Mick Middles
Mick Middles worked as Mancunian correspondent for Sounds during the 70's and 80's. His work also appeared in The Face, The Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Mail on Sunday and The Daily Express. He is the author of around 13 books that include biographies on New Order, Mark E Smith, Mick Hucknall and the Stone Roses.
37 articles
List of articles in the library
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 2 September 1978
Rabid roster on the rampage ...
Joy Division: Band on the Wall, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 16 September 1978
IT WAS during the unforgettable summer of '77 that I had my first encounter with Joy Division (then named Warsaw). Through a steamy Electric Circus ...
Interview by Mick Middles, Sounds, 18 November 1978
THROB,THROB, THROB, THROB. "Hey Miss, a bottle of Newcastle please, what? Oh, a bottle of Pils then." THROB, THROB, THROB, THROB. ...
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 16 December 1978
THE WORLD funk extravaganza circus comes to Manchester. ...
Buzzcocks, Fast Cars, V2: Buzzcocks, V2, Fast Cars: Manchester Polytechnic
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 27 January 1979
Still friends of mine ...
Crass, Ludus, Poison Girls: Ludus/Poison Girls/Crass: The Factory at the Russell Club, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 3 February 1979
She's So Modern ...
The Human League: Factory, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 17 February 1979
Discovering silliness in League with severity ...
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 24 February 1979
The Fast way to become intellectual ...
The Teardrop Explodes: Teardrop Explodes: Band on the Wall, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 24 March 1979
SUDDENLY, OUT of the depths of complete obscurity the Teardrop Explodes have become the most talked about new band in the North West. Two weeks ...
Throbbing Gristle: The Factory, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 2 June 1979
WHEN I WAS watching Throbbing Gristle where were you? ...
Joy Division: The Factory, Russell Club, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 28 July 1979
TOGETHERNESS IS a quality found in few bands. In these days of the inflated ego most rock outfits tend to thrive on the opposite. The Fall, ...
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 8 September 1979
A movement with no name... and a festival with no people (But a 'staggering event' all the same, says our man Middles) ...
XTC: Apollo Theatre, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 22 September 1979
STUDYING THE development and, um, progression of XTC is one of my favourite past-times. ...
Ludus, Swell Maps: The Factory, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 6 October 1979
THE VERY sloppy Swell Maps are presently attempting to conquer the art of turning badness into madness. Their jokey, half-formulated view of rock'n'roll is intriguing ...
The Freshies, The Undertones: The Undertones, The Freshies: Apollo, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 13 October 1979
CASUALLY, NERVOUSLY, Manchester's newest wonderpoppers, The Freshies, hobble onto their first major venue stage. Chris Sievey tries hard to appear relaxed as he attempts to ...
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 19 January 1980
THE AWARD for the most improved band in Manchester must go to the rhythmic, pulsating, vibrating Certain Ratio. ...
The Fall: Manchester Polytechnic
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 19 January 1980
LET US all get together and cry for rock's little problem child. The Fall are a damn nuisance. They are continually prodding the music media, ...
A Certain Ratio: The Graveyard And The Ballroom (Factory) ****
Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 9 February 1980
A CERTAIN Ratio (currently the hippest combo in Manchester) typify the approach, style, feel, and idealism of Factory Records. They are distant, difficult to touch ...
The Mekons: Manchester Polytechnic, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 9 February 1980
I COULDN'T believe my eyes. ...
A Certain Ratio, Joy Division: Joy Division, A Certain Ratio: Osbourne Club, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 1 March 1980
TO THE centre of the city in the night waiting for Joy Division. ...
Stiff Little Fingers: The Voice Squad
Interview by Mick Middles, Sounds, 1 March 1980
'WE'RE GONNA BLOW UP IN THEIR FACE' ...
UB40: The Russell Club, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 19 April 1980
HOPEFULLY, UB40 will help English reggae slip sneakily back into its true direction. The effects of the past 12 months of 2 Toned overkill are ...
The Subway Sect, Vic Godard: Vic Godard: Young Existentialist
Interview by Mick Middles, Sounds, 5 July 1980
VIC GODARD makes Feargal Sharkey look like Gene Simmons. His normality is outrageous. When Vic Godard sits in his bedroom listening to Peter Skellern on ...
Joy Division: A History of Joy Division
Retrospective by Mick Middles, The Face, November 1980
JOY DIVISION began life in romantically seedy surroundings. In late 1977, as the initial push of the new wave began to soften, hundreds of imitation ...
Light Of The World: Free Trade Hall, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 27 June 1981
Soundtrack to the end of the world ...
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 2 January 1982
Sounds kinda progressive ...
New Order: Confusion Reigns as New Order Corrupt the USA
Report and Interview by Mick Middles, Sounds, 23 July 1983
THE WEEK THE image cracked. It's two days before New Order arrive in New York - and you can feel it. ...
Report by Mick Middles, Sounds, 30 July 1983
"How I wish you were here with me now." – New Order, 'In A Lonely Place' ...
Book Excerpt by Mick Middles, Linsday Reade, Torn Apart: The Life of Ian Curtis (Omnibus Press), 2006
The authors of this new biography are uniquely qualified to reveal the extraordinary events surrounding the life and death of Ian Curtis. Manchester-based Mick Middles was ...
Seasick Steve: I Started Out With Nothing And I Still Got Most Of It Left
Review by Mick Middles, The Quietus, 6 October 2008
ORGANIC TO the foot of every blue soaked note. Here we meet the real deal. 40 years in a hobo hell (well, mostly) this 60-something ...
Review by Mick Middles, The Quietus, 15 February 2010
IN PRE Bill Hicks days, Scott-Heron's wit and fearless polemic powered his poetic leanings. He seemed alone, in every sense, for thinking of comparable artists ...
Guide by Mick Middles, The Quietus, 29 June 2012
Mick Middles speaks to Rush bassist and singer Geddy Lee about his favourite albums of all times... and finds surprises amidst the classic of the ...
The Seeds: 22420 Pacific Coast Highway: Tales of Tim Hudson, Sky Saxon… and Ian Botham
Memoir by Mick Middles, Rock's Backpages, July 2012
STICK-THIN, clad in purple and black. Leather trousers, knee-length boots. Boney, bug-eyed, skank hair, dead face, white cheeks. This strange man was telling me to ...
Northern Uproar: All That Was Has Gone
Retrospective by Mick Middles, The Quietus, 30 July 2013
ONE MIGHT HAVE reasonably expected Northern Uproar to hail from some grisly and iconic mill town wedged into a Pennine Valley. Perhaps they would be ...
Elbow: The Take Off and Landing of Everything
Review by Mick Middles, The Quietus, 17 March 2014
THREE YEARS BEYOND the nostalgic somnolence of Build A Rocket Boys and things have changed. Guy Garvey is now beyond an amicable split from his partner of ...
Go-Kart Mozart: Mozart's Mini-Mart
Review by Mick Middles, The Quietus, 21 February 2018
It's Lawrence, with the most effervescent and creative album of his extraordinary career. ...
Half Man Half Biscuit : No-one Cares About Your Creative Hub So Get Your Fuckin' Hedge Cut
Review by Mick Middles, The Quietus, 1 June 2018
CONTEMPORARY CULTURE has obligingly stepped right into the sardonic sights of Blackwell and Crossley. On this new album, they lock target and do not miss. ...
back to LIBRARY
