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Postpunk

539 articles

John Cale: Paradiso, Amsterdam

Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 15 November 1975

EUROPE'S MOST DECADENT capital: inflatable paramours dangling like trussed chickens in the windows of the sex shops, hookers in their shop windows, the smack centre ...

Patti Smith: Horses

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 22 November 1975

FIRST ALBUMS THIS good are pretty damn few and far between. ...

Buzzcocks, Howard Devoto, The Fall: Manchester: They Mean It Maaanchester

Overview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 30 July 1977

MANCHESTER as a Rock and Roll town just didn't use to exist. It fed dutifully off London, and there were frequent visits from groups to ...

This Heat Are No Picnic

Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 20 August 1977

WHO IS this, anyway?" Giovanni Dadomo demanded. "The Caligari Brothers?" Funny you should say that, my pasta-eating pal. ...

The Art Attacks: Art Attax: Red Cow, London

Live Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 1 October 1977

Great but brain-Attaxing ...

Magazine: This Man Is Not A Minor Writer!

Profile and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 8 October 1977

For a start he's dispensed with words! ...

New Musick

Comment by Jon Savage, Jane Suck, Sounds, 26 November 1977

FOR LIFE ON REWIND/FAST FORWARD/PLAY/RECORD/STOP/..... ...

Wire: Men Behind the Wire

Interview by Ian Birch, Melody Maker, 10 December 1977

HAVE YOU noticed how a new category is being synthesised in the press? It had to happen, now that disillusion with new wave/punk mark one ...

Pere Ubu: Weird City Robomen

Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 7 January 1978

THEY SAY ENVIRONMENT determines character, and when it comes to American music, they're probably right. ...

The Pop Group: London College of Printing

Live Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 28 January 1978

Introducing eh?! and the enigmas ...

The Fall

Report and Interview by Danny Baker, ZigZag, February 1978

AH THE FALL! My mind fell on a quote that was all I knew of the name, something like '...there's hardly another band fit to ...

Magazine: 100 Club, London

Live Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 4 February 1978

Animated Egg head fails to impress ...

Howard Devoto, Magazine: Magazine: Howard Devoto's Enigma Variations

Profile and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 25 February 1978

HOWARD DEVOTO gives good face. Unlined and triangular, topped with a vast expanse of forehead; the kind that popular folklore maintains is the unmistakeable dead-giveaway ...

Throbbing Gristle

Profile and Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, March 1978

THROBBING GRISTLE: Drop that name in any conversation and watch the reaction. Giggling or nervous laughter, disgust or horror, blankness or a polite "Who?" Yeah, ...

Wire

Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, March 1978

WHEN WIRE came out of the Punk No-man's-land with their strikingly different debut album Pink Flag they seemed one of the hottest hopes for lifting ...

Wire, XTC: XTC, Wire, the Secret: Lyceum, London

Live Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 4 March 1978

Shock as Soundsman writes non-metallic rave ...

Wire: Pink Flag

Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, April 1978

AS THE FALLOUT from new wave continues to turn up on plastic, a few gangs of rockers have chosen (wisely I suppose) to see how ...

Pere Ubu: Punching the Music Time Clock

Interview by Howard Wuelfing, Unicorn Times, May 1978

IF A TELEPHONE pole gets toppled by lightning and no one hears it hit pavement, was there indeed any sound of "thud?" Yeah, don't be ...

Wire: Pink Flag (Harvest ST-11757)

Review by Gary Lucas, Crawdaddy!, May 1978

"If you are a 'romantic,' you have not lived if you have not been present at a battle... The likelihood that you will get your ...

Alternative TV: 100 Club, London

Live Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 6 May 1978

CON-TRA-DIC-TIONS... ATV are full of them. As in, how come they were awful when they played the Rainbow with the wonderful Spirit, yet managed to ...

Wire: Limit Club, Sheffield

Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 13 May 1978

TO USE an alimentary analogy, punk can be seen as a kind of musical laxative, clearing away all that stodgy stuff that was blocking the ...

Throbbing Gristle: Industrial Paranoia: The Very Dangerous Visions Of Throbbing Gristle

Interview by Jon Savage, Sounds, 3 June 1978

'All art aspires to the condition of musak.' 'Most of the people who disapprove of musak... but we are doing it for your own good!' ...

Magazine: Real Life

Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 3 June 1978

'I'm faking an extravagant journey, also it seems to me...' ...

Ed Banger & The Nosebleeds, Joy Division, V2: Nosebleeds, Snyde, Joy Division, V.2.: The Ritz, Manchester

Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 3 June 1978

DROPPING INTO 1977 was 'easy'. ...

Magazine

Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 10 June 1978

I THINK it was the Jesuits of whom it was said they always answer a question with a question. Or maybe it was the Jews. ...

Alternative TV: The Image Has Cracked

Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 24 June 1978

MARK PERRY has been a confused person and, through that, confusing. ...

Wire: Sounded for Wire

Interview by Jim Green, Trouser Press, July 1978

YOU CAN: tie up your plastic garbage bag with a wire, send a message on a wire, connect broken bones with a wire, strangle your ...

Wire: News on the Wire

Interview by Richard Grabel, New York Rocker, July 1978

WIRE. THE name denotes something tight, something along which electricity buzzes and communication passes. In an English music scene full of brash, jokey band names (Sex ...

The Pop Group, This Heat: The Pop Group/This Heat: Collegiate Theatre, London

Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 17 July 1978

TWO SEEMINGLY unconventional, superficially 'bleak', jagged modern-music outfits. Both engineer music suggesting radical departure, still somehow quaint. ...

Jilted John

Profile and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 22 July 1978

MANCHESTER, 1977: the picture of a period stutters erratically to a docile completion. The picture is inconclusive, blotchy, but considering circumstances the best possible. ...

The Human League, Vice Versa: The Human League/Vice Versa: The Now Society, Sheffield University, Sheffield

Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 29 July 1978

THE NOW Society, a university-based organisation, has been putting on gigs featuring local, predominantly experimental bands (such are the local mores) for some time now; ...

Cabaret Voltaire: Sheffield

Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 5 August 1978

CABARET VOLTAIRE performances, if I can make a sweeping generalisation, are always interesting but never satisfying. Interesting because they're prepared to probe, often at the ...

Magazine: The Lyceum, London

Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 5 August 1978

MAGAZINE, MYTHS AND MIRAGES ...

Cabaret Voltaire: Sheffield – This Week's Leeds

Profile and Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 9 September 1978

UNTIL LAST YEAR, Sheffield was undoubtedly the most musically inactive city in Britain. For a city with over half a million people, the paucity of ...

Joy Division: Band On The Wall, Manchester

Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 9 September 1978

THOSE FAMILIAR with this young quartet. mainly through their excitable appearance on the "Short Circuit" pretty package, and to a lesser extent with their self ...

Joy Division: Band on the Wall, Manchester

Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 16 September 1978

IT WAS during the unforgettable summer of '77 that I had my first encounter with Joy Division (then named Warsaw). Through a steamy Electric Circus ...

The Fall: Marquee, London

Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 16 September 1978

I AM A commentator in a Consumers' Guide. This week I guide you towards entertainers The Fall, as I always have done. ...

Wire: But Obviously It Isn't

Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 16 September 1978

"Well it's alright just listenCan't wait for 78God those r.p.m.Can't wait for themDon't just watchHours happenGet in there kidAnd snap them."– Wire, 'It's So Obvious' ...

The Pop Group

Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 30 September 1978

PARDON ME if I've misunderstood, but amongst all those pretty speeches and petty let-downs didn't somebody once ask for 'new music night and day'? And ...

pragVEC: Another Strange, New And Enticing Pop Group

Profile and Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 21 October 1978

A NEW extended play record to enthuse about. A new band to sell to you. Their name is pragVEC; the four tracks they've recorded are ...

Cabaret Voltaire, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Nico, The Pop Group: The Pop Group/LKJ/Nico/Cab Voltaire

Live Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 21 October 1978

Disorder by juxtaposition. Subversion by paradox. Nothing is as simple as we're told. New feelings. ...

Cabaret Voltaire, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Nico, The Pop Group: The Pop Group/Nico/Linton Kwesi Johnson/Cabaret Voltaire: An Appraisal Of 'Next Year's Thing'

Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 21 October 1978

The Pop Group/Nico/Linton Kwesi Johnson/Cabaret Voltaire: Electric Ballroom, London ...

Chris Bell, Cabaret Voltaire, Capital Letters, The Cars, Gang of Four, The Go-Betweens, Elton John, pragVEC, Public Image Ltd, Queen, Whirlwind, X-Ray Spex: Singles: PiL, Cabaret Voltaire, X-Ray Spex, Chris Bell, The Cars et al

Review by Hugh Jarse, ZigZag, November 1978

PUBLIC IMAGE: 'Public Image' (Virgin) 'ELLO, A LOW-key re-emergence which grows on ya. I know everybody was expecting another anthem but here ya go, this ...

Cabaret Voltaire, The Doctors of Madness: Doctors of Madness, Cabaret Voltaire: Music Machine, London

Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 4 November 1978

CABARET VOLTAIRE appeared first. A trio, I caught the final 20 minutes of their performance, and was fairly absorbed. ...

Public Image Ltd: Images of Public Image

Interview by Barry Cain, Record Mirror, 4 November 1978

Donning his sardonic mask, BARRY CAIN lurches into Sloane Ranger territory (Chelsea to you) and tracks down one J. Lydon and his mate Jah Wobble; ...

Gang Of Four Bang

Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 11 November 1978

NOT JUSTA BUNCHA COMMIES, SEZ DAVE McCULLOUGH ...

Pere Ubu: Dub Housing (Chrysalis CHR 1207)*****

Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 11 November 1978

HIT ME with a snorkel and call me Cousteau but this is what the man who delivered my Dub Housing said; MAN: "You for the pair o' U-boats, ...

Pere Ubu: Dub Housing (Chrysalis)

Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 11 November 1978

Pop the Ubu ...

Gang of Four, The Human League, The Mekons: The Human League, The Mekons, Gang Of Four: Electric Ballroom, London

Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 11 November 1978

AN EVENING of Fast Product at which Saturday night anticipation could be discerned in the expectant chattering of the throng outside — no slowcoaches amongst ...

Joy Division: A short, pulsating feature on a small, pulsating band

Interview by Mick Middles, Sounds, 18 November 1978

THROB,THROB, THROB, THROB. "Hey Miss, a bottle of Newcastle please, what? Oh, a bottle of Pils then." THROB, THROB, THROB, THROB. ...

Scritti Politti: Reflections On In(ter)dependence: Scritti Politti

Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 25 November 1978

MEET SCRITTI Politti: three or four young musicians (one is a floating member), and equally important, a large circle of close friends who provide help, ...

Wire: The Venue, London

Live Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 25 November 1978

I LIKE Wire a lot and sometimes I dislike them. ...

Public Image Ltd, The Sex Pistols: Public Image Ltd.: We Only Wanted To Be Loved

Interview by Robin Banks, ZigZag, December 1978

THE ENIGMATIC Johnny Lydon. Dubbed "The Messiah of Punk" by those who only thought in clichés, he was catapulted into a situation that left him ...

Howard Devoto, Magazine: Howard Devoto: Calm And Confusion

Interview by Paul Morley, Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 2 December 1978

WERE YOU a wimp at school?I wouldn't say I was a wimp. I think I did get bullied. ...

Pere Ubu: Invasion Of The Warm, Friendly Bodysnatchers

Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 2 December 1978

SEE THE ALIENS. See the room. See the aliens in the room. The aliens call themselves Pere Ubu. See Pere Ubu. See the big alien ...

Cabaret Voltaire, pragVEC, Red Crayola, Scritti Politti: Red Crayola, Cabaret Voltaire, Scritti Politti, pragVEC: Acklam Hall, London

Live Review by Jon Savage, Melody Maker, 2 December 1978

IN THE collapse of trends, movements — individuals: when they combine, all the stronger. Tonight four bands moving forward, confidently or haltingly, but all with ...

The Subway Sect: The Northern Soul of Vic Godard

Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 2 December 1978

A SUBWAY SECT INTERVIEW concerning John Travolta, Françoise Hardy, Les Dawson, Zola, Nosmo King, Abba and other street heroes. By DAVE McCULLOUGH ...

Alternative TV: A Different Kettle of ATV

Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 9 December 1978

WHEN I FIRST mooted that I'd be interested in scribbling out a feature on Alternative TV, the thinking man's all-purpose unpunkgroup, the band's hustler and ...

Public Image Ltd.: Public Image Ltd. (Virgin)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 9 December 1978

"THE PUBLIC Image is Limited", or so claimed John Lydon in a recent interview with his customary flair for a good, splenetic quip. Well, so ...

Public Image Ltd: Public Image

Review by Simon Frith, Melody Maker, 9 December 1978

"I don't agree with bands who make records to please audiences." (Johnny Rotten.) ...

Art Bears, Funkadelic, Rush: Rush: Hemispheres (Mercury); Art Bears: Hopes And Fears (Re Records); Funkadelic: One Nation Under A Groove (Warner Brothers)

Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 9 December 1978

Systems of resonance ...

The Subway Sect: War Poet of The Modern World

Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 9 December 1978

Old conceptions justifiedTradition stays in tuneYou make guitars talk informationThat tells you what to doThe lines that hit meAgain and againAfraid to take a strollOff ...

Siouxsie & The Banshees: In Defense of Siouxsie and the Banshees

Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 23 December 1978

"Have a competition in the NME. In less than a hundred words, what do they get out of Siouxsie and the Banshees?" (Siouxsie Sioux) ...

Public Image Ltd: Johnny's Immaculate Conception

Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 23 December 1978

Putting The Nation On The PiL ...

Throbbing Gristle: D.O.A. (Industrial)

Review by Jon Savage, Melody Maker, 23 December 1978

THE UNDERGROWTH OF pop...Take the mechanics of the situation as being something like this: you have a multi-million dollar industry, which has established channels whereby ...

Wire: Chairs Missing (Harvest SHSP 4093)

Review by Jim Green, Trouser Press, January 1979

WIRE ARE disconcerting, laconic yet eloquent in fragmented visions, jarring even at their most accessible. They disdain cliché, pushing out the limits of rock; the ...

Linton Kwesi Johnson, Public Image Ltd: Public Image Limited; Linton Kwesi Johnson: Rainbow Theatre, London

Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 6 January 1979

ON THE FIRST day of Christmas bondage bretheren and neon siteren children of the Rainbow – pace Aswad – left their parents' turkey tables en ...

Joy Division, The Passage, Spherical Objects: New Stirrings On The North-West Frontier

Report and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 13 January 1979

The Underground sticks its Collective head overground to explain how the rest of the world went wrong. Please fasten your safety helmets now. Words: PAUL ...

Scritti Politti: The Nitty Gritty on Scritti Politti

Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 13 January 1979

Tea and empathy shared by DAVE McCULLOUGH                                                           * ...

Throbbing Gristle: D.O.A. (The Third And Final Report Of Throbbing Gristle) (Industrial Records)

Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 13 January 1979

P. Orridge Bowls A Grisly Throb — P. Enman Ducks ...

Jilted John: This week's fine point of philosophical conjecture: Melancholy Is Truth

Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 20 January 1979

In support, drama student Graham Fellows (ex-Jilted John), a man given to public displays of raw feeling. ...

The Cure: Kill or Cure

Report and Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 27 January 1979

  WHEN YOU "do the singles", as we in the trade like to term the chore, it's a harrowing task. ...

The Mekons: Hope & Anchor, London

Live Review by David Hepworth, Sounds, 27 January 1979

THE HOPE and Anchor is stuffed. If you're aiming to pour one more leather jacket into this crypt, you'd be wise to have remembered the ...

Public Image Ltd.: Public Image Ltd. (Virgin)

Review by Kris Needs, New York Rocker, February 1979

THE EAGERLY-ANTICIPATED debut offering by Public Image Ltd. landed like a depth charge in the mire of self-congratulatory entrenchment that unfortunately bogs down much of ...

Crass, Ludus, Poison Girls: Ludus/Poison Girls/Crass: The Factory at the Russell Club, Manchester

Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 3 February 1979

She's So Modern ...

The Mekons: Blows Against Individuation

Profile and Interview by Mary Harron, Melody Maker, 3 February 1979

The Mekons insist they're just a by-product of confusion. But 'intervention', a.k.a. 'going commercial', looms. ...

Essential Logic, The Normal, The Raincoats, Red Crayola, Stiff Little Fingers: Rough Trade: Beat, Activity and Conversation

Report and Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 10 February 1979

Terms For An Industry In The '80s... IAN PENMAN reports on the artistic and commercial concept of ROUGH TRADE, recorders, distributors and promoters of new ...

A Certain Ratio, Delta 5, Gang of Four: Gang Of Four, Delta Five, A Certain Ratio: The Factory at the Russell Club, Manchester

Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 24 February 1979

The Fast way to become intellectual ...

Vic Godard, The Subway Sect: Vic Godard: Down the Road on a Stick

Interview by Robin Banks, ZigZag, March 1979

ON THE 'WHITE Riot' tour of early '77, Vic Godard and his band the Subway Sect ('cos they always were his band) confronted the great ...

John Cooper Clarke, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Merger, The Pop Group, Public Image Ltd: Public Image Ltd., Merger, the Pop Group, Linton Kwesi Johnson, John Cooper Clarke: King's Hall, Manchester

Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 3 March 1979

ALL PRAISE must go to John Cooper Clarke for transforming the freezing, bored alcohol-starved Mancunians into a warmly responsive audience. ...

John Cooper Clarke, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Merger, The Pop Group, Public Image Ltd: Public Image Ltd., The Pop Group, Merger, Linton Kwesi Johnson , John Cooper Clarke: Kings Hall, Manchester

Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 3 March 1979

RACE TODAY magazine/organisation, acknowledging the central importance of Manchester in the struggle of black people, launched their northern campaign with a fund raising "Creation For ...

The Mekons: The Group Who Fell To Earth

Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 3 March 1979

THE MEKONS step down from the space ship of idealism and come face to face with Rock Reality. Can they and the cult of British ...

The Fall: Nashville, London

Live Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 17 March 1979

Psychotic awareness — it's the new thing ...

Doll By Doll: Remember (AutomaticK56618)**

Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 24 March 1979

Dull by Doll ...

The Teardrop Explodes: Teardrop Explodes: Band on the Wall, Manchester

Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 24 March 1979

SUDDENLY, OUT of the depths of complete obscurity the Teardrop Explodes have become the most talked about new band in the North West. Two weeks ...

The Fall: Live At The Witch Trials (Step Forward SFLB 1) *****

Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 24 March 1979

Music for the man who has everything (and wants it all on one album) ...

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. ...

Magazine: Second-Hand Daylight

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 31 March 1979

"Whatever your feelings about Howard Devoto are, they're no doubt strong" – the opening salvo of the last feature penned on the subject in these ...

The Fall, Gang of Four, The Human League, Stiff Little Fingers: The Mekons/The Fall/Human League/Gang Of Four/Stiff Little Fingers: The Lyceum, London

Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 31 March 1979

AND THE STARS look very different today... For all practical rock purposes, we may as well own up that we are now living in the ...

Siouxsie & the Banshees: (Stair) Case History

Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 7 April 1979

BUSHELL'S BRIEF BANSHEES BANTER ...

The Pop Group: Y (Radar RAD 20)***½

Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 14 April 1979

This is the (Penguin classic) modern world ...

Buzzcocks, Magazine: Howard Devoto: The Compleat Fatalist

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 April 1979

LATE THURSDAY afternoon. I am angry, very angry, for reasons that form too personal a tale but revolve around a head-on collision with hysterical illogicality. ...

The Pop Group: Y

Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 28 April 1979

THE POP GROUP. An enigmatic name. Not so much ironic as is often claimed, more plain cheeky. ...

The Vincent Units: Sex Against Rockism

Profile and Interview by Robin Banks, ZigZag, May 1979

"It's an amazing feeling getting up on stage and knowing that nobody expects miracles... and then sometimes one occurs" — Neal Brown, May 1979. ...

Magazine, Simple Minds: City Hall, Newcastle

Live Review by Ian Ravendale, Sounds, 12 May 1979

"YEAH! WHO-O-O! Magic!" yells the guy from Arista sitting a couple of seats away, in a burst of paid-for enthusiasm during Simple Minds' set supporting ...

Magazine: Down in the Warehouse at Midnight

Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 12 May 1979

Fresh-faced cub reporter Dave McCullough is summoned to a bizarre battle of wits with sinister mastermind Howard Devoto ...

Gang of Four: Dialectics Meet Disco

Essay by Mary Harron, Melody Maker, 26 May 1979

This is the year of the second coming of British art-rock – although the new art-rockers won't admit it. MARY HARRON strips away the modish ...

A Certain Ratio, John Dowie, Joy Division, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark: Joy Division, A Certain Ratio, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, John Dowie: Factory Night, Acklam Hall, London

Live Review by Chris Bohn, Melody Maker, 26 May 1979

FOUR DIVERSE samples of current Mancunian Factory products: dopey comedian John Dowie; a cute pop duo called Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark; A Certain Ratio ...

pragVEC: Eric's, Liverpool

Live Review by Penny Kiley, Melody Maker, 26 May 1979

pragVEC'S THIRD visit to Liverpool, and a quiet Thursday night at Eric's. A handful of people were scattered around the club to watch Penetration (playing ...

The Mekons: Songs of Innocence and Experience

Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 26 May 1979

I BEAT ON the front door of a huge, decaying terrace house in Leeds. No response. Tried the bell but it was dead. Rattled the ...

The Monochrome Set: Cheap Titillation And Anti-Pop

Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 26 May 1979

THE MONOCHROME SET FIND HOW TO HAVE FUN IN AN AVANT-GARDE WORLD ...

Gang of Four: The Gang's All Here

Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 2 June 1979

...WELL ALMOST, AS GARRY BUSHELL DISCOVERS DURING A DRUNKEN DISCUSSION WITH THE GANG OF FOUR ...

Throbbing Gristle: The Factory, Manchester

Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 2 June 1979

WHEN I WAS watching Throbbing Gristle where were you? ...

Delta 5, Gang of Four, The Mekons, The Specials: Gang Of Four, Mekons, Specials, Delta Five: Lyceum, London

Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 9 June 1979

"ROOD BOIZE" Yeah! "ROOOOODD BOOIZZZZ" Uh huh! ...

Judy Nylon, Penetration: Penetration, Judy Nylon: Hurrah, New York NY

Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 9 June 1979

PAULINE KEEPS having her sentences completed for her. She'll say, "This is our current single in England, it's called..." and someone in the audience will ...

Public Image Ltd.: The Odd Combo

Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 16 June 1979

Danny Baker goes on the PiS with PiL ...

Public Image Ltd.: The Factory, Manchester

Live Review by Jon Savage, Melody Maker, 18 June 1979

A Quick One While No-One's Thinking ...

The Pop Group: Idealists in Distress

Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 30 June 1979

They are young. They are talented. They are committed. They are now without a record company. "So what seems to be the problem, boys?" asks ...

The Fall: Live at the Witch Trials (Step-Forward SFLP 1)

Review by Jon Young, Trouser Press, July 1979

"I STILL believe in the r'n'r dream/R'n'r as primal scream." ...

Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures (Factory Records Fact 10) *****

Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 14 July 1979

DEATH DISCO ...

Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures (Factory)

Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 14 July 1979

JUST WHEN the year's vitality was threatening to be expunged by a non-stop parade of rehashed fashions, 'ordinary geezers' with French Riviera yachts and the ...

Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures

Review by Jon Savage, Melody Maker, 21 July 1979

"To talk of life today is like talking of rope in the house of a hanged man." Where will it end? ...

Red Crayola: "...THE IDEOLOGICAL FEATURES OF ANY WORK AS A FUNCTION OF CONSUMER RELATIONS...

Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 21 July 1979

...AS OPPOSED TO DEMOCRATIC ORGANISATIONAL IMPERATIVES; SECTIONAL MILITANCY AS OPPOSED TO PRIVATISED MILITANCY, OF WHICH YOU FIND A GREAT DEAL IN POP MUSIC — THE CRITICAL ...

Joy Division: The Factory, Russell Club, Manchester

Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 28 July 1979

TOGETHERNESS IS a quality found in few bands. In these days of the inflated ego most rock outfits tend to thrive on the opposite. The Fall, ...

The Distractions, The Fall, Joy Division: The Fall, Joy Division, the Distractions et al: Stuff The Superstars Special, Mayflower Club, Manchester

Live Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 4 August 1979

Manchester city fun ...

Joy Division: Pseud Yourself

Report and Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 11 August 1979

TRUTH, JUSTICE AND THE MANCUNIAN WAY — DAVE McCULLOUGH GETS NO JOY (INFORMATION-WISE) FROM JOY DIVISION ...

Joy Division: Take No Prisoners, Leave No Clues

Profile and Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 11 August 1979

LET ME DRAW BACK the curtains on a probably wet and no doubt freezing night last winter. A mid-week night of no special significance, save ...

The Mo-dettes: Fast, Loud, Pretty

Profile and Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 18 August 1979

MET THEM ON A Monday, the Coca Cola spilt over the tape machine, and my MRX2 Oxide 45 mins each side @ 1 7/8 i.p.s. ...

Echo & The Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes: The Teardrop Explodes, Echo & the Bunnymen: Zoo Games

Report and Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 25 August 1979

A small label at the warm end of the cold wave. The music of the Eighties! says Dave McCullough. ...

A Certain Ratio, The Distractions, Echo & The Bunnymen, Joy Division, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, The Teardrop Explodes: Joy Division, Teardrop Explodes, OMD, Echo & The Bunnymen et al: Leigh Rock Festival, Lancashire

Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 8 September 1979

A movement with no name... and a festival with no people (But a 'staggering event' all the same, says our man Middles) ...

A Certain Ratio, The Distractions, Echo & The Bunnymen, Joy Division, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, The Teardrop Explodes: Joy Division/Echo & The Bunnymen/OMD/Teardrop Explodes/The Distractions/ACR: Leigh Valley Festival, Lancashire

Live Review by Jon Savage, Melody Maker, 8 September 1979

Angst in an East Lancs wasteland ...

This Heat: This Heat (Piano Records This 1)****

Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 8 September 1979

Metallic, but not nocturnal. Knoworrimean? Probably not ...

This Heat: This Heat (Piano)

Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 8 September 1979

FOR MUCH of This Heat's album, it's difficult and at times impossible to decipher which instrument is playing what. This is some indication of their ...

A Certain Ratio, Cabaret Voltaire, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Fall, Hawkwind, Joy Division, The Monochrome Set, The Only Ones, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, pragVEC, Public Image Ltd, Punishment Of Luxury, Scritti Politti, Spizz, The Teardrop Explodes, Tymon Dogg: Joy Division, Pil et al: Futurama '79 Festival — Set The Controls For The Squalor Of Leeds

Live Review by Andy Gill, Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 15 September 1979

The World's First Science Fiction Music FestivalWords: Ian Penman and Andy Gill. Pix: Kevin Cummins ...

Siouxsie & the Banshees: "They said they couldn't take the pressure"

Interview by Ronnie Gurr, Record Mirror, 15 September 1979

Siouxsie and the Banshees split. RONNIE GURR was on the spot ...

The Atrix, The Blades, DC Nien, U2, The Virgin Prunes: U2 et al: Coming up for Eire

Report by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 15 September 1979

DAVE McCULLOUGH GOES STRICTLY DUBLIN-WISE AND UNEARTHS A BUNCH OF EXCITING NEW SOUTHERN IRISH ACTS ...

Siouxsie & The Banshees: Night Of The Long Knives

Report by Kris Needs, New Musical Express, 22 September 1979

IT'S IRONIC that Siouxsie and the Banshees' latest album bears the title Join Hands when half the group just ran away two dates into their ...

Buzzcocks, Gang of Four: The Buzzcocks, Gang of Four: Club 57, New York NY

Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 22 September 1979

THIS IS AN interesting juxtaposition: Buzzcocks work on a high energy formula, a formula that works; Gang Of Four work away from formula – they ...

Wire: 154 (Harvest SHSP 4105)

Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 22 September 1979

And keeping it there ...

Wire: 154 (Harvest)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 22 September 1979

WIRE WERE from the very outset a conceptually intriguing collective, even though they bristled with a potential that was all too often offset by niggling ...

Don Cherry, Creation Rebel, The Slits: The Slits, Don Cherry & Happy House, Prince Hammer & Creation Rebel: New Theatre, Oxford

Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 29 September 1979

THE LAST time I talked about the Slits was centred around a disorientating weekend in Liverpool at the beginning of this year — a shaky ...

Wire: 154 (Harvest)

Review by Jon Savage, Melody Maker, 29 September 1979

WRAPPED IN an abstract minimal geo-deco sleeve (all straight lines and waves, pastel shades), with its own label and a "free" 45, the third Wire ...

Gang of Four: Entertainment! (EMI)

Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 6 October 1979

ENVELOPED AS we seem to be by such backward times, Gang Of Four could hardly have picked a more awkward moment to foist their collectivist ...

Gang of Four: Entertainment (EMI)

Review by Jon Savage, Melody Maker, 6 October 1979

THE Four are ambitious; and so they accept the process. ...

Ludus, Swell Maps: The Factory, Manchester

Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 6 October 1979

THE VERY sloppy Swell Maps are presently attempting to conquer the art of turning badness into madness. Their jokey, half-formulated view of rock'n'roll is intriguing ...

The Human League: Reproduction (Virgin V2133)

Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 6 October 1979

DON'T BE a dummy... Zarki looked at the cover: naked babies trampled on by adults. A cheap shock shot masquerading as message? There’s a baby ...

The Psychedelic Furs: Which One's Psycho Derek?

Profile and Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 6 October 1979

GIOVANNI DADOMO keeps tabs (Old Tripper's Joke No. 2467A) on The PSYCHEDELIC FURS ...

Buzzcocks, Joy Division: The Buzzcocks, Joy Division: Mountford Hall, Liverpool

Live Review by Penny Kiley, Melody Maker, 12 October 1979

OF IMAGES AND IDOLS ...

Wire: Wider Vision

Interview by Chris Bohn, Melody Maker, 13 October 1979

Wire don't sit comfortably in the publicity man's gullet. They're not easily categorised, seemingly spurning the hype-market. But they do conform in one way; they ...

Cabaret Voltaire: Mix Up (Rough Trade)

Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 20 October 1979

WITH MIX UP, Cabaret Voltaire transcend being simply the blueprint for a genre – the drummerless synthesizer trio – and finally get down to business. ...

The Adverts: Cast Of Thousands

Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 20 October 1979

THE ADVERTS, with unforeseen stamina, have substantially matured since their early days. No longer can technical inadequacy or limited vocabulary be criticisms – just the ...

Essential Logic: The Logical Song

Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 17 November 1979

DAVE McCULLOUGH FINDS THE SPIRIT OF FIFTIES JAZZ ALIVE AND WELL IN DEEPEST ACTON ...

The Adverts: TV Closes Down

Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 17 November 1979

CHEERFUL CHAP, TV Smith. Here we are convened together for the first time in a professional capacity, officially as some sort of obituarising process for ...

Public Image Ltd.: Metal Box (Virgin)*****

Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 24 November 1979

PiLled to the gills ...

Public Image Ltd: Metal Box (Virgin Metal 1)

Review by Chris Bohn, Melody Maker, 24 November 1979

Confessions of a pop performer ...

The Pop Group, Scritti Politti: University Of London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 24 November 1979

THE TRADITION of the angry young idealist, full of righteous fervour, self-righteous condescension towards those at odds with his or her volatile beliefs, and a ...

Public Image Ltd.: The Metal Box

Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, December 1979

FRIDAY EVENING in Chelsea and I'm looking for a house, panning the street on the odd numbers side. Nearly there and a door opens. Down ...

The Raincoats: New Raincoats Don't Let You Down

Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 1 December 1979

Following the sun, Palmolive washed her hands of the Raincoats. But they're back on the road, singing and playing. VIVIEN GOLDMAN took a long time ...

The Skids: A Loser's Quest For Survival

Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 1 December 1979

"I'm going to lose. It's like admitting defeat before I start. But I'm going to do as much as possible in that period before I ...

Adam & The Ants: Adam and the Ants: Dirk Wears White Sox (Do-It RIDE 3)**

Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 8 December 1979

DIRK MAY well wear white sox but the berk, aka Adam the Grade 'A' ham, wears his pretentions on his sleeve with his hand in ...

The Mekons, The Raincoats: The Raincoats: The Raincoats (Rough Trade Rough 3)**; The Mekons: The Quality Of Mercy Is Not Strnen (Virgin V2143)*

Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 8 December 1979

Shrieks from the Grove ...

Scritti Politti: This week's literary headline... Turn Of The Scrits

Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 8 December 1979

Scritti Politti are the Henry James of rock, says DAVE McCULLOUGH, THE JOURNALIST. ...

Adam & The Ants, Throbbing Gristle: Throbbing Gristle: 20 Jazz Funk Greats (Industrial); Adam & The Ants: Dirk Wears White Socks (Do It)

Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 8 December 1979

ADAM AND The Ants and Throbbing Gristle are shadowy extremes, lurking in dark corners, lethargically scratching through their overscrubbed private parts, grinning sweetly at anyone ...

The Cure: boys keep swinging

Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 15 December 1979

Bleaking out is a very modern desire, reveals Phil Sutcliffe ...

Throbbing Gristle: Mouthfuls of Gristle

Profile and Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 15 December 1979

SANDY ROBERTSON goes to lunch with "the Velvets of a new age" ...

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 ...

The Mo-dettes: Mo-Dettes: Les Bains-Douches, Paris

Live Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 5 January 1980

Fun with girls in showers ...

Au Pairs: The Au Pairs: Battle of the Sexes

Profile and Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 5 January 1980

I REMEMBER I got a letter some time ago from Ali of Another Tuneless Racket fanzine from Scotland, in which the author questioned the reasoning ...

The Fall: All Fall Down

Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 5 January 1980

JUST ABOVE my typewriter on the mantlepiece is an eye-catching tube of 10 orange flavoured effervescent tablets. Each tablet contains 1g orange flavoured concentrated Vitamin ...

Gang of Four: Family Entertainment

Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 12 January 1980

The Gang of Four expound a spot of dialectical materialism for PETE SILVERTON. ...

Pink Military: Post-Modernist Pop Music

Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 12 January 1980

HOW WAS IT in Liverpool last year? "Liverpool has been great! It really has. All these ace bands coming through. A lot of the best ...

The Durutti Column, Jorma Kaukonen: The Durutti Column: The Return Of The Durutti Column (Factory); Jorma Kaukonen: Jorma (RCA Import)

Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 12 January 1980

West Coast comeback shock ...

The Slits: Hurrah, New York NY

Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 12 January 1980

ANOTHER American debut of another new British band at Hurrah's. But this is New Year's Eve and the ticket is 25 bucks – probably a ...

Sector 27, This Heat: This Heat, Sector 27: Ritzy Cinema, Brixton, London

Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 12 January 1980

I DONT KNOW what This Heat's vision of an ideal setting for their singular brand of music would be but I'd guess the Brixton Ritzy ...

A Certain Ratio: Manchester

Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 19 January 1980

THE AWARD for the most improved band in Manchester must go to the rhythmic, pulsating, vibrating Certain Ratio. ...

The Fall: Manchester Polytechnic

Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 19 January 1980

LET US all get together and cry for rock's little problem child. The Fall are a damn nuisance. They are continually prodding the music media, ...

The Passions: Eric's, Liverpool

Live Review by Penny Kiley, Melody Maker, 26 January 1980

THE PASSIONS' return to Liverpool was a pleasant surprise after their last visit, when inauspicious circumstances had clouded their performance. And another contrast was provided ...

A Certain Ratio: 'Looking For A Certain Ratio' (B. Eno)

Interview by Chris Bohn, Melody Maker, 2 February 1980

While 2-Tone revive the fashions of the Sixties, A Certain Ratio are stretching their legs towards the future. In fact, since drummer Donald Johnson joined ...

The Durutti Column: the Emaciated Line Between Art and Ambience

Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 2 February 1980

Max Bell spends a day at the Factory with The Durutti Column ...

A Certain Ratio: The Graveyard And The Ballroom (Factory) ****

Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 9 February 1980

A CERTAIN Ratio (currently the hippest combo in Manchester) typify the approach, style, feel, and idealism of Factory Records. They are distant, difficult to touch ...

The Mekons: Manchester Polytechnic, Manchester

Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 9 February 1980

I COULDN'T believe my eyes. ...

Public Image Ltd: Lydon: Rock & Roll is Dead and He Don't Care

Interview by Kris Needs, New York Rocker, March 1980

AN HOUR of music served in a round metal tin, the twelve-inch form giving depth and punch. Once again, Public Image Ltd. have jabbed music ...

Magazine: Secondhand Daylight (Virgin)

Review by Richard C. Walls, Creem, March 1980

ONCE UPON a time — No, I'm not going to do that. It's tempting, but I really dislike record reviews that masquerade as short stories. ...

Public Image Ltd, The Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: Public Image Ltd.: Metal Box (Virgin import); Sid Vicious: Sid Sings! (Virgin import)

Review by Roy Trakin, New York Rocker, March 1980

PIL'S METAL BOX: THE TIN CAN HAS A HEART ...

Wire: Re: Wire

Interview by J.D. Considine, New York Rocker, March 1980

TELEPHONE INTERVIEWS are not my favorite means of communication, but in the case of Wire (to be specific, bassist Graham Lewis), it's either that or ...

A Certain Ratio, Joy Division: Joy Division, A Certain Ratio: Osbourne Club, Manchester

Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 1 March 1980

TO THE centre of the city in the night waiting for Joy Division. ...

Public Image Ltd.: Is there any rust in the metal box?

Interview by Wayne Robins, Newsday, 9 March 1980

The king is gone but he's not forgotten This is the story of a Johnny Rotten It's better to burn out Than it is to ...

The Pop Group, The Slits: The Slits, The Pop Group: Roll On, Sartre's Marbles!!

Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 15 March 1980

THE SLITS: 'In The Beginning There Was Rhythm'/THE POP GROUP: 'Where There's A Will There's A Way' (Rough Trade) ...

Public Image Ltd.: Lydon The Exorcist

Report by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 29 March 1980

John Lydon's back in America, as cynical as ever. He wants to forget the memories, do away with the past and rock 'n'roll. MARK COOPER ...

Au Pairs, Girlschool, The Mo-dettes, The Passions, The Raincoats, The Slits: Women in Rock: Cute, Cute, Cutesy Goodbye

Interview by Deanne Pearson, New Musical Express, 29 March 1980

Exploited for the last two decades as dumb but pretty decorations in rock, some girls now demand and deserve musical respect — but some girls ...

Killing Joke

Profile and Interview by Pete Makowski, ZigZag, April 1980

MY FIRST sojourn into the pages of this fine mag and what a balls up. Cock up amundo, mate. ...

Medium Medium, Prince Far I: Prince Far I, Medium Medium: Rock Garden, Middlesbrough

Live Review by Ian Ravendale, Sounds, 5 April 1980

Prince Far I 'a joke' claim ...

The Slits: Y3 (Y3)

Review by Barry Cain, Record Mirror, 12 April 1980

Slits hit the pits ...

The Crawling Chaos, Joy Division, Section 25: Joy Division, The Royal Family, Crawling Chaos, Section 25: Moonlight Club, London

Live Review by Adam Sweeting, New Musical Express, 19 April 1980

THE 1980 FACTORY ACT ...

Public Image Ltd: Lydon In New York: The Image Goes Public

Interview by Andy Schwartz, New York Rocker, May 1980

IT IS TWO O'CLOCK in the afternoon, and John Lydon has just popped his third or fourth Heineken of the day. ...

8-Eyed Spy, Lydia Lunch, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks: Way Out West With 8-Eyed Spy

Report by Byron Coley, New York Rocker, May 1980

IF LYDIA LUNCH'S Queen Of Siam hadn't come out when it did, I'd probably still be freezin' my butt off in Ketchum, Idaho, a town ...

Magazine: Soap

Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 17 May 1980

THE NON-DEVOTO MAGAZINE STORY. CONFUSED? YOU WILL BE AFTER READING DAVE McCULLOUGH'S INTERVIEW ...

Young Marble Giants: Let's Hear It For Quiet Music

Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 17 May 1980

Young Marble Giants come down off their pedestal to talk with DAVE McCULLOUGH ...

The Human League: Human League: The Kids Are Alright

Interview by Ronnie Gurr, Record Mirror, 24 May 1980

IT'S A BRAVE new world for young moderns and, current events considered, The Human League, look like suitable candidates for the apocalyptical Titanic dance band. ...

Public Image Ltd.: PiL in Hollywood

Report and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 24 May 1980

HUDDLED ROUND the side with a crowd of disco dancers waiting for their fifteen minutes of fame, watching a fake Doobie Brothers run through their ...

Public Image Ltd: Market Cultural Center, San Francisco

Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 24 May 1980

PUBLIC IMAGE in a cultural centre — sounds arty enough to make you wonder if they've gone over the top. ...

Public Image Ltd, James Blood Ulmer: Public Image Limited, James "Blood" Ulmer: Palladium, New York NY

Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 14 June 1980

NOBODY EXPECTS Public Image Limited to sell massive amounts of vinyl to the American public. So to see the "Sold Out" sign on the Palladium ...

The Pop Group, The Slits: The Slits, The Pop Group: Rough Justice in the Court of the Purple Paragraph

Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 21 June 1980

Following a more-than-rigorous analysis of the last Slits/Pop Group single, the twin terrors of Rough Trade challenged Ian Penman to a verbal showdown. This is his ...

A Certain Ratio, Blurt, The Durutti Column, Section 25: A Certain Ratio, Durutti Column, Section 25, Blurt: ICA, London

Live Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 28 June 1980

THE FACTORY roadshow has taken to bringing their own clown to put on between acts, his name's Kevin Hewick and he attacks his dopey revelations ...

The Monochrome Set: Strange Boutique (Dindisc)

Review by Mick Houghton, The Face, July 1980

I STILL recall being hauled in front of the class at school where, doing my world famous impersonation of a jug-eared tomato, Mr Godber, MA ...

Echo & the Bunnymen: Bunnymen in a Handbag Factory — Crocodiles 1; Bunnymen: 0

Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 5 July 1980

Dave McCullough doesn't fret as E & The B's go AoR ...

The Subway Sect, Vic Godard: Vic Godard: Young Existentialist

Interview by Mick Middles, Sounds, 5 July 1980

VIC GODARD makes Feargal Sharkey look like Gene Simmons. His normality is outrageous. When Vic Godard sits in his bedroom listening to Peter Skellern on ...

Joy Division: Closer (Factory)

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 19 July 1980

Closer to the edge ...

Buzzcocks, John Cooper Clarke, The Invisible Girls, Joy Division: Phantom of the Factory — It's Martin Hannett! A legend in his own town!! Didsbury!!!

Report and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 19 July 1980

Bassist with Arnie Prole's Blues Band! Founding member of John Cooper Clarke's Curious Yellows! Close friend of Eric the Ferret! Producer of Spiral Scratch, Jilted ...

Joy Division: Closer (Factory Records FACT XXV)

Review by Paolo Hewitt, Melody Maker, 26 July 1980

FROM THE beginning we were always dealing with something special. Joy Division, by the very nature of their set up, could never have been just ...

Siouxsie & the Banshees: Kaleidoscope (Polydor 2442 177)

Review by Rosalind Russell, Record Mirror, 26 July 1980

Siouxsie at the sharp end ...

Gang of Four

Interview by Amy Linden, Damage, August 1980

I ALWAYS assumed that once "we the fans" began promoting and putting on shows, the bullshit would stop. I also held to the dream that ...

Gang of Four's Great Leap Forward

Interview by Jim Green, Trouser Press, August 1980

"THE IRONY of our name," says guitarist Andy Gill of Gang of Four, "is the idea that four essentially middle-class English musicians would dare to ...

Siouxsie & the Banshees: In From The Cold

Interview by Rosalind Russell, Record Mirror, 2 August 1980

ROSALIND RUSSELL INTERVIEWS; SIOUXSIE AND STEVE SEVERIN WARM UP ...

Delta 5: The Delta Of Venus: Delta 5

Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 2 August 1980

"DEL-TA-5! DEL-TA-5!" is good to chant. It feels as good as "Up-Starts! Up-starts!" or "A-C-D-C! A-C-D-C!" What might surprise you is that Delta 5 — ...

The Durutti Column: Columnar Collusions

Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 16 August 1980

DURUTTI FRUTTI, THE DAVE McCULLOUGH FLAVOUR OF THE MONTH ...

Killing Joke: A Regular Bundle Of Fun

Interview by Deanne Pearson, The Face, September 1980

Bass, LeadTo Tell The Killing JokeWe Mean It Max!Total ExploitationNo InformationAnonymity ...

A Certain Ratio: Failed CSE Rock!

Report and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 6 September 1980

WE LEAVE the grubby Hulme human hutch where some members of A Certain Ratio live. The view from this particular section of hutches is not ...

Pink Military, Simple Minds, The Skids: Skids, Simple Minds, Pink Military: Hammersmith Palais, London

Live Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 6 September 1980

Bowled over by a Skid ...

Pere Ubu: "We wanna beat the art rap"

Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 20 September 1980

David Thomas and Mayo Thompson tell DAVE McCULLOUGH: "We're not weird/bleak/gloomy etc" and also give him the name of an excellent tailor ...

Altered Images, Clock DVA, Echo & The Bunnymen, Robert Fripp, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Soft Cell, U2, Wasted Youth: Siouxsie & the Banshees, Robert Fripp, Echo & the Bunnymen, U2, Altered Images, Clock DVA, Soft Cell: Futurama Festival, Queens Hall, Leeds

Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 20 September 1980

The squalor show goes on ...

Public Image Ltd: PiL: Rotten's Public Image is on the Mend

Interview by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 26 September 1980

A former Sex Pistol is trying to make it as plain John Lydon. Mary Harron reports ...

Delta 5, Echo & The Bunnymen, U2: Echo & Bunnymen, U2, Delta 5: The Lyceum, London

Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 27 September 1980

ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN dwell in the magical land between life and art that is the territory of great rock'n'roll. Making music alone isn't enough ...

The Associates: Boys Keep Scoring

Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 27 September 1980

THERE'S SOMETHING a little odd about Billy Mackenzie. When he was younger, he says, his friends used to think that he was crazy. Mental. ...

Bush Tetras: Sons and Daughters of No New York: Bush Tetras

Interview by Andy Schwartz, New York Rocker, October 1980

PAT PLACE: Guitar. Age 26. Born and raised in Chicago. Arrived in New York in 1975. "I was a visual art student... I came here ...

Josef K: Four shadows in search of a sunny day

Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 4 October 1980

Paul Morley talks to Josef K, a soul group who define the alienation effect, it says here. ...

A Certain Ratio, New Order: Hurrah, New York NY

Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 11 October 1980

Factory whistle blows in New York ...

Au Pairs: Every Home Should Have Four

Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 11 October 1980

"THE TROUBLE with conversations like this," declares Pete, nodding sagely, knitting his eyebrows, as he refers to the complex peculiarities of a pop group who ...

Cabaret Voltaire, Eric Random, Take It: Clarendon Hotel, London

Live Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 11 October 1980

IN CABARET Voltaire's live spectaculars, the valuable process of disorientation begins with the uncompromising drumbeat that fires the music. No matter if you've seen them ...

Comsat Angels: Miracle Workers

Report and Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 11 October 1980

"MILKY WAY – the gig you can do between tours!" Steve Fellows, singer, guitarist and lyricist with The Comsat Angels is right. There's very little ...

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark: Techno Conservationists

Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 25 October 1980

Dave McCullough bumps into Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark ...

Joy Division: A History of Joy Division

Retrospective by Mick Middles, The Face, November 1980

JOY DIVISION began life in romantically seedy surroundings. In late 1977, as the initial push of the new wave began to soften, hundreds of imitation ...

Joy Division: Letter from Britain: The Exploding Psychedelic Inevitable

Column by Penny Valentine, Creem, November 1980

"YOU CRY OUT in your sleep/And all my failings exposed," mourns Ian Curtis on the extraordinary, emotional 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'. This song, currently ...

The Birthday Party: Mick Harvey speaks

Interview by Clinton Walker, RAM, November 1980

Nine months ago, the Boys Next Door packed their ambition and what little equipment they possessed and beaded for London. They left Australia simply because ...

The Sound: Jeopardy

Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, November 1980

THE ARBITRARINESS, the inconsistencies of rock tend to help arid hinder, but more hinder a band such as The Sound. It makes some look at ...

Cabaret Voltaire, Young Marble Giants, Monitor: Sokol Hall, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 1 November 1980

PEOPLE MAY complain about restrictive radio and record-company policies that stifle the development of new, daring bands, but there is a bright side. No matter ...

Altered Images, Nick Lowe, The Polecats, Rockpile, Siouxsie & The Banshees: Siouxsie & the Banshees: Siouxp

Report and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 8 November 1980

ROCK'S FAVOURITE SITUATION COMEDY RETURNS TO YOUR PAGES AND STAGES. SCRIPT: PAUL MORLEY ...

Bush Tetras: The Bush Tetras: Outsiders in a Sexual Jungle

Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 8 November 1980

Meet the Bush Tetras They're a New York rhythm and paranoia band. ...

Killing Joke: The Killing Of Brother Paul

Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 15 November 1980

IF I HAD heard how Jaz had let Youth know that I'd arrived, I wouldn't have bothered with the interview. Photographer Ray Stevenson told me ...

Echo & The Bunnymen: Welcome To The Bunnyhouse

Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 22 November 1980

WHEN ECHO And The Bunnymen end their British tour with a date at Liverpool University, the Mad Hatter photographer (Joe Stevens) and I travel up ...

ABC, Essential Bop, Restricted Code: Bristol Bop! Glasgow Pop! It's As Easy As ABC!

Profile and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 20 December 1980

LEMON SUCKING refers to the practice of sucking in the cheeks to affect the 'rock'n'roll' wasted look. Chewing, or neck bending, refers, I would suppose, ...

The Slits: And Lo, "Three Wise Slits Take Their Temple To The West"

Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 20 December 1980

GAMES ON TRAINS ...

Laughing Clowns: Intensely original

Preview by Clinton Walker, The Adelaide Advertiser, 1981

One of Australia's most innovative and exciting new progressive bands, Laughing Clowns, arrives in Adelaide today for the first of four gigs, at the Tivoli ...

John Lydon, Public Image Ltd: Public Image Ltd. (1981)

Interview by Kris Needs, Rock's Backpages audio, 1981

John Lydon, Keith Levene and (a barely audible) Jeanette Lee on: the Flowers of Romance album; what was wrong with Wobble; Satin tour jackets; the Futurists & Steve Strange; problems with Virgin Records and more.

File format: mp3; file size: 41.2mb, interview length: 45' 01" sound quality: **

Au Pairs: Vote Vote Vote

Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 10 January 1981

MARK COOPER joins the AU PAIRS' campaign trail ...

Basement 5: 1965-1980 (Island ILPS 9641) **

Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 24 January 1981

This album degrades women ...

The Passions: (Suddenly) Everybody Needs Passions... but don't mention the German film star

Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 31 January 1981

The Passions are in love with themselves. With each other. (For a week, at least.) ...

The Fall: The Prestwich Horror And Other Strange Stories

Interview by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 31 January 1981

Mark Smith of The Fall discloses fragments of the "Totale Mythos" to Edwin Pouncey. ...

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 ...

The Slits: Irving Plaza, New York NY

Live Review by Andy Schwartz, New York Rocker, February 1981

AM I THE only man in the house tonight with the sudden and irrepressible urge to take Ari Up over my knee and give her ...

New Order: Heaven, London

Live Review by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 11 February 1981

FEW GROUPS have been faced with such a heavy burden of expectation as were New Order in their London debut. This is the group formed ...

Joy Division, New Order: New Order: Heaven, London

Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 14 February 1981

THE HAUNTING OF HEAVEN ...

Bush Tetras: Taking Liberties from New York, Rainbow Theatre, London

Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 28 February 1981

BUSH TETRAS will be a New York legend. They steal/save/ARE the show. They pile disorientating meditative repetition upon sparse improvisation upon tangled rhythms upon inscrutable ...

Gang Of Four: Solid Gold (EMI)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 February 1981

FINALLY GANG Of Four agree among themselves long enough to record a set of seven new songs, add on three already-released-in-some-other-form originals, come up with ...

The Comsat Angels, Siouxsie & The Banshees: Siouxsie & The Banshees, Comsat Angels: Hammersmith Palais, London

Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 28 February 1981

SIOUXSIE AND The Banshees are now one of the great British bands. There is no way to conceive just how radically they have been transformed ...

The Feelies: Irving Plaza, New York NY

Live Review by Andy Schwartz, New York Rocker, March 1981

THE FEELIES are in trouble. The Feelies are troubled. They have gained an audience (this show was as well-attended as any Irving plaza gig by ...

Delta 5, Gang of Four, Pere Ubu: Gang of Four, Pere Ubu, Delta 5: Mountford Hall, Liverpool

Live Review by Penny Kiley, Melody Maker, 21 March 1981

Firing on all Four ...

The Associates: Oor Billy!

Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 28 March 1981

THE ASSOCIATES' own Mackenzie renounces all evil and talks to Dave McCullough instead ...

Gang of Four

Interview by Deanne Pearson, The Face, April 1981

Poolswinning Yorkshire musicians syndicate, Hugo Burnham, Dave Allen, Jon King and Andy Gill, pictured with the small change from their record-breaking swoop on EMI's Treble ...

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 ...

Bush Tetras, Gang of Four, Pere Ubu: Gang Of Four, Pere Ubu, Bush Tetras: Hammersmith Palais, London

Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 11 April 1981

FOUR BETTER OR WORSE? ...

Gang Of Four: Solid Gold

Review by Van Gosse, The Village Voice, 29 April 1981

GANG OF FOUR called their first album Entertainment!, as if shouting from the rooftops that it wasn't. ...

Public Image Ltd.: Flowers of Romance (Virgin, import LP)

Review by Julie Panebianco, Boston Rock, 30 April 1981

FLOWERS OF Romance reminds me of this old Sid Caesar joke. He introduces a jazz musician as being "...on radar, to let us know if ...

The Fall: Free Fall

Interview by Deanne Pearson, Smash Hits, 30 April 1981

DEANNE PEARSON DISCUSSES THE FUTURE WITH MARK SMITH, LEADER OF MANCHESTER'S MOST MILITANT COMBO. ...

The Cure: Brood — Don't Sulk

Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 16 May 1981

FROM PUNK TO POMP? THE CURE PONDER THE PITFALLS OF FLOYD'S SOUND SYSTEM. CHRIS BOHN LISTENS FOR THE FLAWS ...

Gang of Four, Public Image Ltd: Public Image Ltd.: Flowers of Romance (Warner Bros. BSK3536); The Gang of Four: Solid Gold (Warner Bros. BSK3656)

Review by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 20 May 1981

Rock-Bottom Rock ...

Throbbing Gristle Makes L.A. Debut

Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 25 May 1981

Throbbing Gristle: Veteran's Auditorium, Culver City, CA ...

Colin Newman, Wire: Colin Newman

Interview by Jim Green, Trouser Press, June 1981

"YOU CAN'T forcibly solve contradictions; you've got to allow them to work themselves out," says Colin Newman. What's a Colin Newman? Good question; he himself ...

The Raincoats: Odyshape (Rough Trade)

Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 6 June 1981

Revelations chapter II ...

Echo & the Bunnymen: Knocking on Heaven's gate

Report and Interview by Lynden Barber, Melody Maker, 20 June 1981

Lynden Barber goes Dutch on a tequila sunrise with Echo and the Bunnymen. ...

A Certain Ratio, Joy Division, New Order, The Slits: Rough Trade and Factory: Business Brains in Action!

Interview by Roy Trakin, New York Rocker, July 1981

Independent Thoughts From Rough Trade's Geoff Travis And Factory's Tony Wilson ...

Killing Joke: Manchester Polytechnic, Manchester

Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 4 July 1981

This noise annoys ...

Human Switchboard: Deft Mutants in a Telephone Booth: Human Switchboard at Walnut Hills, Dayton

Live Review by Richard Riegel, Creem, August 1981

DAYTON, OH -- "Maximum Occupancy: 110" says the sign high up on the wall of the Walnut Hills Bar, and by a conservative estimate, I'd ...

Romeo Void: It's A Condition (415 Records)

Review by Iman Lababedi, Creem, August 1981

IF YOU TORE Romeo Void's debut LP down to its essence, what you'd get wouldn't be a million miles away from a collection or torch ...

Aztec Camera, Josef K: Josef K, Aztec Camera: The Venue, London

Live Review by Leyla Sanai, New Musical Express, 15 August 1981

WHEN I entered The Venue, I expected to be bestowed with an endless soul. I wasn't, but I got a ticket instead. A choice of ...

Cabaret Voltaire

Interview by Paul Morley, The Face, September 1981

Grey, industrial, oppressive, weird? Wrong, say the Sheffield stylists. Wrong, says our ace showbiz reporter. PAUL MORLEY (words) attempts to demystify Cabaret Voltaire's drab legend. ...

Lydia Lunch & 13.13: O.N. Klub, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Byron Coley, New York Rocker, September 1981

THE O.N. KLUB, at the very far end of the entertainment turf strung along Sunset Boulevard, has the feel of a biker's bar gone cool ...

Joy Division: Still (Factory)

Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 17 October 1981

FEATURING: 'Ice Age', 'Walked In Line' and The Kill' (from '77 sessions), 'Glass' (from Factory Sampler) 'Exercise One' and The Sound Of Music' (John Peel sessions), ...

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 ...

The Slits: Return Of The Giant Slits

Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, November 1981

  IN 1977 THE Slits were a noisy, thrashing pupa, slashing at complacent sitcom existences and establishing themselves as an anarchistic, table-turning force. ...

23 Skidoo, Defunkt: Defunkt, 23 Skidoo: The Venue, London

Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 7 November 1981

Closer to the Bone ...

Scritti Politti

Profile and Interview by Ian Birch, Smash Hits, 12 November 1981

From the underground...To the charts? We want hits, say the former cult heroes. Quite right, says Ian Birch. ...

Pigbag: Horny Boars Or Funky Hambones?

Profile and Interview by Howard Wuelfing, New York Rocker, December 1981

STILL RECOVERING from last night's celebration of the end of my first cold of the season. Ooch! Where was I? Oh yeah, I'm supposed to ...

The Cure: Three Imaginary Cures

Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, December 1981

NEW YORK — In C.S. Lewis's children's book The Last Battle, he describes heaven as a place where all the good things last forever, and ...

Scritti Politti: Suspicious Minds

Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 5 December 1981

Making their way from the margins to the mainstream SCRITTI POLITTI have discovered the beauties of pop. But what took them so long? "Professor" MARK ...

The Mekons: The Mekons Story (CNT) 1982

Sleeve notes by Lester Bangs, CNT Records, 1982

THE MEKONS are the most revolutionary group in the history of rock 'n' roll. They are also the finest artists ever to have graced this ...

Scritti Politti

Interview by Tony Fletcher, Jamming!, 1982

THE INTRO ...

Poison Girls: Total Exposure (xntrix)***½

Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 9 January 1982

POISON GIRLS' music doesn't tell you anything new. Barely evolved from the ugly end of punk it grinds or charges along with an oppressive grimness ...

Pere Ubu, David Thomas: UBU!

Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 9 January 1982

Small American journalists and stout American singers... we confront the issue most music papers shy away from. In the shadows of the city of Meatloaf, ...

A Certain Ratio: Sextet (Factory Fact 55)

Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 16 January 1982

A CERTAIN JE NE SAIS QUOI ...

A Certain Ratio: Sextet (Factory)

Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 16 January 1982

THE A CERTAIN RATIO anatomy of melancholy breaks down to a curdling rattle of bones, distant whistles, a few whispered words and a trickle of ...

23 Skidoo: King's College, London

Live Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 23 January 1982

GOODNESS KNOWS, it's hard enough to sit yourself high in the air and look down penetratingly at anything in rock/pop with a view to clocking ...

Fad Gadget: Fadfoolery and Frank Confessions

Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 23 January 1982

Paul Morley encounters Frank Tovey on the verge of failure, and Fad Gadget on the point of hysteria. So why is this a succesful combination? ...

Rip Rig And Panic: Warehouse, Liverpool

Live Review by Penny Kiley, Melody Maker, 23 January 1982

That's entertainment ...

A Certain Ratio, Pinski Zoo: A Certain Ratio: Lyceum, London; Pinski Zoo: The Venue, London

Live Review by Richard Williams, The Times, 19 February 1982

WHO WOULD have thought, after it had been received into the White House and on to the Parkinson show, that jazz could ever again become ...

A Certain Ratio, Maximum Joy: Lyceum, London

Live Review by Leyla Sanai, New Musical Express, 27 February 1982

RATIONAL RATIO ...

Theatre of Hate: The National Youth Theatre

Interview by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, 4 March 1982

KIRK BRANDON, incisive songwriter, powerful singer and photogenic lead actor in the Theatre of Hate, is tired today. ...

Pigbag: Dr Heckle And Mr Jive (Y)

Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 6 March 1982

THE ACREAGE of cloth in Pigbag's collective trousers has been measured and, I'm afraid, found wanting. This is, apparently, an issue of some importance in ...

The Fall: Hex Enduction Hour (Kamera)

Review by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 6 March 1982

OF COURSE, YOU don't actually review a Fall LP. You hover in the shadow of the aura and attempt to catch some of the sparks ...

Pigbag: Dr Heckle and Mr Jive (Y 17 LP)

Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 13 March 1982

BLOW ME down and shake me round, here comes Pigbag, a tornado in your town. Yes, yes a breath of fresh air designed to move ...

Bush Tetras: Beatin' Around The Bush

Report and Interview by Julie Panebianco, Boston Rock, 18 March 1982

PRIMITIVES ...

Bauhaus: Breaking Down The Walls Of Art-Ache

Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 20 March 1982

"When we heard that you were going to interview us, we came up with two possibilities: a, being physical violence, and b, being a reasoned ...

The Fall: Hex Enduction Hour (Kamera KAM 005)

Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 20 March 1982

What the hex ...

The Passions: Love plus two

Interview by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 20 March 1982

Mick Sinclair experiences some new PASSIONS ...

Pigbag: Warehouse, Liverpool

Live Review by Penny Kiley, Smash Hits, 1 April 1982

PIGBAG ARE 'HOT' at the moment and so are the audience — very hot. The Warehouse Club (originally a real warehouse and cosily underground like ...

Au Pairs: Equal Shares For The Au Pairs

Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, May 1982

"He works the car, she the sink She's not here to think Sits with the paper, discuss the news She doesn't have political views" 'Diet' ...

Killing Joke: Revelations (EG)

Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 1 May 1982

SO WHERE'S THE PUNCH LINE? ...

The Fall: Hex Education

Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 8 May 1982

COINCIDENCE AND surprise save the world from going flat! Like, the same issue of Artforum which boasts that superb Laurie Anderson flexidisc also has an ...

Gang of Four: Songs Of The Free (EMI)

Review by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, 22 May 1982

AND SO the most highly-evolved piss artists in "rock" came to release their third LP. ...

Scritti Politti: The Sweetest Groove

Interview by Lynden Barber, Melody Maker, 29 May 1982

Everything's gone GREEN, the voice of SCRITTI POLITTI tells Lynden Barber ...

New Order (For The Old Ceremony)

Report and Interview by Richard Grabel, Creem, June 1982

NEW YORK — The word had gone out through Ruth Polsky, the booking agent handling New Order's American tour. No interviews. They never do them. ...

Cabaret Voltaire: 2X45 (Rough Trade)

Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 5 June 1982

WHAT IS least novel – and perhaps least satisfying – about the ascendancy of synthi-pop is its dependence on romantic humanist elements. Kraftwerk's love of ...

Lora Logic: The blank(et) generation

Interview by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 5 June 1982

My temple or yours? MICK SINCLAIR asks LORA LOGIC ...

New Order: Manifesto

Essay by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 5 June 1982

NEW ORDER REVISED. BY PAUL MORLEY — WHO JUST COULDN'T RESIST THE... ...

The Go-Betweens, The Raincoats, The Three Courgettes: The Raincoats, Three Courgettes, The Go-Betweens: The Venue, London

Live Review by Lynden Barber, Melody Maker, 5 June 1982

HAVING SUCCESSFULLY thrown off the worst aspects of their twee post-punk amateurism with the release of the refreshing Odyshape last year. The Raincoats took several steps backwards ...

23 Skidoo — Don't Play Funky For Me!

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 12 June 1982

"You see, the people who constantly listen to pop have their ears degraded by wrong style and reiteration, senseless reiteration..."– Unity Mitford, taped on 'Porno ...

Au Pairs: Sex Without Stress

Interview by Lynden Barber, Melody Maker, 12 June 1982

HOW COULD they have known? The caption under the BBC1 column in the Sunday Times television listings for May 30 was unmistakeable. "6.10. Sense And ...

Joy Division, New Order: FAC~T or Fiction

Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 12 June 1982

Dave McCullough corresponds with Factory boss TONY WILSON. ...

Rip Rig and Panic: Rip Rig & Panic

Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 12 June 1982

"OH NOOOO! Look at this one! Look at Springer's head!" ...

Gang Of Four: Liverpool

Live Review by Penny Kiley, Smash Hits, 24 June 1982

THE GANG OF Four are one of the few groups who are almost always better on stage than on record. After a sticky patch last ...

Cabaret Voltaire

Interview by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, 26 June 1982

"THERE'S 70 million people on earth." "Where are they hiding?" ...

Pigbag: Brand New Beanbag

Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 3 July 1982

Mark Cooper throws a few questions at the brand new Pigbag ...

Delta 5, Southern Death Cult, Theatre of Hate: Theatre Of Hate, Southern Death Cult, Delta 5: Hammersmith Palais, London

Live Review by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 10 July 1982

THIS IS ALMOST another case of "eat thy words", hard on the heels of Allan Jones' revelatory viewing of the Stones at Wembley. I didn't ...

Fehlfarben: Before The Deluge

Interview by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, 31 July 1982

UNDER THE nuclear shadow, something stirs. Looking west, it decides to reject the old men's fear and guilt. If the sands of time are turning ...

The Raincoats: Raincoats Off The Peg

Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 14 August 1982

IF ORDER is considered the new subversion, then what becomes of the untidy old subversives? They're redefined as anachronisms, treated affectionately as museum pieces or ...

Human Switchboard, Scientific Americans: Scientific Americans: Load And Go!; Human Switchboard: Coffee Break and other ROIR tapes

Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 14 August 1982

TIME FOR another recharge from my choice in chutzpah-driven indies: Neil ‘Let’s Get This Party Started’ Cooper’s Reach Out International Records (ROIR). Former booking agent ...

Scritti Politti: Songs To Remember (Rough Trade)

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 4 September 1982

HERE IT IS: Scritti Politti's greatest hits. Let me assure you that this isn't a problem (I like albums with lots of singles on) and ...

Public Image Ltd: Working On A New Public Image

Interview by Julie Panebianco, Boston Rock, 22 September 1982

A GUITAR is being tuned, loudly, in the studio. Keith Levene strikes a familiar chord which quickly becomes a theme. Public Image Ltd.'s theme. ...

Pere Ubu: Song Of The Bailing Man (Rough Trade)

Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 25 September 1982

SONGS OF THE BORING MEN ...

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. ...

Gang of Four: Letter Bomb for Ted Baxter: Gang of Four Out of Uniform

Interview by Laura Fissinger, Creem, November 1982

WHATEVER IT is that's doing a George Romero on the American Dream is finally starting to do it in such bastions of good life as ...

Lydia Lunch: 13.13 (Ruby)

Review by Jeffrey Morgan, Creem, November 1982

IN A BUSINESS where women singers are a dime a dozen these days (and trite women singers the norm), Lydia Lunch can be proud of ...

The Psychedelic Furs: Love Their Way

Report and Interview by Julie Panebianco, Boston Rock, 17 November 1982

The Singer ...

Psychic TV: Force The Hand Of Chance (Some Bizzarre)***

Review by Ralph Traitor, Sounds, 20 November 1982

IMITATING COUNTLESS gurus before him, Genesis P-Orridge embarks here and now on a cynical and puerile journey to the heart of pantomime profundity, stopping at ...

Romeo Void: Benefactor

Review by Richard Riegel, Creem, December 1982

ROMEO VOID'S Debora Iyall has said that her band's name "means there are not romantic notions here — and there shouldn't be; we are about ...

A Certain Ratio: I'd Like To See You Again (Factory)

Review by Leyla Sanai, New Musical Express, 4 December 1982

I REALLY wanted to love the new A Certain Ratio LP. After countless plays I've accepted it's not going to click the way I'd hoped. ...

The Farmer's Boys, Orange Juice: Orange Juice, Farmer's Boys: Lyceum, London

Live Review by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 11 December 1982

IN THE sound ruining Lyceum even the normally wondrous Farmer's Boys have trouble. Their chirpy minimal sound gets distorted into a tinny grating which performs ...

The Danse Society, The Fall, Felt: The Fall, Danse Society, Felt: Lyceum, London

Live Review by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 18 December 1982

FELT ARE hinged around guitarist and singer (in that order) Lawrence, a lovably naive, hick-ish figure from a village just outside Birmingham. ...

Elvis Costello: The Palladium, New York

Live Review by Iman Lababedi, Creem, 31 December 1982

IT HAD been 10 months since I last saw Elvis Costello; in between I'd watched him play footsie with Tom Snyder, straight man to George ...

Killing Joke: The Killing Joke Goes On (Forever)

Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, March 1983

NEW YORK—During the summer of '81, I wrote a review of London band Killing Joke's second album What's This For...! for the Village Voice; in ...

Pigbag: Dominion, London

Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 7 March 1983

PIGBAG surprised everybody, not least themselves, by climbing into the American charts and subsequently the British ones in 1981 with 'Papa's Got A Brand New ...

Marine Girls: Lazy Ways (Cherry Red)

Review by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 26 March 1983

RISKING ACCUSATIONS of unseemly drooling, I'll simply state that I actually feel quite close to the Marine Girls. I don't wish to boast but I ...

SPK: Sound Stalkers

Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 9 April 1983

Maniac cab driver Chris Bohn takes you on a ride to the terminal zone with the New Zealand / Chinese alliance called SPK ...

Bush Tetras, The Raincoats, Johnny Thunders: The Raincoats: The Kitchen Tapes/The Bush Tetras: Wild Things!/Johnny Thunders: Too Much Monkey Business

Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 9 April 1983

THE LATEST trio of ROIR cassettes expands the label's category of historical documentation – a division which offers some excuse for the fact that Reachout ...

Bird Songs of the Mesozoic, Christmas, The Fall: The Fall, Christmas, Bird Songs of the Mesozoic: Rathskeller, Boston MA

Live Review by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 21 April 1983

Fall: Provocative, and wordy ...

The Raincoats: An Old Raincoat Will Never Let You Down

Profile and Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, May 1983

NEW YORK — After the interview is over, Ana da Silva gives me a crash course on Portugese politics. Portugal is her homeland and she ...

Rip Rig and Panic: Rip Rig & Panic: Rip Rig It Up And Start Again

Interview by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 7 May 1983

Their commercial failure was rigged, but they didn't panic. Now Don Watson discovers Rip Rig & Panic's new attitude. ...

Cabaret Voltaire: Taxi To The Terminal Zone

Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 16 July 1983

"The way I see it is capitalism's a sponge – consider yourself to squeeze it. Squeeze it while it's here, be prepared to pick up ...

New Order: When There's No More Room in Hell: New Order Prowl the New York Streets

Report and Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 23 July 1983

In the three years since they emerged from the shadow of Joy Division, New Order have become the world's leading and most wilfully independent group. ...

New Order: Out Of Order

Report by Mick Middles, Sounds, 30 July 1983

"How I wish you were here with me now." – New Order, 'In A Lonely Place' ...

The Mekons: Hot Club, Brixton, London

Live Review by Susan Williams, New Musical Express, 3 September 1983

NÜE VAVE! ...

Gang of Four: Hard (EMI)

Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 10 September 1983

THESE DAYS the barricades are thinly manned. Back in '79 Rock was Against Everything and The Gang Of 4 provided a soundtrack of surgical firepower ...

Action Pact, The Bay City Rollers, Bone Orchard, The Cult, Flesh For Lulu, Holy Toy, Killing Joke, Lavolta Lakota, Ligotage, New Model Army, Pink Peg Slax, Pleasure and the Beast, The Three Johns: Killing Joke, The Three Johns, New Model Army, Bay City Rollers et al: Futurama 5, Queen's Hall, Leeds

Live Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 24 September 1983

POCKET BILLIARDS ...

Gang of Four: Four Get Out Their Trees

Interview by Annene Kaye, New Musical Express, 1 October 1983

ANNENE KAYE opens a branch account with the GANG OF FOUR. ...

Keith Levene, Public Image Ltd: Keith Levene: The Bitterest PiL

Interview by Julie Panebianco, Boston Rock, 11 October 1983

THE URGENT guitar playing that cuts through the rumble of 'The Public Image Theme' isn't just the sound of a guitar going through an amp. ...

Mission of Burma

Interview by Blake Gumprecht, Alternative America, Winter 1983

COMING TOGETHER in Boston four years ago, Mission of Burma's first single, 'Academy Fight Song', was released by Ace of Hearts a year after the ...

Gang of Four = Hard Men in Good Cars

Profile and Interview by RJ Smith, Creem, March 1984

"All we have in common is the illusion of being together. And the only resistance to the illusions of the permitted painkillers come from the ...

Scritti Politti: Say A Little Prayer For Green

Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 10 March 1984

DEEP END, feet first. Is it true you're Mr Paranoid? ...

Public Image Ltd: PiL: This Is What You Want, This Is What You Get (Virgin)

Review by Lynden Barber, Melody Maker, July 1984

JUST when you thought you had the bugger pinned down as a spent force, a wasted opportunist and black and white photocopy of a colourful ...

Public Image Ltd.: This Is What You Want, This Is What You Get (Virgin)

Review by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 4 August 1984

DEAR JOHN, the big kiss off: ...

Box, The (UK): The Box: Great Moments In Big Slam (Go! Discs)

Review by Leyla Sanai, New Musical Express, 18 August 1984

WHEN THE old DVA clocked out in late '82, the name went one way, the spirit the other. While the new DVA went on to ...

The Durutti Column: Riverside Studios, London

Live Review by Neil Taylor, New Musical Express, 15 September 1984

SIXTY FOOT up in the Riverside gantry, amongst the clutter of microphones, lights, and soundmen, we witness the return of The Durutti Column. A grand ...

23 Skidoo: Urban Wastelands

Interview by Richard Kick, ZigZag, October 1984

THE THOUGHT was: as a concise introduction into the idea of 23 Skidoo I would write a short piece about Fritz Hamaan. ...

The Mekons: Living Room, London

Live Review by The Legend!, New Musical Express, 6 October 1984

IS THIS the way to say goodbye? The last night at the Living Room, proprietor moving on to greater things, hopefully (water-bombs in Tottenham?!?), the ...

Cabaret Voltaire: Rock With The Digital Cavemen

Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 17 November 1984

AS ONE Voltaire remarks, it's good weather for journalism: weary skies stuffed with rainclouds over Sheffield and its hills. After London the gentle pace of ...

The Durutti Column: Without Mercy (Factory)

Review by Martin Aston, Melody Maker, 8 December 1984

SO MUCH contemporary music strives to conquer eager hearts and incite itchy feet with bombastic crescendoes and prolific sloganeering, substituting the possible with the obvious, ...

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 ...

Karl Biscuit, The Durutti Column, Joni Sackett: Durutti Column, Jonie D. Sackett, Karl Biscuit: ICA, London

Live Review by Julian Henry, Melody Maker, 19 January 1985

THE LIFE IN REILLY ...

Shriekback: Funk's Fictional Threat

Essay by Simon Reynolds, Monitor, March 1985

1985, AND A GAGGLE of groups plough a well-furrowed, increasingly barren field. ...

Scritti Politti: Psyched Out

Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, June 1985

THE TWO singers, a tall fresh-faced Welshman and a soft spoken bleary-eyed Mancunian, felt trapped. ...

The Monochrome Set: Set Back

Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 1 June 1985

The Monochrome Set put Chris Roberts in the picture ...

James, Wire: Wire, James: Bloomsbury Theatre, London

Live Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 3 August 1985

SPARKLY JAMES HARVEST ...

New Order: Low-Life (Qwest/Warner Bros.)

Review by Jon Young, Creem, September 1985

INTEGRITY OOZING from every tortured pore, England's New Order are not your usual mopesters. Although the breathy vocalizing and smooth synthesizing of Low-Life keep the ...

The Nightingales, The Prefects: Anti-Pop Songbirds: The Nightingales

Report and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Spin, October 1985

THE NIGHTINGALES ARE seasoned figures on the English independent scene, epitomizing the doggedly patient and uncompromising outsider. Five years old, they still play tiny clubs-above-pubs ...

Cabaret Voltaire: Come to Ze Cabaret!

Profile and Interview by Jon Young, Creem, February 1986

"WE'RE PROBABLY more accessible now than ever before," notes genial Richard Kirk of Cabaret Voltaire, but don't get the wrong idea. Although the Cabs have ...

John Lydon, Public Image Ltd: John Lydon: This Is What You Get

Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 8 February 1986

THIS IS the beginning of an interview with the John Lydon who has drunk seven cans of Red Stripe lager, after breakfasting on oysters. ...

Cabaret Voltaire: Town & Country Club, London

Live Review by Betty Page, Record Mirror, 1 March 1986

ONE instinctively feels that a Cabs show can't be approached in the usual manner. They don't run on stage in dry ice, rib the audience, ...

Public Image Ltd: John Lydon: Apocalypse New

Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 24 May 1986

SOMEBODY told me John Lydon liked a drink. And this was indeed a large crumb of comfort. Suddenly, it was possible to establish some common ...

Public Image Ltd: A Private Hour with John Lydon's Public Image

Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, August 1986

A SHAME YOU can't hear the belches with which John — but you can also call him Johnny Rotten — Lydon punctuates his conversation. Great ...

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. ...

A Certain Ratio: Ten Years on the Factory Floor

Interview by John McCready, New Musical Express, 10 January 1987

Can you feel the 'force'? A CERTAIN RATIO's decade of inconsistent, meandering flight between trash and flashes of brilliance may well have come to an ...

A Certain Ratio, The Fall: The Fall, A Certain Ratio: Free Trade Hall, Manchester

Live Review by James Brown, Sounds, 10 January 1987

A BRILLIANT CAREER ...

Swans: Blubber, Blood & Bucks

Interview by Jack Barron, Sounds, 17 January 1987

No other group creates such extreme reactions as SWANS. For some, they are a bunch of American charlatans making the worst noise in the world; ...

Wire (1987)

Interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages audio, March 1987

The proto-postpunks go through their history: Graham Lewis, Colin Newman and Bruce Gilbert on making debut album Pink Flag; on their development over the subsequent Chairs Missing and 154; on touring with the Tubes and Roxy Music; on their difficulties with EMI; and on re-emerging with new album The Ideal Copy. Graham Lewis (left) answers first, followed by Colin Newman (in shades) and finally Bruce Gilbert (second from left)…

File format: mp3; file size: 44mb, interview length: 45' 47" sound quality: ***

Bodines,The, The Fall, Happy Mondays: The Fall/The Bodines/Happy Mondays: International, Manchester

Live Review by John Robb, Sounds, 2 May 1987

STRANGE HOW, these days, any gathering of vaguely well known groups always makes you think of charity and polished consciences. But tonight seemed to be ...

Wire: The Ideal Copy (Mute)

Review by The Legend!, New Musical Express, 2 May 1987

THE QUESTION is: should there really be a question at all? Many people hold no truck with reformations; more often than not they tarnish precious ...

Divine Horsemen: Devil's River/Mother's Worry (SST)

Review by Byron Coley, Spin, June 1987

WHILE dim bulbs and babes still a-swaddling may not be familiar with the work of Chris D, it's a fairly safe bet that most practicing ...

Wire: Victims of Time

Interview by Jack Barron, Sounds, 6 June 1987

Or timeless as ever? Only time will tell, say WIRE, back with An Ideal Copy and not a hint of retrogression anywhere. Seconds clocked by ...

Wire: State-of-the-Art Return to Action

Profile and Interview by Howard Wuelfing, Musician, July 1987

WIRE IS back. After a "sabbatical" of some seven years, the British group released a four-song EP of new material titled Snakedrill, and The Ideal ...

Wire ...Of The Tastiest Kind

Interview by Richard Grabel, Creem, September 1987

COLIN NEWMAN and Graham Lewis, of the nearly living legendary beat combo Wire, are amiable, approachable guys who nonetheless make no attempt to hide their ...

Public Image Ltd: John Lydon: I Cry Alone

Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 10 October 1987

DAY-GLO PINK mini-dreads erupt from his scalp like antennae made of candyfloss. Iceberg blue eyes stare from cigarette ash skin. A smirk. A belch of ...

Scritti Politti's Green (1988)

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, January 1988

Scritti's Green talks about making Provision, meeting Jacques Derrida, working with Miles Davis, Roger Troutman and Chaka Khan, hanging out with Kraftwerk and struggling to come up with an album title...

File format: mp3; file size: 57.7meg, total interview length: 1h 00' 06" sound quality: ****

Public Image Ltd: Public Image Limited: Happy? (Virgin)

Review by Michael Azerrad, Rolling Stone, 11 February 1988

TEN YEARS ago he was burying Led Zepplin; now he's praising it. Such are the artistic swings from Johnny Rotten (ne Lydon), professional iconoclast. Not ...

Wire: A Stitch in Time… Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Interview by Robin Gibson, Sounds, 4 June 1988

In the oddball world of unlikely pop stars WIRE — where vital organs are won playing bingo — social comment and absurdity walk hand in ...

Stump: A Fierce Pancake (Chrysalis) ***

Review by Michael Azerrad, Rolling Stone, 16 June 1988

FRESH FROM an extended engagement at the Theatre of the Absurd, Stump makes music that virtually defines the word quirky. This half-English, half-Irish quartet boasts ...

The Wild Swans: Return of the Swan

Interview by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 16 July 1988

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

John Lydon, Public Image Ltd: PiL (1988)

Interview by Mat Snow, Rock's Backpages audio, August 1988

Live Aid? Bollocks! Mat Snow battles the airport tannoy to hear pearls of wisdom from John Lydon and band.

File format: MP3 File size: 16.1 mb<br> Interview length: 23 minute 47 seconds Sound quality: ***

Scritti Politti: That Obscure Object of Desire

Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 20 August 1988

THE MEPHISTO of sophisto, GREEN GARTSIDE, and his slightly cool vehicle SCRITTI POLITTI have once more pulled into view with their new single 'First Boy ...

Pere Ubu: The Picturesque Sound of Pere Ubu

Profile and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 28 September 1988

IS THE ROCK world finally ready for Pere Ubu? The critically acclaimed sextet from Cleveland, which finishes a two-night stand at Club Lingerie tonight – ...

Savage Republic: Republican Party Reptiles

Profile and Interview by Push, Melody Maker, 22 October 1988

IN THEIR SEVEN-YEAR CAREER, SEMINAL L.A. MUTINEERS SAVAGE REPUBLIC CLAIM TO HAVE INFLUENCED BOTH SONIC YOUTH AND SWANS. NOW THEIR ALBUMS ARE FINALLY AVAILABLE IN ...

The Wolfgang Press: Wolfgang Press: Pressing Engagements

Interview by Push, Melody Maker, 4 February 1989

4AD'S LONGEST-SERVING BAND TALK TO PUSH ABOUT 'KANSAS', THEIR NEW SINGLE INSPIRED BY THE KENNEDY ASSASSINATION AND EXPLAIN WHY EXPERIMENTATION AND INNOVATION HAS SO FAR ...

The Fall: The Praxis Of Punk

Essay by Tim Riley, The Boston Phoenix, 7 April 1989

Why The Fall continue to rise ...

Public Image Ltd.: 9

Review by David Sinclair, Q, June 1989

PiL's seeping chill. ...

John Lydon, Public Image Ltd: John Lydon: …Heeere's Johnny!

Interview by Tom Hibbert, Q, July 1989

IN THE BAR OF the North London rehearsal studio complex, John Lydon, wearing a typically loud shirt, a pair of unorthodox dark spectacles and the ...

Marc Almond, The Beautiful South, Edwyn Collins, The La's, The Stone Roses: The Stone Roses, Marc Almond, Edwyn Collins, the Beautiful South, the La's: Les Inrockuptibles Festival, La Cigale, Paris

Live Review by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 21 October 1989

LA VIE EN ROSE(S) ...

Wire: Manscape (Mute)

Review by Dave Simpson, Melody Maker, 12 May 1990

THE FLIES in the ointment return. Formed at the onset of punk, Wire's art school background was far removed from the council estate mentalities of ...

Joy Division, Tony Wilson: Division On: Joy Division

Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 19 May 1990

"FUNNY. I WAS IN the car with Barney the other day and I just hit Unknown Pleasures into the CD. And Barney shouted, 'Get that ...

John Lydon, Public Image Ltd, Sex Pistols: John Lydon (1990)

Interview by Steven Daly, Rock's Backpages audio, September 1990

John Lydon, eco-warrior, talks about — among many things — rap, NWA, and the Moral Majority; Malcolm McLaren and Bernie Rhodes; ex-bandmate Steve Jones; living in Los Angeles; punks becoming the new establishment; football and his beloved Arsenal; his take on fashion; liking Pink Floyd's Dave Gilmour and offending Joni Mitchell; the current PiL and the band's previous members; on being involved in film... and being very rude about the Clash.

File format: mp3; file size: 104mb, interview length: 1h 48' 20" sound quality: ***

The Fall: Prole Art Threat

Interview by Paul Lester, Melody Maker, 1 September 1990

Now in their 14th year, Manchester's the Fall are still operating on rock's margins, still refusing to adhere to any consensus. But how will one ...

Genesis P-Orridge, Psychic TV: Psychic TV: In Thee Oblique Midwinter

Interview by Mark Sinker, City Limits, 20 December 1990

JUST LIKE a dilemma, present-day Paganism has two horns: the old lore and its new form. Except it isn't always entirely clear whether those horns ...

John Lydon

Interview by Steven Daly, Interview, January 1991

RESPLENDENT IN a California combo of fluorescent shorts and suntan, and crowned by a thatch of blond hair, the former Johnny Rotten answers the door ...

Gang of Four: A Brief History of the Twentieth Century (Warner Bros.)

Review by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, February 1991

IF YOU HAPPEN to own a copy of The Trouser Press Guide to New Wave Records, you can open it to just about any page, ...

The Fall: Mark E Smith: Not Falling, Soaring

Interview by Stephen Dalton, Vox, June 1991

MARK E SMITH'S REPUTATION precedes him like massed stormtroopers on the horizon. Fourteen years on, the Fall frontman still sets everyone on edge, either in ...

Pere Ubu: Heart of Darkness

Interview by Jon Savage, Spin, July 1991

Pere Ubu remains one of the most influential, innovative groups to emerge from the mid-'70s American punk-new wave movement. JON SAVAGE listens to some pearls ...

Wire: Three Men & a beat

Interview by Mark Sinker, The Wire, November 1991

Wire's reputation — as the foremost quartet of art-formalists to have come out of punk — has shrouded them in enigma. Now a three-piece, with ...

The Durutti Column, Happy Mondays, Joy Division, New Order: Anthony Wilson: Renaissance Manc

Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 30 November 1991

FACTORY: aloof, elegant, misunderstood Mancunian home of Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays, possibly the coolest record label in the world — but there are ...

Joy Division: An Interview with Martin Hannett, 29th May 1989

Interview by Jon Savage, Touch-Vagabond, 1992

JS: How did you come across Joy Division? ...

The Fall: Code Selfish (Cog Sinister)

Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 14 March 1992

"THOUGH PROUD of the way I've avoided prison.../When the cell door slams/I walk to the wall.../These are the words of success expectation/These are the words ...

Cabaret Voltaire's Record Collection

Interview by Andy Gill, Q, June 1992

Spookily delayed trumpets, primitive drum machines, bone-shaking bass, the original "bleep" record, loads of Germans and "Elvis gone wrong". Earplugs at the ready, Andy Gill ...

Cabaret Voltaire, On-U Sound System, Jah Wobble: Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart, Gary Clail's On-U Sound System, Cabaret Voltaire: Town & Country Club, London

Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 19 September 1992

IN THE grey area between barrow-boy techno and lumpen flannel-rock, there exists a community of enthusiasts who refuse to let their output be dictated by ...

The Fall: 15 Years Of Fame

Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 1 May 1993

THERE'S SOMETHING TREMENDOUSLY reassuring about the fact that The Fall, and Mark E Smith, exist. ...

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 ...

The Raincoats: Raincoats prove that there's life after punk

Report and Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 5 April 1994

CAMBRIDGE – Backstage before their first American gig in 12 years – hey, only their fourth gig period in that time – Raincoats bassist/guitarist/singer Gina ...

The Mekons: Retreat From Memphis (Touch and Go/Quarterstick)

Review by Robert Gordon, L.A. Weekly, 26 May 1994

The Glory of Shopping and... the Mekons' pleasure pleasure ...

Miles Davis, Brian Eno, Hatfield And The North, King Crimson, Charles Mingus, Pink Floyd, Public Enemy, The Raincoats, Nina Simone, Sly & the Family Stone, Tony Williams, Robert Wyatt: Robert Wyatt: Invisible Jukebox

Interview by Mike Barnes, The Wire, December 1995

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 ...

Young Marble Giants: Stuart Moxham on Young Marble Giants

Interview by Richie Unterberger, www.richieunterberger.com, 1997

STUART MOXHAM was guitarist and principal songwriter for the Young Marble Giants. Their 1980 album, Colossal Youth, is one of the most highly regarded indie ...

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 ...

Joy Division: The Making Of Unknown Pleasures

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Q, November 1998

Joy Division settle into 10cc's Strawberry Studios in Stockport to record one of the greatest albums of the 70s. But Ian Curtis has just discovered ...

John Lydon, Public Image Ltd: No Future? At Least Lydon Isn't Hung Up On The Past

Report and Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 22 August 1999

JOHN LYDON – once (and probably forever) known as Johnny Rotten – does not stomp around the world in a bad mood, contrary to popular ...

Public Image Ltd: PiL: Three's Company…

Retrospective by David Stubbs, Uncut, January 2000

David Stubbs takes a shine to the mesmerising remorselessness of PUBLIC IMAGE LTD's post-punk Metal Box... ...

Cabaret Voltaire

Retrospective and Interview by Stephen Dalton, Uncut, February 2000

THE CROWD ARE ALREADY PRETTY fired up when the steamingly drunk weirdo trapped in flashing fairy lights tosses his guitar into the audience. This is ...

23 Skidoo: Urban Savages

Interview by David Stubbs, The Wire, July 2000

Before their drums fell silent, 23 Skidoo’s percussion-heavy apocalypses ripped away the city’s civilised surface to reveal its primitive heart. Now the long wait is ...

Joy Division: Ian Curtis

Profile by Stephen Dalton, Uncut, August 2000

IAN CURTIS has amassed more disciples since his death 20 years ago than he ever attracted as singer with Manchester post-punk legends Joy Division. ...

Magazine: Maybe It's Right to Be Nervous Now (Virgin, 3CDs) ****

Review by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 22 September 2000

FOLLOWING AN initial period of liberation, punk, like all revolutionary forces, soon substituted new orthodoxies for those it had blown apart. ...

Magazine: Magazine... (Where The Power Is)/…Magazine (Maybe It's Right To Be Nervous Now)

Review by Ian Gittins, Q, October 2000

IF PUNK ROCK was anti-pretension, somebody forgot to tell Magazine's Howard Devoto. ...

Howard Devoto, Magazine: Howard Devoto: Shot By Both Sides

Interview by Paul Morley, Uncut, November 2000

AND THEN, in 1976, when Howard Devoto was 24, he wrote and recorded four fast songs with the group Buzzcocks, and they became the EP ...

23 Skidoo

Retrospective and Interview by Bill Brewster, Jockey Slut, 2001

"What man is at ease in his Inn?Get out.Wide is the world and cold.Get out.Thou hast become an initiate.Get out."Aleister Crowley – 'Skidoo', chapter 23 ...

The Soft Boys: Let's hear it for the boys

Retrospective and Interview by Robert Webb, The Independent, 13 April 2001

Cambridge, 1977: the unlikely birthplace of one of the UK's most influential bands. But by 1981 they were gone. Whatever happened to the Soft Boys, ...

Scritti Politti: Epiphanies: Scritti Politti

Retrospective by Simon Reynolds, The Wire, June 2001

Simon Reynolds swoons to the sound of Scritti Politti's seditious soul music ...

Radiohead: Walking on Thin Ice

Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Wire, July 2001

Radiohead may be one of the biggest groups on the planet, but their dissenting voice and exploratory studio techniques conflict with the commercial pressure to ...

23 Skidoo (2001)

Interview by Bill Brewster, Rock's Backpages audio, 21 September 2001

Alex Turnbull and "Sketch" Martin take us from the early days in Hackney to the (2001) present day: their association with Throbbing Gristle; early influences; early releases and the band schism; The Culling is Coming and Urban Gamelan; their increasing interest in hip hop, and their Ronin Records label.

File format: mp3; file size: 78.8mb, interview length: 1h 26' 03" sound quality: ****

23 Skidoo: Seven Songs, Urban Gamelan

Review by Simon Reynolds, Uncut, November 2001

Audacious avant-funksters re-released ...

Scritti Politti: Everything's Gone Green

Retrospective by David Stubbs, Uncut, December 2001

David Stubbs on Scritti Politti's subversive pop-soul masterpiece, Songs To Remember ...

The Specials: Reissues

Review by Simon Reynolds, Uncut, May 2002

Digitally remastered and enhanced with two videos per disc, the Sound Of Young Coventry before The Streets ...

Interpol: Turn on the Bright Lights

Review by Devon Powers, PopMatters, 30 August 2002

I FIND SOMETHING terribly tragic about Interpol. It's more than Paul Banks' elegiac vocals, which stir my gut every time I hear them, so much ...

New Order: Move Festival, Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Manchester

Live Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, September 2002

SINCE SETTING aside old bones of contention four years ago, New Order's Indian summer has seemed one long, breathless, last-skitter-of-the-dice party. ...

Bush Tetras, E.S.G., Scritti Politti, The Strokes: Various Artists: Yes New York/New York Noise/Post Punk 01

Review by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, 2003

AH MANHATTAN, so much to answer for – and so in vogue as a rock metropolis after decades as a Hip Hop Mecca. Yes New ...

Colin Newman, Wire: Invisible Jukebox: Colin Newman

Interview by Mike Barnes, The Wire, April 2003

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 ...

Gang of Four, The Pop Group, Public Image Ltd, The Slits, Throbbing Gristle: Post Punk's Not Dead!: ATTACK!

Retrospective by Mark Paytress, MOJO, January 2004

The avant-garde post-'77 post-punk sound was a revolutionary amalgam of funk, punk, disco and reggae. Mark Paytress explains the battle plan. ...

Public Image Ltd.: Full Metal Jacket – Metal Box

Retrospective by Kris Needs, Fact, January 2004

With the curtain closed on the Sex Pistols pantomime, in 1978 a still-searing John Lydon teamed up with Jah Wobble and Keith Levene to form ...

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 ...

Liars: Mean Fiddler, London

Live Review by Frances Morgan, Plan B, June 2004

SAW LIARS TWO years ago, uncomfortable on a big stage. They looked sharp and they played sharp. I liked it a lot. They looked itchy-scratchy ...

Rockpile: Rock Steady

Retrospective and Interview by Fred Mills, Harp, July 2004

THEY CALLED it rock, and boy, did Britain’s Rockpile rock-brashly, boozily, and in one regard, too, belatedly. ...

Interpol

Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, September 2004

AT NO POINT during this interview do any of us snort intoxicants off the spines of tawny hookers or clamber naked to the top of ...

The Three Johns: Three Johns: Dada for now

Retrospective and Interview by Fred Mills, Harp, September 2004

NOWADAYS, The Three Johns are often recalled as a side project of Mekons/Waco Brothers instigator Jon Langford. But during their 1982–91 tenure, the hard-rocking 3Js ...

Pere Ubu: Maxima Moralis: Relections from a Healing Mind – Cleveland, Independent Music, and the 1970s; Part 2

Essay by Michael Baker, Perfect Sound Forever, November 2004

IV. Pere Ubu: Christ's Agony, Cabarets, and Scary Movies ...

The Sound: From The Lion's Mouth

Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, January 2005

Great albums that have fallen off the critical radar ...

Gang of Four: The Gang's All Here – Again

Retrospective and Interview by Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, 13 January 2005

LIKE THE VELVET Underground a decade before them, Gang of Four were one of those bands who never had a proper hit but who created ...

Scritti Politti: The Sweetest Boy

Retrospective and Interview by Simon Reynolds, Uncut, April 2005

From the post-punk squat-crusties to pristine '80s pop-funkers, Scritti Politti underwent one of the most radical transformations in rock history. Uncut meets the band's mastermind, ...

Hot Hot Heat: Elevator (Sire/Warner Bros.)

Review by Will Hermes, Spin, May 2005

BACK IN THE day, new wave meant different things to different people. For some it was a way to add a little bump'n'grind to punk ...

Gang of Four: Irving Plaza, New York NY

Live Review by Jason Gross, Harp, 17 May 2005

IN 1977, A bunch of British university students formed a band, poignantly deciding to take the name of a group of disgraced communist leaders accused ...

Gang of Four: Rare Essence

Profile and Interview by Fred Mills, Harp, July 2005

TWO SPOTLIGHTS of solar-white intensity arc downward, one aiming stage left, the other to the right. A sudden jerk of the guitar from the illuminated ...

ABC, Cabaret Voltaire, Clock, Heaven 17, The Human League: Martin Lilleker: Beats Working For A Living – Sheffield Popular Music 1973-1984 (Juma)

Book Review by Rob Young, The Wire, July 2005

PRACTICALLY EVERY city in Britain has a roster of musical hod carriers with appalling names. This exhaustive history of Sheffield's music scene is crammed with ...

The Pop Group, Public Image Ltd, Scritti Politti, Wire: Simon Reynolds: Rip It Up and Start Again – Post-Punk 1978-84 (Faber)

Book Review by Andy Beckett, London Review of Books, September 2005

IN JANUARY 1978, the Sex Pistols, then and now the most famous punk band in the world, split up. Johnny Rotten, the band's singer, most ...

Gang Of Four play Entertainment!: Barbican, London

Live Review by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 27 September 2005

FORMED AT LEEDS University in 1977, they dragged punk's three-chord trick into a radical and subversive new direction by marrying its guitar-driven rage to funk's ...

John Lydon: John Rotten Lydon in a Few Words

Essay by Glenn O'Brien, VMan, Spring 2005

OKAY, JUST THINKING about him, I got a powerful yen to listen to John Lydon's music and as the vinyl's all out at the country ...

Joy Division: Ian Curtis

Book Excerpt by Mick Middles, Linsday Reade, Torn Apart: The Life of Ian Curtis (Omnibus Press), 2006

The authors of this new biography are uniquely qualified to reveal the extraordinary events surrounding the life and death of Ian Curtis. Manchester-based Mick Middles was ...

The Fall: "Excuse me, weren't you in the Fall?"

Retrospective and Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 5 January 2006

Mark E. Smith's band is legendary for its ever-changing line-up. Dave Simpson made it his quest to track down everyone who has ever been a ...

Young Marble Giants: The Big And The Small

Interview by Everett True, Plan B, February 2006

A rare audience with early Rough Trade enigmas, Young Marble Giants ...

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, ...

Delta 5: Delta Force

Profile and Interview by Fred Mills, Harp, March 2006

WHILE THREE-gal/two-guy outfit Delta 5 didn't exactly fly under the radar, its relatively brief tenure (1979-'81) meant the Leeds, England, band never got its proper ...

Wire: Tense, Nervous, Headache

Retrospective and Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, April 2006

Combining art school sensibilities and musical inability, Wire rejected punk's pub-rock posturings for driving minimalism, fewer chords and no guitar solos. With the reissue of ...

Wire: Pretty in Pink

Retrospective and Interview by Fred Mills, Harp, June 2006

APRIL 1, 1977, LONDON: Onstage at punk venue the Roxy is a young quartet nearing the end of its 17-song set – which, in a ...

The Futureheads: Manchester Academy

Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 7 June 2006

PACKING OUT the Manchester date of their latest British tour, the Futureheads played with just enough wit and grit to defy the formulaic mannerisms that ...

Wire: Not About to Die

Retrospective by Fred Mills, Harp, July 2006

IT'S SOMETIME in late '77 or early '78 and yours truly is toiling away at the distribution center for North Carolina record store chain the ...

Young Knives: Everyone likes a village fête

Profile and Interview by Ben Thompson, Daily Telegraph, 19 August 2006

The Young Knives dress like farmers and celebrate rural life. Ben Thompson welcomes the sound of agrarian post-punk  ...

Anohni (Antony & the Johnsons), The Fall, Galaxie 500, The Libertines, The Raincoats, Scritti Politti, The Smiths, Stiff Little Fingers, The Strokes, Young Marble Giants: How to buy: Rough Trade Records

Guide by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, December 2006

The revolutionary, still-smokin' independent. ...

Spear Of Destiny: Grapes Of Wrath

Sleeve notes by Alex Ogg, Anagram, 2007

THE FOUNDATIONS of Spear Of Destiny can be traced back to 1978, when Kirk Brandon replaced bass player Jerry Isles in Devon punk band The ...

Young Marble Giants: Colossal Youth/Collected Works

Sleeve notes by Simon Reynolds, Domino Records, 2007

POSTPUNK AND "perfection" rarely went together. This was an era of experimental over-reach, of bands catalysed by the punk do-it-yourself principle attempting to expand the ...

The Fall: Becks Induction Hour

Retrospective and Interview by John Doran, Record Collector, May 2007

After a career that has included 26 studio albums, 50 compilation albums, 50 singles and 40 line-up changes, you might think it was hard to ...

Public Image Ltd: PiL: Heavy Metal

Retrospective by Simon Reynolds, Frieze, November 2007

As a new book on Public Image Ltd shows, the influence of their 1979 album Metal Box stretches far and wide ...

Joy Division: Torn Apart: The Legend Of Joy Division

Retrospective and Interview by Paul Lester, Uncut, November 2007

One of Britain's most influential bands is now the subject of a compelling new film. Paul Lester talks to Peter Hook, Stephen Morris and Bernard ...

Eric Clapton, Guns N' Roses, Joy Division, Slash: Music books: the most debauched tales of rock'n'roll excess

Book Review by Ben Thompson, The Independent, 16 December 2007

HOW BETTER to salve the pangs of remorse induced by a season of over-indulgence than by voraciously consuming the reminiscences of those whose lifestyles make ...

Joy Division: The Joy Division Industry

Comment by Chris Roberts, The Quietus, 10 April 2008

More offcuts from the Factory ...

Public Image Ltd: PiL: The Making Of 'Public Image'

Retrospective and Interview by Nick Hasted, Uncut, October 2008

With old scores to settle, John Lydon kicked off his post-Pistols career with an explosive first single. "Some say it's dub, but we all loved ...

The Monochrome Set: Remembering the Band that History Forgot

Retrospective by John Robb, The Guardian, 9 January 2009

THERE HAVEN'T been many bands like the Monochrome Set. They should have been absolutely massive, but instead were sidelined by their post-punk peers and were ...

Magazine: "These gigs are a cherry on a cake"

Report and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 20 February 2009

THE ONE-TIME "most important man in pop" made a quietly triumphant comeback last week. Howard Devoto's Magazine, missing since 1981, were the most uncategorisable band ...

Magazine: The Making of 'Shot By Both Sides'

Retrospective and Interview by Nick Hasted, Uncut, March 2009

Powered by a razor-riff, nihilist lyrics, some classic-rock chops and an infamous showing on Top Of The Pops, this ferocious anthem was the closest thing ...

Do It Yourself: The Story of Rough Trade (dir. Chris Wilson)

Film/DVD/TV Review by Alex Ogg, The Quietus, 10 March 2009

Quietus scribe Alex Ogg, who's currently writing a book on the history of the independent label, makes a brew and settles down in front of ...

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 ...

Joy Division: The Right Way To Remember Joy Division

Essay by Jude Rogers, The Quietus, 9 July 2009

As Unknown Pleasures reaches its 30th anniversary, Jude Rogers looks behind the commercialisation and Paul Morley's jowls at Joy Division's eternal truth ...

Young Marble Giants

Interview by Alex Ogg, The Quietus, 31 July 2009

FOUR DECADES after its release, the Young Marble Giants' Colossal Youth remains one of the independent/post-punk boom's most wondrous creations; lean, uncluttered yet emotionally stirring. ...

Public Image Ltd: John Lydon: 'PiL lets me express proper emotions'

Retrospective and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 6 September 2009

ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1978, almost exactly a year after the implosion of the Sex Pistols while on tour in San Francisco, the artist formerly known ...

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 ...

Jah Wobble: The Bass Leviathan, In His Own Words

Interview by Lois Wilson, MOJO, October 2009

How would you describe yourself... ...

The Slits: Trapped Animal

Review by Everett True, bbc.co.uk, October 2009

This is as good as can be expected – and fortunately, that is pretty good. ...

The Raincoats

Interview by Lois Wilson, MOJO, November 2009

Post-punk's dissonant game changers return to inspire again. ...

Public Image Ltd: Academy, Birmingham

Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, December 2009

EVEN IN A YEAR overstuffed with middle-aged rockers milking cash-in comebacks, the return of Public Image Ltd feels like a genuine cultural event. ...

Public Image Ltd: PiL: Metal Box/Plastic Box

Review by Mike Diver, bbc.co.uk, 3 December 2009

Landmark post-punk album remastered for its 30th anniversary. Plus, 1999 4-CD box set re-issued. ...

The Feelies: Rick Moody Interviews the Feelies

Interview by Steven R Rosen, Blurt, 10 December 2009

The celebrated novelist and Wingdale Community Singers rocker interviews his favorite band. Blurt takes notes. ...

Public Image Ltd, O2 Academy, Birmingham****

Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 16 December 2009

Difficult, honest and angry, Lydon pushes at the limits ...

Lonelady: Paul Morley's showing off … Lonelady

Profile and Interview by Paul Morley, The Guardian, 22 January 2010

Paul Morley meets Warp's new Mancunian signing Lonelady, who he would never tip as the next big thing, but might, for those missing a certain ...

John Lydon, Public Image Ltd, The Sex Pistols: John Lydon

Interview by John Doran, The Stool Pigeon, March 2010

IN CALIFORNIA WE MEET a traveller from an antique land. On two scrawny legs – KFC issue – he stands. He has a shattered look. ...

Joy Division: "Ian was a normal, happy guy. We didn't know he was approaching his breaking point…"

Retrospective and Interview by Stephen Dalton, Uncut, March 2010

Thirty years ago, Joy Division arrived in London. Their mission: to escape Manchester, have a laugh and make a classic second album. Now, Bernard Sumner, ...

Public Image Ltd: Dear John: Public Image Ltd

Interview by Ken Scrudato, Filter, May 2010

WAY BACK in 20th Century England, a gang of four insurrectionist-minded punk motherfuckers were to be found causing such an anarchic, subversive uproar as to ...

Devo: The Return of Devo

Report and Interview by Stephen Dalton, The Times, June 2010

FOUR DECADES SINCE Devo first donned their matching overalls and began their assault on the pop mainstream, America's original disco-rock Dadaists are back. ...

The Flying Lizards: The Fourth Wall (RPM)

Sleeve notes by Kieron Tyler, RPM Records, September 2010

THE PUNK BOOM opened doors and ears, allowing the off the wall, the experimental and the challenging a platform. Much of what leaked out has ...

Manic Street Preachers: Postcards From A Young Man

Review and Interview by David Quantick, Uncut, October 2010

Their 10th album is a glam belter, full of fire and thunder, gospel choirs and orchestras. But still not pompous, says David Quantick ...

Joy Division: +-

Review by Mike Diver, bbc.co.uk, 6 December 2010

AVAILABLE AS EITHER a download (plus video content) or as a limited-edition vinyl box set, collecting 10 seven-inch singles and featuring art from Factory co-founder ...

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 ...

Viv Albertine: Self-Portrait: Viv Albertine

Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, March 2011

I DESCRIBE MYSELF as… Vivacious. Vindictive [laughs]. Vain. Vociferous. Someone attempting to be honest but probably failing miserably. Mostly because of all the conditioning that ...

The Feelies Get Perpetually Nervous All Over Again

Report and Interview by Evelyn McDonnell, The Village Voice, 30 March 2011

SOME PEOPLE pick up guitars and want to be rock stars. Other people pick up guitars because playing music is a cooler hobby than collecting ...

Romeo Void: Altruist and shout: Romeo Void: Benefactor (Columbia 1982)

Review and Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, May 2011

Retrieved from the slip road fly-tip of rock, new wave unease and dissent beloved of Queens of the Stone Age. ...

The Ghost of Roland Barthes is Suitably Perplexed: NME in the Post-Punk Era

Book Excerpt by Pat Long, Portico Books, March 2012

NOTE: In this excerpt from his History of the NME, published in the UK by Portico, Pat Long chronicles the decline of the world's top ...

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. ...

Death Grips: The Money Store

Review by John Calvert, The Quietus, 26 April 2012

THERE’S HIGH comedy afoot on the old web-machine these days. Press attempts to answer the question "What are Death Grips?" have taken a turn for ...

Joy Division: Peter Hook: Unknown Pleasures – Inside Joy Division

Book Review by Andy Beckett, The Guardian, 19 September 2012

Andy Beckett on a raw, surprising account of the classic post-punk band ...

My Bloody Valentine: The Echo Of Youth: My Bloody Valentine live

Live Review by John Calvert, The Quietus, 30 January 2013

John Calvert takes his teenage dreams down to the Brixton Electric for a rare intimate gig by My Bloody Valentine. ...

James Chance & the Contortions: Hello Goodbye: James Chance & the Contortions

Interview by Mike Barnes, MOJO, February 2013

Start: punk jazzers picked for their looks. End: the boss alienated them ail... ...

Savages: Forum, London NW5

Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 8 November 2013

A MANIFESTO-LIKE poster hung from the doorway when Savages played their biggest London show to date. "Our goal is to discover better ways of living ...

Chrome: Half Machine From The Sun (King of Spades)

Review by Frances Morgan, The Wire, January 2014

CHROME's Alien Soundtracks and Half Machine Lip Moves were released in 1978 and 1979, which makes them contemporaries of Mad Max, Philip K Dick's VALIS, ...

Echo & The Bunnymen, Ian McCulloch: Echo & The Bunnymen

Interview by Paul Lester, Record Collector, June 2014

Post-punk marvels Echo & The Bunnymen are back — and Ian McCulloch is older, wiser, and far less inclined to boost his own legend. Yeah, ...

Interpol on supermodels, surfing and (not) hanging out with the Strokes

Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 28 August 2014

THINGS HAVE CHANGED on the eve of the New Yorkers' fifth album, El Pintor. Not only is it their first without bassist, Carlos D, they ...

The Pop Group: The Oral History of the Pop Group: The Noisy Brits Who Were Too Punk for the Punks

Interview by Richard Gehr, Rolling Stone, 7 November 2014

While London was calling, these Bristol teenagers responded with dub, avant-jazz and noise — and inspired everyone from Nick Cave to Nine Inch Nails. ...

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 ...

Lizzy Mercier Descloux: Rockfort: Remembering Lizzy Mercier Descloux

Retrospective by David McKenna, The Quietus, 10 September 2015

David McKenna looks back at the life of Parisian poet, painter and post punk musician, Lizzy Mercier Descloux. ...

Storm Bugs: The Tape Beetles

Interview by Neil Kulkarni, The Wire, October 2015

Cassette culture veterans Storm Bugs look forward to fabricating the past ...

Savages' Jehnny Beth on new album Adore Life

Interview by Pip Williams, Coup De Main, 23 January 2016

Savages blazed into the post-punk scene in 2011, releasing the distinctive and menacing debut album Silence Yourself less than two years later. As we begin ...

Hot Chip, Thurston Moore, This Heat: This Is Not This Heat: Cafe Oto, London

Live Review by Luke Turner, The Guardian, 14 February 2016

Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor and Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore joined the experimental lineup for a night of fresh and focussed sounds ...

Barry Adamson: "I've been called the outsider's outsider"

Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 15 February 2016

The Bad Seeds and Magazine bassist on writing music for David Lynch, being ignored by Morrissey and moving to Moss Side to recuperate after the ...

Vivien Goldman: Do Everything Yourself: The Lessons Of Punk Renaissance Woman Vivien Goldman

Profile and Interview by Evelyn McDonnell, Record, The (NPR), 21 July 2016

ON JUNE 29, 64 years after the day she was born in London to Jewish parents who had fled Nazi Germany, Vivien Goldman was back ...

Drowners' Matt Hitt on their new album, On Desire

Interview by Pip Williams, Coup De Main, 10 October 2016

Drowners burst onto the indie-rock scene in early 2013, quickly attracting attention with their classic sound and charismatic line-up. Since the release of their debut ...

Public Image Ltd's Metal Box

Retrospective by Simon Reynolds, Pitchfork, 1 November 2016

PIL'S SECOND ALBUM, Metal Box, is a near-perfect record that reinvents and renews rock in a manner that fulfilled post-punk's promise(s) to a degree rivalled only ...

pragVEC

Interview by Jason Gross, Perfect Sound Forever, December 2016

Sue Gogan Interview Part 1 (we hope) ...

John Lydon: Mr Rotten and the Weaponry of Words

Interview by Julian Marszalek, Gigwise, 6 March 2017

John Lydon opens up about 40 years of lyric writing ...

Sleaford Mods: English Tapas

Review by Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 13 March 2017

"BRING BACK the neo-libs, I'm sorry/I didn't fuckin' mean to pray for anarchy!" apologizes Jason Williamson, sort of, on 'Carlton Touts', a hot rant about ...

Morrissey, The Smiths: The Smiths: The Queen is Dead

Review by Simon Reynolds, Pitchfork, 22 October 2017

Newly reissued as a boxed set, the Smiths' 1986 masterpiece still stands as an enduring testament to England in the '80s, the complex relationship between ...

Shame: Brudenell Social Club, Leeds

Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 11 April 2018

The young Londoners make no bones about thieving ideas from other bands, but their blend of intense rhythms and sarcastic banter is unique. ...

The The: Barrowland, Glasgow

Live Review by Graeme Thomson, Mail On Sunday, September 2018

THERE IS no better time for Matt Johnson to revivify The The after 20 years. The themes of his Eighties and early Nineties material feel ...

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 ...

Joy Division: Jon Savage: This Searing Light, the Sun and Everything Else – Joy Division, the Oral History (Faber)

Book Review by Clinton Heylin, The Spectator, 8 June 2019

The post-punk band were great performers. But they sold very few records, and their lead singer committed suicide aged 23 ...

Pere Ubu: An interview with David Thomas

Interview by David Stubbs, Record Collector, October 2019

"I'VE DIED TWICE in the last two years," says David Thomas, co-founder and lead singer of Pere Ubu, in the living room of his Brighton ...

The Birthday Party, Rowland S. Howard: The Man Who Inspired Nick Cave: Mick Harvey on the Greatness of the Late Rowland S. Howard

Retrospective and Interview by Ken Scrudato, BlackBook, 18 February 2020

THE CULTURAL landscape is littered with the faded memories of those who came and went without the honours corresponding to the levels of their actual ...

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? ...

Inflatable Boy Clams, Pink Section: San Francisco Punk Pranksters: Pink Section, Inflatable Boy Clams

Retrospective and Interview by Richie Unterberger, Please Kill Me!, 19 August 2020

Influenced by the punk scene centered at Mabuhay Gardens, and the fun, bohemian spirit of a city that was, back then, an affordable place to ...

Working Men's Club: Working Men's Club (Heavenly)

Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 2 October 2020

The West Yorkshire band take the stark electronics of the post-punk scene and warm them with Detroit techno and Italian house – while addressing Andrew ...

Basement 5's 'The Last White Christmas' – still essential after 40 years

Retrospective by Tim Cooper, Louder Than War, 23 December 2020

Basement 5 belong on any post-punk playlist, if only for their timeless 1980 single 'Silicon Chip'. And their mostly-long-forgotten 'Last White Christmas' would liven up ...

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