Caroline Coon
Caroline Coon, artist and political activist, was at Central St. Martin's School of Art and Design in the '60s when she founded the anti-prohibition drug information and civil rights organisation Release. She published The Release Report: Drug Offenders and the Law in 1969, and 1988: The Punk Rock Explosion in 1977. When Coon went to the Sex Pistols' second gig in 1976, she found the answer to this question: With the '60s psychedelic revolution dead and buried and hippies derided as "boring old farts", what will youth do now? Johnny Rotten personified the nihilistic fury of a generation untouched by peace and love. At first, Coon's editor at Melody Maker didn't want to know. Determined anyway to write the story of the emerging "hate and war" counterculture, and thrilled by the music, Coon's seminal punk piece in MM on July 28, 1976, was the first to tackle the subject of the new "punk rock". Coon currently lives and works in London.
Barbara Ellen's 2000 Observer profile of Coon
67 articles
List of articles in the library
Lady Wootton talks to Caroline Coon about Pot
Interview by Caroline Coon, International Times, 31 January 1969
THE BARONESS Wootton of Abinger was chairman of the subcommittee on 'Cannabis' of the Advisory Committee on Drug Dependence whose Report was published on 8th ...
Yoko Ono: The Whole World Is My Mother-In-Law
Profile and Interview by Caroline Coon, unpublished, 1974
2012 NOTE: Tidying through my papers some days ago I found, at last, an interview I did with Yoko Ono at home in New York ...
Alice Cooper: Fangs Ain't What They Used To Be
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 23 March 1974
AT THE END of the second evening of this three-day trip to London, after a grueling schedule of interviews for the press radio and TV, ...
Report and Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 27 April 1974
Mud. They’re a pure pop band, no pretentions, but a lot of fun. Caroline Coon goes on the road with the boys who bridge the ...
Andy Williams: Ol' Treacle Voice Is Back
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 4 May 1974
Darling of the soap-opera set, Goliath of the balladeer belt, Andy Williams is so very glad to be back in this wonderful country. Caroline Coon ...
Olivia Newton-John, Suzi Quatro: Suzi Quatro & Olivia Newton-John: Dolly Mixture
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 20 July 1974
'What's ladylike?' asks Suzi Quatro. Olivia Newton-John should know – she was amazed in America when the audience ignored that she was wearing jeans on ...
Alvin Stardust: Devil in Disguise
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 5 October 1974
Alvin Stardust hasn't looked back since he returned to the charts a year ago. But as Caroline Coon finds out, his 'untouchable' image isn't the ...
Dana Gillespie: Big Girls Don’t Cry…
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 23 November 1974
Dana Gillespie talks to Caroline Coon ...
Queen: Freddie Mercury: Queen Bee
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 21 December 1974
THERE'S NOTHING like a dearth of hero-stars to make a media industry writhe with despondency. Film moguls, unable to find successors to Monroe and Gable, ...
Lynsey De Paul: Pop’s Leading Lady
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 4 January 1975
After only three years in the music business, Lynsey De Paul is already a hit. And she’s not yet reached the peak of her talent. ...
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 15 February 1975
Kiki Dee, sitting in the ritzy bar of the Hotel Metropol in Monte Carlo, is looking thoughtfully at the clinking ice cubes which she is ...
Elton John: I Want To Chug, Not Race
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 21 June 1975
IN AMSTERDAM LAST WEEK, while canals evaporated in the heat wave, eight musicians and three singers were stirring the sluggish air with an electric sound ...
Bryan Ferry, Roxy Music: Bryan Ferry: Putting On The Style
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 12 July 1975
The elusive Bryan Ferry, reviver of oldies and singer with Roxy Music, talks to Caroline Coon In 1971, when Bryan Ferry flew into the ...
Review by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 19 July 1975
I'M SATISFIED with this album, but I wish I could be more enthusiastic as Stephen Stills has both created and had a hand in creating ...
The Bay City Rollers: Inside the Bay City Rollers' Camp
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 13 September 1975
"WHEN ANYONE slates us, you can bet they’ve never heard our own stuff – Derek is a brilliant drummer" ...
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 15 November 1975
Cat Stevens, after a long personality crisis, has bounced back with a new album and tour. Caroline Coon meets him in Frankfurt ...
Elkie Brooks: Has Elkie Souled Out?
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 13 December 1975
WHEN VINEGAR JOE broke up two years ago, another brilliant British vocalist retired from the road. Elkie Brooks never actually wore the Queen of Rock ...
Status Quo: 'We're Not Musicians — We're Players!'
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 10 January 1976
STRIDING into his road-manager's sitting room, Francis Rossi quips, "no comment " and then spins on his heel as if a fast retreat is on ...
Steve Harley Says It Loud: 'I'm Back And I'm Proud!
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 7 February 1976
SO LONG AS the braggadocio who boasts "I'm the greatest" or "I'm a star" continues to climb up the success ladder, sceptics and critics are ...
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 13 March 1976
"THE THING IS," confides Billy McIsaac, Slik's 26-year-old keyboards player, "we have a positive attitude to everything." He is speaking with the advantage of hindsight. ...
Diana Ross: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 24 April 1976
WHEN WILL THE real Diana Ross sing up and be counted? ...
AC/DC: Nashville Rooms, London
Live Review by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 8 May 1976
AC/DC'S SINGLE 'IT'S A Long Way To The Top', has a lot to answer for. First, since its weird, bagpipe-drone of a break sounded unusually ...
Report and Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 8 May 1976
NEVER IN THE history of rock 'n' roll has it been more difficult for bands to get the exposure they need to break big and ...
Gladys Knight and the Pips: Gladys Knight & the Pips: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 8 May 1976
THE ATTENTION which goes into the fundamentals of Gladys Knight's sound, is the key to the tremendous success she's had on her current tour. Which ...
Janis Ian: Society's Child Grows Up
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 12 June 1976
ONE JOURNALIST WHO knew Janis Ian in 1969 thought she was the snottiest kid he'd ever met, "the cocky, pretentious product of an 'old Lefty' ...
Demis Roussos: Onassis Of Rock
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 26 June 1976
TWENTY miles east of the Arc de Triomphe, across the Seine as it meanders north, and a fast drive through grimy Paris suburbs, there looms ...
Eddie & The Hot Rods: Pier Pavilion, Hastings
Live Review by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 31 July 1976
BARRY MASTERS, Eddie And The Hot Rods' front man, drove his band down to Hastings from London himself – a sweaty, draining, three hour bang. ...
The Sex Pistols: Punk Rock: Rebels Against the System
Report and Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 7 August 1976
JOHNNY ROTTEN looks bored. The emphasis is on the word "looks" rather than, as Johnny would have you believe, the word "bored". His clothes, held ...
Joan Armatrading: Burning Like Fire
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 14 August 1976
THE SOUTH LONDON side-street is unimposing and still. Neat houses face each other, their windows opaque, like rows of black eyes shielded by the reflecting ...
Report by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 4 September 1976
Special report from the first European Punk Rock Festival in the South of France by CAROLINE COON ...
The Sex Pistols: Club De Chalet Du Lac, Paris
Live Review by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 11 September 1976
PARIS: The Sex Pistols believed the myth that it all happens in Paris. The fans who drove over specially to see the band's first appearance ...
Report by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 2 October 1976
THE 600-STRONG line, which last Monday straggled across two blocks outside London's 100 Club in Oxford Street, waiting for the Punk Rock Festival to start, ...
Aswad, The Cimarons: British Reggae: Prejudiced Vibrations
Comment by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 9 October 1976
ON THE SURFACE it looks as though there has been something of a major breakthrough for reggae in Britain. ...
The Runaways: Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 9 October 1976
Runaways — the wild ones ...
The Clash: Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
Live Review by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 30 October 1976
THE ICA, that home of lively experiment in London's Mall, is fast becoming the badly needed workshop-cum-watering hole for the growing number of jolly ravers ...
The Clash: Down And Out And Proud
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 13 November 1976
THREE WEEKS AGO at London's ICA, Jane and Shane, regulars on the new-wave punk rock scene, were sprawled at the edge of the stage. Blood ...
The Sex Pistols: Sex Pistols: Rotten To The Core
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 27 November 1976
"I had absolutely no interest in singing. I was more interested in being obnoxious." ...
Live Review by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 11 December 1976
Punk! On stage! ...
Lou Reed: How Lou Saw The White Light
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 18 December 1976
LOU REED, the crafty old rock 'n' roll fox, is alive and kicking. In fact, he's standing in the lobby of the Los Angeles Hyatt ...
Book Excerpt by Caroline Coon, 1988: The New Wave Punk Rock Explosion, 1977
THE SEX PISTOLS made their debut at St Martins School of Art on Friday 6th of November 1975. The irate social secretary cut the power ...
Book Excerpt by Caroline Coon, 1988: The New Wave Punk Rock Explosion, 1977
"I want more bands like us. I want people to go out and start something, to see us and start something, or else I'm just ...
Book Excerpt by Caroline Coon, '1988: The New Wave Punk Rock Explosion', 1977
Monday, September 20th: The Sex Pistols, the Clash, Subway Sect, Siouxsie and the Banshees. Tuesday, September 21st: The Damned, Chris Spedding and the Vibrators, the ...
Brian Eno: The Brian Eno Interview
Interview by Caroline Coon, Ritz, 1977
TODAY, SITTING FOR this interview at a white, formica-topped table in his Maida Vale flat, Brian Eno looks clean-cut enough to pass for the most ...
Book Excerpt by Caroline Coon, '1988: The New Wave Punk Rock Explosion', 1977
WHEN I FIRST interviewed the Clash in their barrack like studio in Chalk Farm, they had yet to sign a record contract, although they were ...
Book Excerpt by Caroline Coon, '1988: The New Wave Punk Rock Explosion', 1977
IN OCTOBER 1976 Nick Lowe produced the single 'New Rose' in an eight-track recording studio. It was the first U.K. punk sound on vinyl, preceeding ...
The Damned: The First European Punk Rock Festival
Book Excerpt by Caroline Coon, 1988: The New Wave Punk Rock Explosion', (Omnibus), 1977
VERY LITTLE ABOUT the festival turned out as planned. Initially the Heartdrops (now the Clash), Richard Hell, the Sex Pistols and Graham Parker and the ...
Book Excerpt by Caroline Coon, '1988: The New Wave Punk Rock Explosion', 1977
THE RECORD INDUSTRY is waking up. In October there were rumours about huge deals on the horizon, and Polydor look set to be the first ...
Book Excerpt by Caroline Coon, '1988: The New Wave Punk Rock Explosion', 1977
ONE OF THE arguments trotted out to minimize punk rock was that however good or bad the sound was live, it would be impossible to ...
Book Excerpt by Caroline Coon, '1988: The New Wave Punk Rock Explosion', 1977
THE STRANGLERS slogged through over four hundred gigs in two years building up an ever-increasing following. They did not jump on the punk bandwagon but ...
Patti Smith: Punk Queen of Sheba
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 15 January 1977
On stage, Patti Smith changes personality. One night she's Alexander the Great's daughter, the next the Queen of Sheba. But to Caroline Coon (reporting from ...
Status Quo: New Bingley Hall, Stafford
Live Review by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 15 January 1977
BETWEEN SEVEN and eight thousand fans queued for hours in the rain on Sunday, and then were individually frisked before they streamed into the cavernous ...
Review by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 19 March 1977
The Clash: there's a riot goin' on... ...
Lou Reed, The Sex Pistols: The Sex Pistols: Lou Reed Joins Pistols Furore
Report and Interview by uncredited writer, Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 26 March 1977
LOU REED claims he has been banned from the London Palladium because of the continuing controversy surrounding the Sex Pistols and punk rock. ...
Live Review by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 9 April 1977
THE GRANDLY-NAMED COLISEUM in Harlesden, London, turned out somewhat grander than most people expected. It's no fleapit, more a small local theatre — complete with ...
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 7 May 1977
Television's Tom Verlaine talks to Caroline Coon in Houston ...
Talking Heads: Rock Garden, London
Live Review by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 21 May 1977
IN AN unpretentious, un-hyped way, the Talking Heads' UK debut — two warm-up nights at the Rock Garden, Covent Garden, prior to their tour with ...
Talking Heads: Talking Headquarters
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 21 May 1977
Talking Heads, the latest New York new wave band to tour Britain, talk to Caroline Coon ...
Buzzcocks: Whatever Happened To The Buzzcocks?
Interview by Caroline Coon, Sounds, 17 September 1977
Now there's nothing behind meAnd I'm already a has-beenMy future ain't what it wasI think I know the words that I meanYou know me – ...
The Clash: Who's In Love With Janie Jones?
Interview by Caroline Coon, Sounds, 15 October 1977
DURING THE hot summer of 1976, a No. 31 bus jolts through Notting Hill Gate. On the top deck is Mick Jones, humming a riff. ...
The Clash: Clash in the City of the Dead
Report and Interview by Caroline Coon, Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 29 October 1977
NO FUN IN BELFAST AND LONDONby GIOVANNI DADOMO & CAROLINE COON ...
Kraftwerk talks to Caroline Coon
Interview by Caroline Coon, Ritz, November 1977
KRAFTWERK: RALF HÜTTER (composer, vocalist, electronics). FLORIAN "V2" SCHNEIDER (lyricist, vocalist, electronics) KARL BARTOS and WOLFGANG FLÜR (electronic percussion). ...
Sex Pistols: The Sex Pistols: "Money doesn't talk, it swears" — official
Report by Caroline Coon, Sounds, 3 December 1977
Pistols album not guilty ...
The Lous have a message for the women of Britain in 1978... "Groupies must become musicians"
Interview by Caroline Coon, Sounds, 31 December 1977
(to be read in a French accent. — Ed) ...
It Can't Happen Here: The Man Who Would Be Führer
Interview by Caroline Coon, Sounds, 25 March 1978
Martin Webster: National Activities Organiser of the National Front ...
Sham 69: If The Kids Are United…
Report and Interview by Caroline Coon, Sounds, 3 June 1978
JIMMY PURSEY'S very baggy grey flannels are held up by a brand new pair of white braces. His striped shirt is as clean as five ...
Interview by Caroline Coon, Sounds, 24 June 1978
THIS BLOKE stands menacingly in the entrance to Bath Spa Station. "Hmm," I muse to myself, taking note of his close crop, "a West Country ...
Overview by Caroline Coon, Sounds, 14 October 1978
UNTIL RECENTLY, watching rock on the box was the worst of media masochism. ...
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