Library Rock's Backpages

Anthony DeCurtis

Anthony DeCurtis

Anthony DeCurtis is a contributing editor to Rolling Stone, and he also writes for The New York Times and other American publications. He has published two collections of his writing: In Other Words: Artists Talk About Life and Work (Hal Leonard) and Rocking My Life Away (Duke University Press). He teaches in the writing program at the University of Pennsylvania.

 

Steven Ward's 2000 interview with DeCurtis

27 articles

List of articles in the library

By date | By artist | Most recently added

The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones: Undercover

Review by Anthony DeCurtis, Record, 1984

VIOLENCE OF both sexual and political nature is never more than a shout away on Undercover, the Rolling Stones' first studio LP since 1981's much ...

Jason & The Scorchers: Jason and the Scorchers: Can't Be Real If It Ain't Got That Feel

Profile and Interview by Anthony DeCurtis, Record, January 1984

SWEAT-SOAKED and sprawled on a couch in the dressing room of Atlanta hot-spot 688 club, Scorcher guitarist Warner Hodges pulls on a cold one and ...

R.E.M.: An Open Party

Interview by Anthony DeCurtis, Record, June 1984

R.E.M.'s Hip American Dream ...

Lionel Richie: Dancing on the Ceiling

Review by Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone, 6 November 1986

Lionel Richie will never surprise you. His triumph has been his ability to turn conservative dependability into a commercial, and at times even an aesthetic, ...

Sting: Nothing Like The Sun

Review by Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone, 3 December 1987

Nothing Like The Sun – a powerful, often hypnotic album that blends jazz and rock styles into a thoughtful suite of twelve songs about love, ...

Crosby Stills Nash & Young: Crosby Stills Nash and Young: American Dream

Review by Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone, 12 January 1989

American Dream fades out on the line "Why not keep on singing anyway?" – and that lackadaisical slogan seems to sum up the spirit in ...

Lou Reed: New York

Review by Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone, 23 February 1989

NEW YORK is Lou Reed's rock & roll version of The Bonfire of the Vanities. But whereas Tom Wolfe maintains an ultimately cynical distance from ...

Rickie Lee Jones: Flying Cowboys

Review by Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone, 2 November 1989

Flying Cowboys simultaneously bears the distinctive mark of Rickie Lee Jones's wild, unruly talent and continues the steady process by which her art is achieving ...

Janet Jackson: Free At Last

Interview by Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone, 22 February 1990

With her last album, Janet declared her independence from her famous family. Now, on Rhythm Nation, she's stepping out and dealing with the real world ...

Garth Brooks: Ropin' The Wind

Interview by Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone, 1 April 1993

GARTH BROOKS is a regular at the Pancake Pantry on Twenty-first Avenue in Nashville. When he arrives for breakfast, the proprietor greets him at the ...

Whitney Houston: Down and Dirty

Interview by Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone, 10 June 1993

YOU'RE EXPECTING her to float delicately into the room, but Whitney Houston strides in with a purposeful air. She's dressed way down in purple stretch ...

R.E.M.: Rock Criticism and the Rocker: A Conversation With Peter Buck

Book Excerpt by Anthony DeCurtis, Rocking My Life Away, September 1994

IN SEPTEMBER 1994 R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck kindly took time off from promoting R.E.M.'s Monster to do an interview with Anthony DeCurtis, who wanted an ...

Tracy Chapman: Central Park Summerstage, New York

Live Review by Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone, 19 September 1996

"LIVE, LAUGH, LOVE, but through it all, forgive"; "Let's not compare ourselves to others"; "You are your own garden"; "For God's sake, teach people to ...

The Notorious B.I.G.: Murder Ballads: The Notorious B.I.G.: Life After Death (Bad Boy)

Review by Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone, 1 May 1997

IN A FRIGHTENING WAY, the current hip-hop scene recalls the end of Goodfellas: The major players are turning up dead, heading off to prison or ...

The Beastie Boys: Adam Yauch on His Spiritual Journey: "I Don't Care If Somebody Makes Fun of Me"

Interview by Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone, 28 May 1998

ALONG WITH his group, the Beastie Boys, Adam Yauch, 33, has grown up in public. Since their days of dodging the local authorities in city ...

Jackson Browne: For Everyman

Review by Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone, 5 August 1999

THE TITLE TRACK of Jackson Browne's second album, For Everyman, was a response to the escapist vision of Crosby, Stills and Nash's 'Wooden Ships'. As ...

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

Obituary by Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone, 3 February 2000

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

Susan Tedeschi's Old-Fashioned Success Story

Profile and Interview by Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone, 2 March 2000

"YOU SAY you haven't been rocked in a long, long time/ And good hard rockin' is so hard to find."The opening lyrics to Susan Tedeschi's ...

Don Henley: Inside Job

Review by Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone, 8 June 2000

On his first two solo albums (I Can't Stand Still and Building the Perfect Beast), Don Henley made yearning his great theme. Something had disappeared ...

Paul Simon: Sounds Of Simon

Interview by Anthony DeCurtis, New York Magazine, 9 October 2000

After getting clobbered by critics for Capeman, Paul Simon returns to folk-rock form with You're The One, an upcoming tour, and a few choice words ...

Lil Wayne: Lights Out (Cash Money Records) ***½

Review by Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone Online, 1 February 2001

EIGHTEEN-YEAR-OLD LIL' WAYNE, one of B.G.'s fellow Hot Boys (along with Juvenile and Young Turk), has followed up his blinging '99 debut, Tha Block Is ...

Fred Neil: Rocking My Life Away: Fred Neil

Obituary by Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone, 20 July 2001

"HE WAS A hero to me," David Crosby said of singer-songwriter Fred Neil. But when Neil died of cancer on July 7th at the age ...

The Kinks: Ray Davies: Rocking My Life Away

Interview by Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone, 29 March 2002

Lost Davies interview illuminates the "underrated" Kinks ...

Bruce Springsteen: People of the year: Bruce Springsteen

Interview by Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone, 12 December 2002

His album The Rising dealt with life after 9/11. His world tour confronted the realities of war ...

Prince: The Artist Formerly Known As

Interview by Anthony DeCurtis, The Word, August 2004

Prince has dumped the "glyph", reverted to his real name, expunged the profanities from his set-list and now apologises for his past megalomaniac excess — ...

Flirtations with Chaos: The Life and Work of Robert Palmer

Essay by Anthony DeCurtis, 'Blues & Chaos', 2009

NOTE: This is Anthony DeCurtis' introduction to Blues & Chaos, his 2009 anthology of Bob Palmer's work. * ...

Michael Jackson: Michael Reinvents Pop

Retrospective by Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone, August 2009

Recorded before he turned 21, Off The Wall made him a superstar — and the most important young R&B artist in America. ...

back to LIBRARY

COPYRIGHT NOTICE