Iman Lababedi
Iman Lababedi was a freelance rock critic in the 1980s, took a break of 20 years, and has been writing and editing the music blog rocknyc.live since 2009. He considers this to be in many ways a golden age for pop music and hopes you are enjoying it too.
64 articles
List of articles in the library
The Clash: Heart & Mind: The Paul Simonon Interview
Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, May 1981
WHATEVER YOU think of the Clash — and I haven't much cared for them since 'White Man In Hammersmith Palais' — a couple of things ...
Pearl Harbour & The Explosions: Everbody's Boring but Pearl Harbour!
Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, July 1981
AT THE END of a nine-week American tour, on Easter Sunday 1980 in San Francisco, Pearl Harbour and the Explosions, er, exploded. Due to musical ...
Romeo Void: It's A Condition (415 Records)
Review by Iman Lababedi, Creem, August 1981
IF YOU TORE Romeo Void's debut LP down to its essence, what you'd get wouldn't be a million miles away from a collection or torch ...
Spandau Ballet Want You To Dance. That's All.
Report and Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, August 1981
ON THE DAY that Bobby Sands finally starved himself to death and two hours after Spandau Ballet's first ever press conference I'm in the coffee ...
Echo & The Bunnymen: Heaven Up Here (Sire/Warner Bros.)
Review by Iman Lababedi, Creem, October 1981
AT FIRST, I had Echo and the Bunnymen pigeon-holed as doomy Doorsy dumbos. But then, slowly, cautiously, Crocodiles slithered up my leg. It began harmlessly ...
The Cure: Three Imaginary Cures
Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, December 1981
NEW YORK — In C.S. Lewis's children's book The Last Battle, he describes heaven as a place where all the good things last forever, and ...
Ultravox: Rage In Eden (Chrysalis)
Review by Iman Lababedi, Creem, January 1982
HEIL! HEIL! WE'RE THE VOXIES ...
Review by Iman Lababedi, Creem, February 1982
I SUPPOSE that the proof that Madness have handled the precarious business of being a teeny-bopper band with a measurable degree of humor, aplomb and ...
Au Pairs: Equal Shares For The Au Pairs
Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, May 1982
"He works the car, she the sink She's not here to think Sits with the paper, discuss the news She doesn't have political views" 'Diet' ...
Olivia Newton-John: Olivia Newton John: Physical (MCA)
Review by Iman Lababedi, Creem, May 1982
I CAME TO Physical with an open mind. I thought the single was her best since the Travolta duet and I enjoyed about a quarter ...
Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, June 1982
The Public's Vindication of an Ex-Runaway ...
The Bongos: Banging The Bongos
Profile and Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, August 1982
NEW YORK — "Baby psychedelia," claims Billy Altman three songs into the Bongos' first set at the Bottom Line. "Like an early Nervus Rex if ...
Richard Hell: To Hell With Destiny
Interview by Iman Lababedi, The East Village Eye, August 1982
A TRIP down destiny street can take place any time. ...
Marshall Crenshaw's True Pop Ways
Profile and Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, September 1982
"I don't try to hang anybody up or get anybody over-involved in my hang-ups. I don't try to bore people with my problems. The main ...
Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, December 1982
ON A hot Wednesday evening I'm playing flick-yer-bic with the dial on my television, you know: flick — Three's Company — flick — Masterpiece Theatre ...
Elvis Costello: The Palladium, New York
Live Review by Iman Lababedi, Creem, 31 December 1982
IT HAD been 10 months since I last saw Elvis Costello; in between I'd watched him play footsie with Tom Snyder, straight man to George ...
Altered Images: Clare Grogan's Altered Images: Thank Heaven For Little Girls
Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, January 1983
"I just wanted to get to know her, really. She was just kind of fascinating."— Director Bill Forsyth, explaining why he cast Clare Grogan in ...
The Undertones: Brightness On The Edge Of Derry
Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, February 1983
NEW YORK — A SHORT HISTORY OF DERRY, IRELAND:1688 — Britain lay siege to Derry City for 105 days.1976 — The Undertones are formed. ...
Killing Joke: The Killing Joke Goes On (Forever)
Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, March 1983
NEW YORK—During the summer of '81, I wrote a review of London band Killing Joke's second album What's This For...! for the Village Voice; in ...
Grace Jones: Are You Ready For A Brand New (Disco) Beat?
Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, April 1983
IF I WAS writing in Australia for Tie Yer Kangaroo Down rock mag, or in Germany for Ach Tung – Der March Goes On, or ...
The Raincoats: An Old Raincoat Will Never Let You Down
Profile and Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, May 1983
NEW YORK — After the interview is over, Ana da Silva gives me a crash course on Portugese politics. Portugal is her homeland and she ...
The Pretenders: Pretenders Progress Report: Chambers on the Chaingang
Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, June 1983
SENSIBLE. THAT'S the word for Pretenders drummer Martin Chambers. Playing everything from progressive rock to proto-pub-rock professionally since 1967, he's a stolid albeit logical player ...
Elvis Costello: Growing Up Angry
Profile by Iman Lababedi, Creem, July 1983
"I'd like to be a funeral director..." — Elvis Costello, 1980 ...
Fabulous Thunderbirds: The Fabulous Thunderbirds: They're Tearing It Up Again!
Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, July 1983
THIS IS WHAT we call the irresponsible rock crit at his worst, enjoying the company of the band he's talking to so much he doesn't ...
Altered Images: Bite (Epic — import LP)
Review by Iman Lababedi, The East Village Eye, August 1983
NEITHER THE prosaic nor the lexicon of love, love is still the emotion Clare Grogan is taking a bite out of. A smooth profuse camouflage ...
Lita Ford: From Runaway To Metal Goddess: Lita Ford's Got BLOOD If You Want It!
Profile and Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, August 1983
Out Of The Blue (Stepping Out) ...
Man Parrish: Man (Parrish) Made Synth Dances
Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, November 1983
NEW YORK — Hands clap, a dog barks, a tonal drum pattern clicks, a bass drum pattern takes center stage, four notes from a synth ...
Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, June 1985
AT THE CBS building in Manhattan guitarist Susanna Hoffs (all black tights and mini-skirt) explains the Bangles' modus operandi:"It's hard to work keeping your sense of ...
Katrina and the Waves: Katrina & The Waves: Doing Swimmingly
Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, October 1985
ONE OF THE real pleasures in chronicling the popular music business is in watching the heady excess of overnight stardom. For instance, in the Christmas ...
Bananarama: These Charming Girls
Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, December 1986
"Who steals my purse steals trash, 'tis something, nothing; 'twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands. But he who filches from me ...
Big Audio Dynamite: No. 10, Upping St. (Epic)
Review by Iman Lababedi, Creem, April 1987
IF BIG AUDIO Dynamite's second LP is a de facto Clash reunion, with Joe Strummer and Mick Jones co-producing and co-writing a number of songs, ...
The Beastie Boys: Licensed to Ill
Review by Iman Lababedi, Creem, May 1987
THE MOST EXCITING white rock album since Never Mind the Bollocks has lousy politics. ...
Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, September 1987
Don't Pull That Trigger ...
John Barry: The Man With The Golden Baton
Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, October 1987
COMPOSER AND conductor John Barry has scored 12 of the 15 James Bond movies, which is an impressive part of a spectacular career. However, on ...
David Bowie, Squeeze: Giants Stadium, E. Rutherford, NJ
Live Review by Iman Lababedi, Creem, December 1987
"I DON'T LIKE SPIDERS & SNAKES..." ...
The Cure: Race and Gender: Thisism, Thatism
Comment by Iman Lababedi, Creem, February 1988
IN 1981 I interviewed the Cure for CREEM. That was three years after they'd released their paean to Albert Camus's superb existentialist novel, The Stranger. ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Darklands Visible
Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, March 1988
1. I Fall To Pieces. ...
The Jam, The Smiths: The Smiths and The Jam: The Great English Rock Group
Comment by Iman Lababedi, Creem, March 1988
THE SMITHS broke up recently. No need for tears. The Smiths were a fine band, sure, but I doubt they made your life — and ...
Bright Eyes: Radio City Music Hall, NYC
Live Review by Iman Lababedi, RockNYC, 10 March 2011
THE LAST word we heard as we left Radio City Music Hall last night, was "Mercy", repeated twice – once by Conor Oberst and once ...
Bright Eyes: Oh, Mercy: Bright Eyes at Radio City Music Hall, NYC
Live Review by Iman Lababedi, RockNYC, 10 March 2011
THE LAST word we heard as we left Radio City Music Hall last night, was "Mercy", repeated twice – once by Conor Oberst and once ...
LCD Soundsystem: Madison Square Garden
Live Review by Iman Lababedi, RockNYC, 3 April 2011
JAMES MURPHY is Irish, so why not a wake? Following his decision to kill off the LCD Soundsystem franchise, lead singer Murphy announced a last hurrah ...
TV On The Radio: Radio City Music Hall
Live Review by Iman Lababedi, RockNYC, 15 April 2011
THE DAY AFTER the release of their somewhere between very good and great new album, TV On The Radio took over Radio City Music hall ...
Review by Iman Lababedi, RockNYC, 26 May 2011
FORGET THE controversy. No, wait, we can't. The controversy is a breath of fresh air. If you listen to the album you might be confused ...
Jay-Z, Kanye West: Kanye West and Jay-Z: Watch The Throne
Review by Iman Lababedi, RockNYC, 10 August 2011
THIS ISN'T AS crappy as I expected, not the disaster 'H.A.M.' and 'Otis' promised us. Better than Jay-Z's BP3, not as good as Fantasy or, ...
Review by Iman Lababedi, RockNYC, 16 August 2011
I HAVE HELD off writing about this hugely successful slice of AOR for months and months because it didn't seem worth the effort. ...
David Guetta: Nothing But the Beat
Review by Iman Lababedi, RockNYC, 13 September 2011
IT IS NOT THAT Nothing But the Beat is substantially worse than One Love; it is worse but not substantially. It is that it is a stylistic dead ...
Katy Perry: Madison Square Garden, New York
Live Review by Iman Lababedi, RockNYC, 16 November 2011
IT WAS THE 118th date on Katy Perry's California Dreaming Tour. I know that for certain because, standing on a pink cloud, held up by ...
Review by Iman Lababedi, RockNYC, 21 November 2011
RATED R FOUND THE Barbadian well pissed at Chris Brown and out for revenge to disappointing results. Loud seemed to find the middle ground behind the bucolic Rated ...
Taylor Swift: Madison Square Garden, November 22nd, 2011
Live Review by Iman Lababedi, RockNYC, 24 November 2011
STANDING ON A PLATFORM in the middle of the Arena, Taylor Swift looked genuinely amazed. A young girl in the cheap seats randomly began to ...
Swedish House Mafia: Madison Square Garden, New York NY
Live Review by Iman Lababedi, RockNYC, 18 December 2011
THE DIFFERENCE between House as the prevailing form of dance and house as a texture in modern pop is the difference between foreground and background. ...
Glen Campbell: Town Hall, New York
Live Review by Iman Lababedi, RockNYC, 9 January 2012
IT WAS 64 DEGREES in Manhattan Saturday afternoon, the world had taken a turn for the milder and, though it was the dead of winter, spring ...
Megadeth: Theater at Madison Square Garden, NYC
Live Review by Iman Lababedi, RockNYC, 31 January 2012
DAVE MUSTAINE made a fan out of me with two actions. Neither musical. ...
Ed Sheeran: Mercury Lounge, NYC
Live Review by Iman Lababedi, RockNYC, 2 February 2012
WHAT'S WITH Ed Sheeran and homelessness? The subject provides two short stories and three songs during his second set ever in the US at Mercury ...
Madonna: Yankee Stadium, Bronx NY
Live Review by Iman Lababedi, RockNYC, 7 September 2012
AT THE MIDWAY point of Madonna's lousy Yankee Stadium set Thursday night, she hectors the exhausted audience like a shrewish old maid, on the use ...
The Beatles, Marshall Crenshaw: Marshall Crenshaw's Incredible Simulators: B.B. Kings, New York
Live Review by Iman Lababedi, RockNYC, 6 January 2013
IN 1978, Marshall Crenshaw played John Lennon to Glen Burtnik's Paul McCartney in the touring company of Beatlemania. 35 years later the two men were ...
One Direction: Midnight Memories
Review by Iman Lababedi, RockNYC, 29 November 2013
IF NIALL HORAN, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson, referred to as One Direction, had thought it through, they would have cut at ...
Avicii: True: Avicii By Avicii
Review by Iman Lababedi, RockNYC, 29 March 2014
TRUE, WHEN it comes to EDM you have to be a little conservative and reactionary at the same time because if dance ain't dance, well, ...
Lana Del Rey: Ultraviolence (Interscope)
Review by Iman Lababedi, RockNYC, 23 June 2014
SOMETIMES OTHER writers do your work for you and Caryn Ganz's (former editor at Spin) excellent Rolling Stone review of Lana Del Rey's sophomore effort ...
Sufjan Stevens: Beacon Theatre, New York NY
Live Review by Iman Lababedi, RockNYC, 12 April 2015
THE DIFFERENCE between Rufus Wainwright's full length lament for his late mother, All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu, and Sufjan Stevens, Carrie And Lowell, is ...
Swet Shop Boys: Webster Hall, New York NY
Live Review by Iman Lababedi, RockNYC, 14 April 2017
SWET SHOP BOYS performed a very neat trick at Webster Hall on Wednesday night: they made Pakistan cool again and brought the 90 million odd ...
Olivia Rodrigo: Radio City Music Hall, New York City
Live Review by Iman Lababedi, RockNYC, 28 April 2022
LAST NIGHT at Radio City Music Hall, Olivia Rodrigo provided a whole lotta deja-vu as she performed her hugely successful debut album, Sour, as well ...
Jay-Z, Kanye West: The Fall of Jay-Z and Ye
Retrospective by Iman Lababedi, RockNYC, 20 April 2023
BETWEEN THE TRAGIC murder of Biggie Smalls in 1997 and Jay-Z's temporary retirement in 2003, he and his producer Kanye West dominated the rap scene. ...
Beyoncé, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Kanye West: The Greatest Pop Star by Decade!
Comment by Iman Lababedi, RockNYC, 18 May 2023
PLEASE NOTE THAT I said popstar and not musician, so no Irving Berlin or George Gershwin… ...
Review by Iman Lababedi, RockNYC, 7 June 2023
IT IS 1960 and we are along the lined streets of early James Brown, having steadily moved from Little Richard inspired tonal rock to Ray ...
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