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Danny Baker

Danny Baker

Danny Baker started his career working for seminal punk zine Sniffin' Glue before becoming a receptionist at the New Musical Express. He championed disco and soul and wrote the funniest singles columns in the paper's history. Going to Sea in a Sieve, Danny's autobiography, was published in late 2012.

53 articles

List of articles in the library

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Elvis Costello: My Aim is True (Stiff SEEZ 3)

Review by Danny Baker, ZigZag, August 1977

I COULD NEVER see the attraction in classical music, all that hanging about between notes, I mean what do people with great classic collections play ...

Sham 69

Interview by Danny Baker, ZigZag, September 1977

THE ROXY CLUB. Week one. The band bottom of the three playing that night played the night's most exciting set to about 20 people. ...

Alternative TV: ATV: Is As Wonderful

Profile and Interview by Danny Baker, ZigZag, December 1977

I WAS AT ONE of Steve Mick's bi-annual parties, (baffling, rambling affairs – you want to find your long-lost aunt? Come in and prowl around, ...

Brian Eno: An Interview With Brian Eno

Interview by Kris Needs, Danny Baker, ZigZag, January 1978

YOU COULD SAY Brian Eno was pissed off on the day the dynamic Zigzag interviewing team were supposed to be interviewing him. Quite the opposite ...

The Fall

Report and Interview by Danny Baker, ZigZag, February 1978

AH THE FALL! My mind fell on a quote that was all I knew of the name, something like '...there's hardly another band fit to ...

Kraftwerk: The Man Machine (Capitol EST 11728)

Review by Danny Baker, ZigZag, June 1978

Springtime for Kraftwerk ...

Alternative TV: The Image Has Cracked

Review by Danny Baker, ZigZag, July 1978

YOU KNOW them "artists" and "reviewers", they ain't never gonna stop. ...

Blast Furnace & The Heatwaves: The Best Band In The World!

Profile and Interview by Danny Baker, ZigZag, August 1978

"WE LOVE MUSIC...BUT WE HATE THE DISCO SOUND!!!!"Know what? I'll even forgive this band for saying that. ...

Sham 69: Pursey's Down The Dogtrack

Report and Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 5 August 1978

Sham 69's leader blows his wages, ponders his role, and has a few larfs. DANNY BAKER goes to see an old mate about a dog. ...

Rose Royce: Socio/Political Conscience? Waal, Ah'm Rilly Into Chutney

Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 21 October 1978

"SO HOWS about up at number two, we have the one and only Rose Royce with 'Love Don't Live Here Anymore'...goodness gracious yes..." ...

Leo Sayer: London

Live Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 28 October 1978

A NIGHT distinguished for me by the worst support set I've ever heard and the most tuchus-licking tolerant audience ever assembled in one Vaudeville room. ...

Ian Dury: New Challenge For Esperanto

Report and Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 23 December 1978

JUST OUT of Holland, about ten miles from the Dutch/Belgian border, the coach pulls into the Flemish equivalent of a Motorway Chef. There's four hours ...

Ian Dury: Where Blockheads Dare…

Report by Danny Baker, ZigZag, January 1979

IN 1979 THE music press could well go the way of The Times. Rock'n'roll is all about crucial exhibitions of art, quiet spoken interviews with ...

The Jacksons: Destiny (Epic)

Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 13 January 1979

EACH YEAR, when the popularity polls roll around, way down in the best vocalist section we can find Bowie, Dylan and even Cornwall whilst my ...

Chic: Up Chic Creek

Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 27 January 1979

THERE WERE so many good singles last year that when it came to deciding what I thought were the best 45s to show out, I ...

Village People: The Annals Of Disco

Report and Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 17 February 1979

DANNY BAKER tests the dancefloor action 1979 from uptown Manhattan to downtown Rotherhithe, interviews THE VILLAGE PEOPLE people, lays on a historical overview of Disco, ...

The Jam: Dies' Ist Der Modernische Welt

Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 17 March 1979

AND IN THE beginning there was darkness. Then, it has been written, the Mood formed the Pistols, Clash, Damned, Stranglers, Vibrators and the Jam and ...

Donna Summer: Bad Girls (Casablanca)

Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 19 May 1979

I'M SITTING here, the music is actionably loud, the bass is hitting right into the back of my neck, squarebashing on the spot, and – ...

Public Image Ltd.: The Odd Combo

Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 16 June 1979

Danny Baker goes on the PiS with PiL ...

Sylvester: Mighty Real (Fantasy)

Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 16 June 1979

Dead Duck? ...

McFadden and Whitehead: The Rise and Rise of McFadden, Whitehead and Ward (Anita)

Report and Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 23 June 1979

EVEN THE Johnny Pearson Orchestra on Top Of The Pops couldn't ruin a song as strong as 'Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now'. ...

Van McCoy, Minnie Riperton Cut Down in Their Prime

Obituary by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 21 July 1979

WHEN LOWELL George died, a kind of half-hearted black joke about 'the season starting' was popular on many lips. In the brief space since his ...

Chic: Risqué

Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 4 August 1979

THIS TIME I really feel entitled to smile. ...

Gary Numan: The Pleasure Principle

Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 8 September 1979

AND PEOPLE seethe at the Golden Boy. Let's forget the threadbare rock'n'roll bitch that it's all been done before by 'proper' artists — Bowie this, ...

Dynasty, Lakeside, Carrie Lucas, Shalamar, The Whispers: Solar Records: Pretty People, Pretty Music, Pretty Vacant

Report and Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 29 September 1979

THE MUSIC BIZ BLACK AMERICAN STYLE — DANNY BAKER NAMES THE FACES OF FACELESS DISCO ...

The Darts: One of these Men Is a Fitness Fanatic

Profile and Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 29 September 1979

ALONG A LONELY Somerset lane a man from West 68th St. Manhattan is making good time. Twelve miles behind him and eight to go, he ...

Boston: Rainbow Theatre, London

Live Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 20 October 1979

GOAL! ...

Chic: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 20 October 1979

HAVING BEEN present at more disco live shows than any one mortal is entitled to or deserving of, I naturally feared the worst. ...

Kate Bush: "Wow, Wow, Wow, Amazing, Amazing, Ama—"

Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 20 October 1979

EMI: THREE LETTERS that have come to represent "the enemy" in rock'n'roll's war games. EMI House rambles like a country home with a thousand warrens ...

Robert Palmer: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 8 December 1979

THAT THE Odeon was full for two nights running leads me to think that Robert Palmer's followers form some kind of secret society. I don't ...

Dan-I, Dynasty, Electric Light Orchestra, Kool and the Gang, Sheila B. Devotion, The Sugarhill Gang: Singles Charts: Quick! Before They Vanish!

Overview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 8 December 1979

DANNY BAKER checks out the singles charts. ...

Millie Jackson: Live And Uncensored

Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 12 January 1980

A COUPLE OF NIGHTS back I was re-discovering Millie Jackson's Caught Up/Still Caught Up albums and wallowing in the ecstasy of what arguably were the ...

M: The International Motel Conspiracy

Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 19 January 1980

Deep inside the National Gallery two 'moles' talk of music, muzik, muzak, and other aspects of modern man... DANNY BAKER meets ROBIN SCOTT of M. ...

The Knack: Dominion Theatre, London

Live Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 15 March 1980

And they brought their own audience too ...

Sister Sledge: We Are Family (Entertainment)

Report by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 5 April 1980

Greatest dancer: DANNY BAKER ...

Diana Ross, Jermaine Jackson: Diana Ross: Diana (Motown); Jermaine Jackson: Let's Get Serious (Motown)

Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 14 June 1980

The hit factory calls in the new technology ...

Chic, Diana Ross: DIANA stop DIANA stop DIANA stop DIANA

Report and Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 20 September 1980

THE DPRESS CONFERENCE versus YOUR POCKET ...

T. Rex: The Unobtainable T.Rex

Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 20 September 1980

AND SO, it appears, we are on the brink of a new T.Rex faith. Well, as one who defended the Bolanian right at school in ...

Madness: The Mad Hatter's TV Party

Report and Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 4 October 1980

THE TV PARTY ...

Earth Wind and Fire: Faces

Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 25 October 1980

ANY GROUP can only pack so much stuff. The stuff that oils and inspires their moves, greases songs, a magic stuff that flows through a ...

Linx: There's a Brand New Dance Going Around... FUNKIN' FOR BRITANNICA — Get Down & Stay Up

Report and Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 15 November 1980

Hi there! I'm Chris Hill, main man and DJ to the sweating legions of British funkateers. NME have asked me to introduce this piece by DANNY BAKER, ...

Michael Jackson, The Jacksons: The Jacksons: The Great Greenland Mystery

Report and Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 4 April 1981

For years, scientists have been baffled by The Great Greenland Mystery. What is it that makes Greenland the only territory on earth where The Jacksons ...

Ian Dury: Danny Baker presents Ian Dury: A Turn For The Verse

Report and Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 8 August 1981

"There's a cock-eyed yellow poodle to the North of Gongapooch There's a little hot cross bun that's turning green, There's a double jointed wop-wop ...

Chic: Grandmasters of Chic

Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 22 August 1981

Rodgers & Hart... Rodgers & Hammerstein... Rodgers & Edwards... The new age directors of organised rhyme get a witness in DANNY BAKER. ...

Earth, Wind & Fire: Earth, Wind and Fire: Living On A Met-Plane

Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 21 November 1981

EARTH, WIND & FIRE'S MAURICE WHITE GETS METAPHYSICAL. BRINGING QUESTIONS OF HIS OWN DANNY BAKER ASKS: DO YOU BELIEVE MY FRIEND IN WHAT YOU CLAIM? ...

John Cooper Clarke: Zip Style Method (Epic)

Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 5 June 1982

NO MADNESS IN THIS METHOD ...

John Martyn: Well Kept Secret

Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 4 September 1982

I LIVE WITH THE constant nagging worry that my house will soon burn down. ...

Kool and the Gang: Kool & The Gang: As One (De-Lite)

Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 2 October 1982

GANG FARE BORE ...

Culture Club: Boy George: It's An Odd Boy Who Doesn't Like Sport #1

Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 22 September 1984

"Where can you find pleasure?/Search the world for treasure?/Learn science technology?/Where can you begin to make your dreams all come true?/On the land or on ...

Culture Club: Boy George: It's An Odd Boy Who Doesn't Like Sport #2

Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 29 September 1984

LAST WEEK Boy George recalled his earliest memories and the slow dawning on him that he was apart from his contemporaries in many ways. ...

Record Collections of Shame

Essay by Danny Baker, Q, December 1991

EVER SINCE the Medved Brothers published their Fifty Worst Movies Of All Time, it's been a cinch that a similar, meatier job has been going ...

Michael Jackson: Wembley Stadium, London

Live Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 8 August 1992

DANNY BAKER was the last man to interview MICHAEL JACKSON before the fences went up and the llamas moved in. Now, some ten years later, ...

The Seventies

Retrospective by Danny Baker, The Word, February 2004

"The Seventies' attitudes, cultures and repercussions are almost too incredible for a modern youth to imagine" By Danny Baker ...

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