Library Rock's Backpages

Bruce Dessau

Bruce Dessau

Bruce Dessau wrote for the New Musical Express in the 1980s. He also wrote for Jamming and The Face and was a columnist for Blitz magazine and Music Editor of City Limits before going on to write about music for The Guardian, Observer, The Independent and other national newspapers. He has contributed to a number of books about 1980s post-punk pop culture and is the author of George Michael: The Making of a Superstar. Today he mainly covers the comedy waterfront, but still writes about music occasionally for theartsdesk.com.

 

32 articles

List of articles in the library

By date | By artist | Most recently added

Microdisney: Half Moon, Herne Hill, London

Live Review by Bruce Dessau, New Musical Express, 6 October 1984

ZIT HITS! ...

Screaming Blue Messiahs: The Screaming Blue Messiahs, Rhythmic Itch: Rock Garden, London

Live Review by Bruce Dessau, New Musical Express, 6 October 1984

WHAT A grotty emporium is the Rock Garden! What does the name conjure up but images of a pile of stones where there should be ...

The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Pastels: Creation Records: Lions In Our Own Garden

Report and Interview by Bruce Dessau, New Musical Express, 3 November 1984

BRUCE DESSAU rustles the roster of London's pop-punk indie, CREATION RECORDS ...

New Model Army: Marquee, London

Review by Bruce Dessau, New Musical Express, 4 May 1985

FROM THE AUDIENCE (predominantly young, male, long-haired and rather ugly) to the band (older, male, longhaired and rather ugly) there is the kind of mutual ...

That Petrol Emotion: Thames Polytechnic, Woolwich

Live Review by Bruce Dessau, New Musical Express, 1 June 1985

PUMP IT UP! ...

Shriekback: Pearls Before Spine: Shriekback: Embassy, London

Live Review by Bruce Dessau, New Musical Express, 10 August 1985

WHENEVER I used to hear the name Shriekback, my imagination would immediately thrust out a picture of Kalahari bushmen bedecked in Walkmans. ...

Primal Scream

Profile and Interview by Bruce Dessau, Jamming!, September 1985

THE BESTOWING of the term "scene" on a city's musical activity is invariably ill advised. In most areas of large populations (and sadly but inevitably) ...

Prince: Under The Cherry Moon

Film/DVD/TV Review by Bruce Dessau, Blitz, September 1986

THE PRINCELY PROCEEDINGS commence with a scene of such steamily symbolic eroticism you almost expect the censor's stamp to come crashing through the screen. ...

Mary Coughlan: Palladium, London

Live Review by Bruce Dessau, New Musical Express, 28 November 1987

WHEN YOU'VE swiftly established yourself as a cult singer of pretty impressive status there's only one direction you want to go, and that's mainstream. It's ...

Eric B. & Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Mantronix: Taking the Rap

Report and Interview by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 5 August 1988

Club violence and the whiff of gunsmoke are accompanying rap's rise to prominence in the United States. Bruce Dessau reports ...

Philip Glass, S'Express: S'Express: Disorderly House

Profile and Interview by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 17 March 1989

Mark Moore and S'Express have taken British music one step beyond the Acid House formula. Bruce Dessau reports ...

The The's Thatcher Years

Interview by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 12 May 1989

Matt Johnson tells Bruce Dessau how he's managed to mix pop and politics ...

Gloria Estefan: Estefan in Exile

Profile and Interview by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 15 September 1989

Bruce Dessau on the singer hailed by President Reagan as the capitalist face of communist Cuba. ...

Inspiral Carpets: Larger Than Life

Interview by Bruce Dessau, i-D, July 1990

Two years ago, Oldham's Inspiral Carpets were just about filling the Cricketers pub in South London. This spring, their album Life sold over 200,000 copies ...

The Time: Time without the Prince

Profile by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 31 August 1990

MOST BANDS that get together after solo careers do so to cash in on their past. If the Minneapolis band the Time had wanted to ...

The Lilac Time: Lilac Time: Bloomsbury Theatre, London

Live Review by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 3 October 1990

IT IS indicative of the changing face of pop that on the cover of Lilac Time's new LP, And Love For All, recorded in early ...

Janet Jackson: Janet takes her video on tour

Report by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 19 October 1990

JANET JACKSON'S first solo tour has crossed the globe on its way to the UK — not without some hitches. One member of the entourage ...

Charlatans, The (UK): The Charlatans: Independents have their day

Profile and Interview by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 23 October 1990

TWELVE months is a long time in pop music. This time last year The Charlatans had never made a record. They could only boast that ...

Was (Not Was): The Was bros who weren't

Interview by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 3 January 1991

Middle-class Jewish boys from Motor City, Was (Not Was) have set out to show that white men can make soul music. Bruce Dessau reports ...

Lenny Kravitz: Lenny Be Me

Interview by Bruce Dessau, Vox, April 1991

Lenny Kravitz doesn't want an image. It's music that matters. He'd rather be in a studio and miserable than outside having fun. Bruce Dessau tracked ...

808 State: Brixton Academy, London

Live Review by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 15 April 1991

WHILE Manchester's club culture is rent asunder by rave-dazed apathy and internecine drug wars, the bands that made the scene move on. Happy Mondays are ...

MC Hammer: Hammering pop peace and Pepsi

Profile by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 2 May 1991

IF ANYONE was still sceptical about the mainstream of rap, a quick glance at MC Hammer's considerable commercial achievements will soon put them right. His ...

The Pixies: Road To Gnomewhere

Interview by Bruce Dessau, Vox, July 1991

The Pixies are in L.A. Charles Michael Kitteridge Thompson IV is driving his dirty yellow caddy fast. With the stereo playing loud. Bruce Dessau thumbed ...

Cath Carroll: Home is where the heart is

Profile and Interview by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 31 July 1991

With the release of her rhythmic debut album, England Made Me, Cath Carroll crosses from punk past to Latin future, as Bruce Dessau reports ...

Lloyd Cole: Strings Attached

Interview by Bruce Dessau, Vox, September 1991

Lloyd's Cole's new album has more strings on it than an episode of Thunderbirds. In an Irish TV studio, as an orchestra tunes up, Bruce ...

British Electric Foundation: The Soul World In His Hands

Interview by Bruce Dessau, Vox, October 1991

It's taken Martyn Ware nine years and a good lawyer to make The British Electronic Foundation's second album, a compilation of soul classics "interpreted" by ...

Wet Wet Wet: Sweat Sweat Sweat

Interview by Bruce Dessau, Vox, November 1991

Clydeside's best are not just Level 42 in kilts, as Bruce Dessau discovers. When their last album failed to go mega platinum, the band found ...

The Rolling Stones: Bradford rolls away the Stones: At the Max

Film/DVD/TV Review by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 30 January 1992

Bruce Dessau reports on a Rolling Stones concert film — the first to be shown on IMAX ...

The Sugarcubes: Still Crazy after all these Beers

Report and Interview by Bruce Dessau, Vox, February 1992

IF IT'S 4.30 on a Friday afternoon, it must he Reykjavik. Actually, it turns out to be Keflavik, 40 minutes away from Iceland's capital city ...

The Wedding Present: Staying Single

Interview by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 20 February 1992

Bruce Dessau meets a band who bizarrely believe that 45s are still cool ...

Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine: Carter USM: Stars of the Singlets Market

Report by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 21 May 1992

Never mind the music, it's the T-shirt that counts these days. Bruce Dessau reports ...

Flight of the Conchords: O2 Arena, London

Live Review by Bruce Dessau, The Evening Standard, 21 June 2018

BRET MCKENZIE and Jemaine Clement were supposed to play their first London tour dates in seven years in March but then Bret rather inconsiderately tumbled and ...

back to LIBRARY

COPYRIGHT NOTICE