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Nick Kent

Nick Kent

Nick Kent was one of the most important and influential music journalists of the 1970s, and remains a hugely respected commentator to this day. He wrote for New Musical Express and is the author of The Dark Stuff, a collection of his journalism. Nick has written for numerous publications and lives in Paris with his partner, Laurence Romance, and their son. His autobiography, Apathy for the Devil, was published to great acclaim in 2010, and his first novel The Unstable Boys in 2021.

RBP pieces on Nick's band the Subterraneans

Nick Kent on the RBP podcast

315 articles

List of articles in the library

By date | By artist | Most recently added

MC5 Interview

Interview by Nick Kent, Friends/Frendz, 31 March 1972

NICK: Firstly, why the move to Europe? ...

Captain Beefheart: Beefheart: Rough Trade From Venus Hits It Big

Interview by Nick Kent, Friends/Frendz, 28 April 1972

PROLOGUE – a true story: Mark, like most other 17 year-old boys, was going through the usual hassles which come with being young in the ...

The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones: Exile On Main Street (Rolling Stones Records)

Review by Nick Kent, Friends/Frendz, 12 May 1972

WELL, THEY started off as the original Richmond rough-house rock band and progressed through all the trends and bends and drug numbers and delicious outrage ...

The Flamin' Groovies, Grateful Dead: Grateful Dead et al: Bickershaw Festival, Lancashire

Report by Nick Kent, Friends/Frendz, June 1972

BICKERSHAW, A SLEEPY little Northern town, had certainly never seen anything like it before. Coronation St had been invaded by the day glow kids and ...

The Flamin' Groovies: Flamin' Groovies

Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, Friends/Frendz, 23 June 1972

AS I RECALL, it was the second week of July back there in 1970 — prime time for a righteous dose of dem ole Summertime ...

Alice Cooper: The Killer Comes to Town

Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, Friends/Frendz, July 1972

WELL, LET'S see, kids — it must be back there in 1969 that the name of Alice Cooper started to get around and gain a ...

David Bowie: The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars (RCA)

Review by Nick Kent, Oz, July 1972

DAVID BOWIE, easily the most brilliant young songwriter in this country, seems to have been going through quite a few rapid changes over the last ...

Iggy Pop, The Stooges: An Initiation Into Iggy Pop

Profile by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 29 July 1972

For those who think Bowie a trifle lame... ...

Little Richard: What Richard Said

Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 12 August 1972

"UH, HOWdo you do. Mr. Penniman, it's a great..." "HALLELUJAH BROTHER it's great to be here in your wunnerful country. I want y'all to know ...

David Bowie: The Wild Mutation As A Rock 'n' Roll Star

Profile by Nick Kent, Friends/Frendz, September 1972

SATURDAY NIGHT was star night down at the Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park and how! I mean, my dear, you just wouldn't believe all those ...

Brinsley Schwarz, The Flamin' Groovies, Stackridge: Brinsley Schwarz, Stackridge, the Flamin' Groovies: The Roundhouse, London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 30 September 1972

FIRST THE facts: Greasy Truckers are basically two people who wish to be known as Melvin and Fanny Hotrock (We all have our problems, I ...

Hawkwind, The Pink Fairies, The Pretty Things: Hawkwind, Pink Fairies, The Pretty Things: Windsor Free Festival, Berkshire

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 30 September 1972

THE SIGNS were there once again at what was in effect just another one-day festival that a bummer was to be had by one and ...

Johnny Cash: Hard Cash To Cleanse Your Soul

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 7 October 1972

IT'S 7.30 P.M. at the backstage entrance of the Albert Hall and strange things are happening. It's Wednesday, the second of Johnny Cash's performances at ...

Lou Reed: The Stones, Bowie, Roxy and Mott. And What They Owe To The Inspiration of This One Man

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 14 October 1972

NICK KENT analyses the growing influence of America's LOU REED ...

Jeff Beck: Beck Looks Back (part 1)

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 October 1972

Page and Zeppelin, Stewart, the old band and the new... ...

Jeff Beck: Beck Looks Back (part 2)

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 4 November 1972

Beck, Page and bad vibes ...

Hawkwind: Cosmic Calypso And Sonic Surprise

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 November 1972

UNLESS YOU'RE DEAF, dumb and blind, or alternatively haven't been keeping up with the music press, you will know that Hawkwind embark this week upon ...

Liberace: Magic Moments In Showbiz Schmaltzville

Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 November 1972

Mean teen NICK KENT (along with Abe and Ruby from Wisconsin and Tom and Ethel from Phoenix) meets LIBERACE ...

Alice Cooper: Green's Playhouse, Glasgow

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 18 November 1972

BROKEN RIBS AND FAKE BLOOD — SPECIAL REVIEW OF THE ALICE COOPER CONCERT BY NICK KENT ...

Roxy Music: All This and Eno Too… How Can They Fail?

Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 18 November 1972

T.S. ELIOT, MUSING upon a takeaway Chinese meal once asked "Is true art dead?", while over at the pinball machine Little Richard picked his nose ...

Roxy Music: City Hall, Newcastle

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 18 November 1972

IT'S DEFINITELY a chic wasteland at the Newcastle City Hall. There wasn't even a platform boot in sight when I went down there to see ...

The Pink Fairies: Pink Fairies: Pink Finks

Profile by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 16 December 1972

NICK KENT charts the rise and astonishing survival of the Pink Fairies. ...

Led Zeppelin (part 1): A Whole Lotta Rock 'N Roll

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 23 December 1972

IT'S WAY past the midnight hour and the room at the Angel Hotel, Cardiff, is starting to look a trifle the worse for wear since ...

Led Zeppelin (part 2): Hail Hail Rock 'N Roll

Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 30 December 1972

Nick Kent on the Zeppelin on-stage spectacular ...

Poco: A Good Feelin' To Know (Epic).

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 January 1973

I KNOW a lot of city-boy cynic rock writers like to put down this band, pointing out how lightweight they are and how they come ...

Roxy Music: The Man Who Put Sequins into Middle Eights

Interview by Nick Kent, Ian MacDonald, Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 20 January 1973

The BRYAN FERRY interview, in which the Roxy mastermind meets IAN MacDONALD, CHARLES SHAAR MURRAY and NICK KENT ...

Silverhead

Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 20 January 1973

IF YOU TAKE a certain measure of pride in staying fully in touch with the Music Press (where trends bend and fashions flourish), the question ...

J. Geils Band: The J. Geils Band: Hard Drivin' Sweet Soundin' Rock and Roll

Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 20 January 1973

TAKE A LOOK at the cover of the first J. Geils Band album on Atlantic. The sleeve itself simply contains two plain, no-nonsense black-and-white photographs ...

Joe Cocker

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 27 January 1973

SO WHAT'S this? Joe Cocker talking to the Press? Can it be Sheffield's own recluse-superstar, the man who returned from the Godforsaken land of Rock'n'Roll ...

The Beach Boys: Holland (Warner)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 27 January 1973

DESPITE MY better judgment, I temporarily dropped my rock n' roll-cynic persona, used when confronting 90 per cent of what is going down in music ...

Brian Eno, Roxy Music: A Flight of Fantasy: Eno

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 3 February 1973

ENO'S PLAYBOY bachelor flat in mystical Maida Vale possesses a decor that is God's own gift to a journalist caught for a good opening paragraph. ...

Beck, Bogert and Appice: Imperial College, London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 10 February 1973

WERE LOTS TO be drawn for the identity of the world's most crazed rock guitarist, you better believe the result would contain the name of ...

Sweet: The Sweet Soft Underbelly of Rock

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 10 February 1973

FUNNY how moods change – there we all were...the Sweet and myself...in the bar, having a few drinks, sharing a joke or two y'know, getting ...

Bette Midler: Just A Working Class Girl Living Out Her Fantasies

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 17 February 1973

BETTE MIDLER, the Divine Miss Bette Midler, is a star. Ahmet Ertegun, man of wealth and taste, and head of Atlantic Records, believes it; Aaron ...

Alice Cooper: Billion Dollar Babies (Warner)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 24 February 1973

YOU'VE GOT to hand it to Alice Cooper and the boys – they know just when to pump out another album for the kids to ...

Led Zeppelin: The Zeppelin Road Test

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 24 February 1973

"ROBERT PLANT QUITS showbusiness and joins National Dairies. There's a good headline for you. Print that as a news item in your paper, O.K.?" ...

The Birds, The Faces, Jeff Beck, Ronnie Wood: The Complete Works of Ronnie Wood

Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 3 March 1973

REMEMBER A BAND called the Birds? Nope friend, I do not mean the Byrds, Bobby Dylan's old honchos from Los Angeles, nor am I alluding ...

David Bowie in the USA

Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 21 April 1973

THE MAN from the customs – a surly-looking Negro – eyed me suspiciously for a full ten minutes, and checked and rechecked my baggage and ...

Lou Reed: The Sinatra Of The 70's

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 April 1973

LOU REED SURE is a card. The day before this interview was supposed to take place, an associate of mine phoned up the Reed management ...

New York Dolls, Wayne County & The Electric Chairs: New York: The Dark Side Of Town

Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 5 May 1973

THE GRAFFITI IN the toilets at Max's Kansas City is abysmal. It's the only word that comes to mind – there's not one subversive scrawl, ...

Doug Sahm, Paul Butterfield's Better Days: Paul Butterfield's Better Days, Doug Sahm: Philharmonic Hall, New York NY

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 5 May 1973

HERE'S A TEASER for you to masticate the ole' brain molecules on: pretend you're a big record corporation and you've got these two acts, one ...

The Beach Boys: California Dreamin'

Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 12 May 1973

IT WAS ALL a California Vision come to life. Pure and simple. Speeding down from the Hollywood Hills, leaving behind all the emaciated refugees on ...

David Bowie: Aladdin Distress

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 19 May 1973

"AND WHEN he arrived they screamed and they cried, and they rushed, and gushed forth and beat their feverish feminine fists into..." FORGET IT! This ...

Hawkwind: Space Ritual Alive At Liverpool Stadium And Brixton Sundown (United Artists)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 19 May 1973

WELL, THESE COSMIC tacos ain't about to make you wet yourself, but it's still a fact that, contained on these four sides, are the very ...

Judge Dread: Working Class Hero And The Robin Hood Of Reggae

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 26 May 1973

NICK KENT SPECIAL interview (snigger, snigger) with the man who's rude (snigger) but heaven forbid – not crude ...

Jefferson Airplane: 30 Seconds Over Winterland

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 2 June 1973

THERE'S REALLY nothing quite as dead as the recent past – for further proof just dig out those old Jefferson Airplane albums currently collecting dust ...

Lou Reed: A Walk On The Wild Side Of Lou Reed

Comment by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 9 June 1973

"I HAVE ALWAYS thought it would be kinda fun to introduce people to characters they maybe hadn't met before, or hadn't wanted to meet, y'know. ...

Roxy Music: Last Tango In Amsterdam

Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 9 June 1973

BEING A ROCK writer isn't so bad. Quite often you get to go down to a nice hotel, get a few drinks, maybe even a ...

Silverhead Training For The Heavyweight Stakes

Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 9 June 1973

THE SIGN on the marquee outside the Continental Hyatt House on Sunset Blvd., L.A., read: "Welcome Silverhead." Well, not quite: the 'a' was missing after ...

Bill Withers: Live At Carnegie Hall (A&M — double album)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 23 June 1973

SOUNDS OF applause, opening bars or lazy stereotyped black funk, then a hoarse voice yelping out "I don't mind you're using me — uh! — ...

The Jackson 5: J5 Kick Harder Than Ever: Jackson Five: Skywriter (Tamla-Motown)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 23 June 1973

BOISTEROUS young Charles Shaar Murray wrote a more-than-adequate appraisal of this fine album before it was released and I can only restate his enthusiasm for ...

Sparks: A Woofer In Tweeter's Clothing (Bearsville)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 23 June 1973

I ONCE found myself involved in a curious argument with one of Detroit's more-respected rock writers concerning his contention that Sparks were dangerous to the ...

Todd Rundgren: A Wizard, A True Star

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 23 June 1973

BOY, IS THIS a great record. I love it and that's saying a lot seeing as I don't seem to like that much of anything ...

Dr. John, The Meters, Allen Toussaint: Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, the Meters: Rainbow Theatre, London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 7 July 1973

VOODOO CHILE ...

Slade: The Kidz Are All Right

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 7 July 1973

Far more so than all the Bowies, Bolans and Roxies... Slade are easily the most important British band of the '70s. ...

Edgar Winter: Just A Friendly Texan

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 July 1973

STEVE PAUL'S in a good mood right now. He's just been informed that West Side Story is playing somewhere in London and already he can ...

Brian Eno: Eno: Of Launderettes And Lizard Girls

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 July 1973

...and things that go bump in Ladbroke Grove. Nick Kent stakes out Eno's closet ...

David Bowie: Best Dressed Mainman at The Twilight Zone Ball

Comment by Nick Kent, Creem, August 1973

SOME SAY THAT the only reason Mick Rock got that job as Mainman's official photographer/sometime designer was because Angie Bowie fancied his wife. That's a ...

Alice Cooper: School Days

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 18 August 1973

...

Alice Cooper, Lou Reed: Bob Ezrin: The Square And The Faggots

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 18 August 1973

"DETACHMENT. Yes, that's it exactly. We were both talking about that. Lou said last night: 'This album is an exercise in detachment and apathy'. I ...

Roger McGuinn: Roger McGuinn

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 18 August 1973

NOW THIS is a little more like it. Of course, it would be ludicrous to expect a sudden reconciliation with the original classic Byrds feel ...

Allman Brothers Band: The Allman Brothers: Brothers And Sisters

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 18 August 1973

IT MUST have been just at the point where the Grateful Dead has started to tarnish their once peeless charisma as the magic band that ...

Commander Cody: Country Casanova

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 August 1973

I'VE GOT to admit I was thrown when I first saw the cover of this album. The dude in the cowboy shirt leaning next to ...

New York Dolls: The New York Dolls: The New York Dolls (Mercury Import)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 August 1973

THE NEW YORK Dolls are trash, they play rock 'n' roll like sluts and they've just released a record that can proudly stand beside Iggy ...

Kilburn & The High Roads: Kilburn and the High Roads: Hardened Criminals Plan Big Break-Out

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 1 September 1973

AT LEAST, THAT'S THE WAY THEY LOOK. BUT THEY'RE GOING TO BE BIG: NICK KENT ON THE ROAD TO SUCCESS WITH KILBURN AND THE HIGH ...

Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin, The Yardbirds: Session Star: Jimmy Page

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 1 September 1973

JIMMY PAGE is as wary of discussing his formidable past as he is talking to the press in the first place. ...

The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones: Goat's Head Soup (Rolling Stones Records)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 8 September 1973

Stones: you can sometimes get what you want... ...

The Rolling Stones: Goat's Head Soup

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 8 September 1973

FIRST COMES the riff. It's like 'Jumpin' Jack Flash' 'cept it's slowed down so it sounds like it's being played on horse tranquilliser. Ominous and ...

The Carpenters: Summer Sweethearts

Overview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 22 September 1973

If it's muzak you're looking for, look no further... ...

The Rolling Stones: Stones-On-The Road Special

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 22 September 1973

THE LADY behind the amps, staring hazily at Billy Preston and his band performing on stage, looked elegantly damaged. Half of her face was covered ...

Back Door, Beck, Bogert and Appice, Blue (Scotland), Golden Earring, Lou Reed, James Taylor, Tony Joe White: Lou Reed, James Taylor, Beck Bogert & Appice, et al: Crystal Palace Bowl, London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 29 September 1973

  LOU REED and James Taylor on the same bill? What a masterstroke of pure gonzo rock n' roll strategy! ...

Mick Taylor, The Rolling Stones: The Rolling Stones: Dead Goats And Other Delicacies

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 29 September 1973

THE CURRENT European tour has again given us all the opportunity to dogmatically state that the Rolling Stones are indeed the greatest rock 'n' roll ...

Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd: Syd Barrett: The Genius Who Almost Was

Profile by Nick Kent, Creem, October 1973

IT WAS only a few months back that a friend told me he'd seen Syd Barrett drifting down Charing Cross Road, looking in guitar shops. ...

Gram Parsons: The Superstar Who Didn't Quite Make It

Obituary by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 6 October 1973

GRAM PARSONS somehow never quite got to be the nationally-touted superstar he deserved to be, which is possibly as much his own fault as anyone ...

John Denver: Farewell Andromeda (RCA)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 6 October 1973

Y'KNOW IT'S somehow comforting to know we've got a guy like John Denver to kick around. ...

Lou Reed: Berlin (RCA)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 6 October 1973

JUST WHEN you think your ex-idol has slumped into a pitiful display of gross terminal self-parody, Lou Reed comes back and hits you with something ...

Brian Eno: Happiness Is A Warm Jet

Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 October 1973

...BEING AN ACCOUNT OF THE LATEST RECORDED WORK OF MR. BRIAN ENO, LATE OF ROXY MUSIC, AND FEATURING BLANK FRANK, FRIEND OF THE MASSIVE MASSIMO ...

David Cassidy: Real Cool Cassidy

Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 October 1973

I ALWAYS FIGURED secretly that David Cassidy was a cool guy. ...

Neil Young: Time Fades Away (Warner-Reprise)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 October 1973

NEIL YOUNG didn't really have too much to say after the days with the Buffalo Springfield. ...

The Rolling Stones: Up Against The Wall and Other Seedy Tales

Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 27 October 1973

WEST BERLIN has to be the absolute lowest, scuzziest dive sprawled out within the bounding perimeters of Western Capitalist Society. ...

America, Grateful Dead, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Steve Miller: West Coast Rock: Get Your Wooden Noses 'Ere

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 3 November 1973

Grateful Dead: In the Wake of the Flood (Grateful Dead records, Import) New Riders Of The Purple Sage: The Adventures of Panama Red (CBS, Import)America: ...

Bryan Ferry, Roxy Music: Bryan Ferry

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 19 January 1974

"I TELL ya, mate, just wait till Bryan Ferry gets onstage – 'is face is goin' to look like a fuckin' cancered lung". ...

Mott The Hoople: Memoirs of a Street Punk

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 19 January 1974

IAN HUNTER knows a thing or two about being a rock 'n' roll star. ...

The Beach Boys: The Beach Boys On Tour (Warner Bros. Import)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 19 January 1974

WELL NOW, there are live albums and there are live albums. ...

New York Dolls: Dead End Kids On The Champs-Elysées

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 26 January 1974

"NOW JOHN LENNON... y'know, that song 'Gimme The Truth'?" The Dolls' David Johansen's cracked Brooklyn drawl appears from the side of his mouth while a ...

Queen: Queen (EMI)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 26 January 1974

MAKES YOU SICK how desperate some folks are getting when it comes down to basic rock 'n' roll hype. ...

Bruce Springsteen: The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle (Columbia Import)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 2 February 1974

Howls of derisive laughter, Bruce ...

Allman Brothers Band: The Allman Bros. Band: Dead Or Alive?

Essay by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 2 February 1974

IS IT ENOUGH TO LOVE YOUR MOTHERS, HATE FAGGOTS AND RIDE A MOTOR CYCLE? WELL, PLAYING A LITTLE MUSIC OCCASIONALLY HELPS, SAYS NICK KENT, WITH ...

Bob Dylan: Planet Waves

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 9 February 1974

Planet Waves has so far been received with resounding critical acclaim. Robin Denselow in The Guardian describes it as "an album that ranks with Blonde ...

10cc: Have You Seen A More Boring Picture Of A More Bored Looking Bunch Of Creeps?

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 16 February 1974

WOW, HEAVY STUFF, MAN. BUT LOL CREME, THE SMALL ONE, SAID IT. NICK KENT, ON THE OTHER HAND, IS NEITHER BORED NOR BORING — IN ...

Can: Ve Give Ze Orders Here

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 16 February 1974

NICK KENT slinks unobtrusively into the back-room for something a little stronger ...

Black Oak Arkansas, Blue Oyster Cult: Blue Oyster Cult/Black Oak Arkansas

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 2 March 1974

THIRD TIME down 52nd and 6th, and this guy from The Process is still trying to accost you with his pamphlets and spectre-of-doom rap. ...

Lou Reed: A Stumble on the Wild Side

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 9 March 1974

A sort of... uh, you know, interview with... uh, LOU REED, who's lost three stone but still has problems ...

Dr. John: Tell me, Dr. John... Dr. John? Dr. John? Wake up Dr. John!

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 9 March 1974

THE KING OF VAUDEVILLE FUNK NODS OUT ON NICK KENT ...

Todd Rundgren: Todd (Bearsville Import)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 9 March 1974

Rundgren's musical jungle ...

David Bowie, Elliott Murphy, New York Dolls, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, The Rolling Stones: Farewell Androgyny n. hermaphroditism (Gr. Gyne, woman)

Overview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 16 March 1974

Is it time to shut the closet door? OUR HERO SEES THROUGH THE SEE-THROUGHS AND COMES TO THE CONCLUSION THAT ELEGANCE IS MORE THAN A LIMP ...

Elton John, Marc Bolan, The Rolling Stones, Roxy Music, Slade, Sweet: Fashion: The Politics of Flash

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 6 April 1974

NICK KENT traces the Rise and Fall of The Satin Jacket...and generally walks it like he talks it into the land of 'Rock Chic.' ...

Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd: The Cracked Ballad of Syd Barrett

Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 April 1974

The summer of '67 went up like a psychedelic mushroom-cloud – and some of the fall-out's still coming down. Brian Jones was casually snuffed out, ...

Grateful Dead: Lookin' Back: The Grateful Dead

Retrospective by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 27 April 1974

Whatever happened to the Cosmic Dream? Part 45 (13th Hexagram) ...

New York Dolls: The New York Dolls: Too Much Too Soon (Mercury)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 27 April 1974

Sloppy seconds ...

Au Bonheur des Dames, The Frenchies, Jim Morrison, Magma, Nico: Last Drongo In Paris

Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 4 May 1974

FRANCOIS MITTERAND… GUY CHABAN DELMAS… GISCARD D'ESTAING… YOU WILL BE AS RELIEVED AS US TO LEARN THAT NONE OF THESE TURGID FRENCH DEMAGOGUES APPEAR IN ...

Sparks: Nouveau Riche Sweet Young Brats Strike Sparks

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 May 1974

TALK ABOUT BEING short changed! The way I heard it, these Sparks whizz-kids take great pride in escorting the press cognoscenti to the finest hostelries ...

Lou Reed: Olympia, Paris

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 8 June 1974

Resuscitated zomboid wows Gallic crowd ...

Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones: Keith Richards: It's Only Rock 'N' Roll But I Like It

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 15 June 1974

ROUTE 66 REVISITED By NICK KENT ...

Nico: I Was a Hausfrau from Hanover — Until I Discovered Heroin...

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 24 August 1974

...the effect is shattering NICO confesses to NICK KENT ...

John Cale, Phil Manzanera, Roxy Music: Phil Manzanera: Snake-Eyed Latin Lothario Goes Pan-Tonic

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 24 August 1974

...And that's not all, as NICK KENT discovers after conversations with none other than marimboid Roxyite PHIL MANZANERA. (P.S. John Cale is involved in this ...

Dr. Feelgood: Doctor Feelgood: Rocking at the Canvey Island Oil Refinery Claimants Union Ball

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 31 August 1974

NICK KENT probes the aesthetics of DOCTOR FEELGOOD's chisel-toe chic. ...

Todd Rundgren, Utopia: Todd. Wizard? Or Silly Sod?

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 14 September 1974

Genius is paid — and none more highly than T. Rundgren, ace gelding of the New York Production Stud. Count his teeth! Hear him neigh! ...

Lou Reed: Sally Can't Dance (RCA Import)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 September 1974

"Life is such monotony/Without a good lobotomy" – Roy Harper ...

Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page, The Yardbirds: Jimmy Page: After All, It's Just a Piece of Wood With Strings...

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 12 October 1974

JIMMY PAGE talks about guitars he has owned, the development of his style and reminisces on those early Yardbird and Led Zep days ...

The Rolling Stones, Mick Taylor: Mick Taylor: But I Still Love Him...

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 12 October 1974

...admits a "thoroughly reasonable," or maybe just "resignedly realistic," MICK TAYLOR as he lets us in on what it's like to be a Secondary Stone in this year of Our Lord 1974... ...

Alice Coltrane, Santana: Carlos Santana & Alice Coltrane: Illuminations (CBS)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 19 October 1974

SO WHAT did you expect he'd do next? Open a macrobiotic restaurant in Marin County? ...

Tim Buckley: Look At The Fool (Discreet Import)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 19 October 1974

SO WHAT'S all this fuss about Tim Buckley all of a sudden, already. ...

Roxy Music: Country Life

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 9 November 1974

SO THE BARON displayed a certain lack of sartorial "chutzpah" in his last choice of onstage image-tackle. So blame his tailor. Country Life is so ...

Led Zeppelin: Physical Graffiti (Swansong/Atlantic)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 7 December 1974

Quintessential doyens of the kamikaze dizzbuster game Exclusive preview by Nick Kent ...

Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page: Led Zeppelin: The Graffiti of the Physical...

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 7 December 1974

...and the Exploration of the Metaphysical. A candid interview with Led Zep. ...

The Rolling Stones, Mick Taylor: The Rolling Stones: Melodrama in Munich

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 21 December 1974

Blockaded in a Hilton cocktail bar the Rolling Stones bathe their wounds in whisky... while Jagger recounts the events that led to Mick Taylor quitting ...

The Faces, The Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart: The Faces: The Episodic Adventures of Rod Kool & The Tartan Gang

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 4 January 1975

OR, CHRISTMAS COMES BUT ONCE A YEAR... BUT, FOR ROD STEWART, EVERY BLEEDIN' NIGHT (jammy git) Being a crisp resume of three nights in the life ...

Joni Mitchell

Essay by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 January 1975

Question: what well-known biped possesses an upper-register vocalic system, is pleasant to look upon, and is almost universally misunderstood and/or patronised? Answer: any Rock 'n ...

Chilli Willi & The Red Hot Peppers, Dr. Feelgood, Kokomo: Dr. Feelgood, Kokomo, Chilli Willi: Eat Your Heart Out, Arthur Howes

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 18 January 1975

Which is a slick way of saying The Package Tour She Lives She Breathes She Is Reborn. You remember the Package Tour, eh kids? It ...

Bob Dylan: Blood On The Tracks (CBS)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 January 1975

Fate on the Skates ...being an exclusive peekaboo into the head of R. ZIMMERMAN via his latest LP of pop songs. Consultant Psychiatrist: NICK KENT ...

Dr. Feelgood: Down By The Jetty (United Artists)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 January 1975

BOYS, BOYS now what did I tell you about being "too 
ethnic"? ...

Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin: Jimmy Page: Guitars I Have Known

Interview by Nick Kent, Creem, February 1975

(As a guitarist, Jimmy Page has all the bases covered. Clapton has that soaring fluid thing down pat, Beck is the absolute Crowned Prince of ...

Nick Drake: Requiem For A Solitary Man

Obituary by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 8 February 1975

ON OCTOBER 25th, 1974, at approximately six in the morning Nick Drake, a 26-yearold singer/songwriter, died from an overdose of Typtasol, an antidepressant, in the ...

Alice Cooper, Lou Reed: Nick Kent – A Limey in LA #1: Hey Man, You With A Gwoop?

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 15 March 1975

Speech impediments are the thing in Los Angeles this year. There are quite a lot of naked men jumping out of bushes – whereas more ...

Bob Dylan, The Who: Nick Kent – A Limey in LA #2: The Day I Shook Bob Dylan's Hand And Other Weird Tales

Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 5 April 1975

ALSO INCLUDES: The Dog That Ate The Dog That Ate Los Angeles ...

Steely Dan: Katy Lied

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 5 April 1975

THIS ALBUM worries me. It worries me because so much of the music here is so blatantly lacklustre compared with the exhilaratingly high standards already ...

The Faces, Rod Stewart, The Rolling Stones: Nick Kent – A Limey in LA #3: What did Rod Stewart, Bobby Womack and Mick Jagger sing...

Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 12 April 1975

...in a tune-up room on the last night of the Faces' 1975 LA gigs? Why, the closing aria in D from 'il Cavalleria Rusticana', of ...

Iggy Pop, The Stooges: Iggy Pop: The Mighty Pop vs. the Hand of Blight

Special Feature by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 3 May 1975

Never before told! The story of a brilliant monster called IGGY POP, whose life and countless near-demises have provided Rock with one of its most ...

The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: Brian Wilson: The Last Beach Movie part 1

Retrospective and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 21 June 1975

THE INCIDENT MUST HAVE occured a little over a year ago. Paul McCartney, complete with the inevitable Linda, had just flown into Los Angeles – ...

The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: Brian Wilson: The Last Beach Movie part 2

Retrospective and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 June 1975

PET SOUNDS was about to be released when Derek Taylor was taken on The Beach Boys' pay-roll. 750 dollars for dealing with the group's publicity. ...

The Band, Bob Dylan: Bob Dylan & The Band: The Basement Tapes (CBS)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 12 July 1975

A drunkard's dream (Nos. 13 & 35) EIGHT years after they were first recorded with The Band in Woodstock, Bob Dylan's "lost" basement tapes have finally ...

The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: Brian Wilson: The Last Beach Movie part 3

Retrospective and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 12 July 1975

EARLY MARCH 1975: The clapper-board reads "The Last Beach Movie – The Brian Wilson Story" Take 96, and our camera zooms in on the exterior ...

Blue Oyster Cult, Motorhead: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 October 1975

Heavy metal fatigue ...

Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd: Syd Barrett: Is It Possible, Too, That Syd Has Risen From The Grave?

Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 15 November 1975

THOUGH IT'S been something like a year and a half since yours truly and the NME brought you all the harrowing "Saga of Syd" (ne Roger Keith Barrett) ...

Neil Young: Sooner or Later it All Gets Real...

Essay by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 December 1975

The greening of the lean American: NICK KENT attempts a critical reappraisal of the work of NEIL YOUNG ...

Roogalator: A More Satisfying Musical Climax With... ROOGALATOR

Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 20 December 1975

NICK KENT feels the hot breath of London's hottest new band brush his ear, and appraises the fine and diverse arts of Roogalation. ...

Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers, Patti Smith, The Ramones, Richard Hell, Television: New York: Plug in to the Nerve-ends of the Naked City

Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 27 March 1976

In downtown Manhattan the rock 'n' roll war rages on as potential crown princes of Punkdom battle for recognition.. NICK KENT interprets the action ...

The Ramones: Ramones (Sire — Import)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 15 May 1976

A WEEK back, if you'd asked me nicely, I'd have dogmatically opined that Ramones – SASD 7520 – was absolutely the most grievous hot rock ...

The Rolling Stones: The Rock 'N' Roll Circus Hits Town

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 29 May 1976

THE ROLLING STONES first night at Earl's Court, back in the ol' U.K. NICK KENT was there. Need we say more? ...

Todd Rundgren: Faithful (Bearsville)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 29 May 1976

I NEVER REALLY gave up hope on Todd Rundgren. Even when the maestro was seemingly irreconcilably immersed in expounding his slant on poe-faced spiritualist dogma, ...

Bad Company: A Bunch of Sissies?

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, Creem, June 1976

You don't have to wear mascara, you know... ...

Sly & the Family Stone: Sly Stone: Sly and the Devil Was Walking Side by Side

Overview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 19 June 1976

...and on a clear day you could even tell which was which. NICK KENT reads Sylvester Stewart's musical palm and sifts out the rumours behind ...

Iggy Pop, The Stooges: Iggy & The Stooges: Metallic K.O. (Skydog)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 16 October 1976

Iggy — still burning his brain at both ends. ...

Aerosmith: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 23 October 1976

He likes 'em... or does he? Well, kind of. NICK KENT vacillates before the... AEROSMITH BEHEMOTH ...

Ry Cooder, Flaco Jimenez: Ry Cooder: Chicken-Skin Music (Reprise)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 23 October 1976

With the pound tottering, Kissinger's Rhodesian settlement crumbling, and Revie's team a complete shambles... it's nice to know there are still things you can rely ...

Led Zeppelin: The Song Remains The Same (Warner West End/ABC Shaftesbury Avenue)

Film/DVD/TV Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 November 1976

ZEP BLOW IT ...

Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin: Jimmy Page: The Roaring Silence

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 20 November 1976

I WAS IN New York when they last asked me to write a thing on Led Zeppelin. An American magazine, it was, with strict deadlines ...

Joni Mitchell: Hejira (Asylum)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 27 November 1976

Joan travels on; Joni travels back ...

Malcolm McLaren, New York Dolls, The Sex Pistols: Malcolm McLaren: Meet The Colonel Tom Parker of the Blank Generation

Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 27 November 1976

MEET MALCOLM McLAREN. He runs a shop called "SEX". He manages a group called THE SEX PISTOLS. He sincerely believes that he and his band ...

Queen: A Day At The Races

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 18 December 1976

THE OFFICE outside has been a-buzzing of late with the latest report concerning the whole punk conspiracy – the to-ings, and fro-ings, of the Sex ...

The Eagles: Hotel California (Asylum)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 18 December 1976

On the border? They go straight down the middle ...

Joan Armatrading: If Only They Knew She Had The Power...

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 29 January 1977

If you've got a taste for terror, take NICK KENT to interview JOAN ARMATRADING... ...

Television: Marquee Moon (Elektra/Asylum)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 5 February 1977

CUT THE crap, junior, he sez and put the hyperbole on ice. ...

Utopia: Rundgren: Democratic Offal — Utopia: New Victoria, London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 12 February 1977

NICK KENT finds the brainiac kid wallowing in a four-way blitzkrieg bog. Deafened and demoralised, the only conclusion is: he was better on his Todd... ...

Iggy Pop: Iggy Said It, Iggy Had The Power, Iggy Had The Disease

Comment by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 12 March 1977

THINKING BACK, IT WAS almost a year ago to this very day when I last ran into Iggy. An assignment had got me holed up ...

Buzzcocks, The Clash, The Slits, The Subway Sect: The Clash/Buzzcocks/Subway Sect/The Slits: Harlesden Colosseum, London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 19 March 1977

NICK KENT comes out of hiding to offer himself as a 'punk' sacrifice to the ritualistic 'beat' of THE CLASH, THE BUZZCOCKS, THE SUBWAY SECT ...

Richard Hell, Television, Tom Verlaine: Tom Verlaine: How Pleasant (?) To Know Mr Verlaine

Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 26 March 1977

OPINION: Tom Verlaine is a great songwriter, the next seminal rock charismatic, a genius.OPINION: Tom Verlaine is an egomaniac, a back-stabber, a thankless paranoid. ...

Led Zeppelin: Jimmy Page: Shy Rock Star Almost Unburdens Himself

Interview by Nick Kent, Creem, April 1977

I'VE KNOWN Led Zeppelin professionally for probably 4 years now, starting back in the winter of I972 when I was sent out on the road ...

Iggy Pop, The Stooges: IG and Super IG — Iggy Pop: The Idiot (RCA); The Stooges: The Stooges/Fun House (Elektra)

Review by Max Bell, Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 2 April 1977

Igs past and present collide in sonic fury as NICK KENT & MAX BELL once more grasp for the identity of the enIGma, quest for ...

The Beach Boys: The Beach Boys Love You (Warner-Reprise)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 9 April 1977

A Psychology Today Special in which NICK KENT diagnoses a steady recovery for the Wilson muse. ...

Cherry Vanilla, The Jam, The Stranglers: The Stranglers/The Jam/Cherry Vanilla: The Roundhouse, London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 23 April 1977

THE JAM WERE scarcely halfway through their set at half past six when the geezer at the door of the Roundhouse told the 300-plus still ...

Van Morrison: A Period Of Transition (Warner Bros)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 23 April 1977

A MOST DISTRESSING set of circumstances is what we have here. ...

Eric Clapton, Ronnie Lane: Eric Clapton: Clapton God Again

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 7 May 1977

Eric Clapton/Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance: Hammersmith Odeon, London ...

Dr. Feelgood: Exeter University, Exeter

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 21 May 1977

NO FLASH hyperbole, no frills on this one, reet, because, contrary to more than one sneaking suspicion, this new-fangled Feelgoods practice is in fine fettle ...

Talking Heads: Rock Garden, London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 21 May 1977

AS FAR AS I'm concerned, this last week has been a monumental one for live rock. ...

Dr. Feelgood: Dr Feelgood: Now You See Him. Now You Don't.

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 4 June 1977

The goods on the Feelgoods: did Wilko fall or was he pushed? ...

Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: Jahve, Mon

Comment by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 June 1977

We know where we're going,We know where we're fromWe're from Babylon Bob Marley – 'Exodus' ...

Neil Young: American Stars'n'Bars (Reprise)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 June 1977

Neil: bad judgment...or just a bad liver? ...

Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers, The Ramones: The Ramones: So The New Wave Have Scruples Too

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 18 June 1977

JOHNNY RAMONE is quite definitely pissed off. ...

Crosby Stills and Nash: Crosby Stills & Nash: CSN (Atlantic)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 June 1977

PREDICTABLY IT'S a creeping disease on this waterfront. After all everyone knew that Crosby, Stills and Nash would have to get back together sooner or ...

Talking Heads: Are These Guys Trying To Give Rock A Bad Name?

Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 June 1977

TALKING HEADS: it's a term they use up in the high-rise skyscrapers that house all the cogs in the corporate machinery cranking out network television ...

Elvis Costello & The Attractions: Island Records, Hammersmith, London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 30 July 1977

THE KING ARRIVES ALIVE ...

Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe, Rockpile: The Rockpile Tapes

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 30 July 1977

DAVE EDMUNDS HAS had his definitive quote on Nick Lowe's talents down pat for a long while now. "There are loads of guys around in ...

Ry Cooder & The Chicken Skin Revue: Show Time (Warner Bros.)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 August 1977

Cooder tat no Coup d'etat (geddit?) ...

Elvis Costello

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 27 August 1977

IT'S BEEN a rough old week for Elvis Costello. Last weekend he was right up there in the play lists with his 'Red Shoes' single ...

Aerosmith: Quest For The Man In Glitter Wellies

Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 17 September 1977

AEROSMITH get stuck in European mud. And NICK KENT, picking his way carefully around the problem, concludes that the U.S. giants may be bogged down ...

The Jam: The Nashville, London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 17 September 1977

THE NEW WAVE scene is arguably more interesting now than ever, as the big five or six bands are being forced to consolidate their first ...

The Rolling Stones: Love You Live (Rolling Stones Records)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 24 September 1977

JUST UNDER a minute into the first side – there's been the usual audience mayhem, a snippet of exotic percussion, cannons firing, about four bars ...

Jonathan Richman Melts An Old Cynic's Heart

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 1 October 1977

Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers: Hammersmith Odeon, London ...

Dwight Twilley Band: Twilley Don't Mind (Shelter)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 8 October 1977

ALL THE OMENS seem up there in the ascendant for Dwight Twilley. All the rock critics love him to death and even the most austere ...

Richard Hell, Talking Heads: Talking Heads: Talking Heads '77; Richard Hell & The Voidoids: Blank Generation

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 8 October 1977

LAST MONTH the more alert London habituee got the chance to compare England's new wave inner-workings with those of its fore-runner over in New York ...

The Rolling Stones: Mick Jagger Hits Out At Everything In Sight!

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 15 October 1977

IF ONLY IT HADN'T all been so damnedly, unrelentingly...uh...amicable. ...

The Motors: The Motors Show

Profile by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 19 November 1977

STUCK FOR a suitable opening gambit? You could start with the name, I guess. ...

Wilko Johnson: Dingwalls, London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 3 December 1977

THERE WAS something almost malevolently horrible about the atmosphere in Dingwall's when Wilko Johnson's band debuted there last Thursday. ...

Generation X: Roundhouse, Chalk Farm

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 10 December 1977

THE FIRST TIME I encountered Generation X (or at least their lead singer/figurehead Billy Idol) it left an unpleasant taste in my mouth. ...

The Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: The Sid Vicious Guide To London Hotels

Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 10 December 1977

IT WAS AT THE A&M Sex Pistols press conference, convened early this year, that newly appointed group bassist Sid Vicious gave his brusque views on ...

Aerosmith: Draw The Line (Columbia Import)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 17 December 1977

AEROFLOP! ...

The Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: Never Mind The Sex Pistols, Here Comes The Wrath Of Sid!

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 17 December 1977

IT WAS the last day in November when the whole ugly mess finally exploded. Sid Vicious, the bass player of The Sex Pistols, had once ...

Iggy Pop and James Williamson: Kill City (Radar Records)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 January 1978

WELL, IT'S finally out and yup, disregarding the shoddy cover, it's a great album. ...

Adam & The Ants: Marquee Club, London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 February 1978

Termites devour part of New Wave ...

Tom Waits: Foreign Affairs (Asylum)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 February 1978

A RUMOUR IN HIS OWN TIME ...

Nick Lowe: Jesus Of Cool

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 February 1978

THERE'S NO-ONE lower than Nick, it's been said, and here's the booty to bear that out. ...

Buzzcocks, The Slits: Thames Polytechnic,Woolwich, London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 March 1978

Buzzcocks turn pro ...

Elvis Costello: This Year's Model (Radar Records)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 March 1978

THERE'S ONLY one real problem facing the reviewer assessing this, our El's second album, but if it's tricky enough to deal with then at least ...

The Only Ones

Profile by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 March 1978

IT WAS AN EVENT of no great consequence. In a swoop on EMI's press department back in spring 1974, intent only on plundering as much ...

The Bee Gees, John Travolta: Saturday Night Fever (X)

Film/DVD/TV Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 March 1978

Directed by John Badham. Starring John Travolta (CIC) ...

Elvis Costello: Disgust! Irritation? Revenge! Obsession?

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 March 1978

NICK KENT — whose 1977 interview with ELVIS COSTELLO was internationally quoted as the definitive piece on The Man In Glasses — goes back for ...

Kevin Coyne: Matching girth & vision!

Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 15 April 1978

In both cases, the operative term is "broad". At a time when the unique worldviews of Elvis Costello and Ian Dury have become chartbound sounds, ...

The Only Ones, Television: Television, The Only Ones: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 22 April 1978

LAST YEAR, Television arrived in Britain under a shower of gilded prose and hyperbole claiming that they were the hottest thing since the invention of ...

The Band: The Last Waltz (Warner Brothers)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 22 April 1978

The second feeding of the 5000... And lo, the leftovers filled six sides of vinyl. And the people marveled. ...

The Only Ones: The Only Ones (CBS)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 May 1978

Not Only but... ...

The Modern Lovers, Jonathan Richman: The Jonathan Richman Colouring Scrapbook

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 20 May 1978

Fun for all the family in the Modern World as No.1 citizen J. RICHMAN holds court in a rare and candid interview with our own ...

Thin Lizzy: Live And Dangerous (Vertigo)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 27 May 1978

LIVE, DANGEROUS, AND AS HOT AS IT GETS ...

Peter Gabriel: Gabriel: The Image Gets A Tweak

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 10 June 1978

The Crazy Baldhead of Bath Meets NME's Sublime Subterranean— NICK KENT to you. ...

David Bowie: Earl's Court, London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 8 July 1978

BRILLIANT BOWIE... WITH ONE RESERVATION ...

Tom Waits: The Bad Liver and Broken Heart Brigade

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 15 July 1978

The gent pictured on the left has quit the organisation listed below, at least as far as vocally viewing life through the bottom of a ...

Siouxsie & The Banshees: Banshees Make The Breakthrough: Roundhouse, London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 29 July 1978

IF PUNKS ARE currently being brushed off by "official sources" as a speedily-becoming-extinct species, why then is it damn near impossible to find a comfortable ...

The Sex Pistols Interview: The Life & Crimes Of Two Simpleton Workin' Class Tossers

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 19 August 1978

THE SCENE: A modern four roomed flat situated somewhere near the Edgware Road. Its two inhabitants, Messrs Paul Cook and Steve Jones, are holding forth ...

Siouxsie & The Banshees: Bansheed! What's In An Image?

Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 26 August 1978

JOHN MCKAY, the Banshees' guitarist, has a pale, ashen look constantly playing about his features and talks in measured, serious tones. ...

Blondie: Parallel Lines (Chrysalis)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 9 September 1978

WOOPS — BLONDIE SHOWS ROOTS ...

The Slits: Girl Trouble with The Slits

Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 7 October 1978

NICK KENT on the wildest waifs in town ...

The Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: Sid and Nancy: Life In The Vicious Circle

Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 21 October 1978

SID VICIOUS (born John Simon Ritchie — though his mother's remarried name is Mrs. Ann Beverley) may hold the all-time record for building up an ...

John Cooper Clarke: This Year's Esperanto

Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 November 1978

JOHN COOPER-CLARKE, the poet who came in from the cold ...

The Clash: Give 'Em Enough Rope (CBS)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 November 1978

White Punks On Rope ...

Lou Reed: Live – Take No Prisoners (Arista Import)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 November 1978

AH, LOU, we meet again. How long it's been. Ah, of course, don't tell me – Rock 'n' Roll Heart, wasn't it? A right piece ...

The Clash: Clash

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 2 December 1978

What, THEM again? Fraid so. No apologies... On The Road Fax by NICK KENT: Biro & Quiz ...

Public Image Ltd.: Public Image Ltd. (Virgin)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 9 December 1978

"THE PUBLIC Image is Limited", or so claimed John Lydon in a recent interview with his customary flair for a good, splenetic quip. Well, so ...

Generation X: All The Young Dudes

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 January 1979

GLEAN WHAT you will from the shapes of things that came to pass during 1978, but one commodity that was rejected with an almighty vengeance ...

Elvis Costello: Elvis Army Is Here To Stay

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 27 January 1979

CHAPERONED in the back of a hire car, taking in the sights, partaking in entertaining chit-chat about the industry with fellow passengers, I shouldn't feel ...

McGuinn, Clark & Hillman: McGuinn, Clark and Hillman: McGuinn, Clark & Hillman

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 3 February 1979

IF WATCHING someone you once admired attempting to be inspired is the most pathetic sight imaginable, as some bloke maintained in last week's ish, then ...

Cheap Trick: Live At The Budokan (Epic)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 17 February 1979

GIVE THE Nips their due – when they latch on, they latch on fast, and in teeming multitudes, to boot. ...

The Pretenders: Moonlight Club, London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 17 February 1979

THE NEWS is already out all over town about this bunch; and while one can only reiterate all the raves (so far usurped principally by ...

Doll By Doll: How To Change The World In Ten Easy Stages

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 24 February 1979

"For a long time now I have felt the Void but have refused to hurl myself into the Void.I have been as cowardly as everything ...

The Stranglers: Live —X Certificate (United Artists)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 24 February 1979

THE OFFICIAL line on this enterprise is that it represents, in the words of one J.J. Burnel, "The end of an era…a compilation of the ...

Frank Zappa: Sheik Yerbouti (CBS)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 3 March 1979

THE MODERN-day composer refuses to die and, sadly, so too does Frank Zappa. ...

Bad Company: Desolation Angels (Swansong)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 10 March 1979

EVER TRIED shooting ducks in a barrel? It's almost as easy as doing the old aesthetic pistol-whip on Bad Company. It's so damned easy trashing ...

The Pretenders: Let's Pretend…

Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 17 March 1979

"ISN'T IT incredible, my dears, what some people will do when they get a hit? I'm appalled to hear that journalist-for-a-day Chrissie Hynde, lead singer ...

Iggy Pop: Dr Iggy and Mr Pop

Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 24 March 1979

"I am totally into corruption." ...

Magazine: Second-Hand Daylight

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 31 March 1979

"Whatever your feelings about Howard Devoto are, they're no doubt strong" – the opening salvo of the last feature penned on the subject in these ...

Buzzcocks, Magazine: Howard Devoto: The Compleat Fatalist

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 April 1979

LATE THURSDAY afternoon. I am angry, very angry, for reasons that form too personal a tale but revolve around a head-on collision with hysterical illogicality. ...

Robert Fripp: Exposure (Polydor)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 April 1979

A LESSON IN priorities might have been as apt a title. For this, the first record bearing his own name, the idiosyncratic Mr. Fripp has ...

Bryan Ferry, Roxy Music: Roxy Music: Still Raining Still Posing

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 19 May 1979

SEVEN YEARS. Is it really that long a time? That short a time? Yes, it is indeed, and the fact that Roxy Music have actually ...

The Cure: A Demonstration Of Household Appliances

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 19 May 1979

THE OFFICES of Fiction Records are located a stone's throw from Willesden High Street — a handy five-minutes stroll from the tube station — sequestered ...

Ronnie Wood: Ron Wood: Gimme Some Neck (CBS)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 26 May 1979

GOOD OLD Honest Ron Wood!! What a nice geezer, what a lad. Always a goofy smile with the everpresent Marlboro hanging from those humble lips, ...

Elvis Costello: Murder on the Liverpool Express

Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 9 June 1979

SO THERE I was at Euston station, seated comforably in the 1st class compartment waiting for the Inter City to speed me to my destination ...

The Cramps: Tales Of American Gothick

Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 23 June 1979

THE TITLE OF the film escapes me, but the scene itself has remained indelibly stained on my brainplate for all of nine years. A strange ...

Brian Jones, The Rolling Stones: Brian Jones: 28, February 1944 — 3 July, 1969

Retrospective by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 30 June 1979

Ten Years after his death, a re-appraisal of the life and times of the Rolling Stone who was crushed by success ...

Neil Young: Rust Never Sleeps (Reprise)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 30 June 1979

GOD KNOWS, you're at liberty to draw your own conclusions as to why Rust Never Sleeps is the masterpiece it so obviously is, but the ...

The Cars: Candy-O (Elektra)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 7 July 1979

THE CARS, Jesuit rock critics harangue, are the new wave at its most specious, manufactured and thus calculated to appease those ultra-reactionary brutes ruling the ...

Van Halen: Glory Or Rupture

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 7 July 1979

GIVE THE Yanks their due: when it comes down to being straight-ahead 'dunced out' almost beyond the realms of the hyper-crass, they take the old ...

The B-52s, Fashiøn: Lyceum, London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 14 July 1979

SUNDAY WAS hipper-than-hip night at the Lyceum, which meant that the girls plastered up their curls into various bouffant permutations and wore their tightest fitting ...

Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers: Heartbreakers Live at Max's Kansas City (Beggar's Banquet)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 July 1979

GOING TO have to make this one brief. Brief, because this wretched excuse for a live album is such a shameful affair that to dwell ...

B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters: Muddy Waters, BB King, Chuck Berry: Woke Up This Mornin'…

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 July 1979

...Blues Giants All Round My Bed. NICK KENT meets the Three Wise Men of the Blues. ...

James Brown: The Original Disco Man (Polydor Import)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 August 1979

THERE HE SITS, a sly grin splitting up his face to show a set of teeth worthy of a prize nag, his hair dixie-peached to ...

Led Zeppelin: In Through The Out Door (Swansong)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 August 1979

THREE LONG years has it been? Let's me see now. Ah, yes Presence, released in April 1976, was the last shot of new Led Zeppelin ...

Led Zeppelin, New Barbarians, Todd Rundgren: Led Zeppelin/New Barbarians/Todd Rundgren: Knebworth, Hertfordshire

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 18 August 1979

WELL, THAT'S OVER. No more Led Zeppelin front covers for a good while; no more wondering whether Mick would appear with the New Barbarians; no ...

Al Green: The Record Mogul In The Sky

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 August 1979

WHO CAN DENY that the Lord moves in mysterious ways? In this week of Mammon in hyperdrive – Quadrophenia, the rejuvenation of mods v. rockers ...

The Police: The Long Yarn Of The Lore

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 1 September 1979

ALONGSIDE THE habitually garish or else just plain boring film posters that currently besmear the walls of London, the advert for Quadrophenia stands out like ...

Cheap Trick: Wake Up, Rick – You're The First Superstar of the '80s

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 8 September 1979

LET'S NOT mince words. The basic premise here is the why, wherefores and whatevers backing up the simple contention that within the next 12 months ...

James Brown: Get Up, I Feel Like Being A Rap Machine

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 15 September 1979

JAMES BROWN is late for our appointment. But then it would almost be heresy on his part were he not a regal 45 minutes behind ...

Siouxsie & The Banshees: There Was I Waiting At The Church

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 22 September 1979

NICK KENT feels the wrath of Siouxsie Sioux and Steve Severin ...

Wire: 154 (Harvest)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 22 September 1979

WIRE WERE from the very outset a conceptually intriguing collective, even though they bristled with a potential that was all too often offset by niggling ...

The Eagles: The Long Run (Asylum)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 29 September 1979

THE DOMINANT rumour being touted around The Eagles' camp to explain the three year gap between Hotel California and The Long Run was, I recall, that this project was ...

Fleetwood Mac: Tusk (Warner Brothers)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 20 October 1979

ALMOST EVERYONE, barring the inevitable elitist bores blinkered by their own super-hipness, seemed to have a soft spot for Fleetwood Mac's Rumours. In late '77, ...

XTC: Making Plans for Andy Colin Terry and Dave

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 20 October 1979

"I FEEL GREAT antagonism towards the press we've all too often received. They always seem to end up never actually talking to you, they just ...

Boomtown Rats: The Boomtown Rats: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 3 November 1979

THURSDAY NIGHT at the Hammersmith Odeon demonstrated Neil Young's recent lyrical contention that "The King is gone but he's not forgotten": The Boomtown Rats utilised ...

Wilson Pickett: Land Of A Thousand Libels

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 10 November 1979

IN GUY PEELAERT'S Rock Dreams tome of some six autumns back, one of the artist's strongest slices of visualized popular music imagery went under the ...

The Pop Group, Scritti Politti: University Of London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 24 November 1979

THE TRADITION of the angry young idealist, full of righteous fervour, self-righteous condescension towards those at odds with his or her volatile beliefs, and a ...

Talking Heads: Talking Head First

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 22 December 1979

A HIRE CAR draws up at an address in Soho, and three members of Talking Heads troop into the Cine-Lingual building, Berwick Street. ...

Graham Parker, The Rumour: Graham Parker: Going Down On The Up Escalator

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 12 July 1980

Nick Kent investigates the rise and abrupt fall of Graham Parker And The Rumour's commercial success and smells a rat. ...

Lou Reed: Growing Up In Public (Arista)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 12 July 1980

GROWING UP IN PUBLIC finally spells out what Lou Reed's records since 1976's Coney Island Baby have been murmuring in varying dissonances: that the inspiration ...

The Kinks: One For The Road (Arista)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 26 July 1980

WITH ITS predecessor Low Budget having finally catapulted The Kinks into the American Top Ten after what seems a lifetime of cult status, what could ...

Pink Floyd: The Wall, Earl's Court, London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 16 August 1980

Brick by Brick, Nick Kent demolishes Pink Floyd's The Wall at Earls Court ...

Roky Erickson: The Creature With the Atomized Brain, or I Talked With A Zombie

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 30 August 1980

Are you ready for the Thirteenth Floor Elevators revival? Roky Erickson, cult and occult figure from the swirling mists of psyechedelia, takes time out from ...

Robert Palmer: Clues (Island)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 6 September 1980

WHY 'CLUES'? I mean to say, Robert old chap, it's not as if there's some burning question to all this despite the wacky covershot of ...

Tom Waits: Heartattack & Vine (Asylum/WEA)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 October 1980

American stars and bars ...

Ian Dury, Chaz Jankel: Chaz Jankel: Is There Life After Blockheadism?

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 October 1980

When Chaz Jankel left The Blockheads last year, Kosmo Vinyl described him as "a brave lad who's going to come a cropper." But instead of ...

John Martyn: The Exorcism

Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 29 November 1980

After the breakdown of his marriage, John Martyn spent seven months on a complete bender, but the result of that desperation was his finest album for years. Nick Kent ...

The Clash: Sandinista! (CBS)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 December 1980

OK, OK, they're a jolly prolific bunch always about to give their audience more than their money's worth, but – Christ, let's not mince words ...

Smokey Robinson: Warm Thoughts; Where There's Smoke (Motown)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 10 January 1981

Waiting for a Miracle: NICK KENT reappraises the latest works of the doyen of '60s soul, SMOKEY ROBINSON ...

Gang Of Four: Solid Gold (EMI)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 February 1981

FINALLY GANG Of Four agree among themselves long enough to record a set of seven new songs, add on three already-released-in-some-other-form originals, come up with ...

Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Genesis, John Martyn: At Home With The Stars Special: So Tell Us Phil, How Do You Feel About Solo Success?

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 21 March 1981

The remarkable Mr. Collins stays awake long enough to cure NICK KENT of his insomnia. ...

Bruce Springsteen: Springsteen Forged Passports To A Promised Land

Comment by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 4 July 1981

"What my band and I are about is a sense of responsibility. If you accept it, that makes you responsible for everything that happens. People ...

Paul McCartney: Tug of War (EMI)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 1 May 1982

MACCA MAKES GOOD ALBUM — WELL, ALMOST ...

Lester Bangs: Ballad of a Loudhearted Man

Obituary by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 15 May 1982

"Lester Bangs is the rock critic's rock critic, a man gifted verbally in much the same way that James Brown is gifted as a dancer. ...

The Rolling Stones: Still Life (Rolling Stones Records)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 5 June 1982

STILL LIFELIKE, AFTER ALL... ...

R.E.M.: Rock City, Nottingham

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 21 January 1984

REM's presence as a genuine group staunchly committed to rock's most crucial attitude, this being the simple desire to play a little honest loud-hearted music ...

Rank and File: Long Gone Dead (London/Slash)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 1 September 1984

AN LP FILED PAST ME... ...

Everything But The Girl, The Style Council, Wham!, Working Week: Wham!, Style Council et al: Miners' Benefit Finale, Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 22 September 1984

SLAG! ...

Elvis Costello & The Attractions: Hammersmith Palais, London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 October 1984

WHETHER one wishes to take into account the possible home truths gleaned from 'rumour' or not – the tittle-tattle here centring on contentions of marital ...

Tom Verlaine: Electric Ballroom, London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 27 October 1984

WHY-OH-WHY has it consistently appeared to be solely rock critics plus these terribly self-absorbed young chaps who currently populate Britain's new ruling (middle) class of ...

The Smiths: Dreamer In The Real World

Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, The Face, May 1985

To his father, he was a "complete fruitcake," to his contemporaries "the village idiot". Yet in the treacherous image-bloated clone-zone of pop, his is the ...

Elvis Costello: The Costello Show Featuring the Attractions & Confederates: King Of America (F-Beat)

Review by Nick Kent, Melody Maker, 22 February 1986

CROWNING GLORY ...

The Smiths: The Queen Is Dead (Rough Trade)

Review by Nick Kent, Melody Maker, 14 June 1986

THIS IS NEITHER the time nor the place to indulge in trivial banter; suffice to say that The Smiths' peculiar career manoeuvres, which have caused ...

The Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: Sid Vicious: Scum Also Rises

Retrospective by Nick Kent, The Face, August 1986

SID LIVES ON T-SHIRTS AND IN A NEW FILM, BUT MOSTLY HE JUST LIVES ON IN INFAMY ...

The Rolling Stones: Back To Zero

Report by Nick Kent, Spin, August 1986

The demise of the Rolling Stones may be attributable to one simple fact: the baddest, oldest rock 'n' roll band in the world has run ...

Elvis Costello & The Attractions: Blood And Chocolate (Imp)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 September 1986

ONE DECADE and 11 albums into a brilliant career, pop's most persistent moniker-monger is still playing the name game: having buried Brother Coward and killed ...

The Smiths: The Band With The Thorn In Its Side

Report by Nick Kent, The Face, April 1987

The past two years have seen panic in the Smiths camp, with take-over bids and narcotic problems competing with international success. Nick Kent assesses the ...

Prince: The Second Coming

Essay by Nick Kent, The Face, September 1988

If eighties pop was a cultural void, then Prince tried his hardest to fill it. Crossing barriers of race, gender and genre to capture the ...

The Smiths: Rank

Review by Nick Kent, The Catalogue, September 1988

IN MANCHESTER this summer, the first Smiths convention is held, effortlessly attracting thousands of the faithful. In London the New Musical Express tirelessly trumpets an ...

Jerry Lee Lewis: Man on Fire: Going to Hell with Jerry Lee Lewis and Dennis Quaid

Special Feature by Nick Kent, The Face, May 1989

HE WAS trying to be courteous but you could tell almost at once that being courteous wasn't really part of his nature. "Wahl, ah looks ...

Happy Mondays, The Stone Roses: The Stone Roses and The Happy Mondays

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, The Face, January 1990

AFTER A YEAR of underground success, Stone Roses and Happy Mondays crowd into a Top Of The Pops dressing room to celebrate their entry into ...

Morrissey, The Smiths: Morrissey: The Deep End

Interview by Nick Kent, The Face, March 1990

Walking backwards into the Nineties, has Morrissey finally lost all sane 'focus' on his career? ...

Bob Dylan: The Untouchable

Report by Nick Kent, Vox, October 1990

HIS HOUSE IS FALLING DOWN, HE FREAKS OUT HIS BANDS MAKING UP SONGS MID-GIG, AND HE SPORTS A NICE LINE IN HOODED ANORAKS. BUT WHEN ...

Neil Young: This Young Will Run and Run

Interview by Nick Kent, Vox, November 1990

NEIL YOUNG'S manager Elliot Roberts told me: "He's doing interviews now because he's got things he wants to say. There's a lot of things going ...

Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin: Jimmy Page

Interview by Nick Kent, Vox, December 1990

In days of yore, communication breakdowns with the press suggested Jimmy Page was a dazed and confused prince of heavy metal. With Zeppelin reissues breaking ...

Guns N' Roses: Welcome To My Nightmare

Interview by Nick Kent, Vox, October 1991

Guns N' Roses are undoubtably the biggest noises in rock. But for how long? Would you buy two simultaneously released LPs at full price? Will ...

The Rolling Stones: Twilight in Babylon: Adventures with the Rolling Stones

Retrospective by Nick Kent, MOJO, April 1994

THE FIRST THING you need to know about my adventures with the Rolling Stones is that they pretty much all took place once the basic ...

Nirvana: Kurt Cobain 1967-1994

Obituary by Nick Kent, MOJO, June 1994

NIRVANA SINGER AND SONGWRITER. THE FIRST TRUE ROCK AND ROLL STAR OF THE NINETIES. ...

Neil Young: I Build Something Up, I Tear It Right Down: Neil Young at 50

Interview by Nick Kent, MOJO, December 1995

"IN THE FIELD OF opportunity/it's ploughing time again" crooned Neil Young back in the late 70s. Yet at no time have those eager sentiments seemed ...

Radiohead: OK Computer

Review by Nick Kent, MOJO, July 1997

A year in the making, the follow-up to their multi-poll-topping classic, The Bends. ...

Oasis: Big Brother Is Watching You

Retrospective and Interview by Nick Kent, MOJO, December 1997

...but we are not allowed to watch back. Nick Kent tells the story of the TV documentary the band don't want you to see. ...

Lester Bangs: Pills And Thrills

Retrospective by Nick Kent, The Guardian, 12 April 2002

ALTHOUGH HIS NAME is already starting to be listed among the ranks of the elite late 20th-century literary trailblazers, Lester Bangs – the fragile-hearted, drunken ...

Guns N' Roses: Meltdown

Report by Nick Kent, The Guardian, 3 January 2003

With Guns N' Roses, he was one of the biggest – and baddest – rockers on the planet. Now his new album is a decade ...

David Bowie, Neil Young: No More Heroes

Comment by Nick Kent, The Guardian, 19 December 2003

THE BEST THING you can say about 2003 is that it's almost over. ...

Stairway To Hell

Essay by Nick Kent, The Guardian, 19 April 2004

THEY ASKED ME to write this piece about "self-destruction and its place in rock" and that immediately set me to thinking: what do they mean ...

Serge Gainsbourg: What A Drag

Comment by Nick Kent, The Guardian, 15 April 2006

THROUGHOUT MY CAREER as a music journalist, I've often found myself sharing the same orbit as some of the more maladjusted talents of the late ...

Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett: Syd Barrett: Shine On You Crazy Diamond

Obituary by Nick Kent, The Guardian, 12 July 2006

Syd Barrett, the most famous recluse in rock, is dead. It would be easy to mourn the founder of Pink Floyd as a casualty of ...

Radiohead, Thom Yorke: Radiohead: Ghost in the Machine

Interview by Nick Kent, MOJO, August 2006

Q: What happens when "a bunch of stupidly self-critical pathological overachievers" form a rock band? A: They become Radiohead. Thom Yorke talks candidly to Nick Kent ...

The Killers: Saints of Sin City: The Killers

Interview by Nick Kent, The Guardian, 20 October 2006

OVER THE COURSE of 50 years, we have borne witness to the on-going development of popular music, and many diverse faiths and cultures from all ...

Amy Winehouse: Why Amy Winehouse is On The Rocks

Essay by Nick Kent, The Times, 24 January 2008

As troubled singer Amy Winehouse is filmed smoking crack cocaine, our writer, a veteran of the 1970s music and drug culture, explains why we view ...

David Bowie, Iggy Pop: Nick Kent: Once Upon a Life

Memoir by Nick Kent, The Observer, 14 March 2010

In 1972 he was sorting mail in a Sussex post office. Twelve months later he was partying with Led Zeppelin. Here, the hugely influential music ...

Rock Critic Superpower Summit: Nick Kent meets Greil Marcus

Interview by Nick Kent, The Word, May 2011

On-site action terrorist Nick Kent and stay-at-home scholar Greil Marcus. Would they mesh or clash if The Word brought them together? ...

The Flamin' Groovies, Kim Fowley, The Stooges: Farewell to Marc Zermati

Memoir by Nick Kent, unpublished, 15 June 2020

IT'S BEEN FIVE hours now since I received the news that Marc Zermati died in his sleep and — as with all deaths of those ...

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