Library Rock's Backpages

James Brown

James Brown

James was on the staff of NME in the late '80s and later launched Loaded and Jack magazines and the website Sabotage Times.

Sabotage Times

35 articles

List of articles in the library

By date | By artist | Most recently added

A Certain Ratio, The Fall: The Fall, A Certain Ratio: Free Trade Hall, Manchester

Live Review by James Brown, Sounds, 10 January 1987

A BRILLIANT CAREER ...

The Beastie Boys: Beastie Boys: I-Beam Club, San Francisco

Live Review by James Brown, New Musical Express, 7 March 1992

TEASED BY the DJ's dose of Sugarhill, the audience at the I-Beam aren't so much eyeing up the imminent performance as gagging for it. ...

The Beastie Boys: Keep Taking The Tabloids

Report and Interview by Jack Barron, James Brown, Sounds, 23 May 1987

Must they keep flinging this filth at our pop kids? No, not the brilliant BEASTIE BOYS but the British national press attempting to stir up ...

The Beastie Boys, Rick Rubin, Wolfsbane: Rick Rubin: Fang of Def

Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 8 July 1989

Five years ago RICK RUBIN was the 21-year-old student behind Def Jam — the label that brought you the twin rock-rap assault of Licensed To Ill and ...

The Fall, Nick Cave, The Pogues, Shane MacGowan: Mark E Smith, Nick Cave & Shane MacGowan: The Three Horsemen Of The Apocalypse

Interview by James Brown, Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 25 February 1989

For its second pop summit of the year, NME lent SEAN O'HAGAN and JAMES BROWN £10 each to buy SHANE MACGOWAN, MARK E SMITH and ...

Charlatans, The (UK): The Charlatans: First Charlatango In Paris

Interview by James Brown, Vox, January 1991

The story so far… Completely unknown nine months ago and still reeling from a Number One hit album. The Charlatans have just made their first ...

Neneh Cherry: Cherry On Top

Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 3 December 1988

After spells in the hyper-trendy but hit-starved Rip Rig And Panic and Float Up CP, NENEH CHERRY is about to burst into the charts with ...

Cookie Crew, Schoolly D, The Three Wise Men: Rhythm King Records: Hit Me With Your Rhythm Kings

Profile and Interview by James Brown, Sounds, 24 January 1987

Somehow, somewhere James Brown became a fast-chat, no-flab funker. And he did it with the help of Rhythm King, Britain's leading dance indie label. Since ...

The Cult: Love Remembered: The Cult

Retrospective and Interview by James Brown, Sabotage Times, 19 February 2010

TOM VAGUE, writer/historian, Ladbroke Grove: ...

Deee-Lite: Trio De Janeiro

Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 9 February 1991

Pop music isn't all lying around the pool with GUNS N'ROSES, frugging with PRINCE and getting pissed (on) with the MONDAYS. Except, that is, in ...

Derek B: Rapping for the Yankee Dollar?

Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 7 May 1988

DEREK B is Britain's first serious contender for the crown of international rap. JAMES BROWN bows to the boy from Bow but wonders whether the ...

Happy Mondays: Afro Divvy Act

Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 6 October 1990

Get your hands on your handbags HAPPY MONDAYS are back. After a long hard summer recording in Los Angeles, the ugliest band in Britain have ...

Happy Mondays: Renting and raving

Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 26 October 1991

SHAUN RYDER Is suing News Of The World after they alleged he was a rent boy before he was a singer. JAMES BROWN hears the ...

Ofra Haza is Goldfinger

Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 14 May 1988

Already a star in her native Israel, OFRA HAZA has broken out of the 'world music' ghetto thanks to a sample of her remarkable voice ...

The Jesus & Mary Chain: The Jesus And Mary Chain: National Ballroom, Kilburn, London

Live Review by James Brown, Sounds, 3 January 1987

HEEEEEEY! MONDAY, The Jesus And Mary Chain take the stage, grey skeletons of their former selves. Five nervous under-rehearsed men with an expectant audience ahead ...

The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu: Feeling The Pinch

Interview by James Brown, Sounds, 16 May 1987

Who the hell has ever illegally sampled and mixed James Brown with AC/DC, Dave Brubeck with Led Zeppelin, Abba with The Fall, Samantha Fox with ...

The KLF: It's All White: The KLF: The White Room (KLF)

Review by James Brown, New Musical Express, 9 March 1991

IS IT A strength or weakness to be versatile to the point where consistency becomes an alien concept? There's a hell of a lot of ...

Madonna: Wembley Stadium, London

Live Review by James Brown, New Musical Express, 29 August 1987

THE HORDES of topless Brooooce and Bono-philes who have come here before us have received nothing but the flabby hopes of two ugly old men ...

My Bloody Valentine: The Bleedin' Heart Club Band

Interview by James Brown, Sounds, 28 March 1987

MY BLOODY VALENTINE are bloody brilliant. But are they bloody incestuous or true champions of pure bloody pop? Bloody JAMES BROWN gets so high on ...

Nyah Fearties , That Petrol Emotion: That Petrol Emotion/Nyah Fearties: Digbeth Irish Centre, Birmingham

Live Review by James Brown, Sounds, 16 May 1987

MACK ATTACK ...

The Nymphs: Nymphomania!

Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 21 March 1992

Destined to rock the bones of the hard rock circuit, THE NYMPHS have already made a name for themselves in America by pissing on desks ...

Oasis: "The plan was always to become the biggest band in the world"

Interview by James Brown, Uncut, November 2006

Next month, Oasis unleash their first greatest hits compilation. In this exclusive interview, Noel and Liam tell the true stories of the songs that shaped ...

Primal Scream: Bobby Gillespie and Primal Scream

Retrospective and Interview by James Brown, Sabotage Times, 23 February 2010

Primal Scream are the last great band of the original Creation Records roster, still rocking on, un-interrupted by break-ups or break-downs. James Brown gets down ...

Primal Scream: Chicks With Everything

Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 28 September 1991

Bacchanalia in the USA! Well, Kentish Town actually, but then the true spirit of rock 'n' roll has always been in the mind, reckons PRIMAL ...

Public Enemy: Yo! Bum Rush The Show (Def Jam DEF 450482)*****

Review by James Brown, Sounds, 4 April 1987

SHARPSHOOTERS ...

Public Enemy: Black Appeal in the Hour of Power

Report and Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 3 November 1990

JAMES BROWN catches PUBLIC ENEMY'S spectacular show in San Diego and speaks to CHUCK D. ...

Public Enemy: The Boy-Ees are Black in Town

Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 12 October 1991

1991, and PUBLIC ENEMY — purveyors of The Noise — are busy flexing their new, improved mainstream muscle. Fresh from 'that' Anthrax collaboration, Chuck 'n' ...

Public Enemy: Too Black Too Strong

Interview by Jack Barron, James Brown, New Musical Express, 21 May 1988

PUBLIC ENEMY — simply the most creative rappers around? Or a dangerous game with the politics of race? JAMES BROWN and JACK BARRON lay it ...

Schoolly D: Saturday Night (Rhythm King MELT LP2)***

Review by James Brown, Sounds, 9 May 1987

BOTH DEF AND DUMB ...

The Stone Roses: Fool's Gold

Interview by James Brown, Spin, May 1990

The Stone Roses have taken Britain's pop world by storm, but they've done it on their own terms. ...

Teenage Fanclub: Bandwagonesque (Creation! All formats)

Review by James Brown, New Musical Express, 2 November 1991

O STUPOR-MEN! ...

The Three Johns: The World By Storm (Abstract ABT 012)

Review by James Brown, Sounds, 10 May 1986

'ULLO JOHN... ...

Tone Loc: Raising the Tone

Report and Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 24 June 1989

Wild Thing! You make my bank account sing. In the last six months West Coast rapper TONE LOC has sold over six million records. His ...

Tony Wilson: One Man and a Music Factory

Interview by James Brown, Sounds, 28 February 1987

In the first of a special series on the men and women behind the scenes of the music business JAMES BROWN talks to TONY WILSON, ...

List of genre pieces

Is it over for the NME?

Comment by James Brown, Daily Telegraph, 8 July 2015

As the New Musical Express announces it is to go free, here former features editor James Brown writes how the lights went out at the ...

back to LIBRARY

COPYRIGHT NOTICE