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Alan Light

Alan Light

Alan Light has been one of America’s leading music journalists and authors for more than twenty-five years. A frequent contributor to the New York Times and numerous other publications, he is the co-host of the daily music talk show "Debatable" and the monthly interview series "In the Light" on SiriusXM.
 
Alan’s books include THE HOLY OR THE BROKEN: LEONARD COHEN, JEFF BUCKLEY AND THE UNLIKELY ASCENT OF 'HALLELUJAH', which Kirkus Reviews named one of the best books of 2012, and LET'S GO CRAZY: PRINCE AND THE MAKING OF PURPLE RAIN.  He also wrote WHAT HAPPENED, MISS SIMONE? — a companion to the Academy Award-nominated documentary of the same title — and his most recent book is the illustrated biography JOHNNY CASH: THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF THE MAN IN BLACK.
 
Alan is the co-author of Gregg Allman’s best-selling memoir, MY CROSS TO BEAR, which Rolling Stone and Billboard named one of the best rock & roll memoirs of all time, and he was the writer of THE SEARCHER, an acclaimed two-part documentary about the life and music of Elvis Presley, which premiered on HBO in April 2018.
 
Alan was the founding music editor and editor-in-chief of the urban culture monthly Vibe. In that time, Vibe’s circulation climbed from 200,000 to 600,000 and the magazine was nominated for four National Magazine Awards. Alan then served as the editor-in-chief of Spin magazine. Before helping launch Vibe, Alan was a Senior Writer at Rolling Stone, where he began working in 1989.
 
Alan’s writing has appeared in such publications as the New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal, Pitchfork.com, Mother Jones, New York magazine, and MOJO, and he is a two-time winner of the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award for excellence in music journalism. He has written liner notes for numerous albums and DVDs by such artists as the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Whitney Houston, and Chuck Berry, and his essays on subjects from Bruce Springsteen to the roots of hip-hop have appeared in many other books.

Pic: Mary Ellen Matthews

Alan on the RBP podcast

75 articles

List of articles in the library

By date | By artist | Most recently added

Public Enemy's Tour de Force

Report and Interview by Alan Light, Rolling Stone, 23 August 1990

Public Enemy goes high profile, headlining one of rap's biggest tours ...

Boogie Down Productions, KRS-One: KRS-One: Wisdom From The Street

Profile and Interview by Alan Light, Rolling Stone, 30 May 1991

Kris Parker once lived in the subways and shelters of New York. Now the rapper known as KRS-One is hip-hop's righteous voice — and one ...

Michael Jackson: Dangerous (Epic)

Review by Alan Light, Rolling Stone, 9 January 1992

Michael Jackson: Art and Life as Performance ...

Prince breaks the silence

Profile and Interview by Alan Light, Vibe, August 1994

The man who won't be Prince speaks at last about his new name, his new attitude and a new body of work we may never ...

Neil Young: The Old Man and the MP3

Interview by Alan Light, Spin, June 2000

FIFTY-FOUR AND ORNERY AS EVER, NEIL YOUNG DISCUSSES HIS NEW ACOUSTIC ALBUM. THE BACKSTREET BACKLASH, NAPSTER, AND WHY CDs STILL SUCK. ...

Prince: Body & Soul

Interview by Alan Light, Tracks, September 2004

The hit Musicology album and torrid live shows have made him a star again. Faith and marriage have made him happy. Yes, Prince has come ...

Ringo Starr: The Hot Seat: Ringo Starr

Interview by Alan Light, New York Post, 19 June 2005

RINGO STARR handed his Mercedes over to the valet and bounded up the steps of West Hollywood's Argyle Hotel. He may be the most famous ...

Ry Cooder: Long Road Home

Interview by Alan Light, Mother Jones, July 2005

Ry Cooder's new album tunes into L.A.'s Chavez Ravine and the dawn of Chicano consciousness. ...

Rick Rubin

Interview by Alan Light, Spin, November 2005

From Beastie Boys to Run-D.M.C. to Red Hot Chili Peppers to Johnny Cash, he's produced them all ...

The Red Hot Chili Peppers: Red Hot Chili Peppers: Out Of Their Tree

Profile and Interview by Alan Light, Spin, May 2006

TWO YEARS AGO, RHCP went to Europe to play in front of the largest crowds of their 20-plus-year-career. After surviving numerous personnel changes, drug problems, ...

Carrie Underwood: An Interview

Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, July 2006

"AT FIRST I felt like maybe I cheated a bit, getting in the way I did," said Carrie Underwood. "But I paid my dues my ...

P. Diddy

Interview by Alan Light, Elle, October 2006

"THERE HE IS! There he is!" ...

The Dixie Chicks: The Playboy Interview

Interview by Alan Light, Playboy, December 2006

IT IS MARCH 10, 2003. The Dixie Chicks – Natalie Maines, Emily Robison and Martie Maguire – are playing an SRO show in London at ...

Tori Amos

Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, January 2007

"AT THE END of the day," says Tori Amos, "if I'm not inflammatory, I wouldn't be Tori." ...

Wilco: Jeff Tweedy

Interview by Alan Light, Mother Jones, 17 May 2007

Wilco, beautiful not stoned ...

The Beatles, George Martin: The Real Fifth Beatle: Sir George Martin On Sgt. Pepper, Why Abbey Road is Better and More

Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, June 2007

There were many who vied for the title, but in the recording studio, there was really only one Fifth Beatle. ...

Sinead O'Connor

Interview by Alan Light, eMusic.com, July 2007

IT WAS PERHAPS the most shocking crash and burn in pop music history. With her 1987 debut, The Lion and the Cobra, 20-year-old Sinead O'Connor ...

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

Retrospective by Alan Light, Rolling Stone, 12 July 2007

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

Emmylou Harris on Songbird

Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, August 2007

"FOR ME," says Emmylou Harris, "it's always about finding a song, one at a time, that I love and that I can make my own." ...

Mark Ronson, Amy Winehouse: Mark Ronson: Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before

Interview by Alan Light, Guilt & Pleasure, September 2007

Shedding the mantle of socialite DJ to become a critically successful producer, Mark Ronson is Jewtastic. ...

Mick Jagger

Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, September 2007

"I THINK YOU just learn as you go along," says Mick Jagger, "whether you're playing with the Rolling Stones or playing with other musicians." If ...

The Bee Gees, Robin Gibb: Robin Gibb remembers Saturday Night Fever

Retrospective and Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, September 2007

FOR BABY BOOMERS, this year marked the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love. For hipsters worldwide, 2007 means that it's been three decades since ...

Led Zeppelin: Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones

Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, October 2007

IT IS A ROCK and roll fantasy that most people had abandoned. On November 26 at London's O2 Arena, the three surviving members of Led ...

Steve Winwood: The Lives of Steve Winwood

Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, March 2008

THE TITLE OF Steve Winwood's new album is Nine Lives – which refers to the number of songs the disc contains, but could just as ...

Steely Dan

Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, May 2008

THE WORSE THINGS get, the better Steely Dan sounds. The songs of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen stand as the definitive account of urban decadence ...

Billy Joel on The Stranger

Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, July 2008

IN 1977, BILLY Joel was struggling to catch a break. The Long Island native was approaching 30, and had released four albums to no great ...

David Byrne

Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, August 2008

IN NEW YORK CITY this summer, David Byrne is everywhere. His installation titled Playing the Building transformed the Battery Maritime Building into a giant musical ...

Kenny Chesney, Steve Earle, Jerry Lee Lewis, Dave Matthews Band, John Mellencamp, Willie Nelson, The Pretenders, Neil Young: Farm Aid

Review by Alan Light, MSN.com, September 2008

"THIS IS OUR twenty-third Farm Aid," said John Mellencamp, "and when we started this thing, we were naïve enough that we thought we'd have this ...

The Four Tops, The Supremes, The Temptations: Motown at 50

Retrospective and Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, January 2009

FIFTY YEARS AGO this month in Detroit, a 29-year-old African-American songwriter named Berry Gordy, Jr – a former boxer, autoworker, and Army veteran – borrowed ...

Fleetwood Mac Unleashed: Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham speak

Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, February 2009

A FEW WEEKS ago in Los Angeles, the members of Fleetwood Mac – Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, and Stevie Nicks – gathered together ...

The Dead Weather, Jack White: Music, Label, Retail: Jack White's Vertical Integration

Report and Interview by Alan Light, The New York Times, 12 March 2009

JACK WHITE, the meticulous frontman of the color-coordinated White Stripes, has always been known for his attention to detail. So it was no surprise to ...

John Mellencamp, Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen: Pete Seeger's Birthday Concert: Madison Square Garden, NYC

Live Review by Alan Light, MSN.com, May 2009

IN THE NEW biography The Protest Singer, folk music paragon Pete Seeger tells writer Alec Wilkinson that the single word he believes in above all ...

Creedence Clearwater Revival, Grateful Dead, Richie Havens, Santana: Woodstock's 40th anniversary

Retrospective and Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, August 2009

Woodstock was a beginning, and it was an end. ...

The Black Keys: Blackroc: Cold Fusion

Profile and Interview by Alan Light, Relix, January 2010

NEVER BEFORE HAVE THE PURE ELEMENTS OF HIP-HOP AND ROCK BEEN SUCCESSFULLY CATALYZED TO CREATE SOMETHING ENTIRELY NEW – UNTIL NOW. BLAKROC, THE CREATION OF ...

Gil Scott-Heron: Back on Message: Gil Scott-Heron retools for a new generation

Interview by Alan Light, Mother Jones, March 2010

The revolution will not go better with Coke The revolution will not fight the germs that cause bad breath The revolution will put you in ...

Jeff Beck, Stevie Wonder: Jeff Beck

Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, April 2010

"EVERY TIME I hear a really attractive chord sequence, I'm on my way again," says Jeff Beck. "I think, what can I do with this?" ...

The Rolling Stones Rock Jimmy Fallon

Report and Interview by Alan Light, TV Guide, May 2010

Late Night shines a light on Exile on Main Street's reissue with a week-long tribute. ...

Arcade Fire's Band Aid for Haiti

Report and Interview by Alan Light, Mother Jones, January 2011

The dynamic duo behind Arcade Fire on charity, indie cred, and staying sane. ...

Levon Helm

Profile and Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, May 2011

LEVON HELM is standing in his kitchen, grinning. At the head of the table, singer-songwriter Garland Jeffreys is showing guitarist Larry Campbell, best known for ...

Danger Mouse, Norah Jones, Jack White: When In Rome… with Danger Mouse, Daniele Luppi, Jack White and Norah Jones

Interview by Alan Light, Relix, May 2011

ATHENS, GEORGIA IT'S 1995, maybe 1996. Brian Burton is a freshman at the University of Georgia, an aspiring moviemaker, taking an "Introduction to Film" course. Burton ...

Alicia Keys Q&A

Interview by Alan Light, W, June 2011

WHAT'S THE first thing you think of when you think back ten years to the days of Songs in A Minor? The first thing I think ...

Harry Belafonte

Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, October 2011

"NOBODY'S EVER known what to call me," says Harry Belafonte. "Was I a folk singer, jazz, pop? Or was I even a singer at all? ...

Paul Simon

Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, October 2011

"CAN YOU IMAGINE us years from today?" wrote Paul Simon in 'Old Friends', from Simon and Garfunkel's 1968 album Bookends. "Sharing a park bench quietly/How ...

The Rolling Stones: Mick Jagger and Keith Richards on Some Girls

Retrospective and Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, November 2011

"THE IDEA WAS ten songs, very direct, not a lot of backing vocals or horns, no duets or guests, very straightforward," says Mick Jagger. "We ...

Van Halen: Café Wha?

Live Review by Alan Light, MSN.com, January 2012

"WELCOME TO Occupy Van Halen!," said a grinning David Lee Roth, as the band took to the stage of New York's tiny basement club Café ...

Lisa Marie Presley

Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, May 2012

LISA MARIE Presley had to go to England to come home. The only child of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, she had released two albums – ...

Buddy Guy on his autobiography

Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, June 2012

"A LOT OF people have the blues and don't even know they got it," says Buddy Guy. "But just keep living and you'll figure out ...

Neil Young on Americana

Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, June 2012

"I JUST DIDN'T want any new songs," says Neil Young. "I was not anxious to go down that road – to have people analyzing them ...

Jay-Z: Carnegie Hall, New York City

Live Review by Alan Light, MSN.com, July 2012

LIKE ANY REAL MC, Jay-Z loves a challenge. He just takes things to a higher level than, well, anyone. So it wasn't enough that on ...

Jimmy Cliff

Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, July 2012

THERE IS exactly one reggae singer in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame whose name is not Bob Marley. The truth, though, is that ...

The Faces

Interview by Alan Light, Relix, July 2012

"WITH THE FACES, you never know what's going to happen." It's a theme that comes up again and again in conversation with Ronnie Wood and ...

The Band, Levon Helm: Love for Levon: Izod Center, New Jersey

Live Review by Alan Light, MSN.com, October 2012

LEVON HELM wasn't exactly a household name. But when the former drummer and vocalist for The Band died in April after a long battle with ...

Bon Jovi, Coldplay, Billy Joel, Alicia Keys, Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Kanye West, The Who: 12-12-12: The Concert for Sandy Relief: Madison Square Garden, New York

Live Review by Alan Light, MSN.com, December 2012

IT MIGHT HAVE been the single greatest gathering of talent for a rock show – or it might just have been, as Mick Jagger put ...

Neil Young

Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, December 2012

"THERE'S A day of reckoning coming," says Neil Young. "These superstorms and disasters — they're not a surprise, they were predicted, and they're only going ...

The Beatles, Ringo Starr: Ringo Starr

Interview by Alan Light, Newsweek, Spring 2012

IN. 1962, RINGO Starr was the scruffy-looking drummer in a Liverpool band called Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. The group was one of the bigger ...

Soundgarden: Beast Kings of NY

Report and Interview by Alan Light, MOJO, February 2013

NOTE: This is Alan's "Director's Cut" version of the piece that ran in MOJO. ...

Elvis Costello, D'Angelo, Kat Edmonson, Prince, The Roots, The Waterboys, Wendy And Lisa: The Music of Prince: Carnegie Hall, New York

Live Review by Alan Light, MSN.com, March 2013

PRINCE HAS long been considered a gold standard as a singer, guitarist, stage performer, and producer. He's such a singular force, though, that he hasn't ...

Allman Brothers Band, Eric Clapton, Booker T. Jones, John Mayer, Keith Richards: Crossroads Guitar Festival: Madison Square Garden, New York

Live Review by Alan Light, MSN.com, April 2013

Two nights. Nine-and-a-half hours. Thirty-three guitar players (more or less). Ninety-one songs. ...

The Band, Robbie Robertson: Robbie Robertson

Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, September 2013

ROBBIE ROBERTSON isn't exactly known for being prolific. In the almost 37 years since The Last Waltz marked his final show with The Band, he ...

Cheap Trick, John Fogerty, Foo Fighters, Stevie Nicks, Queens Of The Stone Age, Rick Springfield: The Sound City Players: Hammerstein Ballroom, NYC

Live Review by Alan Light, MSN.com, February 2014

"THAT ROCK fantasy camp shit?," screamed a shirtless Taylor Hawkins. "This is it right here!" The Foo Fighters drummer – taking a rare turn standing ...

Nas

Retrospective and Interview by Alan Light, MOJO, July 2014

IT IS THE winter that never ends in New York City, and on this mid-April evening, the rain outside is gradually turning to snow. The ...

Kenny Chesney

Profile and Interview by Alan Light, Radio.com, September 2014

"THERE'S THIS perception that I only sing about partying and getting drunk," says Kenny Chesney. "If people saw how hard I work, and how much ...

Taylor Swift on 1989

Interview by Alan Light, Radio.com, October 2014

  "EVERY RECORD, I've tried to challenge myself to make something different," says Taylor Swift. "Red was really experimental, so I ended up with a sound ...

Robert Plant: The World's Roar

Retrospective and Interview by Alan Light, Relix, December 2014

AT FIRST GLANCE, you don't notice him. It's a little hard to believe – he is, after all, one of the most recognizable, distinctive, and ...

Taylor Swift: Billboard Woman of the Year Taylor Swift on Writing Her Own Rules, Not Becoming a Cliche and the Hurdle of Going Pop

Interview by Alan Light, Billboard, 5 December 2014

TAYLOR SWIFT never doubted that her fifth album, 1989, would sell 1 million copies in its first week. But others were not so confident. ...

David Johansen, New York Dolls, Buster Poindexter: David Johansen: The MOJO Interview

Interview by Alan Light, MOJO, March 2015

DAVID JOHANSEN sits on the couch in the living room of his wife's long-time, walk-up apartment on a nondescript block of Manhattan's Upper West Side. ...

Pete Townshend, The Who: Pete Townshend: "I Was Wild!"

Interview by Alan Light, MOJO, August 2015

"I DON'T WANT to tour, I don't want to go on TV, I don't want to go on the radio, I don't want to do ...

Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five: Grandmaster Flash breaks down Netflix's new series The Get Down

Interview by Alan Light, Mother Jones, July 2016

We caught up with the hip-hop legend behind Baz Luhrmann's latest creation ...

Sean Lennon: The MOJO Interview: Sean Lennon

Interview by Alan Light, MOJO, July 2016

"IT'S STILL NEW YORK!" says Sean Lennon with a laugh as a voice suddenly starts hollering in Spanish on the sidewalk directly in front of ...

Paul Simon

Interview by Alan Light, MOJO, December 2016

"YOU GOTTA stop making hits at a certain point," says Paul Simon, 74. And yet, when his thirteenth solo album, Stranger to Stranger, was released ...

Roger Waters: Fearless

Profile and Interview by Alan Light, MOJO, August 2017

IN JULY 1978, the members of Pink Floyd gathered at Britannia Row, their studio in London. It had been almost exactly a year since the ...

Allman Brothers Band, Gregg Allman: Gregg Allman

Retrospective by Alan Light, MOJO, September 2017

IT WAS the final show the Allman Brothers Band would ever play. On October 28, 2014 the group made its last appearance at the Beacon ...

Chic, Nile Rodgers: Nile Rodgers: The Next, Not the Last

Report and Interview by Alan Light, Savoy Magazine, Fall 2018

Nile Rodgers has long been considered one of the coolest artists on the music scene, and shows no sign of slowing down. Following his victory ...

Brittany Howard: History Repeats

Profile and Interview by Alan Light, Relix, October 2019

"THAT'S SCARY, but don't worry," says the tarot card reader. "The devil is kind of weirdly positive, though it looks crazy." ...

Johnny Cash: Jail House Rock

Retrospective by Alan Light, MOJO, February 2020

JOHNNY CASH stood on the makeshift stage at Folsom Prison, set up in the cafeteria, behind death row. Almost a hundred men had been executed ...

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