Donahue proposing a separate black state as a God-given right, the void ...

Guns N' Roses, N.W.A: At a Loss for Words

Report by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 31 May 1990

Record-industry acceptance of stickering is already having a chilling effect ...

Lee Atwater: Chairman of the Blues

Interview by Frank Owen, Spin, June 1990

Twenty years ago, a young down-home Southern white boy fell in love with black music and became a hot R&B guitarist, backing the likes of ...

Roger Waters (1990) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages transcripts, June 1990

This is a transcript of Martin's 1990 audio interview with the former Floyd man. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

N.W.A.: Keep On Running

Interview by Damon Wise, Sounds, 2 June 1990

With their debut album's tales of "everyday life", L.A.'s Niggers With Attitude succeeded in taking gangster rap to new levels of outrage. N.W.A.'s Eazy E ...

N.W.A.: Some Muthas Do 'Ave 'Em

Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 2 June 1990

Rubbing white America's nose in its own racism or blagging big bucks by glorifying gangsterism, NWA are not the FBI-pigs' favourite people. STEVEN 'Wild West' ...

2 Live Crew, Ice Cube: 2 Live Crew: Express Yourself

Report by RJ Smith, L.A. Weekly, 21 June 1990

AS WE go to press there is a Sheriff's Department search on inBroward County, Fla., for the two members of salacious rap group 2 Live ...

Steve Earle: And Justice For All

Interview by Paul Elliott, Sounds, 23 June 1990

Having had a severe brush with the law himself, Steve Earle is well placed to judge the American law. On his new LP, The Hard Way, he ...

Angry Anderson, Rose Tattoo: Angry Anderson

Interview by Steve Mascord, Hot Metal, July 1990

ANGRY ANDERSON is intently thumbing through an English heavy metal magazine. It's the one which  described him, following the release of soppy 1988 Neighbours hit ...

Tracy Chapman, Jimi Hendrix, Living Colour, Prince, Dan Reed Network: Black Rock

Essay by David Toop, The Face, July 1990

White Rock we know about, but why should the idea of Black Rock be so difficult to comprehend? When Prince says his current tour is rock'n'roll based, he ...

2 Live Crew

Comment by RJ Smith, L.A. Weekly, 5 July 1990

WHEN RUDY Ray Moore talked dirty to the house parties, when Dolomite told inner-city movie audiences "fucking up motherfuckers is my game," when Redd Foxx ...

2 Live Crew: Nasty or Nice?

Comment by Tim Riley, The Boston Phoenix, 27 July 1990

DEFENDING 2 LIVE Crew's right to party feels more like a chore than a privilege. Graphic slapstick writ large, As Nasty As They Wanna Be ...

2 Live Crew: Fear Of A Black Penis

Report and Interview by Frank Owen, Spin, September 1990

A media moral panic about their alleged obscenity has catapulted Miami rappers 2 Live Crew to national notoriety. FRANK OWEN reports from Florida. ...

AC/DC's Angus Young (1990) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages transcripts, October 1990

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

Geto Boys: Censorship Isn't Def American

Interview by Frank Owen, Spin, November 1990

Sexually explicit and graphically violent, the Geto Boys are Rick Rubin's latest rap signing. Now Geffen won't release their album. FRANK OWEN reports. ...

Jose Feliciano, Woody Guthrie, Jimi Hendrix, Curtis Mayfield, Sinéad O'Connor, Sir Mix-a-Lot: 'The Star Spangled Banner'

Comment by Dave Marsh, Vox, November 1990

WHEN SINEAD O'Connor refused to allow 'The Star Spangled Banner' to be performed at her late August concert at the Garden State Arts Center in ...

Woody Guthrie, Curtis Mayfield, Sinead O'Connor: 'The Star Spangled Banner'

Comment by Dave Marsh, Vox, November 1990

WHEN SINEAD O'CONNOR refused to allow 'The Star Spangled Banner' to be performed at her late August concert at the Garden State Arts Center in ...

Professor Griff, Public Enemy: Professor Griff: Putting America On Trial

Interview by Push, Melody Maker, 3 November 1990

In the past year, Professor Griff has been thrown out of PUBLIC ENEMY, accused of being a racist, a Jew-hater and an American-basher. PUSH talks ...

Public Enemy: Black Appeal in the Hour of Power

Report and Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 3 November 1990

JAMES BROWN catches PUBLIC ENEMY'S spectacular show in San Diego and speaks to CHUCK D. ...

Genesis P-Orridge (1990)

Interview by Mark Sinker, Rock's Backpages audio, December 1990

P-Orridge, his then partner Paula and Sinker talk about celebrating a pagan Christmas, plus the pre-Christian roots of the festival; the genocidal triumph of Christianity over the ancient religions; pre-Christian belief systems; Saturnalia and Santa's shamanistic roots.

File format: mp3; file size: 22.7mb, interview length: 23' 36" sound quality: **½

Genesis P-Orridge, Psychic TV: Genesis P-Orridge (1990) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Mark Sinker, Rock's Backpages transcripts, December 1990

This is a transcript of Mark's interview with the Psychic TV singer and his wife Paula. Listen to the interview. ...

A Tribe Called Quest: Why Are You Being So Treasonable Now?

Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 15 December 1990

Our reigning monarch scores as highly on the diss-o-meter as pop rapper Vanilla Ice for hip-hop hotheads A TRIBE CALLED QUEST. But a spot of ...

Manic Street Preachers: Manic On The Streets Of London

Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 5 January 1991

"SMASH HITS is more effective in polluting minds than Goebbels ever was…" ...

The Levellers: Venue, New Cross, London

Live Review by Cathi Unsworth, Sounds, 5 January 1991

A crust above the rest ...

Will to Power: Gimme Back My Bullets: Will to Power shoot for disco Valhalla

Profile by Chuck Eddy, L.A. Weekly, 17 January 1991

ON NEW YEAR'S Eve, I stayed home and went to bed early, as anybody with respect for planetary alignment and his own safety and disrespect ...

A Tribe Called Quest: Storm Warnings

Interview by Andrew Smith, Melody Maker, 2 February 1991

Besides achieving Top 20 success with their new single, 'Can I Kick It?, A Tribe Called Quest have also been heavily involved with the re-recording ...

Deee-Lite: Trio De Janeiro

Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 9 February 1991

Pop music isn't all lying around the pool with GUNS N'ROSES, frugging with PRINCE and getting pissed (on) with the MONDAYS. Except, that is, in ...

Slayer: At War with Slayer

Interview by Steffan Chirazi, Kerrang!, 23 February 1991

SLAYER guitarist JEFF HANNEMAN is into war, the hardware and the psychology, plain and simple. But since January 15, and the commencement of hostilities in ...

Combat Rock

Retrospective by Steven Wells, Vox, March 1991

From protest to punk, rock'n'roll has provided the soundtrack to every conflict since World War II. Reaching its climax in Vietnam. Steven Wells gets up ...

Professor Griff, Public Enemy: Public Enemy and Professor Griff: Divide and Conquer

Interview by Damon Wise, Sounds, 31 March 1991

Public Enemy have long been regarded as the most innovative band on the rap scene, a band whose all-important attitude has often verged on destruction. ...

Jimi Hendrix, Lenny Kravitz, Living Colour, Prince, Public Enemy, Roachford, Sly & the Family Stone: Ebony, Ivory and the Blues

Comment by Barney Hoskyns, The Times, 20 May 1991

Barney Hoskyns on the continuing power struggle between black and white influences in popular music ...

Boogie Down Productions, KRS-One: KRS-One: Wisdom From The Street

Profile and Interview by Alan Light, Rolling Stone, 30 May 1991

Kris Parker once lived in the subways and shelters of New York. Now the rapper known as KRS-One is hip-hop's righteous voice — and one ...

The Last Poets: Hip-Hop's Secret Historians

Profile and Interview by Gene Santoro, Pulse!, July 1991

Rap's godfathers the Last Poets drop some truth on the gangsta ethos. ...

Professor Griff: Kao's II Wiz 7 Dome (Luke/All formats)

Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 10 August 1991

GRIFF IS the liberal's worst nightmare. A young black radical who is something of a lyrical and musical whiz and who's made anti-Semitic and anti-white ...

Robert Wyatt: Wheelie Saying Something

Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 21 September 1991

Beardy-weirdy radical ROBERT WYATT may have ended up in a wheelchair pursuing rock 'n' roll Nirvana with '70s experimental cases Soft Machine, but he refuses ...

Billy Bragg: Who The Hell Does Billy Bragg Think He Is?

Interview by Tom Hibbert, Q, October 1991

Here he comes again: "pop's political conscience" in his dilapidated trousers and sensible shoes, worthily correcting the unenlightened and uplifting the downtrodden with his unsubtle ...

Public Enemy: The Boy-Ees are Black in Town

Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 12 October 1991

1991, and PUBLIC ENEMY — purveyors of The Noise — are busy flexing their new, improved mainstream muscle. Fresh from 'that' Anthrax collaboration, Chuck 'n' ...

The Fatima Mansions: Fatima Mansions: The Evil That Men Do

Interview by David Burke, Irish in Britain News, 25 October 1991

Just when you thought it was safe to turn on your radio, Fatima Mansions are back with Bertie's Brochures, a bruiser of an EP – ...

Hole, L7, Nirvana, Sister Double Happiness: Nirvana, Sister Double Happiness, L7, Hole: Palace Theater, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 28 October 1991

A Potent 'Rock for Choice' at Palace ...

Billy Bragg: Don't Try This at Home (Elektra)

Review by Rob Tannenbaum, Rolling Stone, 31 October 1991

ALTHOUGH BILLY Bragg is often a great songwriter, it's no surprise that his socialist-propaganda ditties haven't converted young Americans to the teachings of Marx and ...

The Bhundu Boys Take Up Whistle-Blowing

Interview by Len Brown, The Independent, 27 November 1991

David Mankaba, of Africa's best-known band, decided to tell the whole continent he was dying of AIDS. It was his challenge to ignorance and apathy, ...

Cannibal Corpse, Guns N' Roses, Ice Cube: Pop's new voices of rage

Comment by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 22 December 1991

THERE WAS a time, not so long ago, when rebellious rockers took on the establishment. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young railed against Richard Nixon's America ...

Body Count, Ice-T: Ice-T (1991)

Interview by Andy Gill, Rock's Backpages audio, Summer 1991

The erstwhile Tracy Marrow talks about acting in movies; his gang roots; pioneering West Coast gangsta rap and telling the truth about black L.A.; still rapping though no longer in the hood; his Body Count thrash-metal band and the Black roots of rock'n'roll; "the intoxicating values of gangs"; white kids listening to rap, and America's need to separate the races.

File format: mp3; file size: 58.2mb, interview length: 1h 00' 26" sound quality: ****

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. ...

The Beatles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Lou Reed, The Rolling Stones, Tina Turner: Once-cool songs now politically incorrect

Comment by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 9 January 1992

IT'S TIME TO re-evaluate that good ol' time rock 'n' roll. Or, as you may discover, not so good ol' time rock 'n' roll. ...

Don Cherry, The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, The Watts Prophets: The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy, Don Cherry, the Watts Prophets: Word Power — West Coast Rap goes Radical

Report and Interview by David Toop, The Face, February 1992

Rap music has become less experimental, but on America's West Coast, groups like The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy and New World Rhythm are trying to ...

Horace Andy, Massive Attack: Keep on Runnings

Report by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 15 February 1992

Bob Marley's music is not the young music in Kingston today. Ragga not reggae is king. And that took the British group Massive Attack to ...

Billy Bragg: Malcolm Essex

Report and Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 7 March 1992

OH DEAR. I am going to marry Billy Bragg. It's like this; Billy and I are in a tacky sort of '50s retro gift shop ...

The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy: Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy: Telly It Like It Is

Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 18 April 1992

Prime your remote controls for the anger and eloquence of powerful San Franciscan panthers of polemic rap, THE DISPOSABLE HEROES OF HIPHOPRISY, telling it like ...

The 25th of May: Praise The Barricades

Report and Interview by Richard North, Siren, May 1992

"IN A WAY it's beyond words. I've got so much respect for the way he lifted himself above the surroundings, that he was brought up ...

David Bowie, Def Leppard, Extreme, Bob Geldof, Guns N' Roses, Elton John, Annie Lennox, Metallica, George Michael, Liza Minnelli, Robert Plant, Spinal Tap, Lisa Stansfield: Various Artists: The Freddie Mercury Tribute, Concert For Aids Awareness, Wembley Stadium, London

Live Review by Paul Mathur, Melody Maker, 2 May 1992

IT'S, UH, KINDA TRAGIC ...

Fun-Da-Mental: Turban Warriors

Report and Interview by Push, Melody Maker, 9 May 1992

"FORGET THE IMAGE of Asians as passive, happy people," begins Prince Haq, MC with Fun-Da-Mental, a Bradford group who are fast making a name for ...

The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy: The Riot Stuff

Interview by Andrew Mueller, Melody Maker, 23 May 1992

An uneasy truce hangs over America in the aftermath of the LA riots. Is there worse to come or has the anger, for the moment, ...

The Levellers: An Honest Crust

Report and Interview by Stephen Dalton, Vox, June 1992

The Levellers have a reputation for being anarcho-veggie activists, thanks to folksy songs about travellers and police oppression. Yet their Crass-for-the-'90s image is not strictly ...

The Mothers Of Invention, Frank Zappa: Frank Zappa: Frank's Wild Years

Retrospective and Interview by Neil Slaven, Record Hunter, July 1992

AFTER 25 YEARS of unique musical anarchy and as many confrontational albums, Frank Zappa is facing his greatest adversary – prostate cancer. Undulled, he relates ...

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 ...

Public Enemy Number 1

Profile and Interview by Kodwo Eshun, i-D, August 1992

Five years on, the Black Panthers of rap are still in your face. They've lost none of their controversial power, as their recent argument with US presidential ...

Morrissey, The Smiths: Morrissey: Caucasian Rut

Essay by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 22 August 1992

POP STARS are especially strange creatures when it comes to giving that all-important 'image' an overhaul. ...

Throwing Muses: Kristin Hersh: Tortured by the Muse

Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 10 September 1992

Caroline Sullivan on the nightmare illness which drives singer-songwriter Kristin Hersh ...

Sister Souljah: Empire, Liverpool

Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 12 September 1992

DEMOCRAT CANDIDATE Bill Clinton wants to be President of the world's only superpower — a nation capable of swatting any other off the globe at ...

The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy: Axe of Faith

Interview by Everett True, Melody Maker, 26 September 1992

THE DISPOSABLE HEROES OF HIPHOPRISY don't piss about like most groups who claim to be 'political'. The Disposables just get on down and do something ...

Pet Shop Boys: Hate – Neil Tennant on the Power of Negative Thinking

Comment by Neil Tennant, Select, October 1992

IF NOT FOR hatred, I wouldn't be doing what I do now. I became a pop star because I hated football at school. I hated ...

Sinead O'Connor: The Enemy Within Sinead O'Connor

Interview by Mal Peachey, Mail On Sunday, 11 October 1992

Revealed ... the childhood terrors that drove one of our hottest female pop stars to tear up a photo of the Pope live on American ...

Joan Baez (1992)

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

The Queen of Folk on her stage repertoire; on the definition of folk; on the end of the Vietnam War; on her political activism – and letting it go; on her new album Play Me Backwards... and not paying taxes for weapons!

File format: mp3; total file size: 41.3mb, interview length: 42' 58" sound quality: ***

Nazi Noises: Right-Wing Rock in Europe

Report by Dave Rimmer, Select, November 1992

NOTE: This piece about Nazi rock music in Germany was commissioned and published by UK music magazine Select in autumn 1992. It ran alongside a ...

The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy: The Disposable Heroes Of Hipoprisy: Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail

Report and Interview by Andrew Smith, Melody Maker, 14 November 1992

Last week's American election was the most dramatic in recent history. For the first time in a generation, there was a chance that the Republicans ...

Ice Cube: Cube Missive Crisis: Ice Cube: The Predator (4th & Broadway)

Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 21 November 1992

YOU ARE NOT going to believe this. ...

Leonard Cohen: The Loneliness of the Long-Suffering Folkie: Leonard Cohen

Interview by Wayne Robins, Newsday, 22 November 1992

ON HIS NEW ALBUM The Future (Columbia), Leonard Cohen views history's changing currents with more than a little bit of wariness. "Give me back the ...

Outing the In-Crowd

Overview by Kodwo Eshun, The Wire, December 1992

Kodwo Eshun digs up the history of Clubland UK, from Boodles to Style Wars to all-day nights on the Cybernet.                                                           * ...

Ice Cube: The Predator's Decision is Final

Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 5 December 1992

The nigger you love to hate is now The Predator. As the controversy over Ice-T's 'Cop Killer' dies down, ICE CUBE — rapper, film star ...

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)

Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel: Paul Simon (1993)

Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages audio, 1993

In the context of his retrospective box set Paul Simon 1964/1993, the veteran singer-songwriter looks back over his relationship with Art Garfunkel; 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'; his artistic evolution in the shadow of the Beatles and Dylan; his black NYC influences; Graceland's success and controversy; accusations of cultural appropriation; his longevity and place in the world.

File format: mp3; file size: 59.7mb, interview length: 1h 02' 19" sound quality: ****

Paul Simon (1993) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 1993

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

Ice-T: Crap Killer

Interview by Mark Rowland, Musician, January 1993

LET'S BEGIN with Ice-T'S Top Seven reasons for pulling 'Cop Killer' off the shelves: ...

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 ...

The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy: Michael Franti: Hero of Hiphoprisy

Interview by Mark Rowland, Musician, January 1993

"ONE THING I try to do when I perform a song is go back to where I was in my mind when I wrote it," ...

Spiral Tribe: You Can't Beat The System!

Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 9 January 1993

Back to the future! SPIRAL TRIBE set out on the road to Stonehenge two years ago and never came back, lost in a world of ...

Gil Scott-Heron: Jazz poet shuns rap spotlight

Report and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Toronto Star, 28 January 1993

HE HAS BEEN called the godfather of rap, but Gil Scott-Heron steadfastly refuses to bask in any hip hop glory. ...

Rage Against The Machine: Rage Against The Machine (Epic/All formats)

Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 6 February 1993

THE RAP-rock crossover is a long-cherished ideal that has invariably tarnished the credentials of its various practitioners and collaborators. Just as Run DMC were consigned ...

Elvis Presley: The god of rock, warts and all

Comment by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 13 February 1993

"Dead Elvis is the western world's new Christ figure" — discuss ...

Rage Against The Machine: Livid In The Material World

Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 13 February 1993

From Comershop to Consolidated, politics is most emphatically back on the pop agenda. And throwing up the high-wire act between semtex and spandex to beat ...

Nirvana: Never Mind The Bullets

Interview by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 27 February 1993

Deep in the woods of Minnesota, a sleepy CHRIS NOVOSELIC is just finishing a major magazine article on the Bosnian/Croatian conflict, while Steve Albini helps ...

Body Count, Ice-T: Ice-T: Rebel with a cause

Interview by Frank Broughton, i-D, March 1993

When Ice-T was witch-hunted by the American establishment over his 'Cop Killer' song last year, he changed from LA gangster rapper to hip hop elder ...

Ice-T: "Bring Me The Head of Charlton Heston"

Interview by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 13 March 1993

America's most wanted... public enemy one... ICE-T's reputation is just about as real as he wants it to get right now. Ever since the 'Cop ...

Dismember, N.W.A: Art on Trial

Comment by David Toop, The Wire, April 1993

By downplaying or ridiculing the potential impact of extreme artforms such as death metal and hardcore HipHop, do the defences in censorship trials call into ...

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 ...

Buju Banton, Shabba Ranks: "Using Guns. That's Nothing To Do With Any Sort Of Music."

Report and Interview by Lloyd Bradley, The Independent, 17 April 1993

A man was hurt in a shooting at a ragga concert. Is violence taking over? Lloyd Bradley looks for some answers ...

Brand Nubian

Profile and Interview by Frank Broughton, Mixmag, May 1993

ALLAH — NUMBER one deity in the world of Islam. Almighty soul controller, master and one God. Inspiration and divine power behind the words of ...

Dr. Dre: Ain't nothing but a gender thang?

Interview by Amy Linden, Request, May 1993

Dr. Dre and writer Amy Linden go one-on-one on sexism and The Chronic. Nobody wins. ...

Elvis Presley, Sex Pistols: Greil Marcus: A Surfer on the Zeitgeist

Profile and Interview by Andy Beckett, The Independent, 23 May 1993

This isn't exactly life on the edge: Greil Marcus is married, nearly 50, and lives in a nice big house in northern California. But he ...

Revolution Rock

Essay by Stephen Dalton, Vox, June 1993

Ever since Woody Guthrie scratched "This Guitar Kills Fascists" on his six-string, musicians have exploited rock's confrontational possibilities, from anti-racism to sexual revolution, in a ...

The Beatles, Sex Pistols: Pointing Pistols at the throne

Essay by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 2 June 1993

There is something Rotten in the state of England. Republicanism is emerging as an option even for Tory meritocrats — thanks to the punk's subversiveness ...

Cypress Hill, Funkdoobiest, House Of Pain: Cypress Hill, House of Pain and Funkdoobiest: The View From Cypress Hill

Report and Interview by RJ Smith, L.A. Weekly, 17 June 1993

One Nation Under An Overpass ...

The Undertones: Sounding Out Stroke City

Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 11 July 1993

The pop star's tale: Michael Bradley has lived most of his life in the thick of the Troubles — but he has not let them ...

Burzum, Mayhem: Euronymous Murdered!

Report by Paul Elliott, Tore Øien, Kerrang!, 21 August 1993

Black Metal 'Godfather' stabbed to death; rival Swedish Satanists suspected! ...

Emperor: Second Black Metal Murder!

Report by Tore Øien, Kerrang!, 18 September 1993

Emperor drummer killed homosexual and burned chapel! ...

Paul Weller: invisible jukebox: Paul Weller

Interview by Philip Watson, The Wire, October 1993

Every month we play a musician a series of records which they’re asked to identify and comment on — with no prior knowledge of what they’re ...

Janis Ian: Protest and Survive

Profile and Interview by Andy Gill, Q, October 1993

AT THE age of 42, Janis Ian is making a comeback (her second, or is it third?), which would be unexceptional save for the fact ...

Letter Of The Week: The Beauty of Words

Readers' Letters by Neil Kulkarni, Cathi Unsworth, Melody Maker, 9 October 1993

Letter of the Week ...

Michael Jackson: An Abuse of Trust: Michael Jackson Defends His Honor

Report by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 14 October 1993

FOR MICHAEL Jackson, a man who has spent an enormous amount or time and millions of dollars helping underprivileged, sick and disabled children, it was ...

Eric Clapton, The Clash, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley & the Wailers, The Selecter, The Specials, Steven Van Zandt: RAR! RAR! Disputin'! The History of Rock Against Racism

Retrospective by John Harris, New Musical Express, 16 October 1993

  ON APRIL 16, 1990, a proud man who'd spent 27 years in the custody of a vicious racist regime arrived in London. He'd come to ...

Snoop (Doggy) Dogg: New Waves — The insider's guide to the Next Big Thing: Snoop Doggy Dogg

Comment by David Toop, The Times, 29 October 1993

SOMETIMES A musician is so obviously the next big thing that hailing the fact in advance seems like cheating. Only a small sample of Snoop ...

Rage Against the Machine: Cross: Rage Against The Machine: Élysée Montmartre, Paris

Live Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, November 1993

Grrrr! It's Rage Against The Machine. ...

I Fought The Law…

Guide by Mat Snow, Johnny Black, Q, November 1993

... and the law, being an all-powerful customer, usually won. Johnny Black and Mat Snow investigate the link between the crazy, hot-headed outlaws of rock ...

Pop: March of the Modes

Comment by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 23 November 1993

THEY'RE AT it again. Yes, even here in the Guardian, the thirtysomething zombies, with their litany: Pop isn't what it used to be, there are ...

Pete Townshend, The Who: The Who's Pete Townshend (1994) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Simon Witter, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 1994

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

Fun-Da-Mental: Rebels Without a Pause

Interview by Kodwo Eshun, i-D, January 1994

Asian rappers Fun-Da-Mental burst onto the scene in a blaze of angry political rhetoric and eclectic samples. Now, even though the original band has split ...

Fool Britannia

Essay by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 15 January 1994

Is the current wave of Little Englandism just a mask for the fact that Brit rock is becoming increasingly irrelevant? STEVEN WELLS looks at the ...

Snoop (Doggy) Dogg: Snoop Doggy Dogg: A Dogg's Tale

Interview by Steven Daly, The Face, February 1994

Snoop Doggy Dogg is currently America's top rap star. He's also due to be tried later this year as an accessory to murder. In his ...

Country Joe & The Fish: Country Joe McDonald

Interview by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, March 1994

ONE FIGURE straddles the two polar events of the '60s – Woodstock and the
 Vietnam War – and that's Country Joe McDonald. In fact, such ...

Body Count, Ice-T: Ice-T: Sold on Ice

Interview by Rob Tannenbaum, GQ, March 1994

Never at a loss for words, gangsta rapper Ice-T has taken the literary plunge and produced a provocative manifesto, modestly titled The Ice Opinion ...

Mayhem: Black Metal: Bloody Hell!

Report by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, April 1994

Of course, it's all a right old laugh, Death Metal, isn't it? But in the long Scandinavian nights, some people have failed to see the ...

Charlatans, The (UK): The Charlatans: The Ballad of Redditch Jail

Interview by Stuart Maconie, Select, April 1994

If a star goes 'inside', it's usually for drugs or drink driving. Not so for Rob Collins of the Charlatans. He went for a quiet ...

Carleen Anderson, Madeline Bell, Rhoda Dakar, N'Dea Davenport, Pauline Henry, Marsha Hunt, Denise Johnson, Dee C Lee, Shara Nelson: The New Soul Rebels

Report and Interview by Lucy O'Brien, Vox, April 1994

Singing hairdos? Not any longer. Britain's new breed of single black females are feisty, independent and take no prisoners ...

Bark Psychosis, The Levellers, Loop Guru, My Bloody Valentine, Transglobal Underground: Your Culture Under Siege: Criminal Injustice

Report and Interview by Carl Loben, Simon Reynolds, Ngaire Ruth, Melody Maker, 30 April 1994

For decades, squatting, free festivals and illegal parties have played a vital role in alternative pop culture. The Criminal Justice Bill — which has been ...

Henry Rollins (1994) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Andy Gill, Rock's Backpages transcripts, May 1994

This is a transcript of Andy's audio interview with Henry. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Interview: Stephen Dunifer

Interview by Eric Weisbard, Spin, May 1994

Broadcast cowboy, spends his Sunday nights hidden in the dark hills of Berkeley, California, illegally transmitting his version of alternative radio. Is he a transistor ...

Senser: Stacked Up (Ultimate TOPP 008) ****

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, May 1994

FURIOUS Senser: they too can "do a Levellers". ...

Burzum, Mayhem: Black Metal Court Report: Blood, Fire, Death

Report by Tore Øien, Kerrang!, 7 May 1994

Heavy Metal has seen nothing like it before. In Norway's infamous Black Metal scene, murder and arson are rife. Emperor drummer Bard Eithun is already ...

Burzum, Mayhem: Black Metal Court Report: The Killer Cracks!

Report by Tore Øien, Kerrang!, 14 May 1994

Norwegian Black Metal star Varg Vikernes — aka Count Grishnackh — is charged with the murder of rival musician and Satanist Oystein Aarseth. Kerrang!'s exclusive ...

Burzum, Mayhem: Black Metal Court Report: Mass Slaughter!

Report by Tore Øien, Kerrang!, 21 May 1994

Black Metal star Varg Vikernes (aka Count Grishnackh) stands accused of the murder of rival Oystein Aarseth — but incredibly, he was planning a worse ...

Burzum, Mayhem: Black Metal Court Report: Guilty As Hell!

Report by Tore Øien, Kerrang!, 28 May 1994

The verdict is in — and Black Metal star Varg Vikernes, aka Count Grishnackh, has been found guilty of murdering rival Oystein Aarseth. The sentence ...

The Beastie Boys, Cypress Hill, Rage Against the Machine: Rage Against The Machine, Cypress Hill, Beastie Boys: Los Angeles Velodrome, CA

Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 28 May 1994

SHIRT UP AND DANCE ...

Rage Against the Machine: Marx Out Of Tension

Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 18 June 1994

All festival trails lead to Glastonbury. At least they do for RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, stall angry, still shouty and still not talking about their ...

Liz Phair: Sexual Perversity in Chicago

Interview by Rob Tannenbaum, Details, July 1994

Where and when did you write the famous line "I want to be your blowjob queen"? ...

Public Enemy: The Dogma Pound

Interview by John Harris, New Musical Express, 6 August 1994

PUBLIC ENEMY were once unerring occupiers of the moral high ground, but guns, drugs, liquor and arrests have shown them to be as fallible as ...

Public Enemy: White Light, Black Noise

Interview by Kodwo Eshun, i-D, September 1994

PUBLIC ENEMY USED TO BE THE BIGGEST, FIERCEST RAP ACT IN THE WORLD. THEN GANGSTA SILENCED THEIR RIGHTEOUS RANTS. NOW THEY'RE BACK WITH A STARTLING NEW ...

East 17, PJ & Duncan, Shampoo, Take That: The New Bottom Line

Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 19 October 1994

There was a time when sex in pop meant a shuttlecock down the jeans. The days of innocence are over. The steam age has begun. ...

Ice-T (1991) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Andy Gill, Rock's Backpages transcripts, Summer 1994

This is a transcript of Andy's audio interview with Ice-T. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Sting: The South Will Rise Again

Interview by Adrian Deevoy, Q, January 1995

It is the biggest dilemma in the caring career of Pop's Very Own Captain Conscience. Sun City: should I stay or should I go? Sting ...

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 ...

Gil Scott-Heron: A Frail Godfather

Profile and Interview by Mark Mordue, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 1 March 1995

GIL SCOTT-HERON greets me genially. He's slightly spidery in his dangled movements, surprisingly slight and aged. At 45 the man oft referred to as The ...

Stevie Wonder (1995)

Interview by David Nathan, Rock's Backpages audio, 21 March 1995

Mr Wonder talks about why he started to write socially conscious songs: the Vietnam War, inner city unrest and deprivation; being empowered by Marvin Gaye's What's Going On; his relationship with Motown; his new album Conversation Peace — its title, and key songs and on lyrics as poetry.

File format: mp3; file size: 47.8meg, interview length: 49' 47" sound quality: **½

Kurt Cobain, Manic Street Preachers: Is This Music To Die For?

Report by Andrew Smith, The Guardian, 31 March 1995

AN ARTICLE in this week's Melody Maker describes some of the dozens of letters the paper has been receiving every week since Richey James's departure ...

Kurt Cobain, Manic Street Preachers: Cries that won't go away

Comment by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 21 April 1995

When a pop icon disappears or kills himself, teenagers recognise that their own despair is being mirrored. ...

Bound for Glory, Rahowa, Skrewdriver: Hate, Rattle & Roll

Report by William Shaw, Details, July 1995

For years, skinhead rock has remained safely in the lunatic fringe. But now, white-power outfits like Resistance Records are using the music to rally the ...

The Boo Radleys, Charlatans, The (UK), The Chemical Brothers, Neneh Cherry, Brian Eno, Goldie, Terry Hall, The Levellers, Orbital, Portishead, Stereo MCs, The Stone Roses, Suede, Terrorvision: War Child

Report and Interview by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 9 September 1995

IAN WATSON talks to the bands who are contributing to the Help album and how this project compares to pop's last major charity initiative, the ...

Blur, Oasis: The Marketing Of Britpop

Overview by Jon Savage, Artforum, October 1995

RECENTLY I returned from the US into a British news media dominated by a by-election in the North West of England. The point about the ...

Eternal: Inc. God We Trust

Interview by Sylvia Patterson, New Musical Express, 14 October 1995

They're gorgeous, they're currently Britain's most successful girl group and they're very bloody nice. So how come nobody's ever asked ETERNAL what they think before? ...

Al Green: Still Spreading The Good Word

Interview by Amy Linden, New York Daily News, 31 October 1995

THE REVEREND Al Green is explaining why, after 18 years of singing sacred music, his gospel fans will understand why he has re-entered the world ...

KRS-One: KRS–1: 1 From The Heart

Interview by Sonia Poulton, Muzik, November 1995

KRS-1 the grand daddy of hip hop takes to the soap box for a speech on record labels, street cred and 'The Goddess Theory'. Listen ...

"Mad" Frankie Fraser: Criminal records

Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 24 November 1995

Dave Simpson talks to former gangland killer turned recording artist 'Mad' Frankie Fraser about his foray into pop music ...

2 Live Crew, Jeru the Damaja, Jodeci, Keith Murray, N.W.A, PM Dawn, Tupac Shakur, Snoop (Doggy) Dogg: Guilty until proven innocent?

Report by Sonia Poulton, Muzik, December 1995

Following the release of Mike Tyson and the acquittal of DJ Simpson the media circus is now focussing its attention on the spate of R&B ...

Joe Carducci's Rock and the Pop Narcotic

Retrospective by Simon Reynolds, Artforum, February 1996

WHEN Rock And The Pop Narcotic was first published in 1990, it incited a fair bit of controversy, startling many by the sheer aggression with ...

Michael Jackson, Oasis, Pulp: A word from our censor

Report by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 23 February 1996

In with the old, out with the true. How the Brit Awards were turned into a TV farce ...

Jarvis Cocker, Pulp: Jarvis Cocker: Serious about songs

Profile by Andy Beckett, The Independent, 25 February 1996

Andy Beckett on the wry idol who was more than ready for overnight success ...

Billy Bragg, Paul Weller, Tom Robinson Band: Red Wedge

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Q, March 1996

Only one thing could possibly save us from vicious '80s Conservatism: the assembly of pop pinkos that made up the Labour-supporting Red Wedge organisation. Johnny ...

The Last Poets

Report by Chris Campion, The Village Voice, April 1996

A LONG-RUNNING saga of legitimacy has embroiled the Last Poets in a situation that is rapidly echoing the sentiments of one of their own poems, ...

Mark Morrison: Le Big Mack!

Interview by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 4 May 1996

'The Return Of The Mack'? OK, so it might be all trendy trenchcoats round your way, but we're talking MACKS proper — the Mr Bigs ...

Geto Boys: Southern Discomfort

Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 25 May 1996

Deep in the heart of the redneck Bible Belt, squillion-selling rap supergroup GETO BOYS are living up to their paranoid bad-boy reputation. Bushwick Bill has ...

Johnny Clegg, Juluka, Savuka: Johnny Clegg: Scatterlings of Africa Regroup

Report and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Toronto Star, 18 July 1996

HIS TOUR BUS has broken down. His cellular phone is running low on batteries. But Johnny Clegg has faced far greater obstacles in his career. ...

Dodgy: What's So Funny About Peace, Love & Understanding?

Report and Interview by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 24 August 1996

People thought DODGY were barking when they turned down an offer to play with Oasis at Loch Lomond and Knebworth. But they had more serious ...

Blur, Oasis, Pulp: The Nineties: Going for Bloke

Comment by Johnny Cigarettes, The Face, September 1996

In the Nineties, we are all everyday people, says Johnny Cigarettes ...

Chuck D: D-Termination

Interview by Simon Price, Melody Maker, 28 September 1996

CHUCK D is back with a new solo album and a new mission — to destroy gangsta rap. The Maker listens in ...

Christy Moore's Great Escape

Retrospective and Interview by Mark Cooper, MOJO, October 1996

IN THE GOOD old bad old days,Christy Moore was the Brendan Behan, the Shane MacGowan, of his generation. A wild troubadour lashing out at himself ...

Audio Adrenaline, DC Talk, Jars of Clay, Newsboys, Rebecca St. James: Jesus Rocks

Report and Interview by William Shaw, Details, October 1996

But does he mosh? William Shaw follows Jars of Clay to Creation '96 — the Godstock of Christian contemporary music — and pitches his tent ...

Rage Against the Machine: Red, Hot and Bothered

Report and Interview by RJ Smith, Spin, October 1996

Rage Against the Machine have scorched America with their Molotov cocktail or hip-hop, hardcore, and extreme politics. But are they too rad for Russia? RJ Smith ...

Tupac Shakur 1971-1996

Obituary by Sonia Poulton, Muzik, November 1996

At the age of 25, TUPAC SHAKUR was gunned down and died six days later in a Las Vegas hospital. His death was inevitable, but ...

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 ...

Kula Shaker: Mystic mug goes pop

Comment by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 8 November 1996

What have cosmic Kula Shaker and reality got in common? Blowed if Caitlin Moran knows ...

Kula Shaker: So Here It Is, Merry Krishna!

Report and Interview by Sylvia Patterson, New Musical Express, 9 November 1996

...Everybody's having fun, look to the future... OK, enough of the poor-quality pun already, and on to KULA SHAKER, those lads who've turned their backs ...

Chuck D, Tricky: Chuck D and Tricky: Conversation Terrorists

Interview by Dele Fadele, Vox, December 1996

It was a most unlikely summit meeting when Chuck D, Public Enemy's motormouth mainspring and founding father of political rap, met Bristol maverick Tricky, hip-hop's ...

Alice Cooper, Marilyn Manson: Marilyn Manson: Wrong Is Right

Essay by Chuck Eddy, L.A. Weekly, 19 December 1996

Marilyn Manson's diet for an evil new planet ...

Buffy Sainte-Marie (1996)

Interview by Andy Gill, Rock's Backpages audio, Spring 1996

Ms. Sainte-Marie talks about making art in the digital domain: creating music and pictures on computers, the importance of technology to artists, having her own website; working online with indigenous American communities; her early musical experiences; revisiting older material on new album Up Where We Belong; on 'Soldier Blue', the song and the film; and being part of Sesame Street.

File format: mp3; file size: 49.5mb, interview length: 51' 31" sound quality: ****

John Coltrane: Honk If You Love Jesus! The Saint John Coltrane African Orthodox Church

Report by James Maycock, MOJO, 1997

EVERY TUESDAY afternoon, Sister Deborah spreads Coltrane consciousness through the San Francisco airwaves. ...

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 ...

Primal Scream: 'Star'

Interview by Angus Batey, Vox, June 1997

The songTHE SECOND single to be taked from Primal Scream's forthcoming Vanishing Point LP, 'Star' finds Bobby Gillespie drawing on his personal vocabulary of revolutionary ...

U2: Pop Smart

Comment by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 13 June 1997

U2 are that rarity, a clever rock band. So why do the English press hate them? By Sean O'Hagan ...

Fela Kuti: Fela Anikulapo-Kuti 1938-1997

Obituary by Vivien Goldman, Rolling Stone, 18 September 1997

KING OF AFRO BEAT DEAD AT 58 ...

Norman Jay, Kylie Minogue, Primal Scream, Danny Rampling: "This will not be a party weekend."

Report by Toby Manning, Jockey Slut, October 1997

CAFE DEL MAR ALBUM ON ROTATION, TIM WESTWOOD SILENT, RECORD SHOPS SHUT AND CLUBS PLAYING 'WONDERWALL'. HOW DID DIANA'S DEATH AFFECT THE CLUB WORLD? ...

Drop The Dread, Honky: Why White Artists Wanna Be Black

Essay by James Maycock, The Guardian, October 1997

IN 1959, JOHN Howard Griffin, a white journalist, dyed his skin black and travelled through the southern states of America. He found the experience ...

Charles Mingus: a musical misfit in black and white

Film/DVD/TV Review by James Maycock, The Independent, 28 November 1997

A traumatic childhood and a dramatic life characterised the career of the bassist Charles Mingus. James Maycock looks at a documentary on a "phenomenal musician ...

Bob Geldof, Michael Hutchence: Whatever Happened to Saint Bob?

Profile by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 30 November 1997

He fed the world. Now the world is feeding on him... ...

Bob Dylan: Drop-kicked by Jesus: Bob Dylan's Conversion

Retrospective by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, December 1997

In which the eternal sceptic did a Damascus and managed an unlikely artistic rebirth. Phil Sutcliffe takes confession... ...

Cassius Clay: "Nobody is going to beat me": Cassius Clay's I Am The Greatest!

Sleeve notes by Paul Gorman, Rev-Ola Records, 1998

AUTHOR'S 2016 NOTE: I was commissioned to write these sleeve-notes by Joe Foster for his label Rev-Ola's 1998 reissue of I Am The Greatest, the ...

Steve Earle's Politics and Prose

Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 6 February 1998

IT WAS the kind of night that could only take place in Nashville, a town with as many songwriters as Washington has bureaucrats. ...

Judas Priest: Eyewitness: Judas Priest on trial

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Q, March 1998

EVENT: The Trial of Judas Priest  DATE: 23 Dec 1985 – 24 August 1990 LOCATION: Washoe County Courthouse, Reno, Nevada  ...

Blur, Oasis: Labour's Love Lost

Comment by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 13 March 1998

According to this week's NME, the honeymoon between pop and the Government is well and truly over. Sean O'Hagan isn't surprised ...

Mick Jagger: Flower Powerless

Retrospective by James Maycock, The Independent, 17 March 1998

Thirty years ago the Vietnam war awoke the hippy generation to politics and drove them to revolt, writes James Maycock ...

Toby Keith: Home Is Where His Heart Is

Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Country Music, April 1998

Success has found Toby Keith in terms of hit records, a new business venture and, award nominations. And though he's enjoying it all, Toby still ...

De La Soul, Puff Daddy, Run-DMC, Wu-Tang Clan: All About the Benjamins

Essay by Miles Marshall Lewis, L.A. Weekly, 2 April 1998

Hip-hop: The need, not the greed ...

Pete Seeger: Flower father

Interview by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 3 April 1998

A new tribute CD confirms folk singer Pete Seeger as the patron saint of hippy radicals — and he still hasn't lost hope. ...

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 ...

Ash, U2: U2 and Ash: I was there, helping to make history. (I just wish I hadn't been scratching my chin)

Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 24 May 1998

THE PHONE rings at 10.30 on a Monday night. It is Bono. "We're going to Belfast tomorrow night," he says, "and we're trying to come ...

The Beastie Boys: Adam Yauch on His Spiritual Journey: "I Don't Care If Somebody Makes Fun of Me"

Interview by Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone, 28 May 1998

ALONG WITH his group, the Beastie Boys, Adam Yauch, 33, has grown up in public. Since their days of dodging the local authorities in city ...

Tupac Shakur: Afeni Shakur: The Kick Inside

Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 1 July 1998

It is two years since gangsta rapper Tupac Shakur's short life ended in a hail of bullets. Caroline Sullivan talks exclusively to his mother about ...

Billy Bragg, Woody Guthrie, Wilco: Songs For Woody: Billy Bragg & Wilco's Mermaid Avenue

Review by RJ Smith, The Village Voice, 7 July 1998

WOODY GUTHRIE bequeathed us his jumble. Willing in life to play straight man for many right causes, in death he left a tangle of words ...

Tony Elliott (1998)

Interview by Frank Broughton, Rock's Backpages audio, 13 July 1998

Tony Elliott talks about founding Time Out at university as a project in 1968; reading the underground press but not being a dope-smoking hippie; his awareness of both the pop, art and political scenes, and the need to package a variety of information; extending the editorial content, and the people he interviewed; their successes and failures, and missing punk and club culture; political and investigative journalism, and run-ins with the law; increasing lifestyle emphasis after the 1981 strike, and the magazine's philosophy and brand.

File format: mp3; file size: 67.6mb, total interview length: 1h 10' 26" sound quality: ***

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 ...

Sinead O'Connor: Eyewitness October 1992: America Slays Sinead O'Connor

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Q, September 1998

Two weeks after tearing up a picture of the pope on Saturday Night Live and receiving a lifetime ban from the US TV show, Sinead ...

David Bowie, T. Rex: Glad to be Glam!

Retrospective and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, The Independent, 12 September 1998

What do the original devotees think of Ziggy, Bolan, platform boots and glitter 25 years on? Will the latest revival of '70s androgyny take off? ...

The Pop Group, Mark Stewart: The Pop Group: The Politics of Dancing

Profile and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 29 October 1998

THE POP GROUP'S life was brief and fierce. Begun in 1978, collapsing in 1980, the Bristol teenagers' insertion of black funk, free jazz, dub and ...

Atari Teenage Riot: The Garage, London

Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 6 November 1998

The revolution has been postponed ...

Now That's What I Call Censorship!!

Essay by Phil Sutcliffe, The Big Issue, 23 November 1998

WHAT DO THE SEX PISTOLS, ABBA AND FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD HAVE IN COMMON? THEY’VE ALL BEEN BANNED IN BRITAIN, THAT’S WHAT. PHIL SUTCLIFFE FINDS ...

Cradle Of Filth: This Is My Uncouth

Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 19 December 1998

It was a meeting made in hell — quite literally. A gathering of the forces of evil — namely Cradle Of Filth — and the ...

Glad To Be Gay: Out in Rock

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 ...

Rock'n'religion

Report by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, 1999

There’s a knock at the front door. You open it. A slight young man standing there says, "Today I’m here to talk to you about ...

Grateful Dead: Carol Brightman: author of Sweet Chaos: The Grateful Dead's American Adventure

Interview by David Gans, Grateful Dead Hour, January 1999

Carol Brightman was an anti-war activist in the '60s and later the biographer of the writer Mary McCarthy. She sometimes wondered why so many of ...

Myth and the Mississippi: PBS explores the songs and heart of Middle America

Report and Interview by Ted Drozdowski, The Boston Phoenix, 4 January 1999

THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER covers a lot of history along its 2,350 miles. Sometimes literally. There are communities that have been washed under its high waters, ...

Woody Guthrie: Nora Guthrie on her father Woody (1999)

Interview by Chris Smith, Rock's Backpages audio, 15 January 1999

Nora Guthrie talks about setting up the Woody Guthrie archive: discovering, preserving and cataloging old paperwork; the involvement of archivist Jorge Arevalo; setting up the travelling exhibit with the Smithsonian; taking it to Woody's home state of Oklahoma; the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame tribute concert, tribute albums by other artists, and putting Woody into a present day context with the help of artists like Billy Bragg.

File format: mp3; file size: 52mb, interview length: 54' 11" sound quality: ***

Tracy Chapman: Hardcore Troubadour

Interview by Peter Murphy (Irish), Hot Press, 3 February 1999

TRACY CHAPMAN’S eponymous debut album was one of the biggest sellers of last year – more than ten years after its release. She spoke to ...

Everlast: the Neverending's Story

Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 13 February 1999

EVERLAST, THE former lead rapper in House Of Pain, has never seemed more humble. The arrogant extrovert on the Irish-American crew's worldwide Number One pop ...

Robert Wyatt: EPs

Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 20 February 1999

ROBERT WYATT has been a ghostly presence in progressive British pop for the last 30 years. ...

Hunter S. Thompson (1999)

Interview by Andy Gill, Rock's Backpages audio, March 1999

Between lengthy expositions on conspiracy theories and American politics, the Godfather of Gonzo Journalism expounds on the music he selected for "personal favourites" album Where Were You When the Fun Stopped: his love of Robert Mitchum; his friendship with Jimmy Buffett; and on his relationship with music and how Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was written to the sound of the Stones' Get Your Ya Ya's Out.

File format: mp3; file size: 31.5mb, interview length: 32' 51" sound quality: * (phoner)

Crass: Shibboleth: My Revolting Life by Penny Rimbaud aka J.J. Ratter (AK Press £6.95)

Book Review by Nick Hasted, Independent on Sunday, 21 March 1999

Incoherent, angry, incompetent and Crass ...

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 ...

Kurt Cobain, Nirvana: Kurt's Gone. So What?

Comment by Tom Cox, Guardian Unlimited, 5 April 1999

ROCK KILLS. The list of victims is too long and depressing to print here. We still raise an eyebrow when another tortured Narcissus bites the ...

Ol' Dirty Bastard, Wu-Tang Clan: Ol' Dirty Bastard: America's Most Wanted

Report by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 10 April 1999

Ol' Dirty Bastard's rap sheet pisses on Mark Morrison's. But are the cops really out to get him? Are gangstas gunning for him? Or is ...

Marilyn Manson Blamed For Tragic High School Murders

Report by uncredited writer, Kerrang!, 1 May 1999

Manson speaks out over the tragedy as the world's media condemns him ...

The Notorious B.I.G., Puff Daddy, Tupac Shakur: Suge Knight Linked to Notorious B.I.G. Murder

Report by Fred Schruers, Rolling Stone, 27 May 1999

LOS ANGELES homicide detectives have reportedly identified jailed Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight as a prime suspect in the murder of rap star Notorious ...

The Rolling Stones: White Men Sing The Blues: The Rolling Stones and Black Culture

Essay by James Maycock, The Independent, 4 June 1999

A bitchy look at how the Rolling Stones’ career is excessively/artfully indebted to black American culture. ...

The Fugees, Lauryn Hill: Miss Education: Lauryn Hill

Interview by Simon Witter, The Times, 19 June 1999

With five Grammies on her mantelpiece, two children and a charity to her name, singer Lauryn Hill has achieved an awful lot at the tender ...

Jah! Glastafari!

Report by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 26 June 1999

When the Glasto Green Field vibes work their magic, we all come over a bit hippy. But for the good folk of Glastonbury, being a ...

Generation Ex: Some Get A Decade; We Get A Moment

Essay by Eric Weisbard, The Village Voice, 7 July 1999

THIS TIME IT'S personal. High school student Reese Witherspoon leaves teacher Matthew Broderick cursing his so-called life in Election. No shocker; couldn't be a teen ...

Tim Westwood: White Lies, Black Truth

Comment by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 25 July 1999

A FRIEND OF mine was at the Notting Hill carnival a couple of years ago, and happened to catch Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood in ...

Bruce Cockburn: HQ, Dublin

Live Review by Colin Harper, The Independent, 5 August 1999

God plays a mean guitar ...

Marilyn Manson: Moral Minority

Interview by Steffan Chirazi, launch.com, 1 September 1999

IF YOU DIDN'T see Marilyn Manson at some point in 1997, you either spent 12 months in a commune in the Canadian wilderness, or it's ...

The Dixie Chicks, Shedaisy: Dixie Chicks: Fly; Shedaisy: The Whole Shebang

Review by Eric Weisbard, The Village Voice, 15 September 1999

EVERYONE IN NASHVILLE understands that the New Country formula-slick production with a seamless touch of roots and updated suburban family values-isn't enough anymore. ...

Funkapolitan: Bish, Bash, Posh: Class and British Pop

Essay by Barney Hoskyns, The Guardian, 1 October 1999

As Tony Blair calls for a classless society, he might be surprised to learn that the world of pop music is riddled with toffs. Self-confessed ...

Rage Against the Machine: Hello, Hello...It's Good To Be Back: Rage Against the Machine

Report and Interview by Ben Myers, Kerrang!, 16 October 1999

Humourless revolutionaries. Po-faced militants. Volatile insurrectionists permanently on the verge of splitting. RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE have been called all of these and more. Which ...

Jimi Hendrix: Street Fighting: Jimi Hendrix

Essay by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, November 1999

Your starter for ten: what do Jimi Hendrix and George Orwell have in common? ...

Nina Simone: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

Retrospective by James Maycock, The Independent, 10 November 1999

In the Sixties, Nina Simone's music radically espoused black civil rights. But by the turn of the decade she had rejected politics. Why? ...

System Of A Down: It's The End Of The World As We Know It…

Interview by Ian Fortnam, Kerrang!, 18 December 1999

…and SYSTEM OF A DOWN feel fine. But then, this is the band who will celebrate the new millennium by attempting to drug the Backstreet ...

Charles Mingus: Growing Up Absurd

Book Excerpt by Gene Santoro, 'Myself When I Am Real' (Oxford University Press), 2000

THE BABY, barely three months old and pudgy but with bright eyes and an inquiring air, was the center of attention as he fussed on ...

Norman Jay: Good Times: The Stately Sound of London

Sleeve notes by Frank Broughton, Nuphonic Records, 2000

"IT'S VERY SIMPLE," says Norman Jay behind his shades, as we drive round the hallowed sites of the Notting Hill Carnival. "Good Times is about… ...

Tupac Shakur: Life and Death in South Central LA

Book Excerpt by William Shaw, The Observer, 9 January 2000

South Central Los Angeles is notorious both for its violent gang warfare and for the gangsta rap that celebrates it, yet the media rarely ventures ...

Mos Def: Are You Def Or Somefink?

Interview by Stevie Chick, New Musical Express, 20 January 2000

Er, yes, actually. Mos Def, Brooklyn rapper, dontcha know… ...

The Notorious B.I.G.: New Allegations Link Suge Knight to Murder of the Notorious B.I.G.

Report by Fred Schruers, Rolling Stone, 20 January 2000

DEATH ROW RECORDS HEAD Marion "Suge" Knight, currently serving time for a parole violation at California's Mule Creek State Prison, has again been named as ...

D'Angelo: Groove is in the heart

Interview by Vivien Goldman, Daily Telegraph, 22 January 2000

Five years since revolutionising soul music with his debut album, Brown Sugar, D'Angelo is back. Vivien Goldman meets the preacher's son with a taste for ...

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 ...

Dave Haslam: Manchester, England – The Story of the Pop Cult City (Fourth Estate)

Book Review by Andy Beckett, London Review of Books, 17 February 2000

ON TIB STREET in the centre of Manchester, in the part of the city keen to promote itself as the Northern Quarter, a new delicatessen ...

Femi Kuti, Fela Kuti: Femi Kuti's Family Tradition

Report and Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 17 March 2000

A FEW YEARS ago, Femi Kuti's 'Beng Beng Beng' was banned from Nigeria's airwaves by that nation's military regime. When a civilian government took over ...

Inner City Jam: A musical about rundown north London. In Leeds

Comment by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 11 April 2000

Inner City Jam is a colourful portrait of King's Cross. So why couldn't it find a theatre in the capital, asks Dave Simpson ...

Eminem: "Let's Get Raping You!"

Interview by Sylvia Patterson, New Musical Express, 22 April 2000

Yup, no need to worry about Eminem going "soft", he's as angry and fucked up as ever — threatening to rape NME, railing against boy/girl ...

Tupac Shakur: Nelson George: Hip Hop America/William Shaw: Westsiders/Cathy Scott: The Killing Of Tupac Shakur

Book Review by Ian Penman, The Wire, May 2000

HIP HOP NEEDS its users' manuals. How many of the millions who bought their in-vogue Fugees CD, say, could untangle the dialectic that daisychains together ...

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 ...

Three Lions: Fat Les and 'Jerusalem'

Report and Interview by Andrew Smith, Observer Music Monthly, 21 May 2000

After scoring with their World Cup hit 'Vindaloo', Damien Hirst, Keith Allen and Alex James are back with the official song for Euro 2000. But ...

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 ...

Cat Stevens, Yusuf: Cat Stevens: Time to Make a Change

Profile and Interview by Colin Irwin, MOJO, June 2000

It's one of music's most overdue reconciliations. Yusuf Islam has made peace with Cat Stevens. ...

Modest Mouse: Caught in a trap

Interview by RJ Smith, Spin, July 2000

For seven years, Modest Mouse have been writing songs about being stranded in boom-time America. Now they’re signed to a major label and more lost ...

The Rolling Stones: Sonny Barger: Hell's author

Report and Interview by Deanne Stillman, salon.com, 10 July 2000

IN 1982, AFTER smoking three packs of Camels a day for 30 years, Sonny Barger, the founder of the Oakland Hells Angels motorcycle club, was ...

Caroline Coon: Still fighting the bad guys

Profile and Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 30 July 2000

In the '60s, Caroline Coon was famous for helping people caught in drugs busts. In the '90s she defended her right to paint penises. Now, ...

Richard Meltzer: An Interview

Interview by Jason Gross, Perfect Sound Forever, August 2000

AS ONE OF the first people who decided that rock and roll was something that could and should be something that could be seriously written ...

Limp Bizkit: Among the Mooks

Report and Interview by RJ Smith, The New York Times, 6 August 2000

As entertainment entrepreneurs align the fantasy lands of rap, rock, wrestling and pornography, a generation of fans grows ever more brutish. ...

Marilyn Manson

Profile and Interview by Chris Campion, Dazed & Confused, September 2000

ANTICHRIST. MESSIAH. Celebrity. Pariah. Marilyn Manson, the celebrity death cult leader everyone loves to hate, is a dark star whether the religious right like it ...

The Clash, King Tubby, Bob Marley & the Wailers, Lee "Scratch" Perry: Reggae: Back to the Roots

Essay by Simon Reynolds, The Wire, September 2000

According to the remixologists' gospel, the dub virus was so successful, it took out the word and eradicated its reggae song hosts. Simon Reynolds rediscovers ...

Chris Ho: Why Singapore Rocks

Report and Interview by Carol Cooper, Crawdaddy!, September 2000

As an acronym, the term A.S.E.A.N. has become the name of a small regional trade & tourism organization known as the "Association of South East ...

How reggae won the West

Retrospective by Lloyd Bradley, The Evening Standard, 15 September 2000

This is the story of reggae in West London — from the sound systems of the Fifties to the Carnival of today. Lloyd Bradley celebrates ...

Craig Werner: A Change Is Gonna Come – Music, Race & the Soul Of America

Book Review by Gavin Martin, Uncut, October 2000

Potent history of black American music, from Gospel-fuelled Civil Rights-era freedom marches, through Motown, Monterey, The Million Man March and much, much more. ...

Part-Time Writer: Tom Smucker Keeps Us Hangin' By the Telephone

Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, October 2000

TOM SMUCKER writes about music when he wants to. I wish he would "want to" more than he does. ...

Proxy Music: Electing the Pop Star in Chief

Essay by Eric Weisbard, The Village Voice, 25 October 2000

IN 1822, NOAH Ludlow dressed himself in a buckskin hunting shirt and leggings, donned moccasins and an old slouch hat, put a rifle on his ...

Alabama 3: Gangster Trippin'

Profile and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, November 2000

From Brixton jail to fragrant Hell's Angels bunfight: a weekend with Alabama 3 is one worth "tooling up" for. So hide your shiv in a ...

Merle Haggard: Workin' Man Blues

Profile and Interview by RJ Smith, Spin, November 2000

MERLE HAGGARD'S DONE MORE TIME THAN OL' DIRTY BASTARD AND HAS BEEN MAKING HARDCORE COUNTRY RECORDS SINCE BEFORE YOU WERE BORN. AT 63, HE'S GOT ...

Elvis Presley: Presley/Clinton: Bill Has Left The Building

Book Review by Charles Shaar Murray, The Independent, 4 November 2000

Double Trouble: Bill Clinton and Elvis Presley in the land of no alternatives by Greil Marcus (Faber & Faber, £9.99, 248pp) ...

Rage Against the Machine: Zac De La Rocha: "Every song I've ever written is a love song!"

Report by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 11 November 2000

…but now that Zack De La Rocha has penned his last for legendary polemic rockers Rage Against The Machine, will anyone fill the hole in ...

Marilyn Manson: "I suffered for Columbine, but everyone's responsible"

Interview by Everett True, Melody Maker, 20 November 2000

No stranger to guns, Marilyn Manson tells us about Columbine, Courtney and Holy Wood in the Melody Maker interview ...

Charlie Haden

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. Charles Edward Haden, 6 August 1937, Shenandoah, Iowa, USA ...

Rage Against the Machine

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

Tim Commerford, b. Irvine, California, USA; Tom Morello, b. 30 May 1964, New York; Zach de la Rocha, b. 1967, Irvine, California; Brad Wilk, b. ...

Theodore Bikel

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 2 May 1924, Vienna, Austria ...

Sigur Rós: Desolation Angels: Icelandic music

Report and Interview by Rob Young, The Wire, January 2001

Spearheaded by Sigur Rós, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson and the Kitchen Motors collective, Iceland’s hardy children of nature are proving stubbornly resistant to the World Rock ...

The Eagles: Hotel Roberto

Comment by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, January 2001

Fans of European football (soccer to all you Americanos out there) will already know that Italian maestro Roberto Baggio – he of the Buddhist beliefs ...

Richard Pryor: ...And It's Deep Too! – The Complete Warner Bros Recordings (1968-1992)

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, January 2001

A 9-CD box showcase for the greatest stand-up comic who ever lived... and it's funny, too! ...

Visions of the Seventies: The Rise And Fall of a Cultural Challenge

Retrospective by Victor Bockris, Gadfly, January 2001

The 1970s were America's low tide. Not since the Depression had the country been so wracked with woe. Never—not even during the Depression—had America's pride ...

Ani DiFranco: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

Live Review by John Aizlewood, The Guardian, 1 February 2001

WITHOUT A HINT OF MAINSTREAM chart or media attention over a decade-long career, without a new record to promote and without any discernible music industry ...

Heshima: Do the Harlesden Shuffle

Report and Interview by Lloyd Bradley, The Evening Standard, 16 February 2001

NW10 is a patch of London that suffers a reputation for drugs and violence — a "murder hotspot" according to the Met. But Harlesden has ...

Eminem: It's Rock 'N' Roll, Stupid!

Comment by David Dalton, Gadfly, 22 February 2001

I KNOW NOW I really have turned into my parents. Did I really spend three hours watching this dopey, homogenized, pre-packaged pap? Dear Lord, I ...

NSYNC: Britney can move, Christina can blow and *NSYNC got some street cred with 'Gone' — is blue-eyed soul the rebirth of cool?

Comment by Amy Linden, Honey, March 2001

IT WAS A seminal moment — as if life had just been discovered on Mars. The world's biggest boy band was on BET's 106 & ...

Manic Street Preachers: Our Manics in Havana

Report and Interview by Simon Price, The Guardian, 2 March 2001

Wales's fab three have just become the first major western rock act ever to play in Cuba. Simon Price went with them ...

Manic Street Preachers: Our Manics in Havana: Manic Street Preachers

Report and Interview by Andrew Smith, The Observer, 18 March 2001

THURSDAY MORNING and the short journey to the national radio station affords a first look at Havana, which turns out to be exactly what I ...

Linton Kwesi Johnson: Wardrobe, Leeds

Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 23 March 2001

IT'S 26 years since Linton Kwesi Johnson became the world's first and foremost dub poet with the single 'Dread Beat An' Blood'. For this rare ...

Donny Osmond: Big Brother

Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Observer, 25 March 2001

He was on stage by five, on tour by eight and receiving 50,000 fan letters a week by 13. But behind his success lay loneliness, ...

Marvin Gaye: What's Going On

Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, May 2001

SOME YEARS ago I interviewed Paul Buchanan of The Blue Nile for MOJO. A musician known for his restless lifestyle, I asked him if there ...

Ice-T: Iceberg Slim: The Best-Selling Pimp Remembered By His Widow

Retrospective and Interview by James Maycock, Pride, June 2001

"YOU SEE, pimping's big business," growled an experienced pimp to Goldie, his aspiring protégé in the classic 1970's film, The Mack. Concluding his informal lecture, the ...

Patrick Sky: Songs That Made America Famous (Adelphi/GENES Records, Inc.)

Review by Gary Pig Gold, In Music We Trust, June 2001

IN 1965, YET another Greenwich Village folkie signed to Vanguard Records and released an album full of pleasing if inconsequential singalongs, more or less in ...

Table manna

Comment by Lisa Verrico, The Times, 27 July 2001

Everyone is clamouring for CDs brought out by hip restaurants and bars, says Lisa Verrico ...

I was an Oz schoolkid

Memoir by Charles Shaar Murray, The Guardian, 2 August 2001

It's 30 years since Oz was prosecuted in an infamous obscenity trial. The underground magazine had been guest-edited by a bunch of teenagers – and ...

Björk: Alone in the Dark: Björk on Vespertine

Interview by David Toop, The Wire, September 2001

Björk's eerie night songs are infused with the mythological landscapes of her native Iceland and the concrete fjords of Manhattan. She tells David Toop about ...

Lester Bangs: Loud Bangs and Bestial Noises

Essay by Mark Sinker, The Wire, September 2001

In the 20 years since Lester Bangs wrote his 'Reasonable Guide to Horrible Noise', the multi-mediated world has largely assimilated the hostile sounds he espoused. ...

Apocalypse Now: Reeling from the terrorist attack on America

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 15 September 2001

"THIS WICKED TONGUE says, 'God is a million miles away'," sings P.J. Harvey on her latest album. ...

War Within War: Black Americans And The Vietnam Conflict

Retrospective by James Maycock, The Guardian, 15 September 2001

The Vietnam war saw countless numbers of America's young men – both black and white – thrown into combat. They were there to fight the ...

Cannibal Ox: The Anti-Bling Kings: Cannibal Ox

Profile by Simon Reynolds, The Village Voice, 2 October 2001

Wormholed futurism with a mouthful of parables ...

Leonard Cohen: Felonious Monk

Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, November 2001

He stole hearts and sought refuge in Hydra, bagged a celebrity fiancée, then disappeared to a monastery. Sylvie Simmons talks through the many lives of ...

Phil Ochs: Bringing It All Back Home

Comment by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 9 November 2001

"WHILE THE Movement died a natural death, the music died by hanging," Esquire's headline said when the protest singer Phil Ochs committed suicide in 1976. ...

So Solid Crew: Ghetto Blasters: So Solid Crew

Profile and Interview by Andrew Smith, Observer Music Monthly, 25 November 2001

SHOTS RANG OUT and a man collapsed in a heap near the dance floor. Another lay slumped, bleeding profusely, in a doorway near the toilet. ...

Emmett Miller: Nick Tosches: Where Dead Voices Gather

Book Review by David Dalton, Gadfly, 10 December 2001

MINSTRELSY (1843-1928): the mere mention of the word is politically incorrect. You know, white performers blackening their faces with burnt cork and performing skits and ...

Harry Belafonte: Island in the Sun

Sleeve notes by Colin Escott, Bear Family, 2002

WHEN "WORLD MUSIC" became a phrase on everyone's lips a few years ago, it sometimes seemed as though an interest in other countries' musics was ...

Killing Joke: Jaz Coleman: Orchestral manoeuvres in the dark

Interview by Pat Long, Kerrang!, 19 January 2002

For the past 20 years, Jaz Coleman has caused mayhem with industrial-punk legends Killing Joke. Now he's about to turn the world of classical music ...

From Hard Rock to Rock of Ages: Former Hit Parader Writer, Father Charley Crespo

Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, February 2002

BACK IN THE '70s and '80s, Charley Crespo frequented the rock clubs of New York and New Jersey gathering info for his fan-obsessed dispatches for ...

Creed's Stairway to Heaven

Interview by Chris Heath, Rolling Stone, 28 February 2002

The tumultuous past and glorious present of Scott Stapp and America's biggest rock band ...

Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, U2, Willie Nelson, Wyclef Jean: Various Artists: America: A Tribute To Heroes

Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, March 2002

Star-Spangled Bummer:  Record of benefit concert/telethon for victims of September 11 ...

Femi Kuti and Positive Force: Ocean, London

Live Review by John L. Walters, The Guardian, 11 March 2002

SAXOPHONIST FEMI KUTI fronts a 14-piece band, with drums, two percussionists, guitar, bass, keyboards, four horns and three singers. Like a soul review or a ...

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 ...

Hey, It's OK To Think About Rock Too!

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 19 April 2002

When journalists and academics met in Seattle for a pop music conference, they learned that you can think about the music and and feel it ...

John Denver, Twisted Sister: Let Freedom Sing: Tipper Gore versus Twisted Sister

Retrospective by Jason Cohen, TV Guide, 20 April 2002

TIPPER GORE is showing way too much leg. The future second lady shimmies on both knees across a conference table, chest out, hips on a ...

Sigur Ros & Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson: Odin's Raven Magic

Preview by John Lewis, Barbican show programme, 21 April 2002

• Sigur Ros, Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson and Steindor Andersen with the London Sinfonietta and members of The Sixteen Choir • Music composed by Sigur Ros and ...

Billy Bragg: I Smell the Blood of a Half-Englishman: Billy Bragg

Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Harp, May 2002

What does it mean to be an Englishman? Billy Bragg explains it to Geoffrey Himes. ...

Simon Frith: An Interview

Interview by Jason Gross, Perfect Sound Forever, May 2002

Depending on how you see music journalism, Simon Frith is either a sinner or a saint. After the late '60's, rock criticism began to show ...

The Coup: Working Through His Anger

Profile and Interview by Marc Weingarten, Los Angeles Times, 2 May 2002

Boots Riley of the rap group the Coup lashes out against the war in Afghanistan and the corporate co-opting of hip-hop music. ...

The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur: Director's Cut: Nick Broomfield on Biggie & Tupac

Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Uncut, June 2002

THE DIRECTOR OF KURT & COURTNEY ON HIS BRILLIANT NEW DOCUMENTARY INVESTIGATING THE MURDERS OF RAP SUPERSTARS TUPAC SHAKUR AND BIGGIE SMALLS. ...

Allman Brothers Band: Song O' The South: How the Allman Brothers made a Redneck Negress out of me

Special Feature by Kandia Crazy Horse, Rock's Backpages, June 2002

AN UNORTHODOX daughter of Dixie, born in the year of their classic Fillmore East live album, my life truly began when I heard the exotic, ...

The Rolling Stones: The Maysles Brothers' Gimme Shelter (Criterion DVD)

Film/DVD/TV Review by Rick McGrath, Culture Court, June 2002

Directed by David Maysles, Albert Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin ...

Junkie XL, Elvis Presley: Junkie XL: The King is dead cool

Interview by Lisa Verrico, The Times, 17 June 2002

Elvis is back at No 1 with a soccer song. Lisa Verrico meets the DJ responsible ...

Pearl Jam's 'Jeremy'

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Blender, July 2002

Performers:   Eddie Vedder: vocals Jeff Ament: bass Mike McCready: guitar Stone Gossard: guitar Dave Krusen: drums Rick Parashar: keyboards Producer: Rick Parashar Released: September 1992 Highest chart position: 79 ...

Queens of the Stone Age: Mean Fiddler, London

Live Review by Ian Winwood, Kerrang!, 6 July 2002

THERE ARE people everywhere. Crowded at the front of the stage, clogging the bar, hanging on the stair rails, queuing for the toilets. The room ...

George Michael: Who's a Cheeky Boy?

Comment by Charles Shaar Murray, The Observer, 7 July 2002

'WITH THE RELEASE of his George Bush and Cherie Blair-referencing new single,' snickers the Popbitch website, 'we would like to commiserate with George Michael on ...

System of a Down: Messiahs of metal

Interview by Ben Thompson, Daily Telegraph, 11 July 2002

System of a Down look set to be the first band to break out of the hard-rocking nu-metal ghetto, says Ben Thompson ...

Isaac Hayes: A Black Woodstock: Wattstax

Retrospective and Interview by James Maycock, The Guardian, 20 July 2002

Intro: This is about 1000 words longer than the version published by The Guardian. There’s much more on the concert, more quotations and more on ...

Isaac Hayes, The Staple Singers, Kim Weston: Loud and proud: Wattstax

Retrospective and Interview by James Maycock, The Guardian, 20 July 2002

When Los Angeles erupted in the bloodiest racial uprising of the 1960s, the black citizens of Watts sent a message to the world, demanding that ...

Tenacious D: Astoria, London

Live Review by Ian Winwood, Kerrang!, 20 July 2002

OUTSIDE THE Astoria, on the Charing Cross Road, "Filthy Phil The Preacher" is holding a Bible and a broken megaphone. ...

The Polyphonic Spree: Polyphonic Spree: Songs Of Praise

Interview by Ian Watson, New Musical Express, 27 July 2002

LAST MONTH, London was invaded by the strangest musical gathering the capital has ever seen. ...

The Pink Fairies: Neverneverland;What A Bunch Of Sweeties; Kings Of Oblivion

Review by Carol Clerk, Uncut, August 2002

First three albums by heroes of early '70s UK underground. ...

Bruce Springsteen: Hey, He's Bruce

Essay by Gene Santoro, The Nation, 29 August 2002

WHEN BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN and the E Street Band, reunited to tour behind The Rising, came to Madison Square Garden on August 12, they juxtaposed '41 ...

Steve Earle: The Dissent Of Man

Report and Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 20 September 2002

Forget Springsteen's posturing and the redneck mentality of Toby Keith; it's Steve Earle's response to September 11 that has been causing a stir in the ...

The Ohio Players, Sly & the Family Stone: In Pursuit Of The Pimp Mobile

Essay by James Maycock, Nine, October 2002

A look at how black pimp culture has crossed into black popular culture, for which I interviewed Antonio Fargas. I refer to Miles Davis, the ...

Musica Della Mafia: Omerta Onuri E Sangu

Report and Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Herald, October 2002

IT SAYS MUCH for the myth-making powers of Hollywood and beyond that the mere mention of the mafia tends to conjure up images of sharp-suited, ...

Steve Earle: John Walker Sings His Own Blues

Essay by Tony Fletcher, iJamming.net, 5 October 2002

STEVE EARLE'S decision to write from the perspective of the 'American Taliban' in the controversial song 'John Walker's Blues' appears to have stemmed from the ...

The Equals' Eddy Grant (2002)

Interview by Bill Brewster, Rock's Backpages audio, 15 October 2002

The Equals' guitarist/writer/producer remembers his first impressions of London on arrival from Guyana in 1960; the epiphany of seeing Chuck Berry live in '64; forming the Equals at school; the London black music scene; getting signed and having hits; his heart attack and the end of the band, and getting his studio.

File format: mp3; file size: 134.6mb, interview length: 2h 20' 13" sound quality: *****

Eminem: Crossover Dream

Comment by RJ Smith, The Village Voice, 5 November 2002

IN THE money scene of 8 Mile, the young white Detroit rapper Rabbit Smith (played by young white Detroit rapper Eminem) battles a series of ...

Eminem: The Eminem Consensus

Comment by Richard Goldstein, The Village Voice, 12 November 2002

TWO EVENTS of lasting significance occurred last week: the breakdown of the Democratic party and the breakthrough of Eminem. His debut film, 8 Mile, became the ...

Ani DiFranco: Blowin' in a New Wind

Essay by Gene Santoro, The Nation, 26 November 2002

AS THE 2002 election results came in, I surfed through 100 cable channels with nothing on and hit an infomercial hosted by John Sebastian for ...

TLC: T-Boz: "The doctors told me I wouldn't live to see 40"

Interview by Precious Williams, The Evening Standard, 27 November 2002

She's a member of the famous girl band TLC. Here, T-Boz talks about her daily battle with sickle cell anaemia ...

Bruce Springsteen: People of the year: Bruce Springsteen

Interview by Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone, 12 December 2002

His album The Rising dealt with life after 9/11. His world tour confronted the realities of war ...

Steve Earle: Country Maverick Steve Earle vs. The Nashville Machine

Report and Interview by Michael Simmons, L.A. Weekly, 20 December 2002

"LATELY I FEEL like the loneliest man in America," writes Steve Earle in the liner notes of his most recent album, Jerusalem (Artemis). ...

Sweet Soul Music: Gerald Posner's Motown – Music, Money, Sex, and Power

Essay by Gene Santoro, The Nation, 23 December 2002

As Trent Lott struggled to "repudiate" segregation fifty years after it was outlawed, about the only point he left out of his incoherent counterattack is ...

John Sinclair: Invisible Jukebox: John Sinclair

Interview by Edwin Pouncey, The Wire, January 2003

John Sinclair — poet, journalist and former manager of 60s revolutionary rockers The MC5 — was born in Flint, Michigan in 1941. His father worked ...

N.W.A, So Solid Crew: Why hip-hop must take its share of blame for spread of violence among teenagers

Comment by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 6 January 2003

DOES HIP-HOP glamorise gun culture? It depends who you ask. Guns have been part of the baggage of hip-hop since 1988, when Los Angeles's NWA ...

Rock In The Dock

Comment by Andrew Mueller, The Guardian, 18 January 2003

A FEW WEEKS ago, a nationwide leap in gun crime was lent grim focus by the murder of two young women at a party in ...

Asian Dub Foundation: Rappers With A Cause: Asian Dub Foundation

Report and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 24 January 2003

They helped secure the release of the warehouse worker Satpal Ram from prison. Now they're tackling domestic violence, asylum, the war on terror and the ...

Asian Dub Foundation: Foundation Course

Report and Interview by Stephen Dalton, unpublished, February 2003

JOHN PANDIT is hopping mad. We were supposed to be discussing the latest album by Pandit's multi-cultural protest-pop collective Asian Dub Foundation, but our interview ...

Josh T. Pearson: Josh Pearson: Upstairs At The Spitz, London

Live Review by Nick Hasted, Uncut, February 2003

The real fired-up deal — Lift To Experience frontman's acoustic solo debut ...

Steve Earle: The Progressive Interview

Interview by Michael Simmons, The Progressive, February 2003

"LATELY I FEEL like the loneliest man in America," writes Steve Earle in the liner notes of his most recent album, Jerusalem (Artemis). ...

Coldplay, George Michael, Kylie Minogue, Ms Dynamite, Justin Timberlake: British Pop Acts Raise The Anti

Report by Phil Sutcliffe, Los Angeles Times, 22 February 2003

Celebrity dissent grows during U.K.'s music awards, as Coldplay's singer and Ms Dynamite protest an Iraq war. ...

We're Not On The Same Trip

Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, March 2003

Michael Goldberg finds comfort in music as the war rages. ...

Why Great Footballers Like Really Crap Music

Essay by Steven Wells, Guardian Unlimited, March 2003

WITH ALL THE current hoo-hah about how all gun crime in the UK is obviously caused by listening to gangsta chaps rapping about ho's and ...

Now Ain't The Time For Your Tears

Comment by Mick Farren, Rock's Backpages, April 2003

Where are the dissident voices in Bush's gung-ho Amerika? MICK FARREN writes in fury not sorrow. ...

Neil Young: "Will I be deported?"

Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 22 May 2003

IT IS DIFFICULT to find supportive things to say about George Bush unless your construction company is rebuilding Iraq, but it would be a droll ...

The Dixie Chicks: I Shall Be Free: The Blacklisting of Dixie Chicks

Comment by Dave Marsh, Harp, June 2003

IN CHRIS BUHALIS'S 'Talkin' Sounds Just Like Joe McCarthy Blues', John Ashcroft declares questioning him un-American, to which the singer replies, "It's called a democracy. ...

Nina Simone: Always Searching for a Key

Obituary by Ian Penman, The Wire, June 2003

The realisation that she was black in a country run by whites, a woman in a world run by men, turned Nina Simone into the ...

Jimi Hendrix: Midnight Lightning: Jimi Hendrix and the Black Experience by Greg Tate (Lawrence Hill)

Book Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, July 2003

Erudite, eclectic and pungently demotic polemic on Hendrix's centrality in the 20th century African-American cultural pantheon. ...

James Brown: Death Or Glory: James Brown In Vietnam

Retrospective by James Maycock, MOJO, July 2003

JUNE, 1968. Seven US Army lieutenant colonels - six Afro-Americans and one Caucasian - are collected from Tan Son Nhut, Saigon’s international airport, and ...

Todd Rundgren: Todd

Review by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, July 2003

THE SINCERE generational belief in the socially transformative powers of love and peace which marked the peak of the high '60s had, by 1974, dissipated ...

Carla Bley Looks for America

Interview by Phil Mershon, Perfect Sound Forever, August 2003

THIS IS A TIME when global corporatism links a grotesque preponderance of its steel-eyed vision to the silly notion that anything produced by, for, or ...

Dick Gaughan: An interview

Interview by Mark Hudson, Daily Telegraph, 11 September 2003

What makes a protest singer really angry? Well, being labelled a protest singer, for one thing. Folk star Dick Gaughan talks to Mark Hudson ...

Patti Smith: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

Live Review by Nick Hasted, Uncut, October 2003

IT ALL STARTS so politely, you could never guess the raw shock that's coming. When Patti Smith saunters on like a collision between the 17th ...

Robert Wyatt: Cuckooland

Review and Interview by Mike Barnes, Jim Irvin, MOJO, October 2003

Wyatt's first album for six years features guest appearances by Annie Whitehead, Brian Eno, Phil Manzanera, David Gilmour and Paul Weller. By Jim Irvin. ...

The Dixie Chicks: Weapons Of Mass Destruction

Interview by Andria Lisle, MOJO, October 2003

When they criticised President Bush's war, the Dixie Chicks went from being new country darlings to enemies of the state. Now they’re unlikely keepers of ...

Erykah Badu: Worldwide Underground

Review by Mark Anthony Neal, PopMatters, 15 October 2003

SHE WAS QUEEN of the head-wrap set. A generation of young black folks trying to navigate the pitfalls of cultural negation in an era when ...

Vibe: the Hip-Hop Years

Retrospective and Interview by Angus Batey, The Times, 23 October 2003

For more than 20 years, hip-hop culture has shaped the face of popular music, fashion, even political debate. And for the past decade, Vibe magazine ...

Isaac Hayes: Various Artists: Music From The Wattstax Festival & Film

Review by James Maycock, MOJO, November 2003

ON 20TH AUGUST, 1972, Isaac Hayes was celebrating his 30th birthday. But Ike wasn't chilling at his gilded Memphis mansion ripping into a skyscraper pile ...

Eminem, DJ Kool Herc, Vanilla Ice: How to get hip to rap

Guide by Lisa Verrico, The Times, 21 November 2003

EMINEM IS in trouble again, this time over lyrics he wrote a decade ago. The owners of the American hip-hop magazine The Source have outed ...

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, ...

Michael Jackson: Can You Remember?

Comment by Mark Anthony Neal, PopMatters, 11 December 2003

Can You Remember when we were babies? — Michael Jackson (Age 11) ...

Metric

Profile by Devon Powers, PopMatters, 18 December 2003

THE ONLY thing that tops hearing 'Succexy' — the shit-kicking superpop social commentary that is an instant calling card for Metric's debut Old World Underground, ...

Michelle McManus: The stars in our eyes

Comment by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 30 December 2003

Pop Idol winner Michelle McManus may claim to be happy with her size, but pop's obsession with image could well put an end to that, ...

Charles Manson: Charlie Don’t Surf

Retrospective by Jim Yoakum, unpublished, 2004

THE NIGHT THAT the four members of the infamous Manson Family drove out to a secluded Benedict Canyon mansion and brutally butchered Sharon Tate, Abigail ...

Johnny Cash at San Quentin was my idea

Memoir by Geoffrey Cannon, unpublished, 2004

2018 note: Steve Turner emailed me in 2004 and said he was working on the official biography of Johnny Cash, and had been told that ...

Woody Guthrie

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

ON APRIL 16, 1944, a slight, wiry-haired man with a guitar and harmonica wandered into Moe Asch's little recording studio on West 46 Street off ...

Franz Ferdinand

Interview by Roy Wilkinson, MOJO, February 2004

Post-punk guitars, and looking back to go forward ...

Gang Of Four: A Brief History Of The Twentieth Century

Review and Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, February 2004

Reissued best-of follows renewed interest in scabrous post-punk politicos ...

The Seventies

Retrospective by Danny Baker, The Word, February 2004

"The Seventies' attitudes, cultures and repercussions are almost too incredible for a modern youth to imagine" By Danny Baker ...

The Sixties

Retrospective by Chrissie Hynde, The Word, February 2004

"In the Sixties our motto was: never trust anyone over 30. It was all about youth — and youth was a huge threat", by Chrissie ...

Rhyme and Punishment

Comment by Andrew Mueller, The Guardian, 21 February 2004

YOU MAY HAVE heard this yarn – it's one of those things people email each other, that they might share a chuckle at the foibles ...

Outkast: It's a Double Standard, Kemosabe

Comment by Kandia Crazy Horse, africana.com, 25 February 2004

Whatever led André to think that even an inkling of "redface" would be any more acceptable than blackface minstrelsy has been to Americans of African ...

Going Mobile, Part Two

Special Feature by Phil Mershon, Hackwriters, March 2004

When we come to the place where the road and the sky collide Run me over the edge and let my spirit glide They told ...

Steve Earle: Proud to be an American

Interview by Graham Reid, The New Zealand Herald, 16 April 2004

STEVE EARLE'S career has been one of the most extraordinary in American music. He crashed into country music with his 1986 classic rockin' country album ...

Phil Spector: L.A. Proved Too Much For Blake and Spector: Bring On the Trials

Report by Deanne Stillman, New York Observer, 19 April 2004

TWO VERY STRANGE courtroom spectacles are about to unfold in Los Angeles: the murder trials of Robert Blake and Phil Spector. I've been covering these ...

Elijah Wald: Escaping The Delta: Robert Johnson And The Invention Of The Blues

Book Review by Tony Russell, New Humanist, May 2004

FOR A MUSIC that has always been resolutely secular, the blues has attracted a remarkable crowd of hierarchs and hierophants. Scholars, musicians, record collectors and ...

Steve Earle Gives New Meaning To The Expression 'Lifetime Achievement'

Interview by Toby Manning, The Word, May 2004

MARRIED SIX TIMES TO FIVE DIFFERENT WOMEN, HE'S ENDURED THE JUNKIE'S LIFE, DONE TIME AND LIVED TO TELL. NOW A CHANGED CHARACTER, HIGH PROFILE CAMPAIGNER ...

Prince of Paradox

Interview by Mick Brown, Daily Telegraph, 12 June 2004

Though he has become a Jehovah's Witness, Prince's stage act remains sexually charged. Having bitterly spurned the record industry giants, he now has a deal ...

Hugh Masekela and D. Michael Cheers: Still Grazing – The Musical Journey of Hugh Masekela

Book Review by Eric Weisbard, The New York Times Book Review, 13 June 2004

IN THE MID-1950s, as Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley and all the rest were leading a rock 'n' roll revolution across America, Hugh Masekela found himself ...

Polyphonic Spew

Comment by Andrew Mueller, The Guardian, 10 July 2004

THERE IS NO PERSON more deluded than he or she who has a song programmed into their mobile phone. ...

50 Cent, Green Day, The Libertines, TV On The Radio, The White Stripes: Reading Festival: Richmond Avenue, Reading

Live Review by Simon Price, Independent on Sunday, 5 September 2004

And the name of the world's worst band is... ...

Manic Street Preachers: Just Another Manic Day

Interview by Ian Watson, The Scotsman, 30 October 2004

WHEN Nicky Wire was at school, as soon as someone he hated got into his favourite band he went off them. ...

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 ...

Dolly Parton (2005) [transcript]

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

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

The Rise and Rise of the Casual: Football and Music

Book Excerpt by Paul Wellings, 'Spend it Like Beckham', 2005

THE BEST FANZINES in the mid 80’s were The End (from Liverpool, written by Pete Hooton, lead singer of The Farm, whose single ‘Altogether Now’ ...

Tim Booth: The iJAMMING! Interview: Tim Booth

Interview by Tony Fletcher, iJamming.net, January 2005

I HAVE AN instinctive aversion to conducting phone interviews. The medium is fine for quick research, or immediate answers to pressing questions, but when it ...

Bright Eyes: Burning Like Fire

Report and Interview by James Medd, Esquire, February 2005

Bright Eyes, the sharpest act in the US today, turns his gaze from his navel to the world. ...

Jessica Vale: Symphony for Moans and Rampant Rabbit

Report and Interview by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 28 February 2005

Jessica Vale's album is made up entirely of samples of people having sex. So what exactly was that sound? Or that one? ...

Konono No. 1: Konono No 1: Congotronics

Review by Rob Young, The Wire, March 2005

IN AFRICA, corrupt and irresponsible governance has led some of the continent's most prominent modern musicians to cast themselves as surrogate leader figures — think ...

Duane Allman, Southern Bitch: Apocalypse in the American Bush: R.I.P. Muscle Shoals Sound, Sheffield, Alabama

Essay by Kandia Crazy Horse, Perfect Sound Forever, April 2005

Feels so good inside myself Don't wanna move Feels so good inside myself Don't need to move –'Luv 'N Haight', Sly & the Family Stone ...

M.I.A.: Fighting talk

Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 22 April 2005

She's a revolutionary's daughter and her music oozes attitude. Dorian Lynskey meets MIA. ...

Dorris Henderson, 1935-2005

Obituary by Ken Hunt, The Guardian, 12 May 2005

THE BRITISH FOLK scene has been characterised as insular, but African-American Dorris Henderson, who has died aged 70, disproved that. When she arrived in London ...

Van Morrison: Johnny Rogan: Van Morrison – No Surrender (Secker & Warburg)

Book Review by David Sinclair, The Guardian, 28 May 2005

Johnny Rogan supplies everything you wanted to know about Van Morrison – and even more that you didn't. David Sinclair digests an almost comically unflattering ...

Bruce Springsteen: Devils & Dust

Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, June 2005

The E Street Band stand down again. So more for fans of Nebraska and The Ghost Of Tom Joad as Bruce leaves politics for the ...

Casualties Of War

Comment by Pete Paphides, The Times, 11 June 2005

Songs about conflict and warfare are guaranteed to destroy a musician's credibility ...

Ry Cooder: Ode to a lost shangri-la

Report and Interview by Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, 11 June 2005

After the Buena Vista phenomenon, Ry Cooder has made an album about his home town of LA. He talks to Robert Sandall. ...

Yoko Ono: Profile: Yoko Ono, 70, New York City, N.Y.

Profile and Interview by Jaan Uhelszki, Harp, July 2005

YOKO ONO is diminutive in size, but huge in spirit. A fearless avatar, she will attempt anything whether it’s topping the Billboard charts as a ...

Ry Cooder: Long Road Home

Interview by Alan Light, Mother Jones, July 2005

Ry Cooder's new album tunes into L.A.'s Chavez Ravine and the dawn of Chicano consciousness. ...

Coldplay, Bob Geldof: Live8: Less global jukebox, more local radio

Live Review by Kathryn Flett, The Observer, 3 July 2005

AS THE LIVE8 afternoon shift got under way, it was soon clear that, although the BBC must have been rubbing their hands at the prospect ...

Curtis Mayfield: Soul Brother No. 1

Retrospective by Nick Hasted, Uncut, August 2005

Ghetto-funk pioneer, civil rights activist, blaxploitation soundtrack master — the late Curits Mayfield is one of the all-time soul greats ...

Coldplay: My Travels With Oxfam: Chris Martin's Ghana Diary

Report by Sheryl Garratt, GQ, August 2005

Day 1: Accra ...

Bon Jovi, Jon Bon Jovi: Jon Bon Jovi: "I feel I've found my niche"

Interview by Precious Williams, Daily Telegraph, 16 September 2005

Jon Bon Jovi expected nothing less than to be a rock star. But, he tells Precious Williams, he's never counted celebrity for the sake of ...

Paul Robeson: Pride & Prejudice: Paul Robeson by Martin Duberman (New Press) *****

Book Review by Fred Dellar, MOJO, October 2005

From child prodigy to civil rights activist and outcast, the rise and fall of America's highest-paid concert singer is both touching and tragic, says Fred ...

Emmanuel Jal: Straight Out of Sudan: A Child Soldier Raps

Interview by Will Hermes, The New York Times, 2 October 2005

THE CONSENSUS among American rappers may be that happiness, as John Lennon once sang, is a warm gun, but Emmanuel Jal is more ambivalent on ...

Letch Patrol, Missing Foundation: Message in a Bottle: Homesteaders Rock the Lower East Side — The Tompkins Square Riots

Retrospective by RJ Smith, The Village Voice, 18 October 2005

August 23, 1988 ...

Burt Bacharach: At This Time: Burt Bacharach

Report and Interview by Gene Sculatti, ICE, November 2005

AFTER 40-PLUS YEARS, one of America's greatest songwriters finally has something to say. Which is not to suggest that songs like 'Close to You' or ...

Santana: Carlos Santana: Many hippie returns

Interview by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 6 November 2005

He played at Woodstock while out of his brain on LSD. But at 58, Carlos Santana isn't just a 1960s relic: stars like Beyoncé and ...

Nik Cohn: Triksta – Life and Death and New Orleans Rap

Book Review by Will Hermes, The New York Times, 4 December 2005

The Rap Before the Rain ...

M.I.A.: Hostile takeover

Interview by Scott McLennan, Rip It Up (Australia), Spring 2005

With her father formerly a Sri Lankan Tamil rebel and her debut album Arular referencing bombs, warfare and violence, hot new UK star M.I.A. is ...

P. F. Sloan: P.F. Sloan Reveals the Jewish Origins of 'Eve of Destruction'

Retrospective and Interview by Steven Rosen, Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, 2006

'EVE OF DESTRUCTION', the famous folk-rock-protest hit record from 1965, isn't usually regarded as a specifically Jewish song. Or even a religious one, for that ...

Dave Matthews Band: Dave Matthews: Gospel according to Matthews

Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 20 January 2006

He's the biggest music star in the USA, but probably couldn't get arrested here. Tim Cooper meets a man for whom success means having the ...

Kanye West: Kanye Walks

Comment by Mark Anthony Neal, PopMatters, 1 February 2006

By making public his struggles with living a devout life, Kanye West makes such a lifestyle so much more accessible and valuable to the very ...

The Jam, Paul Weller: Paul Weller: "The Jam? They were a way of life."

Retrospective by John Harris, The Guardian, 3 February 2006

As Paul Weller prepares to receive a Lifetime Achievement Brit, John Harris salutes a giant. ...

Dominic Sandbrook: Never Had It So Good – A History of Britain from Suez to the Beatles

Book Review by Nicky Charlish, Culture Wars, 8 February 2006

WE THINK WE know the basics about the '60s and the social changes that they ushered in. Against a background of mini-skirts, mods and rockers, ...

Au Pairs: Stepping Out of Line

Retrospective and Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, March 2006

THE MIDDLE OF the first decade of the 21st century has seen a reappraisal of the music which followed punk. Not an academic, clinical exercise, ...

Mark Morrison: ’I'm the most reallest black artist in England'

Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 8 March 2006

After the court cases, the jail time and the unfounded rape allegation, Mark Morrison is keen to put his bad boy image behind him. He ...

John Robb: Punk Rock – An Oral History (Ebury Press)

Book Review by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 19 March 2006

WHAT IS THERE still to say, really, about the British punk rock movement? As this year marks the 30th anniversary of its uproarious debut in ...

Blues In The Bottle: American Vernacular Music and the Medicine Show

Book Review by Tony Russell, Catalyst, May 2006

A review of the compilation Good For What Ails You: Music of the Medicine Shows, 1926-1937 (Old Hat Records) ...

Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen: Bruce Springsteen: We Shall Overcome – The Seeger Sessions

Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, June 2006

What Bruce did next: a hoedown gospel blues klezmer-zydeco celebration of Pete Seeger. Obviously, says Phil Sutcliffe. ...

Keane: Paint it Black

Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 9 June 2006

In a bid to shake off their clean-cut image, Keane have been exploring murkier territory — and hanging around with Bret Easton Ellis and Irvine ...

The Dixie Chicks: Dixie Chicks: How The Chicks Survived Their Scrap With Bush

Interview by Adam Sweeting, Daily Telegraph, 15 June 2006

Adam Sweeting assesses how the Dixie Chicks have weathered a political storm ...

Paul McCartney: Lady Madonna: In defence of Heather Mills-McCartney

Comment by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 15 June 2006

IN THE WEEK in which Lady McCartney has been accused of being, quite literally, a lying whore, I hope it is of some small comfort ...

Don't Mention The War – Unless You're Over 50

Comment by Andrew Purcell, The Guardian, 23 June 2006

NEIL YOUNG'S latest album, Living With War, was supposed to be more than a collection of protest songs. To optimistic critics of the occupation of ...

Neil Young: Living With War

Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, July 2006

A "metal folk protest album", says Neil. Made in 10 days, and remarkably good too. ...

Peaches: Impeach My Bush

Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 7 July 2006

MIX THE rudest bits of Madonna, Goldfrapp, Pink, Lil’ Kim and Princess Superstar and — arguably — you get Peaches. ...

Spice Girls: The Spice Girls: It Was a Power Trip

Retrospective by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 14 July 2006

Ten years after the release of the first Spice Girls album, our writer argues that the social legacy of "girl power" is still with us. ...

Michael Franti: "The troops thought: this guy's got balls"

Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 26 July 2006

IT'S ALL VERY well to sing anti-war songs in California — but in Baghdad? To American soldiers? Michael Franti tells Dorian Lynskey why he took ...

Crosby Stills Nash & Young: Still politically outspoken, CSNY brings its message to L.A.

Report and Interview by Fred Shuster, Los Angeles Daily News, 26 July 2006

AGE IS SUPPOSED to make you more accepting. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young apparently didn't get the memo. ...

Sufjan Stevens: Liturgical sounds for restaurant place-mats

Interview by Craig McLean, Daily Telegraph, 29 July 2006

Sufjan Stevens makes dazzling celestial music from the minutiae of everyday life. Craig McLean meets him. ...

Fun-Da-Mental: Angry in the UK: Fun-da-mental

Interview by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 4 August 2006

Fun-Da-Mental's new album gives voice to Muslim rage, says its creator Aki Nawaz ...

Bob Marley & the Wailers: Christopher John Farley: Before The Legend – The Rise of Bob Marley (Amistad)

Book Review by Miles Marshall Lewis, The Washington Post, 20 August 2006

The early years of a reggae superstar who gained worldwide renown. ...

Dominic Sandbrook: White Heat – A History of Britain in the Swinging Sixties

Book Review by Nicky Charlish, Culture Wars, 5 September 2006

THE IDEA OF the '60s as an era of exciting change for everyone has remained more or less the accepted orthodoxy – until now. Few ...

Howard Sounes: Seventies – The Sights, Sounds and Ideas of a Brilliant Decade

Book Review by Nicky Charlish, Culture Wars, 21 September 2006

AMUSINGLY STUPID, vulgar, a time of endearingly foolish fashions. These views – according to the book's author – represent the consensus thinking of cultural pundits ...

An Open Letter to Jann Wenner

Comment by Michael Simmons, Huffington Post, 18 October 2006

Dear Jann, We both know that Rolling Stone – the magazine you founded and remain Editor and Publisher of – has been the subject of endless ...

The Dixie Chicks: Dixie Chicks: United Centre, Chicago

Live Review by Bob Mehr, MOJO, November 2006

President-baiting Texans gain new fans but lose musical momentum. ...

Madonna tackles her critics head on

Comment by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 2 November 2006

HAD ONE CONSIDERED, five years ago, which controversy Madonna would next be embroiled in, it is unlikely that many of us would have guessed "something ...

All Saints: Saintlier than thou

Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 5 November 2006

Older and wiser after their acrimonious split, Britain's bitchiest girl group are back together — as friends, mums and bandmates. ...

A heckler's guide

Comment by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 6 November 2006

Want to know what to shout at Tony Blair when he makes his Farewell Tour next year? Then read on. ...

The Cultural Politics Of 'Pop': Hanif Kureishi's Life In Popular Culture

Essay by Steve Redhead, Rock's Backpages, 13 November 2006

THIS ESSAY IS on the cultural politics of Pop. It situates an emblematic writer, Hanif Kureishi, in the context of post-war Pop art and culture ...

The Dixie Chicks: The Playboy Interview

Interview by Alan Light, Playboy, December 2006

IT IS MARCH 10, 2003. The Dixie Chicks – Natalie Maines, Emily Robison and Martie Maguire – are playing an SRO show in London at ...

Douglas Wolk… Dean of American Comics Critics

Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, 2007

THAT TITLE WAS not self-proclaimed by Douglas Wolk. I came up with the unofficial designation as soon as I finished the last page of Wolk's ...

David Bowie: Blue-and-green-eyed soul

Essay by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, January 2007

Young Americans is David Bowie's most underrated album, but its bold cross-cultural concept deserves reappraisal, says Daryl Easlea  ...

James Brown: The Last Soul Brother: James Brown (1933-2006)

Retrospective by Mark Anthony Neal, PopMatters, 2 January 2007

JAMES BROWN was of a generation of black men—mythological in many ways—who helped define the contours of freedom and possibility for black folk in the ...

Bloc Party: Party people turn political

Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Times, 10 February 2007

Their fiery mix of pop and passion is turning Bloc Party into a key band. Our writer met them. ...

Donny Osmond (2007)

Interview by Maureen Paton, Rock's Backpages audio, 23 February 2007

The now-veteran Mormon popster remembers his days touring the UK in the '70s, being pursued by screaming girls; on being a father and grandfather; his new album Love Songs of the '70s; narrowly surviving his surfing accident; being a poster boy for clean living; nearly losing everything in 1980; on his religion, and staying fit.

File format: mp3; file size: 44.4mb, interview length: 46' 16" sound quality: ***

Bright Eyes: That Vision Thing

Interview by Stevie Chick, MOJO, April 2007

As Bright Eyes he's spent half his 27 years as the boozy Dylan of disaffected youth. On the eve of a new album, Stevie Chick ...

Elvis Costello, Robert Wyatt: The lasting legacy of 'Shipbuilding'

Retrospective by Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, 5 April 2007

During the Falklands war, Elvis Costello wrote a passionate elegy for a lost way of life that still resonates today, says Robert Sandall. ...

The kids are all right: Jon Savage's Teenage – The Creation of Youth

Book Review by Andy Beckett, The Guardian, 14 April 2007

Andy Beckett enjoys Jon Savage's compelling and meticulous prehistory of adolescence, Teenage. ...

The Plastic People Of The Universe: Egon Bondy, 1930-2007

Obituary by Ken Hunt, The Guardian, 20 April 2007

Dissident Czech writer and lyricist for Plastic People of the Universe ...

Wayne Kramer, MC5, John Sinclair: MC5: The making of Kick Out The Jams

Interview by Jaan Uhelszki, Uncut, May 2007

How Wayne Kramer and his Detroit proto punks turned a stage heckle into a battle cry to herald the death of the hippy dream ...

Lily Allen, Joss Stone, Amy Winehouse: Digital Venuses: Lily Allen, Joss Stone, Amy Winehouse

Comment by Kandia Crazy Horse, San Francisco Bay Guardian, 8 May 2007

CALL THEM the new British bitch pack: barefoot soul shouter Joss Stone and her ascendant sistren, skankin' Lily Allen and torchy Amy Winehouse (Corinne Bailey ...

Soweto Kinch: Absolute Beginners: Lyric Theatre, London

Report and Interview by John Lewis, The Times, July 2007

COLIN MACINNES'S 1959 novel Absolute Beginners remains a landmark in post-colonial literature, a brash, idealistic voyage through the Notting Hill race riots, seedy jazz dives, ...

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 ...

Sinead O'Connor

Interview by Alan Light, eMusic.com, July 2007

IT WAS PERHAPS the most shocking crash and burn in pop music history. With her 1987 debut, The Lion and the Cobra, 20-year-old Sinead O'Connor ...

The Boys Next Door, Radio Birdman, The Saints, The Scientists: Come the Revolution: Oz punk

Retrospective and Interview by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 20 July 2007

You thought punks in the UK had things to be angry about? Over in Australia, bands had a real fight on their hands, says Keith ...

Love Goes To Buildings On Fire: 1977 New York gets the VH1 treatment and, oh my, wasn't it fun back then!

Retrospective by Will Hermes, The Village Voice, 31 July 2007

OH YES, it was wicked cool: getting jacked at machete-point on the subway after a night of clubbing, and at bayonet-point outside of high school. ...

How Green Is Rock?

Report and Interview by William Shaw, The Word, August 2007

In years to come, will the picture on the right be as unacceptable as the one above? The music business has a green problem, and ...

The Clash, Tom Robinson Band, Steel Pulse, X-Ray Spex: Punks, Nazis, Skins and the Clash's Finest Hour

Retrospective and Interview by Ian Fortnam, Classic Rock, August 2007

Rock Against Racism: Tom Robinson thinks of it as "the punk Woodstock" and it was the moment that punk went overground and people's band the ...

Mark Ronson, Amy Winehouse: Mark Ronson: Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before

Interview by Alan Light, Guilt & Pleasure, September 2007

Shedding the mantle of socialite DJ to become a critically successful producer, Mark Ronson is Jewtastic. ...

Kula Shaker: Crispian Mills: Big Mouth Strikes Again

Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 24 September 2007

Ten years ago, Kula Shaker's Crispian Mills revealed an admiration for the swastika, and the band imploded. Now they're back, and the lead singer is ...

Harry Connick Jr: Renewing New Orleans

Report and Interview by Angus Batey, Daily Telegraph, 30 September 2007

Hurricane Katrina almost killed the New Orleans music scene. Now many of its players are coming back – to a musicians' village in the heart ...

Annie Lennox: The First Lady

Report and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Inside Entertainment, October 2007

WHEN I FIRST met her, she spoke in a whisper, protecting the gold-plated vocal cords that had made Eurythmics one of the top musical acts ...

The Specials: The Making of 'Ghost Town'

Retrospective and Interview by Nick Hasted, Uncut, October 2007

Spring 1981: the Coventry boys' eerily funky hymn to their home city nailed the spirit of the times, and remains the best piece of political ...

A Love From Outer Space: Why Greg Tate Matters

Essay by Michael A. Gonzales, Blackadelic Pop, 25 October 2007

THIS MORNING, I couldn't write. Though I'm on deadline to finish a Village Voice critique about my favorite band Apollo Heights (whose disc White Music ...

Tinariwen: A shot from the Sahel

Comment by Kandia Crazy Horse, San Francisco Bay Guardian, 30 October 2007

MANY MOONS AGO, when I moved as a child to Africa, my mother, my sister, and I resided in the Sahel. ...

Steve Earle: Album By Album

Interview by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, December 2007

PLAYWRIGHT, NOVELIST, activist, actor... when Steve Earle has found a moment over the past couple of decades, he has also managed to string together 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 ...

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. ...

Sheryl Crow: Why Sheryl Crow is starting over

Profile and Interview by Sheryl Garratt, Daily Telegraph, 26 January 2008

Battling cancer and adopting a child led Sheryl Crow to reassess what is important in life. No longer concerned with what people think, she has ...

Carolina Chocolate Drops: Digging the new-old roots

Comment by Kandia Crazy Horse, San Francisco Bay Guardian, 30 January 2008

YODELING IS AFRICAN? Well, one could certainly trace the practice from the Ituri of the Congolese rainforest, described as the first people by ancient Egyptian ...

Craig David: A Star Called David

Profile and Interview by Paul Lester, The Jewish Chronicle, 31 January 2008

He is a black soul singer with a reputation as a ladies' man. So how come Craig David seems like such a nice Jewish boy? ...

Black Mountain: In The Future

Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, February 2008

Second full album as Vancouver heavy psychers turn up the heat with their dark magick. ...

Peter Doggett: There's a Riot Going On – Revolutionaries, Rock Stars and the Rise and Fall of 1960s Counter-Culture

Book Review by Jon Newey, Jazzwise, February 2008

FOR A BOOK that takes a very protracted look at the role played by rock music and its, mostly, over-paid and over-pampered stars in the ...

The Levellers: Radical heroes: The Levellers are celebrating 20 years together

Retrospective and Interview by Gavin Martin, Daily Mirror, 29 February 2008

INSPIRED BY PUNK and folk, and named after a radical 17th-Century collective, the Levellers became synonymous with a huge underground anti-authority movement, supporting green issues ...

Joe Jackson: Still Looking Sharp

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

David Burke catches a rare sighting of pop music's invisible man. ...

Morrissey: Greatest Hits

Review by David Quantick, The Word, March 2008

There's a lot of Morrissey's newer, louder, less subtle music on his latest greatest hits. David Quantick finds his patience is at an end. ...

American Music Club: The Golden Age of American Music Club

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

MARK EITZEL sounds very chipper – not at all the lugubrious character that comes across in his songs. With the release of American Music Club's ...

The Hot 8 Brass Band: Basin Street Boogie

Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, March 2008

The Hot 8 Brass Band are the missing link between traditional New Orleans jazz and hip hop. But three members have been shot dead along ...

Arthur Lee, Lightspeed Champion: Alone again, or

Comment by Kandia Crazy Horse, San Francisco Bay Guardian, 19 March 2008

In memoriam: Ike Turner, Buddy Miles, Teo Macero, and Arthur Lee ...

Björk: Independence Day

Interview by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 27 March 2008

Independence Day: Björk's cry of "Tibet, Tibet" at a recent concert in Shanghai pre-empted the riots in Lhasa and outraged the Chinese authorities. It was ...

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 ...

Ed Sanders: The American Bard Takes On Katrina

Essay by Michael Simmons, Huffington Post, 1 April 2008

THERE IS A GIANT in our midst and his name is Edward Sanders. Ed was born in 1939 in Kansas City, Missouri. He moved to ...

Pop Staples, The Staple Singers: Freedom Song

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

David Burke talks to the indefatigable Mavis Staples ...

Joan Osborne: Between the Covers

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

SOME ARTISTS are indelibly associated with one piece of work their whole lives. What once was a gift in terms of eliciting public acceptance can ...

The Special AKA, The Specials: The Specials: Original Gangsters

Retrospective and Interview by Lois Wilson, MOJO, May 2008

Out of the inner-city misery and post-punk experiment of the late '70s came a group of black and white Coventry kids called the Specials who ...

Earth, Wind & Fire, Janelle Monáe, Me'Shell Ndegeocello: Singing the cyber blues: Janelle Monaé's Metropolis

Overview by Kandia Crazy Horse, San Francisco Bay Guardian, 7 May 2008

AFROFUTURISM BEGAN in earnest with those "20 odd Negroes" brought to Jamestown. Truly, long-ago Africans brought to New World shores invented modernity on the fly, ...

Martha Wainwright: "I like old guys cos they like me!"

Interview by Adam Sweeting, Daily Telegraph, 10 May 2008

Singer Martha Wainwright tells Adam Sweeting about the soap opera of her family life ...

Roger Waters: O2 Arena, London

Live Review by Adam Sweeting, Daily Telegraph, 20 May 2008

Roger Waters continues to infuse his work with almost diabolical intensity, writes Adam Sweeting  ...

Neil Young: Deja Viewed: Neil Young on CSNY and Living with War

Interview by Stephen Dalton, unpublished, June 2008

NEIL YOUNG IS in mischievous mood this morning. Sinking into his plush hotel armchair, the veteran Canadian rocker keeps his distance behind mirror shades and ...

Ice Cube: Make A Date: Ice Cube

Interview by John Lewis, Metro, June 2008

THERE WAS ONCE a time when Ice Cube was actually considered a threat to civic order. Police would bust NWA shows. Op-ed columns in U.S. ...

Neil Young's anti-war documentary

Report and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Sunday Times, 29 June 2008

The singer has fire in his belly — with a film about his antiwar tour — but his passion is a hybrid car he thinks ...

Randy Newman: Harps & Angels

Review by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, August 2008

Back with a blinder after almost a decade. ...

Rodriguez: Detroit's comeback king

Retrospective and Interview by Stevie Chick, The Guardian, 8 August 2008

We meet Rodriguez on the eve of his first headlining show in America, 38 years after his debut Cold Fact. ...

Kenny Chesney, Steve Earle, Jerry Lee Lewis, Dave Matthews Band, John Mellencamp, Willie Nelson, The Pretenders, Neil Young: Farm Aid

Review by Alan Light, MSN.com, September 2008

"THIS IS OUR twenty-third Farm Aid," said John Mellencamp, "and when we started this thing, we were naïve enough that we thought we'd have this ...

Rodriguez: Cold Fact

Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, September 2008

Strange but true: Return of a 1970 proto-rap legend ...

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 ...

DJ Kool Herc: D.J. Kool Herc: The Holy House of Hip-hop

Report and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, New York Magazine, 28 September 2008

On August 11, 1973, D.J. Kool Herc didn't know he was revolutionizing pop music – he was just trying to keep people dancing. The rec ...

Crosby Stills Nash & Young: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: Déjà Vu Live

Review by Jaan Uhelszki, Uncut, October 2008

Military madness! Live album, to accompany documentary film. ...

Estelle, John Legend: John Legend: Why His Name Is Legend

Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 19 October 2008

Barack Obama is a fan of soul star John Legend, and Estelle was his protégée. Jude Rogers speaks to him in the UK for the ...

Labelle: Back to Now (Verve)

Review by Kandia Crazy Horse, San Francisco Bay Guardian, 29 October 2008

A FEW weekends back, I rose at the crack of dawn to see Allen Toussaint perform at Joe's Pub in Manhattan for the venue's 10th ...

Wilco: Ahead of the Curve: Jeff Tweedy on Barack Obama, 9 May 2005

Interview by Bud Scoppa, Rock's Backpages, 5 November 2008

I FIRST POSTED the following in February, but the occasion demands that I pull it out of the archives and put it up again. What ...

Solomon Burke: Still on Fire

Interview by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, December 2008

Soul survivor Solomon Burke has endured bigger setbacks than most, but continues to make records as lauded as his perceived '60s heyday. ...

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 ...

On the Downturn Train

Report and Interview by Robert Sandall, The Word, January 2009

The cold wind of recession is already freezing record companies — but what will it mean for the kind of music that artists want to ...

TV On The Radio: Golden Agents

Interview by Scott McLennan, Rip It Up (Australia), January 2009

Big Day Out commitments might have prevented TV On The Radio's Jaleel Bunton from attending Barack Obama's presidential inauguration last week, but he'd already played ...

The OZ trial: John Mortimer's finest hour

Memoir by Felix Dennis, The Week, 19 January 2009

The great barrister, novelist and playwright – who died last Friday aged 85 – stood up to and beat the British establishment, recalls a grateful ...

Staff Benda Bilili: Music from diversity

Profile and Interview by Rob Fitzpatrick, The Sunday Times, 22 February 2009

The band is formed of homeless paraplegics and polio victims from Kinshasa, Congo, and travel in customised wheelchairs ...

Bikini Kill, Huggy Bear: Grrrl Power

Retrospective and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 4 March 2009

The Riot Grrrl scene brought feminism to alternative rock in the '90s. Fifteen years on, the aftershocks are still making waves, says Laura Barton. ...

MC5: Memoirs of rock mentor John Sinclair

Profile and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, The Sunday Times, 29 March 2009

Poet, activist, entrepreneur, critic, journalist, manager of MC5 and kingpin of US punk scene still performing and writing. ...

Funeral Music

Report and Interview by Stephen Dalton, The Times, April 2009

CHOOSING THE soundtrack for your own funeral is every modern music fan's dilemma. How much simpler things used to be when religious and classical pieces ...

Pete Seeger: The Voice Of America

Comment by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, April 2009

WHEN PETE SEEGER, the man Bruce Springsteen calls "the father of American folk music", walks on stage at Madison Square Garden on May 3 for ...

The Fields Of Annie Road: Song For The 96

Comment by Steve Redhead, Rock's Backpages, April 2009

ANFIELD ROAD, or 'Annie Road' (Allt, 2005), is the opposite 'end' to Liverpool's Kop at their world famous football stadium of Anfield. ...

Billie Holiday: 'Strange Fruit' At 70

Retrospective by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, May 2009

SEVENTY YEARS AGO this month Billie Holiday released 'Strange Fruit'; man's inhumanity to man made manifest in precisely three minutes, 12 scalding lines, inspired by ...

Devo: We Are Legend

Report and Interview by Pat Long, The Guardian, 2 May 2009

New wave oddballs Devo used to warn that consumerism was crumbling. Now they're back to say we told you so. Pat Long tips his funny ...

Recession Rock: How the credit crunch will make Britannia cool again

Comment by Dan Gennoe, Rock's Backpages, 26 May 2009

MONEY. IT'S NOT everything. It's a lot. But not everything. In music, it's actually more curse than blessing. Commerce is an essential element in any ...

Lenny Kravitz

Interview by Chris Heath, Daily Telegraph, 16 June 2009

No one nailed the rock idol act like Lenny Kravitz. Love god, guitar hero, wild thing, he lived the life — multiple women, homes and ...

Steven Wells 1960-2009: A Tribute

Memoir by John Doran, Andrew Mueller, John Robb, Terry Staunton, David Stubbs, The Quietus, 29 June 2009

David Stubbs ...

Buffy Sainte-Marie: Running for the Drum (Cooking Vinyl)

Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 3 July 2009

BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE'S first album in 17 years finds her spirit as undiluted as her charm, still making persuasive, engaging arguments for Native American attitudes, and ...

Neil Young: Out of the blue: Neil Young's archives

Essay by Kandia Crazy Horse, San Francisco Bay Guardian, 7 July 2009

THIS IS THE briar patch, the place from which all funky thangs flow. On the anniversary of the death of my Afro-Algonquin Southern (re)belle mother, ...

The Demise of Vibe and the Future of Criticism

Comment by Mark Anthony Neal, PopMatters, 23 July 2009

THERE'S NO SMALL irony to the fact that the announcement of the folding of Vibe magazine occurred the day after the death of Michael Jackson. ...

U2: Ego Warriors: U2 Speak Out On Rock-Star Hypocrisy

Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 30 July 2009

Over the years, U2 have taken many a kicking. But the band believe they're unjustly maligned for their unique brand of "stadium activism" ...

Blur, Oasis: Look Back In Anger: Britpop

Retrospective by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 13 August 2009

Fifteen years ago, a teenage Jude Rogers was enchanted by a new pop sound and a new politics, both of which promised to change the ...

Jello Biafra Of The Dead Kennedys Interview

Interview by Alex Ogg, The Quietus, 20 August 2009

Biafra's back — and this time he's packing a "real" band. The former Dead Kennedys frontman is re-energised by fronting a new group, The Guantanamo ...

Sinead O'Connor: Faith and Courage

Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, September 2009

TRUTH WILL always out in the end. And the truth-sayers will be vindicated where once they were vilified. ...

Irma Thomas: Time's still on her side

Interview by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 2 September 2009

NOTE: This is the complete transcript of an interview that appeared in the paper edition of Metro Times in an abridged form. ...

The Magazine Explosion: UK Pop Publications in the '60s

Retrospective by Jon Savage, The Observer, 6 September 2009

IT'S FEBRUARY 1963. The Beatles are No 2 in the charts with 'Please Please Me' and it's time to meet the press. An anonymous reporter ...

The Cribs, Johnny Marr, The Smiths: The Cribs

Interview by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 11 September 2009

In a revealing interview, Johnny Marr and The Cribs discuss what went wrong with indie, why LA destroys creative thought, the curse of the lad, ...

Bikini Kill, Huggy Bear: The 10 Myths of Riot Grrrl

Comment by Everett True, The Guardian, 14 September 2009

YOU READ a lot of stuff about Riot Grrrl, most of which isn't true. Things such as ...  ...

Gang of Four: Andy Gill meets Andy Gill

Profile and Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 17 September 2009

After 30 years of being mistaken for him, The Independent's music critic Andy Gill meets the Gang of Four's Andy Gill to discuss a shared ...

Chris Clark - US: Chris Clark

Retrospective and Interview by Don Waller, MOJO, October 2009

Motown's square-peg bombshell on cultdom, comebacks and Jimi Hendrix ...

Miriam Makeba : Mama Afrika 1932-2008

Review by Colin Irwin, bbc.co.uk, 5 October 2009

Majestic recordings by a genuine world music pioneer. ...

Woody Guthrie: My Dusty Road

Review by Colin Irwin, bbc.co.uk, 5 October 2009

A chance to grasp the full essence of the man behind the legend. ...

Noir Désir: Bertrand Cantat: Rock Idol Kills Lover

Report by Paul Moody, Q, November 2009

In 2003 Bertrand Cantat was France's biggest rock star. Then his girlfriend, actress Marie Trintignant, was found dead in his hotel room. ...

Louis Armstrong: Terry Teachout: Pops – The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong (JR Books)

Book Review by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 22 November 2009

AS TERRY Teachout makes clear in this terrific biography, the world that Louis Armstrong inhabited was anything but wonderful. It was, for most of his ...

David McAlmont, Michael Nyman: This Just In: David McAlmont and Michael Nyman

Report and Interview by Kate Mossman, The Word, December 2009

A bizarre collaboration between David McAlmont and Michael Nyman revives the dying art of the topical news story in song. ...

Woody Guthrie

Retrospective by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, December 2009

THE SMALL, GRIZZLED man in the check shirt indicated he'd like a cigarette. The small, curly-haired, young man sitting opposite handed him a Raleigh. The ...

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" ...

The Special AKA: The Making Of 'Nelson Mandela'

Interview by Nick Hasted, Uncut, January 2010

"ALL I DID was write a song. People in South Africa gave up their lives..." Jerry Dammers & Co on 1984's earth-shaking political hit. ...

Gil Scott-Heron: The Vulture

Book Review by Leyla Sanai, Rock's Backpages, 26 January 2010

FATHER OF hip–hop, granddaddy of rap, articulate polemicist and early pioneer of the fusion of black politics with poetry and music, Gil Scott–Heron has been ...

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. ...

Gil Scott-Heron: Back on Message: Gil Scott-Heron retools for a new generation

Interview by Alan Light, Mother Jones, March 2010

The revolution will not go better with Coke The revolution will not fight the germs that cause bad breath The revolution will put you in ...

The Chieftains: Hail to the Chief: Paddy Moloney

Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, March 2010

Paddy Moloney talks to David Burke about the band's latest album, a collection highlighting a "forgotten" chapter in the history of neighbouring Mexico and America. ...

The Ramones: Ramones Forever

Interview by Larry Jaffee, Shindig, March 2010

Note: The interview with Joey and Dee Dee Ramone took place in July 1985 at their favourite East Village dive. "The world knew in '76 ...

Various Artists: Gastonia Gallop – Cotton Mill Songs & Hillbilly Blues

Review by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, March 2010

Piedmont Textile Workers On Record, Gaston County, North Carolina 1927–1931 ...

Damon Albarn, Gorillaz: Monkey see, monkey do, monkey tour: the Gorillaz are back

Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 10 May 2010

"I SAY! They're fancy!" exclaims Jamie Hewlett when Damon Albarn strides into the pair's West London headquarters. The object of his fascination? Albarn, his sidekick ...

Rage Against the Machine: Finsbury Park, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 7 June 2010

LAST CHRISTMAS a Facebook campaign powered Californian rap-metal veterans Rage Against the Machine to the top of the singles chart, pipping The X Factor victor ...

Rage Against the Machine: Finsbury Park, London, N7

Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 8 June 2010

THE MOST POPULAR T-SHIRT at the merchandise stands depicted a scoreboard that read "Rage 1 Cowell 0." As a means of explaining why Rage Against ...

Brad Paisley: A Different Kind of Cowboy

Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 10 June 2010

Brad Paisley is not your usual Nashville country star. He talks about how Obama made him proud to be American – and why he dreams ...

The Fugs: For The Benefit Of Tuli Kupferberg

Report by Michael Simmons, Huffington Post, 15 June 2010

For those who trot out the tired cliché of hippies morphing into stockbrokers, check out the Fugs. No sell-out here. ...

Laurie Anderson: Electronic Expressions in the Service of the Soul

Profile and Interview by Will Hermes, The New York Times, 25 June 2010

LAURIE ANDERSON was home for a few hours last month — a rare occurrence. This musician and multi-media artist had returned from Poland, where she ...

Janelle Monáe: The ArchAndroid

Preview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 9 July 2010

Another girl, another planet, another experience ...

Devo: You Say You Want A De-Evolution

Retrospective and Interview by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, August 2010

Well, you know, Devo changed the world. Uncut hears the story of Ohio's plantpot-hatted chroniclers of human absurdity. Or: how five snarky art-rockers consorted with ...

Jackson Browne: Album By Album

Retrospective by Bud Scoppa, Uncut, August 2010

"MUSIC HAS AN impact because a lot of people experience it at the same time, and that can't happen exactly the same way again " ...

Pulp: The Making of 'Common People'

Interview by Nick Hasted, Uncut, August 2010

From three chords on a cheap Casio keyboard, via Glastonbury, to the huge summer anthem of 1995. It's the song that broke Jarvis and co! ...

Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga: Is Lady Gaga Corrupting Our Kids?

Comment by Pete Paphides, The Times, 12 August 2010

Modern pop stars are corrupting the young, says the pop veteran. But isn't that what they've always done? ...

Chuck Berry, Miley Cyrus, The Jonas Brothers, Grace Jones, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Stock Aitken Waterman: Is Lady Gaga corrupting our kids?

Comment by Pete Paphides, The Times, 12 August 2010

Modern pop stars are corrupting the young, says pop veteran Mike Stock. But isn't that what they've always done? ...

The Last Poets: After The Party: Music and the Black Panthers

Retrospective and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 2 September 2010

ONE DAY LAST DECEMBER, Umar Bin Hassan of the Last Poets attended a gathering in Chicago to commemorate local Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton, ...

John Legend, The Roots: John Legend and the Roots: Wake Up!

Review by Lloyd Bradley, bbc.co.uk, 21 September 2010

A masterclass in how to respectfully update and enhance classic music. ...

Gong: The Gong Remains The Same

Retrospective and Interview by Jack Barron, Record Collector, October 2010

Jack Barron celebrates the 40-year celestial trip of "Europe's Grateful Dead". ...

Bikini Kill: Sara Marcus: Girls to the Front

Book Review by Evelyn McDonnell, Los Angeles Times, 10 October 2010

BROOKLYN-BASED writer and musician Sara Marcus deserves a medal just for daring to write a book about Riot Grrrl, the fiercely uncompromising feminist movement of ...

Johnny Edgecombe, 1932–2010

Obituary by Chris Salewicz, The Independent, 18 October 2010

Hustler and jazz promoter who played a key role in the Profumo scandal ...

John Legend, The Roots: John Legend and the Roots: Hearts, Minds and Soul

Report and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 19 October 2010

John Legend and the Roots' album of '60s and '70s protest songs is no mere history lesson – it's an open letter to a divided ...

Bobby Jameson rages against the Vietnam war

Retrospective by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 10 November 2010

A FANFARE OF slow, church organ chords – straight out of a horror film – resolves into a brutal Bo Diddley beat. A few blasts of ...

Wyclef Jean: "Fans are calling me the new Dylan"

Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 5 December 2010

WHAT SCUPPERED Wyclef Jean's bid to be president of Haiti? Well, it wasn't modesty. On the eve of the election result, the rapper talks death ...

Arcade Fire's Band Aid for Haiti

Report and Interview by Alan Light, Mother Jones, January 2011

The dynamic duo behind Arcade Fire on charity, indie cred, and staying sane. ...

Charlie Louvin: The Battles Rage On

Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, January 2011

Old stager returns to his post for military-decorated album ...

Pet Shop Boys: Neil Tennant: "Twitter Is Sickly"

Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, January 2011

Social-network agnostic, high-church robe-fancier; supreme pop strategist — Neil Tennant casts a weather eye over the wind-lashed landscape of learning. ...

Phil Ochs Lives!

Retrospective and Interview by Michael Simmons, Huffington Post, 3 January 2011

The late Phil Ochs, one of the greatest singer/songwriters of the 1960s in a rarified perch with Dylan, Joni and Cohen, wasn't a household name ...

Cradle of Filth: Is Dani Filth Suffolk's greatest icon?

Comment by Johnny Sharp, The Guardian, 5 January 2011

When the county's tourist board launched a poll, it didn't count on it being hijacked by Cradle of Filth fans ...

Woody Guthrie, Burl Ives, Leadbelly, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Muddy Waters: John Szwed: The Man Who Recorded the World – A Biography of Alan Lomax

Book Review by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 8 January 2011

Richard Williams hails the man who devoted his life to recording the songs and soundscapes of America and beyond. ...

Gang of Four: Old punks, new Content

Profile and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 20 January 2011

Post-punk masterminds Gang of Four are back with their first new recorded material since their 2004 return to action. But why does it come packaged ...

The Edgar Broughton Band: The Harvest Years 1969-1973

Review and Interview by Rob Young, Uncut, February 2011

Out, hippies, out! Four CD set captures the righteous, blues-rocking anger of Warwickshire's counterculture warriors. ...

PJ Harvey: Let England Shake

Review by John Doran, The Quietus, 11 February 2011

THE SPANISH PAINTER Francisco Goya was in an ideal position to comment on The Peninsula War of 1804-1808. ...

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 ...

Maggoty Lamb goes behind the barricades in Rock Writers' Class War

Comment by Ben Thompson, The Guardian, 23 February 2011

Journalists would have us believe it's public-school leavers v the salt of the earth in the battle of the charts. Is that really the case? ...

PJ Harvey: Let England Shake

Review by James Medd, The Word, March 2011

PJ Harvey is "a human being affected by politics" in an absorbing new record suffused with imagery from wars past and present. And they said ...

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 ...

Lupe Fiasco: Lasers

Review by Johnny Sharp, bbc.co.uk, 8 March 2011

Chicago rapper's delayed third album features several inspired moments. ...

Bob Dylan: In Concert: Brandeis University 1963

Review by Steven R Rosen, Blurt, 8 April 2011

WHILE LIBRARIES are filled with books about what's been gained from Dylan going electric, it's worth taking a couple minutes – maybe while listening to ...

PJ Harvey: Polly Harvey reflects on a career marked by exploration and taking chances

Report and Interview by Gavin Martin, Daily Mirror, 15 April 2011

SAT IN THE ornate lounge room of a salubrious London hotel, Polly Jean Harvey apologises that she's finishing off a mouthful of nuts. With her ...

PJ Harvey: "I feel things deeply. I get angry, I shout at the TV, I feel sick."

Profile and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 24 April 2011

Polly Harvey opens up to Dorian Lynskey about 20 years in music and the emotions behind her latest dark masterpiece. ...

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Profile by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, June 2011

SIGNIFICANTLY OR NOT, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's best known product/gift to the world, Transcendental Meditation, was trademarked — and "TM" is a TM too, along with ...

PJ Harvey: Polly Harvey: An Interview

Interview by James Medd, The Word, June 2011

SHE'S SO ON-BRAND, it's like 20 years never passed: a black sleeveless vest top over a physique suggesting food is not an interest, the black ...

The Fugs — Suppose They Gave A War And Nobody Came?

Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Word, June 2011

"KILL FOR PEACE" ironists The Fugs have reunited after 27 years and are "preparing to go out in a blaze of leaflets". ...

Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, Chubby Checker, Joey Dee & the Starliters: Let's Twist again

Retrospective by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 4 June 2011

Fifty years ago, a new dance craze swept the world and changed for ever the way people move. Richard Williams, up on his feet when it ...

The Plastic People of the Universe

Retrospective and Interview by Archie Patterson, Eurock, 10 June 2011

"When modes of music change, the fundamental laws of the state always change with them." (Plato)   ...

Gil Scott-Heron: Growing Up With Gil Scott-Heron: In Loving Memory

Memoir by Danny Goldberg, AlterNet, 11 June 2011

GIL SCOTT-HERON'S death last week at the age of 62 stimulated a wave of appreciation from critics and the jazz and hip hop communities who ...

Roger Daltrey (2011)

Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages audio, 22 June 2011

The Who frontman on touring Tommy as a solo artist; on Cousin Kevin, Uncle Ernie and paedophilia; on Prince Charles; on CSI using Who songs as title music, appearing in that show, and his acting career in general. He then, at great length, airs his frequently reactionary political opinions.

File format: mp3; file size: 64.5mb, interview length: 1h 07' 09" sound quality: *****

Frankie Goes to Hollywood: Beyond the Pleasuredome: Frankie Goes to Hollywood's Liverpool

Retrospective by Wyndham Wallace, The Quietus, 4 July 2011

Wyndham Wallace follows last year's celebration of Frankie Goes to Hollywood's landmark album, Welcome to the Pleasuredome, with a look at its neglected follow-up, Liverpool, ...

TV On The Radio As Soundtrack To Bush & Obama's America 


Essay by John Calvert, The Quietus, 3 August 2011

Don't Let The Devil In: John Calvert takes a look at the work of TV On The Radio through the prism of a turbulent decade ...

"Retromania"

Comment by Simon Reynolds, The New York Times, 12 August 2011

1: 'NOW' POP WILL REPEAT ITSELF Museums, Reunions, Rock Docs, Re-enactments ...

Nina Simone: Between the Keys

Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Wax Poetics, September 2011

"White people had Judy Garland. We had Nina." — Richard Pryor ...

Harry Belafonte

Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, October 2011

"NOBODY'S EVER known what to call me," says Harry Belafonte. "Was I a folk singer, jazz, pop? Or was I even a singer at all? ...

Chrissie Hynde, The Slits, X-Ray Spex: Lasses of the Mohicans

Retrospective by Vivien Goldman, New Statesman, 31 October 2011

Vivien Goldman charts the history of Britain’s rebellious female punks. ...

The Fugs Levitate the Pentagon

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Classic Rock, November 2011

NOT IN HIS wildest imagination could David Copperfield have dreamed this one up. Levitate the Pentagon, America's stark and forbidding Defense HQ, 300 feet skyward, ...

The Chitlin' Circuit: Celebrating a Secret History of American Music

Book Review by John Morthland, Wondering Sound, 1 November 2011

FOR YEARS, the Chitlin' Circuit — the network of mostly-Southern, mostly-rural clubs where black artists performed from the 1930s into the '60s — has been ...

Andrew Bird's sonic arboretum reminds me of the natural music we are losing

Report and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 24 November 2011

IN CHICAGO'S MUSEUM of Contemporary Art this December, there will sprout up a peculiar kind of forest: 50 horned speakers, each standing between 19 and ...

The Last Poets: Waiting For The Revolution

Retrospective and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, December 2011

From the volatile streets of Harlem in the late '60s, THE LAST POETS were among the earliest voices of radical black youth in America. With ...

Lily Allen, Billy Bragg, Elton John: Britain in song

Essay by John Lewis, Do Not Disturb, Summer 2011

How do the British address their cities in song? With bathos, pathos and a large helping of silliness, says John Lewis ...

Remembering David Widgery

Memoir by Michael Gray, Michael Gray Outtakes, 2012

IT'S 20 YEARS since the writer, socialist and East End of London doctor David Widgery died prematurely, and I want to join those who have ...

Childish Gambino: The Basement at the Camp, EC1

Live Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 27 January 2012

IT IS ABOUT time someone challenged the "get rich or die trying" stereotype that has dominated hip-hop music on its journey from ghetto art to ...

Don Cornelius: Love, Peace, and Hair Grease: Remembering Soul Train's Don Cornelius

Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Complex, 2 February 2012

Artists from Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys to Charlie Wilson of the Gap Band reminisce about the life and legacy of the late Don Cornelius, whose show ...

Die Antwoord: Ten$ion

Review by John Calvert, The Quietus, 16 February 2012

COMEDY RAP act or conceptual art project? Whatever your opinion on rave-rappers Die Antwoord, their new album is a rare treat — South African pop ...

Bruce Springsteen: Wrecking Ball

Review by Peter Stone Brown, CounterPunch, 24 February 2012

IN 1944, WRITING a script for a radio show Woody Guthrie wrote: "I hate a song that makes you think that you are not any ...

The Pop Group, Mark Stewart: Bristol Fashion: Mark Stewart of the Pop Group's 13 Favourite Albums

Interview by Julian Marszalek, The Quietus, 22 March 2012

Julian Marszalek talks to post-punk agitator Mark Stewart about his 13 favourite albums. ...

Bob Marley & the Wailers, Public Image Ltd, Sex Pistols: Dennis Morris: "Suddenly we were black, not coloured"

Retrospective and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 25 March 2012

Dennis Morris is celebrated for his iconic photographs of the Sex Pistols and Bob Marley. But few knew that in that pivotal era he was ...

Allman Brothers Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd: Alabama Shakes: The Saga of Southern Rock

Comment by Barney Hoskyns, The Guardian, 6 April 2012

IT WAS ONLY a matter of time before BBC4 green-lit a Friday night documentary about the sub-genre Southern Rock. The subject is irresistible to connoisseurs ...

Joan Baez: "Don't re-live the sixties"

Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, May 2012

Martin Luther King support act, first folk superstar, Downton Abbey obsessive — Joan Baez offers a little steely-voice sagacity ...

Fela Kuti: Live in Detroit 1986

Review by Stevie Chick, bbc.co.uk, 14 May 2012

Rediscovered concert recording from the king of afrobeat. ...

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 ...

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. ...

Screaming Lord Sutch Is Alive And Well And Living At Number Ten...

Retrospective by Alan Clayson, unpublished, June 2012

...10, PARKFIELD ROAD, South Harrow, that is – where the mere mortal christened David Edward Sutch had tumbled out of bed just prior to the ...

Imani Uzuri: Joe's Pub, NYC

Live Review by Carol Cooper, The Village Voice, 4 June 2012

Better Than: Being sad that Alice Coltrane and Cesaria Evora are dead and that Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill don't make albums together. ...

Bruce Springsteen: Marc Dolan: Bruce Springsteen and the Promise of Rock 'n' Roll (Norton)

Book Review by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Chronicle, 15 June 2012

WHILE MOST classic rockers his age are either slowing down, retired or dead, sexagenarian Bruce Springsteen (who might also be called "sexy-genarian" by legions of ...

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 ...

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. ...

Damon Albarn, Afel Bocoum: Damon Albarn in Mali

Report and Interview by Sheryl Garratt, Seven, 23 July 2012

Between staging an opera and preparing for Blur's Olympic show, Damon Albarn travelled to Mali to spend quality time with an old friend. But Islamic ...

Anohni (Antony & the Johnsons): "Women have suffered for so long" says Antony Hegarty. "And we need to support each other"

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 ...

Ed Sheeran: And another thing: Miserable songs

Comment by David Hepworth, The Word, August 2012

Writing miserable songs doesn't make you deep, boys and girls ...

Pussy Riot: The Riot Girls' Style

Comment by Vivien Goldman, New York Times magazine blogs, 8 August 2012

IT HAS BEEN a shock to see the bravely smiling faces of three girls from the Russian punk collective Pussy Riot locked in a glass ...

Pussy Riot Sentenced To Two Year Jail Term

Report by John Doran, The Quietus, 17 August 2012

RUSSIAN PUNK BAND Pussy Riot have been sentenced to two years in jail each after being found guilty of hooliganism earlier in the day. ...

Pussy Riot and the Politics of Grrrl Punk

Comment by Evelyn McDonnell, Los Angeles Times, 13 September 2012

I WONDER, as they sit in their separate cells, what songs the three jailed members of Pussy Riot sing to themselves to keep their spirits ...

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 ...

Jimmy Savile: Young girls were just another victim of the rock'n'roll years

Comment by David Hepworth, The Independent, 2 October 2012

THE MUSIC INDUSTRY has always been awash with salacious rumours about the sexual tastes of its more prominent figures, particularly when they look as though ...

Green Day: Mossman on music: Green Day's musical

Live Review by Kate Mossman, New Statesman, 19 October 2012

The Green Day-inspired musical reviewed. ...

Darren Hayman & The Long Parliament: The Violence

Review by Ben Myers, bbc.co.uk, November 2012

A concept album about the 17th century witch trials of Essex? Yes please. ...

Hurray for the Riff Raff: Protest and Survive

Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, November 2012

MUSIC AS AN instrument of change – remember that concept? It may seem a little naïve at a time when even the mighty have fallen ...

Jimmy Savile: DJ Originator Or More Smoke And Mirrors?

Comment by Greg Wilson, Rock's Backpages, November 2012

JUST OVER 12 MONTHS AGO, on October 29th 2011, the TV and radio personality Sir Jimmy Savile died two days before his 85th birthday (he ...

Jimmy Savile: The Oddfather

Report and Interview by Frank Broughton, GQ, 8 November 2012

As the fallout from the Jimmy Savile abuse allegations continues, dance music historian Frank Broughton asks whether the next revelations may be his connections to ...

Madonna: Q: When will Madonna stop being relevant? A: When we stop asking if Madonna's still relevant.

Comment by Mark Kemp, Creative Loafing, 14 November 2012

WHEN MADONNA drolly announced to fans packed into the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 24, that "we have a black Muslim in the ...

Pussy Riot: Activists, not Pin-ups

Comment by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 20 December 2012

Clever, committed and courageous, Pussy Riot are the only band that mattered in 2012. They have used their year in the spotlight to expose injustice. ...

The Band, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant, Bruce Springsteen: This Must Be The Place: Holy Grails and Musical Meccas in Pop Culture

Essay by Barney Hoskyns, unpublished, Fall 2012

FOR TRAMPLED UNDER FOOT, my oral history of Led Zeppelin, one of the interviews I conducted was with Dave Bates, an almost-famous A&R man from ...

The Village Voice and the Birth of Rock Criticism: Two Excerpts from Writing the Record

Book Excerpt by Devon Powers, University of Massachusetts Press, 2013

1) From the Introduction: "Village" ...

Johnny Marr, The Smiths: Johnny Marr on the Smiths, Morrissey and putting politics back in pop

Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 11 January 2013

With the release of his first solo album The Messenger, the former Smiths guitarist talks about finally embracing his old sound, David Cameron and why ...

Graham Stewart: Bang! A History of Britain in the 1980s

Book Review by Andy Beckett, The Guardian, 17 January 2013

A study of Thatcher's era that leaves vital questions unanswered ...

Anaïs Mitchell, Karine Polwart, Emily Portman, Kathryn Roberts, Chris Wood: Never Mind the Birdlore: The New Face of Folk Music

Report and Interview by Colin Irwin, The Observer, 27 January 2013

The folk scene is changing – there are songs about police shootings, Occupy London and rape. Colin Irwin meets the singers who are shaking things ...

Steve Mason: "I don't think rioting is the answer any more"

Profile and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 10 March 2013

Former Beta Band frontman Steve Mason explains why not everything on his new solo album is political. ...

Barry McGuire's Living Room Anthems

Profile and Interview by Charles Bermant, No Depression, 23 March 2013

BARRY MCGUIRE was around in the 1960s, and remembers them well enough to present a historical narrative of songs and stories for the benefit of ...

Billy Bragg: Barking's Woody Guthrie on 30 years of songs and activism

Interview by John Harris, The Guardian, 26 March 2013

From agitpop to love songs, Bragg has brought his audience through life with him, creating a soundtrack to thousands of lives ...

Public Enemy at Rikers Island

Retrospective and Interview by Amy Linden, Red Bull Academy Magazine, April 2013

IT'S DIFFICULT for a generation raised on Carrie and the girls, luxury condos and cabs that have no problem taking you to Brooklyn to wrap ...

Yip Harburg and the Story of 'Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead'

Retrospective by Fred Dellar, Rock's Backpages, April 2013

THOUGH I HAVE tremendous sympathy for those who lost their jobs, their dignity and sometimes their lives, following the pit closures and ensuing strike of ...

Bob Fass and Radio Unnameable

Memoir by Michael Simmons, Huffington Post, 5 April 2013

"I WANNA BE a neuron – I don't wanna be the brain," said all-night radio host Bob Fass in the 1960s to his audience. "We're ...

Primal Scream: Vitamin Gee: Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie Sees The Light

Interview by Julian Marszalek, The Quietus, 30 April 2013

Julian Marszalek talks to the Primal Scream frontman about their new album More Light, the state of rock music in 2013 and living in post-Thatcher ...

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. ...

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 ...

Sinéad O'Connor: Institutionalised: The Faith and Courage of Sinead O'Connor

Interview by Wyndham Wallace, The Quietus, 5 June 2013

Though her personal life has often overshadowed her career, Sinead O'Connor remains a treasured musical force. Belatedly back on the road to promote her most ...

Janelle Monáe: "I'm a time traveller. I have been to lots of different places"

Interview by Kate Mossman, The Guardian, 30 June 2013

She's an android-dating style queen who's been compared to Bowie. Is the R&B singer the saviour of pop? ...

Massive Attack meet Adam Curtis: The Unlikely Double Act

Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 30 June 2013

At July's Manchester festival, the boundary-breaking band and radical film-maker will tackle the perilous state of democracy in a show that redefines the notion of ...

Mick Farren: You Say You Want A Revolution: Mick Farren Looks Back

Book Excerpt by Paul Moody, 'Search For The Lost Chord', July 2013

RBP contributor Paul Moody interviewed Mick earlier this year while researching his new book Search For The Lost Chord: Looking For The Spirit Of Rock'n'Roll. We're ...

Lynyrd Skynyrd: On Lynyrd Skynyrd's Ed King, and Trayvon Martin

Letter by Mark Kemp, Rock and Rap Confidential, 17 July 2013

JUST WANTED to let you folks at RRC know that Ed King, ostensibly one of the more enlightened original members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and a former member ...

The Deviants, Mick Farren: Goodbye, Mick Farren, activist, rabble-rousing rocker and NME journalist

Memoir by Charles Shaar Murray, The Guardian, 29 July 2013

Mick Farren, who died onstage in London on Saturday, was a "living banner for the psychedelic left". He was also a friend who joined me ...

Mick Farren: Memories of Mick Farren: An entertaining afternoon in West Hollywood and a champagne-drenched night in Islington

Memoir by Paul Gorman, Rock's Backpages, 31 July 2013

GROWING UP IN London in the '60s and '70s with an interest in the counterculture, music and street politics meant that the shaggy-headed figure of ...

The Who: Richard Weight: Mod – A Very British Style (Bodley Head)

Book Review by Ian Penman, London Review of Books, 29 August 2013

IN A LOVELY 1963 piece on Miles Davis, Kenneth Tynan quoted Cocteau to illuminate the art of his "discreet, elliptical" subject: Davis was one of ...

Nas: The Golden G's: On Nas and Aging in Hip-Hop

Report and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Complex, 10 September 2013

How Nas has been able to stay relevant through 20 years in hip-hop. ...

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 ...

Lloyd Bradley: Sounds Like London – 100 Years Of Black Music In The Capital (Serpent's Tail)

Book Review by Karl Dallas, Morning Star, 8 October 2013

Authentic account of black music's capital origins ...

Wynton Marsalis Toots His Own Horn

Interview by Miles Marshall Lewis, Ebony, 8 October 2013

YES, WYNTON Marsalis has soul. The knee-jerk criticism of the 51-year-old jazz trumpeter ever since his self-titled 1981 album has been that, while always technically ...

Cymande, The Equals, Eddy Grant, Hot Chocolate, Osibisa, Ruthless Rap Assassins: Lloyd Bradley: Sounds Like London

Book Review by Greg Wilson, electrofunkroots.co.uk, 9 October 2013

JUST FINISHED a captivating and, to my mind, long-overdue book, which covers the history of black music in the capital spanning (almost) 100 years, the ...

Vatican Shadow: Remember Your Black Day

Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 11 October 2013

IT WAS INEVITABLE that an event as grand, terrible, momentous and world-changing as the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington would ...

William Onyeabor: Who Is William Onyeabor

Review by Will Hermes, NPR, 20 October 2013

IF FELA KUTI was a child of James Brown, fellow Nigerian William Onyeabor is something like the next-generation musical offspring of Parliament-Funkadelic. His songs are ...

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Lee Dorsey, Betty Harris, Ernie K-Doe, The Meters, Professor Longhair, Allen Toussaint: New Orleans Funk Volume Three (Soul Jazz Records)

Review by John Doran, The Quietus, 13 November 2013

Note: Contains Spoilers for the HBO TV show Treme ...

Boy George, Duran Duran, Bob Geldof, George Michael, Sting, U2, Midge Ure, Paul Young: A World Of Dreaded Fear: Band Aid's Unforgivable Crimes

Retrospective by Wyndham Wallace, The Quietus, 10 December 2013

Band Aid raised awareness of a disastrous famine, as well as huge sums of money to try ease it. But, one year ahead of its ...

Lostprophets: Rock Music Isn't Evil — it's the rock star myth that creates men like Ian Watkins

Comment by Ben Myers, New Statesman, 18 December 2013

Music journalist and author Ben Myers has been doing some soul-searching on the day the former Lostprophets singer was sentenced to twenty-nine years' imprisonment plus ...

Mick Farren: Foreword

Book Excerpt by Charles Shaar Murray, 'Elvis Died For Somebody's Sins But Not Mine', Spring 2013

MICK FARREN IS a man of many parts, an impressive number of which are still working despite the natural wear and-tear incurred by decades of ...

Eric Bibb

Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, January 2014

DR JOY DEGRUY coined the term Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome to describe the multi-generational trauma experienced by African Americans as a consequence of slavery. In ...

Pete Seeger: The road goes on for ever

Obituary by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 28 January 2014

The folk singer believed in handing on the traditions he had done so much to save, so that others could carry them forward. It was ...

Bruce Springsteen: High Hopes

Review and Interview by Richard Williams, Uncut, February 2014

Good-time title, sombre message on The Boss' 18th studio album proper. ...

St. Vincent: St Vincent on St Vincent (Caroline)

Interview by Nick Hasted, Uncut, February 2014

Annie Clark's explores our "digital reality" on fourth LP ...

The Smiths: Life in Rough Trade: How Geoff Travis became a major player for indie bands

Profile and Interview by Paul Lester, The Jewish Chronicle, 17 February 2014

AS FOUNDER of the Rough Trade record store, distribution company and label, Geoff Travis has done as much as anyone to promote indie music as ...

Microdisney: An Improbable History: Microdisney Interviewed

Interview by David McKenna, The Quietus, 20 February 2014

David McKenna talks to Cathal Coughlan and Sean O'Hagan about the Rough Trade years. ...

Sex & Drugs & Herring rolls: Punk's Jewish Roots Revealed

Retrospective by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 26 February 2014

PUNK ROCK'S transatlantic fuse was lit when Malcolm McLaren saw Richard Hell in New York in 1975. McLaren, whose Jewish family background was in the ...

The Clash, Vivien Goldman, Sex Pistols: Never mind the swastikas: the secret history of the UK's "punky Jews"

Retrospective by Vivien Goldman, The Guardian, 27 February 2014

Punk Svengalis Malcolm McLaren and Bernie Rhodes were Jewish, and the faith had an influence on UK labels and journalists. For Jewish kids, meanwhile, the ...

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.  ...

Lavender Country, Chely Wright: Country music's gay stars: "We're still kicking down the closet door"

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 ...

Blur, Elastica, Oasis, Pulp, Suede: Modern Life Isn't Rubbish: The Trouble With Britpop Nostalgia

Comment by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 10 April 2014

The mainstream media are currently engaged in a collective misty-eyed throwback to the 'glory days' of the mid 90s. Luke Turner, who was a teenager ...

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 ...

Mark Ronson

Interview by Paul Lester, The Jewish Chronicle, 15 May 2014

Why star producer intends to have a ball ...

Chrissie Hynde: Talker Of The Town: Chrissie Hynde

Interview by Simon Price, The Quietus, 10 June 2014

Chrissie Hynde is releasing her first-ever solo album. But never mind that. Just let her talk. Because the legendary Pretenders leader can talk for London, ...

Bob Dylan: Unlike a Rolling Stone

Comment by Robert Dean Lurie, The American Conservative, 20 June 2014

Why Bob Dylan, troubadour of the revolution, turned homeward. ...

Lynyrd Skynyrd: An Interview with Rickey Medlocke

Interview by Jim Sullivan, Cape Cod Times, July 2014

IT COULD HAPPEN at any rock show, any time, any place, anywhere. The band is revving up for its encore, and you hear a cry ...

Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull: The Fast-Moving Mind (and Mouth) of Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson

Report and Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 2 July 2014

IT SEEMS THAT Gerald Bostock, the noted writer and lyricist, is at it again. ...

Duke Ellington, Sun Ra: The secret history of the jazz greats who were freemasons

Essay by John Lewis, The Guardian, 2 July 2014

Jazz and freemasonry are unlikely bedfellows, but in the 1950s, the secret society became a support network for musicians and the world's largest fraternity for ...

Black Sky Thinking: White Power And Black Pop: The Real Problem With 1Xtra's Power List 


Comment by Neil Kulkarni, The Quietus, 16 July 2014

Neil Kulkarni dissects the recent BBC 1Xtra Power List which featured three white acts in the top four... ...

The Eagles: Some Dance to Remember, Some Dance to Forget: A Few Thoughts on Iraq, 'Hotel California' and Coming Home

Essay by Deanne Stillman, Los Angeles Review of Books, 23 August 2014

FOR THE PAST three years, I've been away from California, living in Arizona but returning to the Golden State as much as I could. It ...

Bad Brains, Fishbone, Living Colour: Afropunk Before Afropunk

Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 29 August 2014

LAST WEEK, for the first time in years, I missed the Afropunk festival. The musical movement began as an extension of a 2003 documentary of ...

U2: Songs Of Innocence: On U2, Tax & Hypocrisy 


Comment by John Doran, The Quietus, 10 September 2014

John Doran is singularly unimpressed by U2's invocation of William Blake's Songs Of Innocence. Shouldn't they stop cosying up to morally bankrupt corporations, banks, philosophers, ...

Kate Tempest: Poet, performer, novelist: the rise of the uncategorisable Kate Tempest

Report and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 12 September 2014

Mercury nomination and place on prestigious list of poets are well-deserved accolades for bright young performer ...

Julian Casablancas: "I have nothing against gentrification"

Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 9 October 2014

The Strokes singer on brunch and banks, dictatorship in the US and his Voidz protest album, Tyranny. ...

U2: "It's the job of art to be divisive"

Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 12 October 2014

Thirty years after becoming the biggest band in the world, Bono and co still polarise opinion. Here, taking a break in the Côte d'Azur, they ...

Leonard Cohen: Tea and Oranges on High Holy Days

Retrospective by Kirk Silsbee, Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, 17 October 2014

LIKE MANY OF us, author Harvey Kubernik first heard Leonard Cohen through his interpreters.  Judy Collins recorded Cohen's obliquely lyrical 'Suzanne' and the sardonic suicide ...

Jackson Browne: Standing in the Breach

Review by Peter Stone Brown, CounterPunch, 21 October 2014

IN 1974, JACKSON BROWNE released his third album, his masterpiece Late For The Sky, a record that was brilliantly constructed in every way from the ...

Robert Wyatt: Soundtrack of my life: Robert Wyatt

Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 26 October 2014

The prog-rock pioneer on his love of jazz, falsetto singing, the thrill of meeting Bulgarian folk singers and why Pharrell Williams is as good as ...

Bruce Cockburn: Rumours of Glory

Sleeve notes by Nicholas Jennings, True North Records, November 2014

IN HIS ILLUMINATING memoir, also called Rumours of Glory, Bruce Cockburn writes: "My songs are influenced by what I read, where I travel and what ...

Jackson Browne (2014)

Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages audio, November 2014

The singer/songwriter talks about his appreciation of the tribute album Looking Into You; on Los Angeles then and now — the cheap rents, and sharing with JD Souther and Glenn Frey, and the emergence of country rock; his new album Standing In The Breach, and avoiding writing political songs; modern American politics, school massacres and the NRA; the role of David Geffen, and his memories of his father.

File format: mp3; file size: 45.3mb, interview length: 47' 13" sound quality: ****

Iggy Azalea, Jennifer Lopez, Nicki Minaj, Meghan Trainor: The Booty Myth

Report by Evelyn McDonnell, Cuepoint, 10 November 2014

Are female pop stars glorifying their bodies or objectifying them? Well, it's complicated. ...

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 ...

Gil Scott-Heron: Shut 'em Down: Reflections on Ferguson and Gil Scott-Heron

Essay by Michael A. Gonzales, soulhead, 2 December 2014

AFTER THE Michael Brown decision in Ferguson, Missouri last week, amid the expected disgust about the so-called fairness of a legal system that allowed murderous ...

Billie Holiday: Blood on the Leaves: Eric Garner and 'Strange Fruit'

Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 5 December 2014

"I CAN'T BREATHE," Eric Garner moaned moments before dying on a Staten Island street on July 17 of this summer. As one of millions who ...

Come See about Me: Why the Baby Boomers Liked Stax but Loved Motown

Essay by Gary Kenton, 'Baby Boomers and Popular Culture' (Praeger Books), 2015

ETHNOMUSICOLOGIST and anthropologist Steven Feld studied how meanings are reconstituted when music moves from indigenous communities to a global market. He argues that you cannot ...

Aswad, Desmond Dekker, Inner Circle, Gregory Isaacs, Bob Marley & the Wailers, Matumbi, Mighty Diamonds, Millie, Mutabaruka, Sly & Robbie, Third World, Toots & The Maytals, Peter Tosh: Shot! Reggae Cinema

Guide by Kieron Tyler, Q Classic, 2015

Author's note, 2020: The Harder They Come, conspicuous by its absence from this list, was not included, since it was the subject of a feature ...

Benjamin Booker, DD Dumbo, Rag'N'Bone Man, Ike Turner: "A little punk, a little jazz, a little shoegaze": Meet the new blues

Report and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 1 January 2015

From the spirituals of the deep south to the White Stripes, it's a music that has constantly reimagined itself. But is anyone really ready for ...

Pharrell Williams: From spreading happiness to saving the planet: The rise and rise of Pharrell

Comment by Edward Helmore, The Observer, 25 January 2015

What is driving Pharrell Williams's new global conscience as he joins Al Gore's fight against climate change? ...

Hozier: O2 Shepherds Bush Empire, W12

Live Review by Lisa Verrico, The Times, 2 February 2015

PERHAPS EVERY Hozier show now starts with the audience screaming for so long that the wild-haired Irishman has to wait awkwardly, a grin frozen to ...

Lily Allen, James Blunt, Blur, Coldplay, Florence and the Machine, Genesis, La Roux, The Maccabees, Laura Marling, Mumford & Sons, Mark Ronson, The Zombies: The privileged are taking over the arts – without the grit, pop culture is doomed

Comment by Stuart Maconie, New Statesman, 4 February 2015

With school music spending down and the benefits system crippled, the voices of pop have lost their bite. ...

Gil Scott-Heron: The Revolution Lives On

Report and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 22 February 2015

Political activist, rap pioneer and poet Gil Scott-Heron shaped the sound of today – from Talib Kweli and Kanye West to Kendrick Lamar. His friends ...

The Pop Group: Have the Pop Group finally become a pop group?

Retrospective and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 26 February 2015

Bristol's post-punk provocateurs have released Citizen Zombie, their first album for 35 years. In 1975, they drew on dub, free-jazz and Baudrillard; 2015 finds singer ...

tUnE-yArDs: "Most rock shows are pretty boring"

Profile and Interview by Rob Hughes, Daily Telegraph, 27 February 2015

BENEATH WILD PERFORMANCES and infectious tunes, Merrill Garbus's band tUnE-yArDs is tackling serious subjects. ...

Kendrick Lamar Voices the Ferguson Era

Review by Miles Marshall Lewis, Ebony, 17 March 2015

WE CAN FINALLY take Black Messiah off repeat; masterpiece two has arrived. To Pimp a Butterfly, Kendrick Lamar's thematically and musically layered 16-track sophomore album, ...

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? ...

Umar Bin Hassan: Last Poet Umar Bin Hassan Returns for Revolution

Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 7 April 2015

Are We Trapped, the latest from the voice of the Last Poets, flaunts the original Black revolutionary spirit that still inspires the likes of Kendrick ...

Curtis Mayfield: Revisiting Curtis Mayfield's There's No Place Like America Today

Retrospective by David Bennun, The Quietus, 16 April 2015

NOTE: This article was adapted by its author from a piece in the 1995 Melody Maker book Unknown Pleasures. ...

Richard Goldstein: Another Little Piece of My Heart: My Life of Rock and Revolution in the '60s (Bloomsbury)

Book Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Guardian, 23 May 2015

WHEN RICHARD GOLDSTEIN got married, Murray "the K" Kaufman – the famous New York disc jockey who'd anointed himself "the Fifth Beatle" in 1964 – ...

Kendrick Lamar: "I am Trayvon Martin. I'm all of these kids."

Profile and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 21 June 2015

LAST YEAR, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention presented research demonstrating that "youth living in inner cities show a higher ...

Nina Simone: "Are you ready to burn buildings?"

Retrospective by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 22 June 2015

From singing the soundtrack to the civil rights movement to living in self-imposed exile in Liberia, Nina Simone never chose the easy path. As a ...

Buffy Sainte-Marie

Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, July 2015

DON'T TELL THE wife, but I've fallen for Buffy Sainte-Marie. She probably doesn't feel the same way about me, but then being well-versed in the ...

Dennis Brown, Bob Marley & the Wailers: Tribal War, CIA, Dons & Drugs: Marlon James' A Brief History of Seven Killings

Essay by Paul Bradshaw, Ancient to Future, 15 July 2015

ONE EVENING, as I left the home of friend and fellow scribbler, Neil Spencer, he thrust a weighty tome into my hands and said, "You ...

Curtis Mayfield: 10 of the best

Guide by Stevie Chick, The Guardian, 5 August 2015

Deploying sweet soul and blistering funk – and pouring his gorgeous, honeyed falsetto over it all – Curtis Mayfield veered between breezy optimism and hard-edged ...

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 ...

Hot Tuna, Jefferson Airplane, Jorma Kaukonen: Jorma Kaukonen Finds Somebody To Love

Retrospective and Interview by Wayne Robins, Tablet, 12 August 2015

The former Jefferson Airplane guitarist and Hot Tuna lead man comes home to his mother's faith at his Fur Peace Ranch in Ohio. ...

William Onyeabor, Sinkane: Ahmed Gallab: "I want to make people feel the joy of being alive"

Interview by John Aizlewood, The Evening Standard, 14 August 2015

Ahmed Gallab is all set to blow minds at David Byrne's Meltdown festival, and he hopes his hip sound will inspire youngsters back in his ...

POTUS playlist: Barack Obama shares his favorite summer tracks on Spotify

Comment by Maura Johnston, The Guardian, 14 August 2015

The US president freshens America's musical palate with a survey of tried-and-true classics and discoverable new artists ranging from soul to rock to jazz. ...

Sing along with the common people

Report and Interview by Lisa Verrico, The Sunday Times, 16 August 2015

As gritty, working-class performers get eclipsed by the posh brigade, major labels thirst for the next Oasis. ...

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. ...

Chrissie Hynde: Reckless

Book Review by Evelyn McDonnell, Los Angeles Times, 17 September 2015

There's no pretending in Chrissie Hynde's spare, deft memoir Reckless ...

Morrissey: Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith

Live Review by Kate Allen, Fashion Music Style, 21 September 2015

"THIS IS MY LIFE," are the words Morrissey welcomes the crowd with. And what a life it is at the moment: playing a large number ...

Elvis Presley: Elvis and Black Music

Retrospective by David Burke, Vintage Rock, October 2015

SO THE STORY goes that Elvis stole black music, exploited the influences he absorbed while growing up on the blurred edges of the coloured line ...

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. ...

Faith, Living Colour, Me'Shell Ndegeocello: Fear of Music: A Tribute to Black Rock Coalition

Retrospective and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Red Bull Academy Magazine, 7 October 2015

Michael Gonzales pens a love letter to the pioneering organization that helped propel Living Colour and others to stardom. ...

Björk on Iceland: "We don't go to church, we go for a walk"

Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 16 November 2015

Björk used to walk across the tundra singing at the top of her lungs. John Grant left America for its rocky grandeur and Sigur Rós's ...

The Dictators Play Paris

Report by Paul Rambali, Rock's Backpages, 19 November 2015

THE DICTATORS played in central Paris on Wednesday night and Handsome Dick Manitoba was in exhilarating Noo Yoik form. ...

Jon Savage: 1966 – The Year the Decade Exploded

Book Review by Bob Stanley, The Guardian, 20 November 2015

THE POP MUSIC you hear in your teenage years affects you more deeply than at any other time in your life. People who don't go ...

Gloria Estefan: how her rhythm got America … and the world

Retrospective and Interview by Maura Johnston, The Guardian, 25 November 2015

Pop hits with Latino influences are de rigueur now — and no one has had a greater impact on this state of affairs than Cuban-Americans ...

Bob Dylan: Jeff Taylor and Chad Israelson: The Political World of Bob Dylan – Freedom and Justice, Power and Sin (Palgrave Macmillan)

Book Review by Robert Dean Lurie, National Review, 31 December 2015

WRITING ABOUT Bob Dylan's politics would seem to be a thankless task. The famously curmudgeonly songwriter claims to know and care little about the subject, ...

Redbone: Redbone

Sleeve notes by David Burke, Repertoire Records, 2016

THEY WERE Native American culture in vivid sound and colour, contemporary scions of a proud people, renewing primordial rhythms and imagery, making them new again ...

Sleater-Kinney: Carrie Brownstein: Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl: A Memoir (Virago)

Book Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, January 2016

ARTISTICALLY, 2015 has been quite a year for Carrie Brownstein — the band that brought her to public attention, Sleater-Kinney, returned with No Cities To ...

P. F. Sloan: P.F. Sloan: Requiem For An Icon of Song

Retrospective by Kirk Silsbee, Glendale News-Press, 2 January 2016

SONGWRITER P.F. Sloan died in November of pancreatic cancer, at age 70.  Though the general music audience has seldom known his name, among singers and tunesmiths ...

James Brown, George Clinton, Sam Cooke, Curtis Mayfield, Prince: Take The Power Back: Black Artist-Owned Labels

Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Red Bull Academy Magazine, 25 January 2016

At the height of their careers, Sam Cooke, Curtis Mayfield, James Brown, George Clinton and Prince all formed their own imprints. Michael Gonzales tells the ...

Panic! at the Disco: Brendon Urie on his new album, Death of a Bachelor

Interview by Pip Williams, Coup De Main, 22 February 2016

Hot on the heels of his new album release, we had a chat with Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco. Now we've had a ...

David Bowie: The Gender Politics of David Bowie

Essay by Larry Jaffee, Women Across Frontiers, 29 February 2016

DAVID BOWIE embodied the fictional character of Ziggy Stardust for only about 18 months circa 1972-1973. Yet it's usually an image of that garishly made ...

Stick in the Wheel: What's Cookin', Leytonstone Ex-Servicemen's Club, London

Live Review by Nick Hasted, Uncut, March 2016

From the London riots to 18th-century laments on English injustice, the critically acclaimed band bring folk back home. ...

Graham Nash (2016)

Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages audio, 8 March 2016

The ex-Hollie and CSN(Y) associate talks about his new album This Path Tonight; about seeing the Everlys in Manchester as a youth, harmony singing, the recent changes in his life; about Trump, religion and the state of the world, and his continuing love of photography; and about the tribulations of David Crosby and the health of old flame Joni Mitchell.

File format: mp3; file size: 49.5mb, interview length: 51' 35" sound quality: *****

Billy Bragg: English national anthem: Is 'Jerusalem' the hymn we've been looking for?

Comment by Peter Silverton, The Independent, 10 March 2016

In its 100 years, the hymn 'Jerusalem' has been sung with feeling by those of all political colours, says Peter Silverton. ...

Ani DiFranco: Righteous Babe: Ani DiFranco On Music, Politics, And Staying Independent

Interview by Mark Leviton, The Sun Magazine, May 2016

SINGER-SONGWRITER Ani DiFranco doesn't like her music to be labelled. Some have called it "folk-punk," but when asked to define what she does, DiFranco says, ...

Ben Harper

Report and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, June 2016

WHEN BEN HARPER reunited with his band, the Innocent Criminals, for a sold-out four-night run at San Francisco's Fillmore in March, 2015, seven years after ...

Prince: The Sexual Politics of Prince

Essay by Larry Jaffee, Women Across Frontiers, 15 June 2016

PRINCE'S UNEXPECTED passing on April 21, 2016, shook popular culture and resulted in the long-overdue recognition of his unique musical genius. Yet Prince enigmatically contradicted ...

Christy Moore

Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, July 2016

WHEN YOU THINK about it, email is only a truncated form of letter writing. The art of literary correspondence re-imagined. And every bit as revealing ...

Leyla McCalla

Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, July 2016

IF THE Haitian government wants to improve the international perception of its country, appointing Leyla McCalla as cultural ambassador with a roaming brief could be ...

Ani DiFranco, Woody Guthrie: Ani DiFranco Seeks a Higher Truth

Interview by Jim Sullivan, Cape Cod Times, August 2016

"THE IMPORTANT thing in poetry or songwriting is to ignore the facts and tell the truth," says singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco, on the phone from her ...

Aluk Todolo, Bobby Beausoleil & The Freedom Orchestra , Black Widow, Blue Öyster Cult, Graham Bond, Coven, Jimmy Page, Rudimentary Peni, Skullflower, John Zorn: The Primer: Occult rock

Guide by Edwin Pouncey, The Wire, August 2016

Channelling the magick of Aleister Crowley and the neo-paganism of witchcraft, occult rock is the sound of rock 'n' roll's secret society. Edwin Pouncey reads ...

Eric Clapton, Morrissey: Eric Clapton & Enoch Powell To Morrissey: Race In British Music Since '76

Essay by David Stubbs, The Quietus, 9 August 2016

During an August 1976 gig in Birmingham, Eric Clapton made racist comments and praised Enoch Powell, inadvertently inspiring the Rock Against Racism campaign. Four decades ...

The Get Down Proves Why The Bronx Will Always Matter

Memoir by Miles Marshall Lewis, The Fader, 11 August 2016

Why the 1970s depicted in Baz Luhrmann’s new Netflix series is an accurate portrait of that era. ...

"Landmark clubs are evidence of creativity and energy in a city": why Fabric's closure matters

Report and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 8 September 2016

Britain's clubland is shrinking but the world-famous London venue had survived the trend – until now. What does its loss mean for the capital's cultural ...

Escape from Sanity: An Englishman in San Francisco in 1967

Memoir by Andrew Tyler, unpublished, October 2016

NOTE: This is an excerpt from an as-yet unpublished memoir by the former Disc/NME writer and Animal Aid activist, who very sadly died on 28 ...

Solange's A Seat At the Table Is The Epitome of #Woke Music

Review by Miles Marshall Lewis, Essence, 3 October 2016

Solo comes with Nina Simone, 'Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair' levels of intra-cultural adoration all over A Seat at the Table. ...

Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah (Christian Scott): Jazz artist of the week: Christian Scott

Profile by Jasper Murison-Bowie, Under City Lights, 16 October 2016

Who is he? Fully conscious of jazz tradition but also deeply embedded in today's music landscape, trumpeter Christian Scott draws on indie rock, hip-hop and beyond ...

PJ Harvey: O2 Academy Brixton, London

Live Review by David Bennun, The Guardian, 31 October 2016

The musician brings her Hope Six Demolition Project on tour to rail against social ills, and confirm her status as a forceful commentator. ...

Jon Bon Jovi on Trump, Bono, Bieber — and the agony of his split with Richie Sambora

Profile and Interview by Kate Mossman, New Statesman, 1 November 2016

IT'S SOMETHING unheard of in the modern PR junket, but Jon Bon Jovi interviews are running early. Breaks have been built into his day but ...

Leonard Cohen and his eternal search for peace

Retrospective by Mick Brown, Sunday Telegraph, 13 November 2016

IN 1999 LEONARD COHEN travelled to India to see a spiritual teacher named Ramesh Balsekar.  Cohen was a man in search, if not exactly of ...

Drake, Green Day, Sting: American Music Awards: anti-Trump sentiment peppers pop's timid party

Report by Maura Johnston, The Guardian, 21 November 2016

Usually the awards show is a chance for those who turn up to walk away with a gong, but this year several acts and presenters ...

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)

Beyoncé, Drake, Amanda Ghost, Solange, Taylor Swift: Where are the political pop stars?

Report and Interview by Lisa Verrico, The Sunday Times, 11 December 2016

Selfie-obsessed stars are selling out to the power of branding. ...

Phil Ochs: How Phil Ochs Went from Folk Hero to Rock & Roll Revolutionary

Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, 2017

PHIL OCHS had been on the stage of Carnegie Hall before. He first headlined there in January 1966, armed with incendiary topical material and witty ...

Gary Glitter: Rock 'N' Roll Part 3? Gary Glitter's future

Comment by Alan Clayson, unpublished, 2017

IN 2015, 74-old Gary Glitter began a sixteen-year prison term for crimes that, seemingly, were beyond the prerogative of a rock star's outlaw chic. This ...

Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson: The Girls of Rhythm Nation

Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, 2017

THEY COULD have been rivals in a pop soap opera. Whitney Houston prim and buttoned-up, Janet Jackson frisky and up for anything. Whitney was a ...

Solange: A Seat At The Table

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, January 2017

WITH 2012's EP True – the wonderful lead single 'Losing You' in particular – Solange Knowles minted a melancholy kind of lilting soul; as in ...

Austra: "How psychedelic would our world be if technology wasn't just about making someone money?"

Interview by Maura Johnston, The Guardian, 5 January 2017

Depressed at the state of the world, Canadian vocalist and producer Katie Stelmanis dove into Naomi Klein, Star Trek, cyborgs and Latin American dance music ...

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

Retrospective by Kris Needs, Shindig, February 2017

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

Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry: "Purposeful pop": can stars like Katy Perry create change through music?

Comment by Maura Johnston, The Guardian, 14 February 2017

After Perry's #wokepop at the Grammys, there's an argument about how subversive pop can be in 2017. History shows it will take more than hashtags. ...

Curtis Mayfield: Move On Up: Curtis Mayfield Part 2

Retrospective by Kris Needs, Shindig, March 2017

VASTLY EXCEEDING his hopes when it was released that September, Curtis was greeted as the most exciting soul album since Isaac Hayes' Hot Buttered Soul ...

Run the Jewels: Run The Jewels 3

Review and Interview by Stephen Dalton, Uncut, March 2017

Alt-rap activists Killer Mike and El-P rage against the obscene on politically charged third album.  ...

Prefab Sprout: Why Prefab Sprout's return with 'America' is a whim and a wonder

Report by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 6 March 2017

Paddy McAloon surfaced on Friday with a new track that is heartbreaking in an entirely unexpected way. ...

Hurray for the Riff Raff: The Navigator

Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 9 March 2017

"I FEEL THAT the soul of New York is under attack," Americana songwriter and Bronx native Alynda Segarra recently said. Her sixth album as Hurray ...

Chuck Berry: The Complicated Truth About Chuck Berry

Memoir by Caryn Rose, MTV.com, 20 March 2017

How I figured out a way to love his music in spite of his often-unsavory story ...

Ray Davies: Amended Legacy: The Kinks' Ray Davies Interviewed

Interview by Patrick Clarke, The Quietus, 11 April 2017

As Ray Davies prepares for the launch of the next phase of his colossal Americana project, Patrick Clarke speaks to the Kinks frontman on America, ...

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. ...

U2: In Trump's country: U2 takes Joshua Tree politics back on the road

Live Review by Caryn Rose, salon.com, 16 May 2017

30 years after their blisteringly political album and tour, U2 opts for subtle anti-Trump imagery over big speeches. ...

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 ...

The Dixie Chicks: There's Your Trouble: Considering the Dixie Chicks controversy, with hindsight 20/20

Retrospective and Interview by Holly Gleason, No Depression, 23 May 2017

IT WAS EARLY 2003. The Dixie Chicks were easily the biggest girl group in history — and also the biggest act in country music post–Garth ...

Hey Colossus: The Guillotine

Review by Patrick Clarke, The Quietus, 8 June 2017

In The Guillotine Hey Colossus have hit a new peak just when it felt like there was no higher for them to climb. Patrick Clarke ...

Public Service Broadcasting

Report and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 17 June 2017

The band's new album, Every Valley, chronicles the destruction of the Welsh coal industry and how its legacy still resonates in these uncertain times. ...

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 ...

Public Service Broadcasting: Every Valley

Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 6 July 2017

The nostalgia merchants remember the miners with turgid, insipid, bizarrely misjudged pap. Luke Turner is righteously appalled. ...

Morrissey: When did charming become cranky? Why a middle-aged Morrissey is so hard to love

Comment by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 23 July 2017

As a new biopic England is Mine charts the Smiths singer's early life, fans speak of their disillusion at his increasingly outspoken views. ...

Feist: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 28 July 2017

The Canadian indie-folk star transforms the sparse songs of recent album Pleasure into luminous ballads and splenetic blues-rock shredding. ...

Roger Waters: Fearless

Profile and Interview by Alan Light, MOJO, August 2017

IN JULY 1978, the members of Pink Floyd gathered at Britannia Row, their studio in London. It had been almost exactly a year since the ...

Soweto Kinch: A Singular Jazz Odyssey

Profile and Interview by David Burke, All About Jazz, 10 August 2017

SOWETO KINCH was a curious teenager when an encounter with Wynton Marsalis impelled him on his own jazz odyssey. An odyssey characterised by the creation ...

PJ Harvey: Playhouse, Edinburgh

Live Review by Graeme Thomson, Mail On Sunday, 13 August 2017

THERE'S NO NEED to ask how PJ Harvey takes her coffee. From the all-black dress code and shadowy stage lighting to the dense, dusky music, ...

Bruce Springsteen: Live In Belfast 1996 – The Ghost Of Tom Joad Revisited

Review by Rod Tootell, Rock's Backpages, October 2017

RUNNING THROUGH October and November, Bruce Springsteen will play a series of solo shows at the Walter Kerr Theatre on Broadway. It seems a fitting ...

Stormzy is the star the world was waiting for

Profile by Dorian Lynskey, GQ, October 2017

He's the showman his scene's been waiting for and grime's thunderous hit-maker is setting the record with guts and grace.  ...

Herbie Hancock, Omar, Courtney Pine: Courtney Pine

Profile and Interview by David Burke, All About Jazz, 16 October 2017

COURTNEY PINE didn't pick up his beloved tenor saxophone for more than a decade, until an album exploring the black British experience demanded it. The ...

Burial: Why Burial's Untrue Is the Most Important Electronic Album of the Century So Far

Retrospective by Simon Reynolds, Pitchfork, 26 October 2017

Delving into the politics, emotion, and musical history behind the disquieting masterwork a decade after its release. ...

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 ...

The Eagles: Trouble in Paradise: The Eagles' Hotel California and mid-'70s Los Angeles

Retrospective by Ed Doheny, Rock's Backpages, November 2017

DON HENLEY once described the Eagles' 1976 album Hotel California as "our interpretation of the high life of Los Angeles", adding that the band had ...

Alice Coltrane: "It's like you're on top of the Alps": Alice Coltrane's spiritual jazz rediscovered

Retrospective by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 17 November 2017

This weekend sees a host of London jazz festival events revisit the work of Alice Coltrane, who broke the rules of jazz to blaze a ...

Eminem: Revival

Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 15 December 2017

THE MAIN THING that sets Eminem apart from virtually all other rappers is the conflicted nature of his character. Where most wallow in wearyingly cliched ...

1968 and all that

Memoir by Alan Clayson, unpublished, 2018

50 years later, Alan Clayson recalls a pivotal year of a '60s that was far from Swinging. ...

Cliff Richard: Arise, Sir Cliff

Retrospective by David Burke, Vintage Rock, 2018

FOR SOMEONE who'd enjoyed a consistent run of success, not to mention the adulation of the public since 'Move It'launched him as Britain's answer to ...

Little Richard: Great Gosh A'Mighty

Retrospective by David Burke, Vintage Rock, 2018

THE FIRST SIGN appeared on a flight from Melbourne to Sydney in 1957. Little Richard was travelling up country as part of a touring bill ...

Mary Gauthier: Rifles & Rosary Beads

Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 25 January 2018

MARY GAUTHIER'S reputation as one of today's greatest songwriters, admired by peers such as Tom Waits and Bob Dylan, is rooted in her relentless commitment ...

Beck: "I miss people. I have a longing for connection and human contact": Life on Planet Beck

Profile and Interview by Kate Mossman, New Statesman, 30 January 2018

THE CHILSTON PARK Hotel in Lenham, Kent, was once owned by Judith and Martin Miller, the antiques stars of the '80s who wrote the Miller's ...

Manic Street Preachers: Melancholy Optimism: Manic Street Preachers

Interview by Patrick Clarke, The Quietus, 19 February 2018

The Manic Street Preachers thought they might never make another album again, then along came Resistance Is Futile. Patrick Clarke meets Nicky Wire to discuss ...

Joan Baez, Bob Dylan: Joan Baez

Interview by Graeme Thomson, Mail On Sunday, 24 March 2018

She's the queen of the '60s protest song, who helped make her lover Bob Dylan famous. Now, as she prepares for her farewell tour, Joan ...

Ry Cooder: The Prodigal Son

Review by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, April 2018

FOR AN ALBUM on which he takes stock of a 21st century US riddled with crises and uncertainty, Cooder astutely plunders the grammar of the ...

Sampa the Great: After the Australian Music Prize, Sampa the Great wants to set her story straight

Interview by Jenny Valentish, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 5 April 2018

SAMPA THE GREAT didn't get the memo that artists should be of the tortured persuasion. She peppers her speech with gales of laughter. She wants ...

The Clash: Casbah Rock: A Death Threat against the Clash

Book Excerpt by Stuart Bailie, 'Trouble Songs' (Bloomfield), May 2018

Excerpted from Trouble Songs: Music and Conflict in Northern Ireland ...

Journey's Jonathan Cain: Still Believin' in Music and Other Higher Powers

Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 1 May 2018

YOU COULD practically hear the piercing screams of millions of HBO viewers across the land on the night of June 10, 2007 as they were ...

Stiff Little Fingers: Stuart Bailie on Trouble Songs: "I wanted to do something beautiful and pure"

Interview by Peter Murphy, The Irish Times, 12 May 2018

For his new book, about the music that soundtracked the Troubles in Northern Ireland, Belfast journalist Stuart Bailie followed the DIY aesthetic of the punk-era ...

Frank Turner: Roundhouse, London — big-hearted anthems and love songs to America

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 14 May 2018

The provocative singer-songwriter balances the profane and the polite with a set that triggers a joyous mass sing-along ...

Courtney Barnett: Coping Mechanisms

Interview by Pip Williams, The Line of Best Fit, 15 May 2018

Ahead of her second album, Tell Me How You Really Feel, Courtney Barnett tells Pip Williams how she's embraced anxiety and used it as a ...

The Mighty Shamrocks: 'The Troubles' with Mickey: Local Singer Revisits the Wasteground of His Northern Ireland Youth

Retrospective and Interview by Mark Kemp, Creative Loafing, 16 May 2018

THE SINGER AND guitarist for the Mighty Shamrocks was packing up his gear one night after an early-'80s pub gig in the Bogside neighborhood of ...

Whitney Houston, Courtney Pine, Simple Minds, The Special AKA, Sting, Stevie Wonder: When Pop Went Political: Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute

Retrospective and Interview by David Burke, Classic Pop, June 2018

IT WAS A PARTY staged to express solidarity with the world's most famous political prisoner, while concurrently expressing vehement opposition to an overtly racist system ...

The Special AKA: When Pop Went Political: Nelson Mandela's 70th Birthday Tribute Concert

Retrospective and Interview by David Burke, Classic Pop, June 2018

IT WAS A party staged to express solidarity with the world's most famous political prisoner, while concurrently expressing vehement opposition to an overtly racist system ...

New Order: Why New Order's football song 'World in Motion' was a game-changer

Retrospective and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 13 June 2018

In 1990, English football wasn't cool – and English football songs certainly weren't. New Order's shambolic, ecstasy-tinged World Cup hit was the first sign everything was about ...

Kamasi Washington: Heaven and Earth

Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 20 June 2018

THE CHAIN REACTION from Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly was explosive enough to blow a hole in America's musical ghettos. Hip hop's newly anointed ...

Sudan Archives: I'm new here: Sudan Archives

Profile and Interview by John Lewis, Uncut, July 2018

This month: heady, Afro-futurist R&B from the violinist and singer otherwise knownas Brittney Denise Parks   ...

Brian Eno: In the Hot Seat with Larry LeBlanc: Brian Eno, musician, artist, producer, thinker

Interview by Larry LeBlanc, Celebrity Access, July 2018

IT IS APPARENT that there's no measure in contemporary culture to absolutely gauge Brian Eno. His staggering command of several creative disciplines places him alongside ...

When Eurovision came to town

Report and Interview by Tim Cooper, Little Atoms, 12 July 2018

In 1993, as war raged in the Balkans, the Eurovision circus descended on the tiny Irish town of Millstreet. It was with the emergence of ...

Run-DMC: Run DMC: Won't stop rockin'

Interview by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, August 2018

They've survived splits, breakdowns and the unsolved murder of DJ Jam Master Jay, but Run-DMC are still causing hard times for sucker MCs ...

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 ...

Aretha Franklin: Honoring Aretha Franklin, legendary "Queen of Soul," the greatest singer of our time

Obituary by Caryn Rose, salon.com, 16 August 2018

The following is a chapter from Women Who Rock: Bessie to Beyoncé, Girl Groups to Riot Grrrl (Black Dog & Leventhal, 2018), edited by Evelyn ...

Charlie Daniels, Bob Dylan: In concert, Daniels doesn't mix politics with music

Interview by Jim Sullivan, Cape Cod Times, 16 August 2018

CHARLIE DANIELS is pretty clear about what you will hear and will not hear when he and his five-piece band take the stage Saturday night ...

Aretha Franklin: Aretha: The Voice of America

Obituary by Carol Cooper, The Village Voice, 17 August 2018

IT MAY BE difficult for anyone born after 1980 to fully grasp how important Aretha Franklin has been to America. There is simply no longer ...

Patty Waters: Jazz from the abyss: Patty Waters' Sings

Retrospective and Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, September 2018

This month's communique from the haunted dancehall: intense, free vocalisations which sustained the young Patti Smith. ...

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 ...

Booker T & The MGs: How Stax Records Merged the Music and the Message in 1968

Retrospective and Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 22 October 2018

AS BOTH THE history books and an endless stream of 50th anniversary documentaries have taught us, 1968 was an Especially Important Year in the United ...

Wayne Kramer, MC5: Legendary Rock Guitarist Wayne Kramer Talks "MC50" Tour, Free Jazz Influences and His Jail Guitar Doors Non-Profit Org

Report and Interview by Steven R Rosen, Cincinnati CityBeat, 23 October 2018

Kramer and members of Soundgarden, Faith No More and Fugazi perform MC5 classics at Bogart's on Oct. 25. ...

Joan Baez: Royce Hall, Los Angeles

Live Review by Michael Simmons, L.A. Weekly, 13 November 2018

ON SATURDAY, NOV. 10, Royce Hall at UCLA was sold out for Joan Baez's Fare Thee Well… Tour 2018. At the age of 77, the ...

A Top 40 Countdown & A Plea For a Mitzvah in the Streaming Age: The Best Music Journalism of 2018

Guide by Jason Gross, Rock's Backpages, December 2018

2018 WAS A really good year, just not politically, socially, psychologically and spiritually... well, there was plenty of good music, as Fader, Consequence of Sound ...

Manic Street Preachers: James Dean Bradfield

Interview by Henry Yates, Classic Rock, December 2018

The Manic Street Preachers frontman on fame, hecklers and getting beaten to UK#1 by the "fucking Greatest Showman…" ...

Kanye West: Inside the mind of Kanye West: Searching for... Kanye (BBC Three)

Preview by Patrick Clarke, bbc.co.uk, 14 December 2018

The rapper has hit the headlines almost as much for his mental health as his music this year, but what's really going on? ...

Bessie Smith: How Bessie Smith Really Died

Book Excerpt by Tom Graves, 'White Boy' (Devault-Graves), 2019

THE LONGEST AND best job I had during the 1980s not long after I got my college degree was as the copywriter for a major ...

The Dis-Education of Rock 'n' Roll

Essay by Gary Kenton, 'Teachers, Teaching, and Media' (Brill), 2019

This essay first appeared in Teachers, Teaching, and Media, Mary M. Dalton and Laura R. Linder, editors. ...

The Doubts Aired As Gags: Three Decades of Cross-Cultural Utopianism in UK Music-Writing

Book Excerpt by Mark Sinker, Strange Attractor Press, January 2019

Extract from Mark Sinker's introduction to A HIDDEN LANDSCAPE ONCE A WEEK: The Unruly Curiosity of the UK Music Press in the 1960s-80s, in the words ...

Johnny Rotten, My Mom and Me

Memoir by Kimberly Mack, Longreads, February 2019

Kimberly Mack recalls the ways in which rock music bonded her with her African American mom, and how those fierce sounds helped them cope with ...

Beyoncé: I'm More Than What You Made of Me: Making Sense of Beyoncé's Curious Film Career

Essay by Jason King, Red Bull Academy Magazine, 18 February 2019

Jason King explores the best and worst of Beyoncé's movie roles – and how they help us better understand her path to global superstardom. ...

Sleaford Mods: Eton Alive

Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 27 February 2019

Sleaford Mods new album is a huge leap forward and a welcome exploration of the nuances of masculine identity, says Luke Turner ...

Foals: Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part I

Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 8 March 2019

Foals have found a new zip to their grooves: this is a fitting soundtrack for a world mired in uncertainty ...

Wheatus: How We Made 'Teenage Dirtbag'

Interview by Henry Yates, The Guardian, 22 May 2019

Author's note: This is the original version of the piece submitted to the Guardian.   ...

Aswad, Smiley Culture, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Janet Kay, Matumbi, Misty In Roots, Musical Youth, Maxi Priest, Steel Pulse, Carroll Thompson, UB40: When British Reggae Was King

Retrospective and Interview by David Burke, Classic Pop, June 2019

Reggae may have been born in Jamaica, but it grew up in '80s Britain at a time of evolving multiculturalism, finding an unlikely ally in ...

Rammstein: Rock's most dangerous band: why Rammstein's incendiary retelling of history terrifies Germany

Report and Interview by Ian Winwood, Daily Telegraph, 1 July 2019

Playing with fire ...

Joan Baez: Saint Joan

Retrospective and Interview by Liz Thomson, Tortoise, 21 July 2019

As Joan Baez prepares to give her final performance, Liz Thomson talks to her and traces a 60-year career filled with courage and conviction. ...

De La Soul, Public Enemy, Wu-Tang Clan: Gods of Rap: Manchester Arena, May 11

Live Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, August 2019

Believe the hype: Public Enemy, Wu-Tang Clan and De La Soul deliver a hip-hop masterclass ...

Little Steven, Steven Van Zandt: Steven Van Zandt: why playing in Springsteen's band helped me become right-hand man to a very different boss... Tony Soprano

Retrospective and Interview by Adrian Deevoy, Event Magazine, 3 August 2019

FOR FANS of The Sopranos, Steven Van Zandt will forever be Sil, consigliere — chief adviser — to troubled mob boss Tony Soprano. In reality ...

Sleater-Kinney carry on with new album and new purpose

Interview by Andrew Stafford, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 15 August 2019

THE CENTRE Won't Hold, the title of Sleater-Kinney's ninth album, is taken from W.B. Yeats' 1919 poem The Second Coming, the words of which have ...

Billy Bragg interview: "I can't watch Question Time anymore — it's like the Coliseum"

Interview by Ian Winwood, Daily Telegraph, 18 September 2019

ON THE SONG 'Old Clash Fan Fight Song', a bash-em-out deep cut from the Fight Songs album of 2011, Billy Bragg sings of "a mate ...

Brittany Howard: History Repeats

Profile and Interview by Alan Light, Relix, October 2019

"THAT'S SCARY, but don't worry," says the tarot card reader. "The devil is kind of weirdly positive, though it looks crazy." ...

The Kinks' Arthur: Its genius and its fate

Retrospective by Geoffrey Cannon, Rock's Backpages, October 2019

Arthur (the Decline and Fall of the British Empire), the Kinks's second song-cycle, was released half a century ago, in October 1969. It is now ...

Elbow: Giants of All Sizes

Review by Nick Hasted, The Arts Desk, 10 October 2019

Brutal times put Guy Garvey at bay. ...

Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Ke$ha, Kendrick Lamar, Usher: Activism, Identity Politics, and Pop's Great Awokening

Comment by Jason King, Pitchfork, 11 October 2019

From Beyoncé to Kendrick to Kesha, pop's turn to political activism produced some of the decade's most memorable moments. ...

Christina Aguilera: "I Look Back At That Younger Me And I Want To Tell Her Not All Men Are Like That"

Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Sunday Times, 13 October 2019

CHRISTINA AGUILERA was just 14 when she made her first record — a child in an industry where older men made all the decisions. Now ...

Billy Bragg: Best Of Billy Bragg at the BBC, 1983–2019

Review by Tony Burke, Morning Star, 24 October 2019

The radical pedigree of Billy Bragg's latest compilation release shows why he's in danger of becoming a national treasure, says Tony Burke. ...

Richard Dawson: Anthems for a blighted nation

Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 27 October 2019

Celebrated for his incredible voice and outsider-folk charm, the musician is stepping out of the shadows with his new album, 2020, a one-of-a-kind opus that ...

Beck: "I think there's a misconception": Beck on Scientology

Profile and Interview by Andrew Stafford, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 22 November 2019

BECK LOOKS toasted. Under round vintage sunglasses and a broad-brimmed black hat, the cheeks of one of the most inventive, elusive artists of the last ...

Coldplay: Natural History Museum, London

Live Review by Rick Pearson, The Evening Standard, 26 November 2019

Arena mainstays downsize for whale of a night at the Natural History Museum ...

LaVern Baker, Chuck Berry, Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, Elvis Presley: Rock'n'Roll and Race: One Nation Under a Beat

Retrospective by David Burke, Vintage Rock, December 2019

America was riven by racial conflict when rock'n'roll breached the colour line, uniting black and white youth in a precursor to the hard-won equalities of ...

The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur: "I didn't want it to be an autopsy": the podcast exploring Biggie and Tupac's murders

Report and Interview by Stevie Chick, The Guardian, 7 December 2019

A new series of Slow Burn re-examines the deaths of two of music's biggest stars. "We still haven't had closure," says its host. ...

Johnny Cash: Jail House Rock

Retrospective by Alan Light, MOJO, February 2020

JOHNNY CASH stood on the makeshift stage at Folsom Prison, set up in the cafeteria, behind death row. Almost a hundred men had been executed ...

Cab Calloway, August Darnell, Gene Krupa: Time Machine: June 1943 – L.A.'s Zoot Suit Riots

Retrospective by Fred Dellar, unpublished, February 2020

CAB CALLOWAY was something of a superstar by 1943. A would-be Harlem Globetrotter, he'd had that possible career nixed by his big sister Blanche, who ...

Max Raabe: Life is a postmodern cabaret for Germany's cult singer

Interview by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 10 February 2020

Max Raabe brings the music of 1920s Jazz Age Berlin to Britain next month. Stephen Dalton meets him ...

HMLTD: Why London band HMTLD are the real (meal) deal

Interview by Paul Moody, Another Man, 11 February 2020

HMLTD's Henry Spychalski talks to Paul Moody about the band's debut album West of Eden and why they're trying to offer an alternative version of ...

Ice-T: "I don't hate cops – I hate racists"

Interview by Ian Winwood, Daily Telegraph, 13 March 2020

ON SEPTEMBER 30th, 1992, Ice-T performed a concert with his metal band Body Count at the Jack Adams Stadium in San Diego. On a bill ...

Morrissey, The Smiths: The Cult Of Steve: Morrissey Live At Wembley Arena

Live Review by John Calvert, The Quietus, 17 March 2020

John Calvert is dragged by his lifelong Smiths fan girlfriend to Wembley — but will he finally see what all the fuss is about? ...

Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel: "You still have us": how Peter Gabriel's 'Don’t Give Up' became a lifeline for the lonely

Retrospective by Ian Winwood, Daily Telegraph, 27 March 2020

IT IS ALMOST eight years since the video clip for 'Don't Give Up' first appeared on YouTube. Written and sung by Peter Gabriel, and featuring ...

The Rolling Stones: Black, blue and very bad taste: the Rolling Stones billboard that still sparks controversy

Retrospective by Edward Helmore, The Observer, 19 April 2020

There was a feminist outcry when the band used a tied-up model to promote their 1976 album. Is rock'n'roll more enlightened now? ...

Cher Lloyd is bigger than the bullshit

Interview by Pip Williams, The Line of Best Fit, 4 May 2020

Cher Lloyd cannot think of anything worse than taking up breadmaking in lockdown. ...

The Scorpions: Can a power ballad change the world?

Retrospective and Interview by Ian Winwood, Daily Telegraph, 20 May 2020

A hit podcast investigates the theory that the German rockers' global smash was written by the CIA. But the truth is even more incredible. ...

Pat Boone: The Literary Boone

Memoir by Gary Pig Gold, Ballbuster Music, 1 June 2020

THE CHRISTMAS following my Pancakes with Pat, a strange package arrived on my doorstep from a hitherto unknown address in Burbank, California. "Boone Productions, Inc.," ...

Paul Simon: How Graceland saved Paul Simon — and offended the anti-apartheid world

Retrospective by Ian Winwood, Daily Telegraph, 10 June 2020

Forged in South Africa, the 1986 masterpiece drew accusations of 'cultural appropriation', offence and theft. What were Simon's intentions? ...

The Chicks: Gaslighter (Columbia)

Review by David Bennun, Metro, July 2020

THE CHICKS formerly known as Dixie haven't released a new studio album in 14 years, which makes Gaslighter a pretty big deal. ...

Public Enemy: Chuck D: "The presidency aged Obama – what will it do to Biden?"

Interview by Ian Winwood, Daily Telegraph, 13 July 2020

The hip-hop pioneer talks about the ongoing protests in America, the forthcoming presidential election and how to face down the KKK. ...

Heather Leigh: Glory Days

Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 15 July 2020

Not your bog standard lockdown project, Heather Leigh's Glory Days feels like a new lease of life, finds Luke Turner ...

Nadine Shah

Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 23 July 2020

The musician talks about missing Glastonbury, being inspired by Abigail's Party and turning the tables on music critics. ...

Frank Turner: Live rock returns, from a distance: inside Frank Turner's "government-endorsed" pilot concert

Review by Ian Winwood, Daily Telegraph, 29 July 2020

AT FOUR PM on Tuesday 28th July, the English singer Frank Turner leans over a table in a small room in South West London and ...

Sam Fender: Virgin Money Unity Arena, Newcastle — the return of live music, at a distance

Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 14 August 2020

Sam Fender was the first to perform at the socially distanced Virgin Money Unity Arena music venue ...

Sufjan Stevens: "I Wish There Could Be A Revolution": Sufjan Stevens Interviewed

Interview by Patrick Clarke, The Quietus, 21 September 2020

On his new album The Ascension, Sufjan Stevens has abandoned his trademark intricacy and found the power in platitudes. He speaks to Patrick Clarke about ...

Malcolm McLaren: Jewish manager as professional troublemaker

Retrospective by Gary Lucas, Please Kill Me!, 13 October 2020

A new doorstopper-sized (900+ pages) biography of Malcolm McLaren by Paul Gorman got musician Gary Lucas thinking about one part of the former Sex Pistol/Bow ...

Litany: Capricorn season

Interview by Pip Williams, The Line of Best Fit, 18 November 2020

Singer Beth Cornell chats to Pip Williams about songs, sex, and famous fans as she reveals the new Litany single 'Uh-Huh'. ...

Enemies of the sheeple: why do pop stars fall for conspiracy theories?

Comment by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 30 November 2020

From Madonna to Ian Brown, musicians seem to be drawn to wild theories about JFK and 5G. There's a reason for that… ...

Music in lockdown

Report by Rob Hughes, Uncut, January 2021

WHILE IT'S been a highly challenging year for the music industry – particularly in terms of cancelled tours, venue closures and a disrupted retail market ...

Pink Floyd: Raving and drooling: How Pink Floyd made Animals

Retrospective by Daryl Easlea, Prog, January 2021

Pink Floyd's Animals was released in 1977, but its themes continue to strike a chord in the modern day. ...

Covid has pushed pop culture into nostalgia. It's time for something new

Comment by Mark Sinker, The Observer, 10 January 2021

Hopefully this crisis marks the high tide of the tendency endlessly to remake, remodel and recycle the past ...

Yvette Janine Jackson: Freedom (Fridman Gallery)

Review by John Lewis, The Guardian, 15 January 2021

The composer’s two new works, exploring slavery and homophobia, are like immersive non-visual films ...

Aretha Franklin: Preacher's Daughter

Book Excerpt by Tony Scherman, PopMatters, 12 March 2021

Our recent glimpse of Tony Scherman's biography in progress, I Gave My Heart and Soul to You: The Triumph of Aretha Franklin, told the story ...

The Go-Betweens, Tracey Thorn: Tracey Thorn's new book, My Rock 'n' Roll Friend, is settling scores for women

Interview by Lisa Verrico, The Sunday Times, 28 March 2021

The pop star turned author on her memoir of the Go-Betweens drummer Lindy Morrison ...

Various Artists: Jon Savage's 1972-1976 – All Our Times Have Come

Review by Kieron Tyler, The Arts Desk, 28 March 2021

Tracking the route to punk without stating the obvious ...

Wolf Alice on that Marilyn Manson "upskirting incident"

Interview by Laura Barton, The Evening Standard, 27 May 2021

Wolf Alice were making a third album when Covid hit — now it's arrived and its creators are itching to get back to business. They ...

Slept on Soul: Paul Mooney's Race

Column by Michael A. Gonzales, soulhead, 28 May 2021

AS A CHILD of the 1970s, I grew-up as a fan of racy Black comedy albums. My "summer mother" Aunt Ricky had a stash of ...

Lydia Lunch's Infinite Rebellion

Profile and Interview by Jim Farber, The New York Times, 28 June 2021

FOR NEARLY two hours on a recent afternoon, Lydia Lunch sat in her bright Brooklyn apartment and spoke with bracing speed, and at an alarming ...

The 5th Dimension, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King: Stevie, Gladys, Nina … Summer of Soul uncovers a festival greater than Woodstock

Retrospective and Interview by Stevie Chick, The Guardian, 15 July 2021

As the US boiled with violence, 1969's Harlem cultural festival nourished spirits with soul, jazz and gospel. Now, Questlove has turned lost footage of it ...

Jimmy Cliff: The return of Jimmy Cliff: 'Rebel spirit is still in the Jamaican people'

Retrospective and Interview by Lloyd Bradley, The Guardian, 6 August 2021

As he releases new music at the age of 77, one of reggae's foundational figures charts his astonishing life in music, via swinging London, Brazilian ...

Jack Kerouac: Still Rockin' in the Beat world

Essay by Simon Warner, Perfect Sound Forever, October 2021

How Kerouac cool continues to fuel popular music passions as the writer's Centenary nears in 2022 ...

Janis Joplin, Iggy Pop, Frank Zappa: Cancel Culture: Starring Iggy, Janis, Zappa & Others

Memoir by Gary Lucas, Please Kill Me!, 25 October 2021

Long before it became a conversation-stopping mantra of the extremist right wing, "cancel culture" visited rock 'n' roll on numerous occasions. Guitarist, deejay, scenemaker and ...

Billy Bragg: "Boris was trolling me the whole time. We've got a wind-up merchant as PM."

Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 29 October 2021

As the bard of Barking tours a new album, he reflects on modern politics, his scraps with the Daily Mail and why he could do ...

Gilles Peterson: Lockdown FM: Broadcasting in a Pandemic

Book Review by John L. Walters, Eye, Fall 2021

GILLES PETERSON is known for his unfeasibly large record collection and an unstoppable enthusiasm for Black music. The pandemic forced radical changes to the DJ's ...

Cornershop's Tjinder Singh: "My dad said, 'They'll not always want you here'. That stuck."

Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 2022

Three decades since the band formed, Cornershop's genre-defying political music is still making a stand. Ahead of a new album, we join them on a ...

John Singleton: How John Singleton's Soundtracks Brought The Black Experience To The Big Screen

Guide by Ben Merlis, uDiscoverMusic, 6 January 2022

Director John Singleton left behind more than just a cinematic legacy; his soundtracks brought the black experience to life on the big screen. ...

Fontaines D.C.: An Interview

Interview by Patrick Clarke, Marvin, 6 January 2022

Hailing from Dublin, the indie rockers of Fontaines D.C. stay true to their roots during rapid growth. ...

Janis Ian: "I make people uncomfortable"

Retrospective and Interview by Liz Thomson, i, 4 February 2022

56 years after her first single was banned, the musician and songwriter is still causing a ruckus. She tells i about learning from Hendrix, and ...

Kanye West: Kim and Kanye divorce poised to be glitzy, messy and very public

Comment by Edward Helmore, The Observer, 12 February 2022

Epic split between Kim Kardashian and rapper now known as Ye, with wealth, parenting disputes and trolling is perfect divorce for the Instagram Age ...

"My aim was Oyé, not Glastonbury": Liverpool's beloved African music festival turns 30

Retrospective and Interview by Patrick Clarke, The Guardian, 14 March 2022

Africa Oyé attracts the world's biggest African artists, inspires local Black musicians and remains free to all. So what next for the community-minded festival that ...

Depp for Men: Scene and Not Heard

Comment by Gary Lucas, Culture Catch, 5 May 2022

"AS A punishment of myself and as a lesson to others," wrote Ivan Turgenev after witnessing a public execution in Paris, "I should now like ...

Zola Jesus on spirituality and overcoming the lone genius archetype

Interview by Pip Williams, The Line of Best Fit, 20 June 2022

Against a striking backdrop of towering ancient rock formations in Turkey, Zola Jesus filmed the video for recent single 'Lost'. Blanketed in snow, this landscape ...

Marc Bolan, David Bowie, The Deviants, Mick Farren, New York Dolls, Roxy Music, T. Rex: Peter Stanfield: Pin-Ups 1972 (Reaktion)

Book Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Critic, August 2022

ROCK'N'ROLL years are all the rage these days. Ever since Jon Savage published his monumental 1966 (in 2015), the anni – particularly the 1970s – ...

Chuck Berry: RJ Smith: Chuck Berry – An American Life (Omnibus)

Book Review by Chris Charlesworth, Just Backdated, November 2022

"HE DIDN'T have personal friends," says Dick Allen, a showbiz agent who worked with Chuck Berry for years. "I travelled all the time with him. ...

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. ...

Living Colour: Pride: Living Colour's Time's Up

Book Excerpt by Kimberly Mack, Bloomsbury Books, May 2023

This is an excerpt from Chapter 3 of Kimberly's 33 1/3 study of Living Colour's second album. ...

Burna Boy: London Stadium

Live Review by Lisa Verrico, The Times, 4 June 2023

A historic, spiritual experience that didn't skimp on sex ...

The Beach Boys: Good vibrations: how the Beach Boys tuned in and turned on to Transcendental Meditation

Book Excerpt by Mick Brown, 'The Nirvana Express' (C. Hurst & Co.), September 2023

...

Tracy Chapman, Natalie Merchant: Tracy Chapman: I Could Be Someone

Retrospective by Mark Cooper, Rock's Backpages, February 2024

THE FIRST TIME I heard Tracy Chapman was in the office of an Elektra A&R man at 9229 Sunset Boulevard late in 1987. ...

Bob Marley & the Wailers: People Get Ready: Bucky Marshall, Claudie Massop and Bob Marley

Retrospective by James Fox, Rock's Backpages, 21 February 2024

A FEW DAYS ago, a friend sent me a photograph from Jamaica that hit me with a jolt: an image of myself 46 years ago, ...

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