Carol Clerk
Carol Clerk wrote extensively for MELODY MAKER in the '80s and '90s, and more recently for UNCUT. She was the author of books about Madonna, the Pogues, Hawkind and others, as well as of Vintage Tattoos. She died in March 2010.
2003 interview with Carol Clerk
66 articles
List of articles in the library
Rory Gallagher: Life With Last Year's Model
Report and Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 12 September 1981
THEY WERE IN Manchester. It was 8:30 in the morning, and the hotel was quiet. The Rory Gallagher Band and their crew were peacefully sleeping ...
The Damned, UK Subs: Dreaming Of A Punk Christmas
Report by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 2 January 1982
"COME HERE," cried an excited Captain Sensible from the corner of the backstage lounge. "I've just discovered what this is like! It's like the Generation ...
Chelsea: Spring Time for October
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 3 April 1982
I DON'T know why it had to happen to Chelsea. Clawed by the press, mauled by the dim-witted forces of fashion, the four-man disaster team ...
Roddy Radiation & The Tearjerkers: Tears and Radiation
Profile and Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 3 April 1982
ONE THING'S certain. Roddy Radiation, with his new band the Tearjerkers, could hardly have travelled further away from the sound, the style, the mood and ...
Angelic Upstarts: Still From The Heart (Zono)
Review by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 10 April 1982
EXTRAORDINARY. Quite extraordinary. This has got to be the most astonishing thing I've heard in months; a shock so devastating that I'm shaking still. ...
Chron Gen: Chronic Generation (Secret)
Review by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 10 April 1982
WELCOME TO the chronic generation, and a glimpse into the past, present and future of Chron-Gen on their debut album. ...
Angelic Upstarts: Mensi's Marauders
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 8 May 1982
"COME HERE you!" bellowed Mensi across a crowded and quite respectable lounge bar. The reverberations thundered over the heads of the lunchtime clientele, their salads ...
Anti-Nowhere League: We Are…The League
Review by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 8 May 1982
THERE'S ONLY one League in my life. It's not the Human League, for sure. It's not the Ivy League either, or the League of Gentlemen. ...
Circle Jerks: Wild In The Streets (Faulty Products)
Review by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 19 June 1982
LOOK, here they come now, swaggering round the corner: mouthfuls of curses; knuckledusters; leathers scraped with the scars of street battle; chains in the pockets; ...
Peter and the Test Tube Babies: More Bottle Than Brains
Report and Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 19 June 1982
Carol Clerk cracks a tube with PETER AND THE TEST TUBE BABIES ...
Profile and Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 26 June 1982
IT SEEMED like a good idea at the time. Meet The Business, knock back a pint or two, set off on a disco crawl...and find ...
Captain Sensible, Dolly Mixture: Captain Sensible & Dolly Mixture: Sense and Sensibility
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 10 July 1982
SHE DIDN'T look a day under 75, but she recognised him instantly. Up to her elbows in pie and mash and jellied eels, the woman ...
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 ...
Profile and Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 24 July 1982
IT WAS in the winter of 1978 that vocalist Lee Drury had his first traumatic encounter with the cruel forces of fate. At the time, ...
Profile and Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 21 August 1982
Carol Clerk collars confident Blackpool punksters The Fits in a fact-packed foray ...
Haysi Fantayzee: The Cheeky Double Fantasy
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 30 October 1982
Carol Clerk shouts "Up yer bum!" as she discovers the sexual side of HAYSI FANTAYZEE ...
Joni Mitchell: Wild Things Run Fast
Review by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 27 November 1982
I LISTEN TO Joni Mitchell's voice these days with a fleeting pang of nostalgia. Flitting from one plaintive note to another, fluttering up and down ...
Jayne County: Old Queens Never Die… They Just Change Sex
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 24 September 1983
Carol Clerk shows an unhealthy interest in the bodily development of JAYNE COUNTY. ...
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 25 February 1984
Carol Clerk and MARILYN parry ideas about love, life and sex and the single girl. ...
Hanoi Rocks: Danceteria, New York
Live Review by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 14 April 1984
IT WAS a particularly nasty little flu bug, the sort that devastates every function of the human body and turns you into the most miserable ...
Johnny Thunders: The Marquee, London
Live Review by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 1 September 1984
WHEN JOHNNY came marching back to London this time around, he took us all by surprise. ...
Stiv Bators: Stiv Bator and Michael Monroe
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 1985
STIV BATOR: "THERE'S an old saying in the American Mid-West that whoever you spend New Year's Eve with, you spend the rest of the year ...
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 ...
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 21 June 1986
No more Sammy's tits on page three! Unthinkable! More Sammy songs on Top Of The Pops! Even more unthinkable! While the world wrings its hands ...
The Faces, Rod Stewart: Rod Stewart, The Faces: Wembley Stadium, London
Live Review by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 12 July 1986
BIG NOSE STRIKES AGAIN! ...
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 28 March 1987
The Bangles seem permanently on the road. Carol Clerk met up with them during a London stop-over to get all the scam on Prince, old ...
Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin: Robert Plant: The Song Remains The Same
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 30 January 1988
Over the past three years Led Zeppelin have been used and abused by everyone from The Cult to the Beastie Boys. On the eve of ...
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 26 March 1988
FOLLOWING THE PHENOMENAL SUCCESS OF 'CHINA IN YOUR HAND', T'PAU HAVE LEAPT FROM THE PAVEMENT TO THE PENTHOUSE. WHAT IS THE SECRET OF THEIR SUCCESS? ...
Michael Jackson: The Bowl, Milton Keynes
Live Review by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 17 September 1988
THE SUMMER'S grand parade of American megastars has finally come to an end with the last great gasps from Michael Jackson. And so, now, must ...
Report and Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 11 February 1989
'EVERY ROSE HAS ITS THORN' WAS NUMBER ONE IN AMERICA OVER CHRISTMAS. THE OPEN UP AND SAY...AHH! LP CRUISED INTO THE US TOP 10 AND ...
Fields Of The Nephilim: Attractions Fatalist
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 20 May 1989
THE THING I most enjoy about Carl McCoy is his refusal to jump through the traditional music industry hoops. ...
Fields Of The Nephilim: The Nod Corner
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 23 December 1989
THE MOMENT IS breathtaking. One minute, he's Nod, drummer of Fields Of The Nephilim, chatting placidly of a pint of Flowers Best. Next minute, he's ...
Fields Of The Nephilim: Graveyard Shifts: Fields Of The Nephilim
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 23 March 1991
Does the release of their new live album, Earth Inferno, mark the end of an era for Fields Of The Nephilim? Why does Carl McCoy ...
Killing Joke: Armageddon Outta Here
Report and Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 22 June 1991
The millennium is coming and Jaz Coleman is waiting. On the eve of the Joke's latest UK tour, he talks to CAROL CLERK about white ...
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. ...
Juliana Hatfield, The Lemonheads: Evan Dando and Juliana Hatfield: Is She Really Going Out With Him?
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 13 November 1993
Evan Dando likes to avoid relationships. Juliana Hatfield is a self-confessed virgin. And yet, whatever their sexual orientation, Ev and Jules are indieland's second most ...
Oasis: They Thought It Was All Over
Report by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 21 September 1996
THE ANNOUNCEMENT came on Friday, 24 hours of nail-biting drama. Oasis, after all, were not going to split. ...
Pamela Des Barres: No Holds Barres
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 19 December 1996
Carol Clerk reports on the latest book from groupie supreme, Pamela Des Barres ...
Review by Carol Clerk, Uncut, June 1997
PERHAPS Anthology holds the key. Not just the CDs and the videos, but the whole hullabaloo surrounding the project and the full-scale reassessment of The ...
Bon Jovi: Jon Bon Jovi: Destination Anywhere
Review by Carol Clerk, Uncut, July 1997
THE ONLY living American to get the hang of TFI Friday. The hardest-working man in, oh, several industries. The pin-up pop star who dared to ...
John Lennon, Yoko Ono: Yoko Ono on John Lennon
Interview by Carol Clerk, Uncut, January 1998
AND SO THIS is Christmas. Well, nearly. The stores in Manhattan are already sparkling with trees and tinsel, and here in Central Park, the traditionally ...
Janis Joplin: The Ultimate Collection
Review by Carol Clerk, Uncut, October 1998
ROCK'S HOTTEST mama revisited in a comprehensive 32-track retrospective. ...
Jimi Hendrix: Through Gypsy Eyes by Kathy Etchingham and Andrew Crofts (Orion)
Book Review by Carol Clerk, Uncut, October 1998
JIMI HENDRIX flew into London for the first time in 1966, with a guitar and a bag containing a change of clothes, a jar of ...
Review by Carol Clerk, Uncut, October 1998
DeuceIrish TourCalling CardPhoto-FinishFresh Evidence Random selection of work from late Irish guitar hero ...
Interview by Carol Clerk, Uncut, April 2000
THE LOCATION IS LONDON'S flashy Landmark Hotel, a place where palm trees loom over drinkers in the lobby and there's a better class of toiletry ...
The Ramones: Joey Ramone 1951-2001
Obituary by Carol Clerk, Uncut, June 2001
'Life to me is an adventure and you've got to experience everything' ...
Review by Carol Clerk, Classic Rock, July 2001
After the introspective Avenue B, it's gloves off for Iggy as he comes out swinging. ...
The Ramones: Joey Ramone: Hey Ho, Let's Go!
Retrospective and Interview by Carol Clerk, Classic Rock, July 2001
Long hair, shades, ripped denim — the Ramones were the epitome of early punk, and singer Joey the epitome of the Ramones. From his school ...
Travis: The Invisible Band (Independiente)****
Review by Carol Clerk, Uncut, August 2001
A FOLLOW-UP of quality and distinction, inventively produced ...
Book Review by Carol Clerk, Uncut, October 2001
Marking the 10th anniversary of Nevermind, True relives a turbulent life in grunge and Gullick and Sweet share their photographs ...
The Beatles, George Harrison: George Harrison
Obituary by Carol Clerk, Uncut, February 2002
'You know, life flows on within you and without you'– George Harrison ...
The Ramones: Joey Ramone: Don't Worry About Me (Sanctuary) ****
Review by Carol Clerk, Uncut, March 2002
HIS LONG-awaited solo album, posthumously released. ...
Comment by Carol Clerk, Uncut, June 2002
FORMER 10,000 Maniacs vocalist and lyricist on a record that changed her life: The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust RCA 1972 ...
The Pink Fairies: Neverneverland;What A Bunch Of Sweeties; Kings Of Oblivion
Review by Carol Clerk, Uncut, August 2002
First three albums by heroes of early '70s UK underground. ...
Pink Floyd: The Making of Dark Side Of The Moon
Retrospective and Interview by Carol Clerk, Uncut, June 2003
ROGER WATERS (BASS, VOCALS, VCS3, TAPE EFFECTS, LYRICS) ...
John Lennon, Yoko Ono: The Ballad of John & Yoko
Retrospective and Interview by Carol Clerk, Uncut, September 2003
IT'S THE summer of 1969, and John and Yoko are in bed in room 1742 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Montreal. They are in their ...
Hawkwind: The Saga of Hawkwind
Book Excerpt by Carol Clerk, Omnibus Press, 2004
Emerging from the hippie heartland of London's Ladbroke Grove in 1969, Hawkwind invented space-rock with a potent, psychedelic mixture of jamming blues, electronica and lights. ...
The Stranglers' Jean-Jacques Burnel
Report and Interview by Carol Clerk, Uncut, March 2004
BEST REMEMBERED for the harpsichord heroin eulogy 'Golden Brown' (which reached No 2 in the UK singles chart in January 1982), the Stranglers and their ...
Review and Interview by Carol Clerk, Uncut, May 2004
Waters' last Floyd album is harrowing and still surprisingly relevant. ...
Pink Floyd, Roger Waters: The Last Days Of Pink Floyd
Retrospective and Interview by Carol Clerk, Uncut, June 2004
They called it The Final Cut, and that’s what it was for Pink Floyd – The last album they would make with Roger Waters. For the ...
Brian Jones, The Rolling Stones: Brian Jones: Death of a Rolling Stone
Retrospective by Carol Clerk, Uncut, February 2005
Without guitarist BRIAN JONES, there would have been no Rolling Stones. And yet the golden boy of the '60s was also the first rock casualty ...
Review and Interview by Carol Clerk, Classic Rock, December 2007
They stretched their songs to the limit — now three of Man's '70s albums get stretched and expanded... ...
John Lennon, Yoko Ono: Yoko Ono: Special Occasions
Interview by Carol Clerk, Uncut, January 2008
THOUGHTS FROM YOKO ONO ON THE EVE OF JOHN LENNON'S BIRTHDAY (OCTOBER 9, 2007) IN ICELAND, WHERE SHE INAUGURATED THE IMAGINE PEACE TOWER IN HIS ...
Thin Lizzy: The Making of 'The Boys Are Back In Town'
Interview by Carol Clerk, Uncut, April 2008
The shit-kicking '76 hit that saved Phil Lynott's bad-boy brawlers in the nick of time. ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: The Making of 'Hong Kong Garden'
Retrospective and Interview by Carol Clerk, Uncut, May 2008
The oddly light debut smash that shoved punk's dark primitives out of the shadows ...
Mudhoney: Superfuzz Bigmuff: Deluxe Edition (Sub Pop!)
Review by Carol Clerk, Classic Rock, July 2008
TWENTY YEARS AGO, Mudhoney released their first Sub Pop! single, 'Touch Me I'm Sick', followed closely by the Superfuzz Bigmuff EP. Neither sold much, but ...
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