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Bill Holdship

Bill Holdship

Bill Holdship is a former editor of CREEM, BAM, HITS, and Daily Variety, among others, and a longtime contributor to such publications as the early SPIN, Musician, MOJO, and damn near every "alternative" newspaper and magazine Los Angeles ever produced. Most recently, he was the music editor of an "alternative" Detroit newspaper in his native Michigan after 21 years on the West Coast. Despite scoring exclusives with Eminem and Iggy & the Stooges, he was not prepared for the reverse cultural shock – but still believes that The Beach Boys can make almost almost any situation seem slightly better.

118 articles

List of articles in the library

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Stephen Bishop, Linda Ronstadt: Linda Ronstadt, Stephen Bishop: Munn Arena, Michigan State University, East Lansing MI

Live Review by Dave DiMartino, Bill Holdship, Michigan State News, 14 November 1977

Ronstadt: golden dream for Tarnished Age ...

Bruce Springsteen: Darkness On the Edge Of Town (Columbia JC 35318)

Review by Bill Holdship, Michigan State News, 23 June 1978

Springsteen's dark edge ...

Asleep at the Wheel, Jessi Colter, Waylon Jennings: Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, Asleep At The Wheel: Civic Center, Lansing MI

Live Review by Bill Holdship, Michigan State News, 12 July 1978

Ol' Waylon keeps 'outlaw' tradition ...

Keith Moon, The Who: Keith Moon and rock 'n' roll: "Hope I die before I get old"

Obituary by Bill Holdship, Michigan State News, 22 September 1978

WHO DRUMMER Keith Moon died Sept. 7 from an overdose of a sedative prescribed to combat alcoholism. He was 31. The Who, presently finishing their ...

The Cars: The Cars (Elektra GE-135)

Review by Bill Holdship, Michigan State News, 25 September 1978

Cars in high gear on first LP ...

The Ramones: An Interview With Joey Ramone — A Teenage Lobotomy Speaks His Mind

Interview by Bill Holdship, Michigan State News, 9 May 1980

THE RAMONES have become something of an American rock 'n roll institution. The band formed in 1974, and became part of an underground East Coast ...

Robert Gordon Likes Pop

Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, September 1981

ABUSIVE IS THE only word to describe the audience the last time Robert Gordon was in Detroit as part of a some-thought-smart/some-thought-not-so-smart double bill with ...

David Johansen Sings Basso Mondo Profundo

Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, October 1981

DAVID JOHANSEN should have been a superstar.Imagine... ...

The Kinks: Ray Davies Unravels The Kinks

Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, December 1981

"I THINK ROCK music is just as important as painting." Ray Davies – musician, poet, humorist, social critic and leader of one of the world's ...

Elvis Presley: Goldman Ain't Nothin' But A Hound Dog!

Book Review by Bill Holdship, Creem, February 1982

Elvis by Albert Goldman (McGraw-Hill) ...

The Psychedelic Furs: Psychedelic Furs: Sugar Cubes For The New Depression

Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, February 1982

RICHARD BUTLER, the Psychedelic Furs, chain-smoking vocalist, often sounds like an extremely angry man or record. ...

Nick Lowe: Ol' Nick The Knife's Back In Town!

Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, May 1982

NICK LOWE is one of the nicest and most down-to-earth guys in rock 'n' roll. ...

Dave Edmunds: From Small Things, Mama, Big Things One Day Come!

Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, September 1982

DAVE EDMUNDS' second biggest pleasure in life seems to be photography. A slim Edmunds (he claims he was horrified when he first saw his paunch ...

The Beat: The English Beat: 2-Tone Survivors Make a Joyful Noise

Interview by Bill Holdship, Musician, February 1983

"THE CIRCUMSTANCES that brought the Beat together make us tenuous, in a way," observes singer/guitarist Dave Wakeling. "With any one set of musicians, sooner or ...

The Psychedelic Furs: Sugar Cubes For The New Depression

Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, February 1983

RICHARD BUTLER, the Psychedelic Furs' chain-smoking vocalist, often sounds like an extremely angry man on record. Some people have compared his raspy voice to a ...

Bob Seger: Big Victories

Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, May 1983

IT'S ALWAYS BEEN a little difficult for me to perceive Bob Seger as a major rock 'n' roll star. That isn't meant in any negative ...

Little Steven & The Disciples Of Soul

Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, June 1983

LIKE MOST GOOD DISCIPLES, Little Steven and the Disciples Of Soul have several important missions to accomplish on earth, and one of these is to ...

The Dream Syndicate's Heavenly Feedback From Hell

Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, July 1983

"WE PLAYED THE Mudd Club in New York, and we went on at 2 or 3 in the morning. I was amazed that people were ...

Violent Femmes: The Violent Femmes: The Violent Femmes

Review by Bill Holdship, Creem, October 1983

ROMANTIC AND SEXUAL frustration have long been central themes in rock, and Gordon Gano – the Violent Femmes' 20-year-old singer, songwriter and guitarist – seems ...

The Blasters Ridin' On The Jubilee Train

Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, December 1983

PERHAPS TAKING A cue from the Book Of Rock Lists, I once considered compiling a list of the best rock records to listen to when ...

John Mellencamp: John Cougar: Pink Houses In The Midwest

Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, January 1984

MY STOMACH WAS in my throat again, and I was seriously contemplating murder. The victim would be editor-in-chief of the rag you presently hold in ...

Jonathan Richman: Shoot-Out at Sesame Street: Jonathan Richman Talks!

Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, May 1984

I HATE IT when my heroes get attacked. That's why I screamed "Ignorance!" and threw a copy of Musician magazine across the room when this ...

Rory Gallagher: The Flannel Banshee Breaks Out!

Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, July 1984

SIX I.R.A. BOMBS went off in Belfast the day of Rory Gallagher's second sold-out show at Ulster Hall, including one in the middle of the ...

The Clash: They Want To Spoil The Party So They'll Stay

Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, October 1984

CREEM CONTRIBUTOR Mark Norton and I were talking several days before the Clash "invaded" Detroit, and we began discussing the concept of "armchair activism" and ...

Lou Reed: New Rock Sensations

Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, November 1984

IMAGINE BEING served one of the greatest meals of your life, and then being told you have exactly one-half hour to consume it. ...

Prince & The Revolution: Joe Louis Arena, Detroit

Live Review by Bill Holdship, New Musical Express, 1 December 1984

IT TOOK The Star over 55 minutes to make his grand entrance following new paramour Sheila E's rhythmically exciting but lightweight opening set. The lights ...

Little Richard: The Quasar Speaks!

Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, January 1985

LITTLE RICHARD Penniman is one of rock's greatest legends. If you're interested in his past, you'd be well advised to read his new biography, The ...

Dokken: All Bozos On This Bus!

Report and Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, March 1985

OH, SAY CAN YOU SEE...IT'S ELECTION DAY in America, and I'm in Washington, D.C. Several miles away, Ronnie & Nancy are celebrating the fact that ...

Prince: The Wit & Wisdom Of Prince Rogers Nelson

Comment by Bill Holdship, Creem, July 1985

HE'S DEFINITELY AN American superstar – one of the most important of the '80s – and his ascent still appears to be just above ground ...

R.E.M.: Rock Reconstruction Getting There

Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, September 1985

FABLES OF YEARS spent on the road. Decadent tales of groupies and drugs and arrogance and misspent lives near the top. You won't find any ...

Led Zeppelin: Hammer Of The Gods: The Led Zeppelin Saga by Stephen Davis (Wm. Morrow & Co.)

Book Review by Bill Holdship, Creem, October 1985

LEMONS OF THE GODS ...

Lloyd Cole & The Commotions: Cole Commotion

Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, October 1985

DETROIT — As a youth in Glasgow, Scotland, Lloyd Cole was obsessed with American music, literature and movies. It only seemed natural, then, that American ...

John Mellencamp: John Cougar Mellencamp: Working Class Hero In The Rumbleseat

Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, February 1986

BELMONT MALL, John Cougar Mellencamp's beautiful new recording studio, is located in a pastoral farm area not far from John's home in Bloomington, Indiana. It's ...

Robyn Hitchcock: God Walks Among Us

Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, March 1986

IN HIS OWN WORDS, some people expect Robyn Hitchcock to be "a kind of exotic species of plant" or a "wigged-out acid casualty" in the ...

Marillion Conquer America

Profile and Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, July 1986

IT SEEMED STRANGE that Capitol Records would spend lots of money to send me and other American journalists to England in early February to see ...

The Replacements: Drinking (And Drinking Lots More!)

Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, September 1986

SO "WHO'S HOT?" ...

The Monkees: I Like The Monkees

Retrospective and Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, December 1986

ONE OF THE worst aspects of rock 'n' roll is that it's often centered on this debate as to whether something is "cool" or not. ...

The Smiths: Fox Theater, Detroit

Live Review by Bill Holdship, Creem, December 1986

IT ALL BOILS down to the collapse and decay of the British Empire. You could blame it on Margaret Thatcher. Or on Joy Division. Or ...

Alice Cooper Returns

Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, March 1987

ALICE COOPER'S 'Under My Wheels' is a rock 'n' roll classic. You can put it on a party tape or hear it on the radio ...

Elvis Costello & The Attractions: The Riviera, Chicago

Live Review by Bill Holdship, Creem, March 1987

ELVIS COSTELLO & The Attractions' early Detroit shows are among my fondest rock 'n' roll memories. I saw him the first time he played the ...

The Beastie Boys: Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Bill Holdship, J. Kordosh, Creem, June 1987

High School Equivalency Test ...

Billy Idol, The Cult: Forum, Los Angeles

Live Review by Bill Holdship, Creem, September 1987

Dr. Freud, I Presume ...

The Replacements: The Pleasure Is All Yours

Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, September 1987

FOR THE MOST part, I hate rock 'n' roll. Probably not the smartest thing to admit in print, and I wish it wasn't true. I ...

John Hiatt : Have A Little Faith

Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, October 1987

JOHN HIATT IS onstage at the Roxy in L.A.; just him and a piano. It's part of this international convention A&M Records is holding to ...

John Mellencamp: John Cougar Mellencamp: Growing Up In Public

Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, December 1987

You'd think that John Cougar Mellencamp would be living a rock 'n' roll version of the proverbial life of Riley. ...

Tom Waits: Town Crier

Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, January 1988

I'M A LITTLE nervous – and I don't get this way often these days. But I've heard that Tom Waits can be a difficult interview. ...

George Harrison: Cloud Nine

Review by Bill Holdship, Creem, March 1988

IN MANY WAYS, George Harrison's kinda had it unfair. Just as Let It Be has probably always been underrated mainly because it was a Beatles ...

fIREHOSE, Jerry Lee Lewis, X: X, Jerry Lee Lewis, fIREHOSE: Universal Ampitheatre, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Bill Holdship, Creem, April 1988

"WE GOT THE BULLS BY THE HORN..." ...

Guns N' Roses: Days Of Guns N' Roses

Interview by Bill Holdship, Spin, May 1988

In which our reporter discovers that L.A.'s reputed bad boys are good-bad, but they're not evil. ...

Cindy Lee Berryhill: She's Got (Almost) Everything

Profile and Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, June 1988

EIGHTEEN REASONS WHY CINDY LEE BERRYHILL IS NEAT: ...

Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash: Perkins, Presley et al: The Complete Million Dollar Session

Review by Bill Holdship, Creem, June 1988

TOTALLY UNEXPECTED, totally out of the blue, and just when you'd almost given up on hearing anything this exciting again... ...

The Waterboys: Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Bill Holdship, L.A. Weekly, 23 November 1989

IN A WORD, beautiful. ...

Del Shannon 1939-1990

Obituary by Bill Holdship, L.A. Weekly, 22 February 1990

THE MOST tragic thing would be for Del Shannon to be lumped with, as he sometimes was in the past, all the Bobbys and Frankies ...

The Cramps: Stay Sick! (Enigma)

Review by Bill Holdship, Spin, April 1990

THE CRAMPS have always understood those fundamental building blocks that made early rock'n'roll what it was — scary, lustful, exciting and, above all, funny. ...

Celebrity Skin: Rock 'n' Roll Disgrace

Profile and Interview by Bill Holdship, Spin, December 1990

ONLY LOS Angeles could produce a band like Celebrity Skin. In a city where celeb­rity is both religion and life-style, this group is a decadent ...

Fishbone: Reality Check

Interview by Bill Holdship, Spin, July 1991

Fishbone is rocking the house as hard as it always has, and the rest of the world is finally listening — between stage dives that ...

Sade

Interview by Bill Holdship, Pulse!, December 1992

Cool, smooth & refreshing, Britain's sultry siren of song checks in with her first new album in four years, Love Deluxe. ...

Soul Asylum: Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles, CA

Live Review by Bill Holdship, Spin, April 1993

"WE'RE THE opening band," mumbled Dave Pirner, as Soul Asylum burst into 'Veil of Tears', kicking off the final set of what was a pretty ...

Neil Young: Sleeps With Angels

Review by Bill Holdship, Musician, October 1994

IT'S A LITTLE LIKE San Francisco weather: If you don't care for Neil Young's musical style at any given moment, wait a while and it'll ...

Frank Zappa: Zappa Honors The Hall Of Fame

Report and Interview by Bill Holdship, BAM, 10 February 1995

IF ANYONE OUT there is wondering why Lou Reed (who never had a good word to say about Frank Zappa during Zappa's lifetime) was chosen ...

Brian Wilson: Lost In Music: Brian Wilson

Interview by Bill Holdship, MOJO, August 1995

Some call him a tortured genius. Others say he’s just insane. Some claim he’s suffering through an extended hiatus between transcendent works. Others reckon he’s ...

Brian Wilson, Van Dyke Parks: Brian Wilson And Van Dyke Parks: Orange Crate Art

Interview by Bill Holdship, MOJO, December 1995

BH: Was it hard getting Brian involved in the making of Orange Crate Art? ...

Brian Wilson: The Story of Sweet Insanity

Retrospective by Bill Holdship, MOJO, September 1996

SOMEHOW – PRIMARILY BECAUSE I took the trouble to talk to Brian and his then ever-present psychotherapist-turned-manager and collaborator, Eugene Landy at a star-studded Hollywood ...

Grand Funk Railroad: Greek Theatre, Los Angeles

Live Review by Bill Holdship, MOJO, August 1997

IT'S TOUGH to be hip all the time, or as Brian Wilson once said, "sometimes it hurts your head". So it wasn't at all unpleasant ...

The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, Van Dyke Parks: The Beach Boys: An American Family: Heroes and Villains

Report and Interview by Bill Holdship, LA New Times, 4 June 2000

Brian Wilson's back, recording a live album at the Roxy this week and preparing for a summer tour with symphony orchestras throughout the U.S. So ...

Limp Bizkit: Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water (Interscope)

Review by Bill Holdship, LA New Times, October 2000

YOU GOTTA WONDER when it go so ugly and so ... well, beyond anger and rage. If you trace this angry post-adolescent thing from James ...

Whiskeytown: Out of Town

Profile and Interview by Bill Holdship, Dallas Observer, 30 November 2000

THE GREAT major-label mergings and purgings of the last several years have lost hundreds of people their jobs – but another tragic result is that ...

The Soft Boys: Underwater Moonlight

Review by Bill Holdship, Rolling Stone, 13 March 2001

IN THIS ERA of nonstop rock lists, the term "classic" is almost as overused as "genius" and "influential."But 1980's Underwater Moonlight remains all three of ...

Looking For Influence, Significance, Development And Perpetuation At The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame

Comment by Bill Holdship, LA New Times, 28 March 2001

Press release, Tuesday, December 12, 2000, New York – The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees for the 16th Annual Induction Ceremony were announced ...

Garth Brooks: Great Western Forum, Inglewood

Live Review by Bill Holdship, Variety, 15 November 2001

"HE'S BACK to conquer the world!" proclaimed the radio spots for the first of three "cross-country" Garth Brooks concerts airing on CBS during the last ...

George Harrison: An Appreciation From a Man Who Peed With The Quiet One

Comment by Bill Holdship, LA New Times, 6 December 2001

GEORGE HARRISON is probably bemused by all the attention his passing received in the material world this past week. Most of the tributes have concentrated ...

Super Furry Animals: Rings Around the World

Review by Bill Holdship, Dallas Observer, 2 May 2002

WHEN IT DEBUTED with 1996's Fuzzy Logic, Super Furry Animals never even came close to figuring into the whole "Oasis vs. Blur vs. everyone else" ...

The Monkees: Head

Retrospective and Interview by Bill Holdship, MOJO, June 2002

"WHAT IS HEAD? HEAD IS THE most extraordinary adventure Western comedy love story mystery drama musical documentary ever filmed. And that's putting it mildly." ...

Ash: Free All Angels

Review by Bill Holdship, Dallas Observer, 5 July 2002

FREE ALL ANGELS finally hits the United States a full year after its release in the U.K., where it's been a huge hit. And fortunately, ...

Guns N' Roses: G N'R Whys

Comment by Bill Holdship, Dallas Observer, 19 December 2002

PRECISELY WHY Guns N' Roses' North American tour came to an abrupt end last week, days before it was scheduled to hit the American Airlines ...

The Cramps: Basic Instinct

Retrospective and Interview by Bill Holdship, MOJO, September 2003

For the last 30 years The Cramps have remained the wildest rock'n'roll double act on the planet, a potent cocktail of lewd rockabilly, primeval fuzz ...

The Crickets, Buddy Holly: The Crickets: "We were the first ugly band!"

Retrospective and Interview by Bill Holdship, MOJO, October 2004

Author's note: This is the piece originally submitted to MOJO as a sidebar to Greil Marcus' Buddy Holly feature "The Lost Boy". ...

The Beach Boys: Is Mike Love Evil?

Interview by Bill Holdship, MOJO, December 2004

Well, that's what we got told. But The Beach Boys' vocalist says he never hated Pet Sounds and he certainly didn't stop Smile coming out. ...

Paul Westerberg: Controlled Chaos

Live Review by Bill Holdship, LA CityBeat, 3 March 2005

At Paul Westerberg’s show, rock energy and stage entropy wrestle to a draw ...

Jan & Dean: Wipeout!

Retrospective by Bill Holdship, MOJO, April 2005

Mean, lean and handsome, '60s surf pop duo Jan & Dean could have been gibber than The Beach Boys but kidnappings, car-crashes and cocaine soon ...

Raspberries: The Raspberries: House of Blues, Los Angeles

Live Review by Bill Holdship, LA CityBeat, 27 October 2005

IN 1972, NOTHING sounded quite like the Raspberries' 'Go All the Way' and 'I Wanna Be With You' when they came roaring out of mono ...

The Replacements: Don't You Know Who I Think I Was?

Report and Interview by Bill Holdship, MOJO, June 2006

IT SEEMED UNLIKELY that legendary American pre-grunge band the Replacements would ever reunite. In fact, bassist Tommy Stinson — who's played with Axl Rose's current ...

Ash Flow

Report and Interview by Bill Holdship, Seattle Weekly, 9 October 2006

Irish rockers plug into the electronica-powered Area 2 tour ...

The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: The Beach Boys: The Making of Pet Sounds

Retrospective and Interview by Bill Holdship, MOJO, January 2007

BACKSTAGE AT UCLA's Royce Hall a joyous sound suddenly erupts from behind a closed door, which one assumes leads to Brian Wilson's dressing room judging ...

Ted Nugent: What an asshole! — Ted Nugent: Love Grenade (Eagle Records)

Review by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 12 September 2007

New records shows who's the real asshole ...

GTR, Billy Joel: A Creem editor remembers…

Book Excerpt by Bill Holdship, 'America's Only Rock 'N' Roll Magazine', 2008

THERE ARE loads of CREEM stories to tell, such as the time I answered the editorial phone and Billy Joel was on the other end, ...

The Replacements: Pleased to Meet Me

Sleeve notes by Bill Holdship, unpublished, 2008

NOTE: These are Bill Holdship's original liner notes for the new Pleased to Meet Me reissue that were replaced last year when project producer Peter ...

Sour CREEM: The life, death, and strange resurrection of America's only rock 'n' roll magazine, Part 1

Retrospective by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 16 January 2008

ALMOST FAMOUS was probably the big bang that finally pushed it over the top. Doesn't matter that director Cameron Crowe — a former CREEM and ...

CREEMed: The life, death, and strange resurrection of America's only rock 'n' roll magazine, Part 2

Retrospective by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 23 January 2008

Last week, we examined the Detroit origins and early history of CREEM, "America's Only Rock 'N' roll Magazine." This week, we take a look at ...

Nick Lowe: Jesus of Cool – 30th Anniversary Edition

Review by Bill Holdship, San Antonio Current, 5 March 2008

DUE TO A religious right that was screwing things up even then, a worried Columbia Records cowardly retitled this seminal New Wave classic Pure Pop ...

Was (Not Was): Boo!

Review by Bill Holdship, San Antonio Current, 28 May 2008

IT'S BEEN 18 years since this Detroit-born funk-jazz-pop-art collective released its last album — and the world's grown a whole lot crazier during that time, ...

Dee Dee Sharp: Sisterly Love

Interview by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 27 August 2008

DEE DEE SHARP is a perfect ambassador for the Jazzfest's Detroit-Philadelphia summit theme. After all, 'Mashed Potato Time', her timeless 1962 hit, mentions a Motown ...

Cheech & Chong: Lost in the ozone again

Interview by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 17 September 2008

CHEECH MARIN AND Tommy Chong require little introduction. The countercultural comedy heroes turned movie superstars took several decades off to pursue solo careers (and Chong ...

J. D. Souther: J.D. Souther comes back

Interview by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 5 November 2008

THOUGH HE'S ONE of the most underrated composers of the rock era, J.D. Souther's songs — especially those he wrote for the Eagles — are ...

Chuck Berry, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James, Muddy Waters: Hoochie Coochie Men: Cadillac Records (dir. Darnell Martin)

Film/DVD/TV Review by Bill Holdship, Metro Times, 10 December 2008

Hollywood's version of the Chess Records story combines the best and worst of the classic rock 'n' roll biopic ...

The Notorious B.I.G., Puff Daddy: Notorious (dir. George Tillman Jr.)

Film/DVD/TV Review by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, January 2009

Despite some excellent acting and drama, Notorious biopic whitewashes Biggie Small’s gangsta life and death ...

The Stooges: "Come on, Ronnie, tell em' how I feel!"

Special Feature by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 14 January 2009

IT WASN'T always this way. Years ago, TV commercials and film soundtracks didn't feature the guitar sound Ron Asheton pioneered with the Stooges. Even in ...

Buddy Holly: Buddy-buddy

Comment by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 25 February 2009

THE BIRTH OF Motown isn't the only 50th anniversary pop music is noting this year: 2009 also marks the 50th anniversary of Buddy Holly's death. ...

Buddy Holly: Buddy-buddy

Retrospective by Bill Holdship, Metro Times, 25 February 2009

THE BIRTH OF Motown isn't the only 50th anniversary pop music is noting this year: 2009 also marks the 50th anniversary of Buddy Holly's death. ...

The Satin Peaches: Fuzzy and sweet

Interview by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 25 March 2009

"THESE DETROIT-BRED cuties are so goddamned good … Think '60s Brit-pop with bluesy piano strut and raggedy garage-rock thrown in for good measure. [The song] ...

Eminem: The Eminem Interview

Interview by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 13 May 2009

WHEN IT COMES TO Eminem, a lot of backstory probably isn't necessary. Especially in Detroit. But, really, that's pretty much true anywhere in the civilized ...

Todd Rundgren: Hello, it's Todd

Interview by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 1 July 2009

WE CAME UP with our own theme for Cityfest this year — namely, second acts or second chances. F. Scott Fitzgerald once said there are ...

? and the Mysterians: ? & the Mysterians: Life on Mars

Report and Interview by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 15 July 2009

'96 TEARS' IS one of the greatest rock 'n' roll songs in the history of the genre. In fact, it may be the greatest. John Lennon reportedly ...

Irma Thomas: Time's still on her side

Interview by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 2 September 2009

NOTE: This is the complete transcript of an interview that appeared in the paper edition of Metro Times in an abridged form. ...

Death Becomes Them: The World's First Black Punk Band Killed Naysayers With Power Chords

Retrospective and Interview by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 23 September 2009

THE HISTORY of rock 'n' roll is littered with dozens of such stories — great bands discovered years after their initial obscurity has faded into ...

Iggy Pop, The Stooges: The Stooges: Kill City Dreaming

Interview by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 7 October 2009

Iggy Pop and James Williamson talk Raw Power, their rift and reunion, Ron Asheton and the glory that (still) is Detroit ...

Roky Erickson: He has never been here before …

Interview by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 28 October 2009

ALTHOUGH THERE ARE certainly other candidates, the man born Roger Kynard Erickson 62 years ago in Dallas, Texas, just might be the greatest rock 'n' ...

Patti Smith: Promises Fulfilled: Patti Smith: Just Kids

Review and Interview by Bill Holdship, Metro Times, 17 February 2010

LOVE RELATIONSHIPS between great artists have inspired some fine literature throughout history, be it works the artists created for each other during their own lifetimes ...

The Runaways: Queens of noise: The Runaways

Film/DVD/TV Review by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 7 April 2010

Kristen Stewart's Joan Jett is one of many killer riffs that makes The Runaways. ...

Roky Erickson, Okkervil River: Roky Erickson with Okkervil River: True Love Cast Out All Evil (Chemikal Underground)

Review by Bill Holdship, MOJO, July 2010

THIS IS one of those wonderful, unexpected releases that many people once believed could never exist. ...

Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band: Dow Event Center, Saginaw

Live Review by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 29 March 2011

Seger in Saginaw: Michigan's original rock 'n' roll son "officially" kicks off his tour ...

The Cars: Move Like This

Review by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 11 May 2011

After 24 years, the band's approach still runs smoothly ...

Lady Gaga: In Defense of Gaga

Comment by Bill Holdship, Metro Times, 8 June 2011

One writer makes a case why she's the greatest pop star on the planet ...

Jack Oblivian: Rat City (Big Legal Mess Records/Fat Possum)

Review by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 21 September 2011

Reminiscent of the White Stripes? Yes, because Oblivian was an influence ...

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds: Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds (Sour Mash/Universal)

Review by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 28 December 2011

Tunes so good, you'll forget there was another Gallagher brother ...

The Eagles: Eagles: The Heroes Or Villains Of 70s Rock?

Retrospective by Bill Holdship, Classic Rock, 6 October 2015

The band who took country-rock to the masses ...

The Eagles: Eagles: The Heroes Or Villains Of '70s Rock?

Retrospective by Bill Holdship, Classic Rock, 6 October 2015

The band who took country-rock to the masses ...

Remembering the writer Richard C. Walls

Memoir by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 22 May 2017

Detroit-based writer Richard C. Walls died in hospice care over the weekend. Walls was a longtime writer for Creem, and reviewed films as recently as ...

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