Sean O'Hagan
Sean O'Hagan was brought up in Armagh during the Troubles, and has written about the experience. As an undergraduate, he studied English in London. He began his media career as a writer for NME, The Face and Arena, and during this period became interested in photography.[6] As of 2013, he is one of six regular "Art and design" critics for The Guardian website, and the only photography critic among the six. O'Hagan is a nominator for the Prix Pictet Award in photography and sustainability.
The term "new lad" was coined by O'Hagan in a 1993 article about a young, brash and boisterous economist called David "Lad Lad Lad" Sturrock in Arena. On 18 March 2003, he received the 2002 British Press Award for Interviewer of the Year. In 2011 he was the sole recipient of the J. Dudley Johnston Awardfrom the Royal Photographic Society "for major achievement in the field of photographic criticism".
160 articles
List of articles in the library
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 3 March 1984
SHAKA ALL OVER ...
Josey Wales, Yellowman: Yellowman versus Josey Wales: Two Giants Clash (Greensleeves)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 10 March 1984
EGOS ON TOAST ...
Johnny Osbourne: The Musical Chopper
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 17 March 1984
I AM USHERED into Johnny Osbourne's dressing room just as he is winding down an interview with someone else. "Exactly how old are you anyway?" ...
Dennis Brown: Mr Brown Enters The Promised Land
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 21 April 1984
JAMAICA'S WARMEST VOICE AIMS FOR GLOBAL HEIGHTS! SEAN O'HAGAN ROOTS! ...
Eek-A-Mouse, Yellowman: Yellowman: King (CBS); Eek A Mouse: Mouseketeer (Greensleeves)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 21 April 1984
AIN'T NUTHIN' BUT A MOUSE PARTY ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 28 April 1984
"Jamaica jus' an island in the Caribbean, and Jamaica produce a lotta champion, like Bob Marley and I Yellowman." — 'Jamaica Nice' ...
Change: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 4 August 1984
AT SOUL/FUNK celebrations like this it's a temptation to review the audience whose performance, in the service of adulation, is as spectacular as that of ...
The Last Poets: The Last Poets (Celluloid)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 11 August 1984
THEY CAME, SORE... ...
The Pogues: For A Few Ciders More
Interview by David Quantick, Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 11 August 1984
A TABLE littered with the debris of an early evening's drinking, three Pogues attempt to justify their existence. ...
Lee "Scratch" Perry: Lee Perry: Presents Megaton Dub 2 (Seven Leaves)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 22 September 1984
PUT THIS IN YOUR PIPE, COCK! ...
The Roots Radics: Roots Radics: Cheque It! (please!!)
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 6 October 1984
The ROOTS RADICS — the session trio — talk about run (how they never seem to run into any pay) All ears, SEAN O'HAGAN ...
Clint Eastwood & General Saint: White Bread Toasters
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 3 November 1984
Wha 'appen to give Clint Eastwood & General Saint so much chart action? Sean O'Hagan asks is this a sell-out or are they just starting ...
Josey Wales: Josey "The Colonel" Wales: No Way No Better Than Yard (Greensleeves)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 5 January 1985
WHEN IT comes to yard style repartee — hard, fast and brutal lyrics bouncing off equally persuasive riddlms — Josey Wales has staked a place ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 2 February 1985
NAME: Smiley Culture CHARGE: Dread Bodily Harm SENTENCE: A Spell in the Charts REPORT: Sean O'Hagan ...
The Men They Couldn’t Hang: The Men They Couldn't Hang: Noose On The Loose
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 2 March 1985
A FEW YEARS BACK, if someone had told me that an English pop group would record Eric Bogie's 'The Green Fields Of France', that it ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 13 April 1985
THE LAST POETS were the first rappers — the voice of ghetto anger and fiery jazzoetry. Their "exile" over, they're back with a new LP ...
Richard Thompson: Across A Crowded Room (Polydor)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 4 May 1985
DICK GETS DULL ...
Eek-A-Mouse: Eek A Mouse: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 1 June 1985
EVERYTHING ABOUT The Eek is a little weird: his name, his height (6' 6"), his dress sense and, of course, his unique vocal style. One ...
The Beach Boys: The Beach Boys (Caribou)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 12 June 1985
ON THE back cover Brian Wilson looks genuinely happy, his eyes are clear, his smile is contented one. To some degree the music echoes this ...
Maxi Priest: The Mini Rise Of Maxi Priest
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 20 June 1985
Hot shot of Lovers Rock and inventor of "new vogue reggae", MAXI PRIEST is poised to breakthrough to pop success. SEAN O'HAGAN joins the priesthood. ...
Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 22 June 1985
WORLDLY RAPPING HOODS ...
Dexys Midnight Runners: Dexy's Midnight Runners: Don't Stand Me Down (Mercury)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 7 September 1985
YOU'D THINK three years silence might have dimmed the man's burning rage, but no, Kevin Rowland is back with a resharpened axe to grind. Chapter ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 16 November 1985
MORGAN KHAN is the financial wizard behind the phenomenally successful Street Sounds label, whose panache at marketing soul has helped to transform the Top 50. ...
Doug E. Fresh & The Get Fresh Crew: Show Stoppers
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 30 November 1985
A show? Well, DOUG E. FRESH and The Get Fresh Crew ain't got the energy to do much more than nod off in the company ...
Punk and Reggae: Rip Bam Bam Bye Yeah
Retrospective by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 8 February 1986
"Black and white, unite and fight" was the call; The Clash sang of 'Police And Thieves', Johnny Rotten found he was 'Born For A Purpose'. ...
Elvis Costello: King Of America
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 22 February 1986
IN BROCADE and jewelled crown, Declan Patrick Aloysius MacManus stares out from the sleeve of King Of America, his beard and spectacles framing an unsmiling ...
The Pogues: Hammersmith Palais, London
Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 29 March 1986
NO SLEEP AT HAMMERSMITH! ...
George Jones: Wembley Arena Country Festival, London
Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 12 April 1986
THE GREATEST "NO SHOW" ON EARTH ...
Sweet Honey in the Rock: Sting in the Tale
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 19 April 1986
SEAN O'HAGAN makes a journey to the land of SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK where heavenly voices have their say. ...
David Thomas, Pere Ubu: David Thomas: Monster Walks The Winter Lake
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 26 April 1986
DAVID THOMAS sees things differently. He sings things differently too. Sometimes he sees/sings things like a child, other times like a Martian. Often he'll submerge ...
That Petrol Emotion: The Petrol Emotion: Oil On Troubled Waters
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 10 May 1986
WHAT'S IN A NAME?(1) ...
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 28 June 1986
MORE "BIG MUSIC". More heroics. Another call-to-arms for the down to earth drummers who landscape their adolescence via Bono, Jim Kerr, Mike Scott and Stuart ...
Van Morrison: No Guru, No Method, No Teacher
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 26 July 1986
ALTHOUGH VAN Morrison has long since ceased to surprise, there have been enough scattered moments throughout his recent work to point to a singer content ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 6 September 1986
TIPPA IRIE, wide boy wonder and cultural chameleon, now finds himself torn between reggae's dub-swamped dance-halls and the glitterdome. SEAN O'HAGAN risks an ear in the rapid fire ...
Augustus Pablo: Man from the Hills
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 11 October 1986
For over a decade, and through the endless changes in the music's style, the melodica musings of AUGUSTUS PABLO have drifted across reggae, haughty and ...
Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy: Lester Bowie: Miles Davis Meets Donald Duck
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 1 November 1986
LESTER BOWIE'S white lab coat and mischievous trumpet have fronted The Art Ensemble Of Chicago's ironic jazz, From The Roots To The Source's revivalist gospel ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 8 November 1986
WHAT ARE WORDS WORTH? ...
Mantronix: Will Hip Hop Eat Itself?
Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 22 November 1986
Where is it? New York city. How is it? Bloody hot in here. Why is it? Because MATRONIX, pure-steel technologists of studio and vox, have ...
Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 8 December 1986
"My life is like a joke but to me it isn't funny..." ('All I Want To Do') ...
Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers: Chuck Brown: Take The Money And Go-Go
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 4 April 1987
CHUCK BROWN'S in Britain to stick up the go-go scene with his pioneering blast of bum-pin'. But as SEAN O'HAGAN finds out, he didn't get ...
That Petrol Emotion: Babble (Polydor)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 9 May 1987
ROCK BEAST ROARS ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 16 May 1987
Legends of world rhythm SLY & ROBBIE have responded to advances in all musics by making a technological masterpiece of an LP. SEAN O'HAGAN meets ...
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 6 June 1987
Riots greet U2 in Italy! Bono is bigger than Il Papa! Rock is not dead! Sean O'Hagan gets an audience with the holy man of ...
Luther Vandross: Forever, For Always, For Love (Epic)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 27 June 1987
ON THE soft focus cover shot, the transformation is complete: Luther the beige mannequin with compulsory wet look is a world away from the roly ...
Hothouse Flowers: Savoy, Limerick
Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 29 August 1987
THE HOTHOUSE Flowers kinda live up to their name, burning bright one minute, descending into shiny plastic showbiz the next. The first thing they should ...
Eric B & Rakim: Eric B and Rakim: The Rap Payback
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 10 October 1987
SEAN O'HAGAN chills out, cuts the ice and pumps it up with rap's sharpest rhythm-monger ERIC — "all the best music has a bad image" ...
Public Enemy: Rebels With a Cause
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 10 October 1987
They understand Malcolm X and they dig James Brown. Right now PUBLIC ENEMY are making all the noise and SEAN O'HAGAN is ready to take the rap. ...
Tom Waits: I Just Tell Stories For Money: Tom Waits
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 14 November 1987
SOMETIMES YOU CAN get a pretty good idea about someone's music just by checking out their appearance. If clothes maketh the man, they also speak ...
Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 14 November 1987
This is a journey into sound. A journey into the hip-slanging, writ-wrangling, song-stealing, dub-dealing world of sampling. It is also fast becoming a journey to ...
Stock Aitken Waterman: Stock, Aitken and Waterman: Let the Kids Decide
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 19 December 1987
Messrs. STOCK, AITKEN AND WATERMAN were this year's answer to Swain and Jolley, only (surprise surprise) they don't see it that way. SEAN O'HAGAN hears ...
Arthur Baker, New Order: Arthur Baker: Legends of Arthur
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 9 January 1988
What do current chart hits by New Order and Wally Jump Junior have in common with a new House version of John Coltrane's masterpiece 'A ...
Prince: Lovesexy (Paisley Park)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 14 May 1988
"The best pop music does not reflect events so much as it absorbs them".– Greil Marcus on Sly Stone's There's A Riot Goin' On ...
Joni Mitchell: Idol Talk: Joni Mitchell
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 4 June 1988
"THE POET is the vainest of the vain, even before the ugliest of water buffalo doth he fan his tail." ...
Beats Workin': Turn On, Drop Out
Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 16 July 1988
Methylenedioxymetheamphetamine, aka Ecstasy has been described as a "love drug" and "a new age mind bender". Whatever, there is no doubting its effect on a ...
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Tender Prey (Mute LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 24 September 1988
LET US PREY ...
The Fall: Michael Clark & Company v The Fall — I Am Kurious, Oranj: Sadler's Wells, London
Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 1 October 1988
M.E.S. IN TUTU DRAW ...
Todd Terry: Royal House: Can You Party? (Idlers Records Import LP Only)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 8 October 1988
TERRY IS the 21-year-old enfant terrible of House, a sci-fi producer who has turned the rules of the game on their heads and left a ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 5 November 1988
TODD TERRY, the name if not the face of 1988, is possibly the ultimate producer, refusing to become a performer or even enter a "proper" ...
Acid Crackdown: Get Right Off One Chummy
Report by Paolo Hewitt, Sean O'Hagan, Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 19 November 1988
With the hysteria now reaching fever pitch and questions being asked in the (non-Acid) House, NME calls a time out to assess the damage in the tab-mad ...
Report by Sean O'Hagan, Spin, January 1989
A heady mix of sex, drugs, and trance dance music, Acid House has swept England with a wave of hedonism and made going out fun ...
Jean-Paul Gaultier: Club Couture
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 28 January 1989
After years of being afforded the status of pop star in his native France, fashion designer JEAN-PAUL GAULTIER has gone and done it his way ...
Fine Young Cannibals: The Raw And The Cooked (London LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 11 February 1989
WHERE'S THE BEEF? ...
Elvis Costello: And So To Bedlam
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 18 February 1989
If 'you're nobody 'til everybody thinks you're a bastard' then, logically, the universal acclaim received by ELVIS COSTELLO's Spike LP must make him one of ...
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 ...
De La Soul: Three Feet High And Rising (Big Life LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 18 March 1989
ARE YOU ready for Martian hip-hop? Can you handle the new nutty boys of rap, the maddest, baddest bunch on the block? Can you imagine ...
The Jungle Brothers: Pure Righteousness
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 1 April 1989
Can the creators of powerful positive Afro-rap THE JUNGLE BROTHERS also be true believers of Islamic fundamentalist, black separatist Louis Farrakhan? SEAN O'HAGAN explores the ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 8 April 1989
First grabbing the world's ears with their remix of Eric B And Rakims 'Paid In Full' the COLDCUT crew of Matt Black and Jonathan Moore ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 29 April 1989
JUST-ICE is not a man to cross, for a start he carries a gun and his favourite role model is The Godfather. SEAN O'HAGAN took ...
Big Daddy Kane: Raw Like Sushi
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 6 May 1989
Christened The Grasshopper Of Rap for his black belt lyrics, Big Daddy Kane is a hero to rap's hard core followers. With hits for Roxanne ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 13 May 1989
CHAKA KHAN, the smooth voice of early '70s soul, has been thrust back into the limelight with a new dance cut of her hits I'm ...
Lucinda Williams: Walking The Line
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 20 May 1989
LUCINDA WILLIAMS was caught just in time, the singer/songwriter was just about to head off into the hills when somehow Rough Trade pulled her back. ...
Soul II Soul: The Palladium, New York
Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 5 August 1989
SQUEEZED BETWEEN the hard core Hip-hop of Red Alert and DJ Mark The 45 King, the US dance remix of 'Keep On Movin'', holds its ...
Soul II Soul: Funki Bold Demeanour
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 30 September 1989
• Current king of British clubs JAZZIE B is preparing to launch SOUL II SOUL even further ahead of the opposition-the summer soundtrack on both ...
De La Soul: Brothers From Another Planet
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 21 October 1989
HIPPIES!?! Never! No sirree! Ignore the paisley, the peace signs, the flowers, the speccy Lennonisms, DE LA SOUL are truly brothers from another planet, extra ...
John Martyn: Starting again at the bottom
Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, Sunday Correspondent, 18 March 1990
TWO YEARS AGO, after Island Records rejected his last LP; John Martyn entered a "black period" that lasted six months. In an alcoholic haze, he ...
Shane MacGowan, The Pogues: Shane MacGowan: Dark Side of the Hooligan
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, Vox, November 1990
Shane MacGowan has not been a happy man since the 'natural living' days of punk. Now he's disillusioned with the Pogues and a recent medical ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 9 February 1991
On the titter count he scores high. And he insists on playing the prat because it pays off so handsomely. But the music biz has ...
Report by Sean O'Hagan, The Face, March 1991
Where have all the pop stars gone? Artists like Elvis Presley or The Beatles are the record company ideal, showing steady sales year after year. ...
Sinéad O'Connor: Angel of Angst
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 15 June 1991
Sinead O'Connor's need for self-exorcism has made her a target of the tabloids. Sean O'Hagan talks to the outspoken singer. ...
Profile by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 7 November 1991
All but canonised in Ireland, U2's lead singer preaches redemption through rock 'n' roll. But now he's learning to write about girls. Sean O'Hagan profiles ...
Profile by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 7 November 1991
All but canonised in Ireland, U2's lead singer preaches redemption through rock 'n' roll. But now he's learning to write about girls. Sean O'Hagan profiles ...
Horace Andy, Massive Attack: Keep on Runnings
Report by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 15 February 1992
Bob Marley's music is not the young music in Kingston today. Ragga not reggae is king. And that took the British group Massive Attack to ...
Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Face, 1 April 1992
IT'S EARLY evening in a Russian restaurant somewhere in west London, a place that specializes in vodka – chili vodka, lemon vodka, brandy vodka, even ...
Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, Details, 1 September 1992
With Achtung Babyand their Zoo TV tour, U2 have found a way to be the biggest band in the world and still have fun. Sean ...
Nigel Kennedy: Cat Whose Cream Went Sour
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 13 November 1992
'At some point I'll have to think about whether it's my responsibility as a musician to get into heavier drugs simply to find out more ...
The Undertones: Sounding Out Stroke City
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 11 July 1993
The pop star's tale: Michael Bradley has lived most of his life in the thick of the Troubles — but he has not let them ...
Carleen Anderson, Young Disciples: Carleen Anderson: Songs from the Soul
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 28 January 1994
Carleen Anderson has had a bitter, difficult life on both sides of the Atlantic. Now much of it features in her seductive, defiant music. ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Face, August 1994
When Shara Nelson and others moved on to new projects, the faces and spaces of Massive Attack's Blue Lines were superseded by silence. Three years later, ...
Suicide: A Tribe Called Quest: Subterania, London
Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 3 December 1994
IN MANY ways. A Tribe Called Quest are one of hip-hop's best-kept secrets. Their debut album, People's Instinctive Travels... remains one of the defining moments ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Face, February 1995
Tense, nervous and paranoid, Tricky has emerged from the dark heart of the Bristol beat with an extraordinary album that is almost as strange and ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 22 October 1995
Hip, maverick rapper Tricky talks exclusively about the dark reality that inspires his music ...
Mary J. Blige, Boyz II Men, R. Kelly, Teddy Riley: Andre Harrell: Resurrection of the Soul
Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 22 March 1996
Andre Harrell is a man with a mission. The youngest head of Motown since Berry Gordy, he tells Sean O'Hagan how he plans to put ...
Iceberg Slim: Needles and Pimps
Retrospective by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 12 May 1996
Sean O'Hagan chills out on Iceberg Slim, king of the ghetto ...
Waiting For The Sun: The Story Of The Los Angeles Music Scene by Barney Hoskyns (Viking £20)
Book Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 21 July 1996
Weird scenes inside the goldmine ...
Retrospective by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 18 April 1997
Lee "Scratch" Perry may not have invented dub, but, says Sean O'Hagan, he is its one auteur — his influence can be heard from trip-hop ...
Comment by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 13 June 1997
U2 are that rarity, a clever rock band. So why do the English press hate them? By Sean O'Hagan ...
Massive Attack, Radiohead: Radiohead, Massive Attack: RDS Arena, Dublin
Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 23 June 1997
Storming through the downpour ...
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 5 July 1997
Hedonism was a way of life for Alan McGee. And who would expect anything less from the man behind Oasis? But the road to pop-tycoon ...
King Tubby, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Yabby You: Blood And Fire Records: Simply Dread
Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 7 November 1997
Mick Hucknall's devotion to the pioneers of dub and lovers' rock led him to form Blood And Fire records. Sean O'Hagan salutes them ...
Bob Geldof, Michael Hutchence: Whatever Happened to Saint Bob?
Profile by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 30 November 1997
He fed the world. Now the world is feeding on him... ...
Profile by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 1 February 1998
ON 5 APRIL, 1968, when the National Guard was on full alert as America's black ghettos burnt in the wake of the assassination of Martin ...
Sinead O'Connor: Sinéad: The New Madonna
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 15 February 1998
Virgin territory ...
Blur, Oasis: Labour's Love Lost
Comment by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 13 March 1998
According to this week's NME, the honeymoon between pop and the Government is well and truly over. Sean O'Hagan isn't surprised ...
Massive Attack: Band of the decade: Massive Attack
Overview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 29 March 1998
What is it that makes them so different? Well, one of them's called Mushroom. ...
Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 24 May 1998
THE PHONE rings at 10.30 on a Monday night. It is Bono. "We're going to Belfast tomorrow night," he says, "and we're trying to come ...
Willie Nelson: Interview: Willie Nelson
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 31 May 1998
The songs come out of suffering. Like being beaten senseless with his wife's broom... ...
Retrospective by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 12 September 1998
Twenty-five years ago, Gram Parsons died in a remote desert motel, the victim of a prodigious appetite for drugs and alcohol that shocked even Keith ...
Burt Bacharach, Elvis Costello: Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello: Kings of America
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 19 September 1998
Burt Bacharach had his first hit when Elvis Costello was in short trousers. Costello had hits of his own when Bacharach's star was waning. Now, ...
Dusty Springfield: My Date with Dusty
Memoir by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 7 March 1999
Britain's first lady of soul had chosen us to make what was to be her last video. We'd found the perfect location, we'd borrowed a ...
The Chemical Brothers: Beat generation
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 12 June 1999
The Chemical Brothers are the Clark Kents of dance music — mild-mannered and thoughtful in private, impossibly fast, pile-drivingly powerful on stage. So how did ...
Horace Andy: Roots master — Horace Andy: Living in the Flood (Melankolic) ****
Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 22 October 1999
Thirty years into his career as a reggae singer, Horace Andy has hit paydirt, writes Sean O'Hagan ...
Retrospective by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 29 October 1999
Fresh out of young Jamaica in the 60s, ska became the defining sound of a vibrant music scene — in turn it influenced 70s reggae, ...
The Beach Boys, Phil Spector, Brian Wilson: Phil Spector and Brian Wilson: The Nutty Producers
Retrospective by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 16 December 1999
Without Phil Spector and Brian Wilson, the 60s would have sounded very different, says Sean O'Hagan. ...
George Clinton, Funkadelic, Parliament: George Clinton: The P-Father of P-Funk
Retrospective by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 23 December 1999
Who was pop's greatest showman? Sean O'Hagan has no hesitation in picking George Clinton. ...
Bob Dylan, 1966: A Lot of Nerve
Retrospective by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 30 December 1999
It was 1965, and in a surge of amphetamine-fuelled creativity Bob Dylan was reinventing the pop song. But then a motorbike crash changed everything. As ...
Profile by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 16 January 2000
From drifting astronaut to Ziggy Stardust to Thin White Duke and actor...the Brixton boy worth £500 million and with his own Internet bank is bringing ...
U2: Billion-Dollar Dreams (Part 1)
Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 4 March 2000
German TV interviewer: "You own a hotel. Now, you've made a film about a hotel. Why hotels?" Bono: "Rock bands tend to know a ...
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 22 July 2000
The Corrs have been keeping it in the family for 10 slow-burning years, and are now emerging as the ultimate cute-and-catchy pop band. Sibling pop ...
Bob Dylan: Vicar St, Dublin *****
Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 16 September 2000
THE 800 TICKETS for this suddenly announced "intimate" show supposedly sold out in 15 seconds. For the select multitude, then, this was a night of ...
Will Oldham: The Prince Of Darkness
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 12 March 2001
"I created Billy and let him take care of the performing. It's not me, Will Oldham, who gets up on stage." ...
Nick Cave: Rage Has Not Withered Him
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 18 March 2001
Nick Cave never thought he'd get past 40, but heroin and self-hate are behind him now. Married and "reborn", he writes nine to five in ...
Bob Dylan: Well, How Does It Feel?
Profile by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 25 March 2001
There's only one person in pop who is not fascinated by the myth of Bob Dylan – and that's Bob Dylan. Now approaching sixty and ...
Pulp: In a Class of His Own: Jarvis Cocker
Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 2 December 2001
Jarvis Cocker could have been trapped in his role of English eccentric, a blend of Morrissey, Ray Davies and Alan Bennett. But he has found ...
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, Observer Music Monthly, 23 June 2002
It's a long way from illegal raves to Buckingham Palace. But Norman Jay, the godfather of club culture, has been there and done that – ...
Muddy Waters: Robert Gordon: Can't Be Satisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy Waters (Jonathan Cape)
Book Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, July 2002
The ONE-ROOM shack where Muddy Waters grew up originally stood on the edge of Stovall's plantation in Coahoma County in the Mississippi Delta. A few ...
Sinead O'Connor: Mother Superior
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 6 October 2002
A mellow Sinead O'Connor, who describes herself as 'a regular housewife', talks about ordination, her flair for getting into trouble – and why she's more ...
Will Oldham: Still Voice, Distant Life: Will Oldham
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 17 November 2002
He’s the finest songwriter to come out of America in the past decade. Just ask Johnny Cash. But Will Oldham doesn’t play the fame game. ...
Pulp: Pulp: Je Suis Un Rock Star...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 22 December 2002
IN THE BBC CANTEEN, where passing celebrity chefs must recoil before a menu that has stubbornly resisted the onward march of culinary ponciness, Jarvis Cocker ...
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 15 June 2003
THERE ARE TEARS in Patti Smith's eyes. She is midway through a performance that has been, by turns, sombre and joyous, intense and ecstatic, when ...
Emmylou Harris: Angel of the South: Emmylou Harris
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 2 November 2003
IN A LONG BLACK dress, high heels and perfectly coiffured hair that shines silver blue under the spotlights, Emmylou Harris looks every inch the country ...
Nirvana, Sid Vicious: Kurt Cobain and Sid Vicious: Death and Glory
Essay by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 1 February 2004
"Thank you all from the pit of my burning nauseous stomach." – Extract from Kurt Cobain's suicide note ...
Profile by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 4 April 2004
LAST WEEKEND, tickets for the opening show of Prince's American arena tour, his first in nearly a decade, were changing hands over the internet for ...
New York Dolls: The New York Dolls: Fast and Louche
Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 20 June 2004
The New York Dolls: Royal Festival Hall, London ...
Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 20 June 2004
RECORDED in New York over two days in 1968, Astral Weeks still sounds like nothing before or since. Unlike other classic albums, Pet Sounds, say, ...
Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 19 September 2004
The piano in the sand pit, the orchestra decked out in fireman's helmets, the kilos of grade A hashish, the master tapes that were destroyed, ...
Nik Cohn: Triksta – Life and Death and New Orleans Rap
Book Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 11 December 2005
Nik Cohn tells how the alienation and anger of New Orleans exploded into a whole new genre of hip hop in his best book yet. ...
Ronnie Spector: Ronnie's Spectre
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 26 March 2006
RONNIE SPECTOR Greenfield strolls into the nondescript foyer of the Sheraton hotel in Danbury, Connecticut, a few paces behind her husband, Jonathan. ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, Rock's Backpages, November 2006
An edited version of this interview appeared in The Observer, October 29, 2006 ...
Wear Your Heart on Your Sleeves: The Lost Art of the Mix Tape
Memoir by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 28 January 2007
LAST WEEK, while preparing to write this piece, I did something I have not done for a long time. I made a compilation tape. Back ...
Sly & the Family Stone: Sly Stone: I Want To Take You... Lower
Report by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 15 July 2007
Sly Stone was the funkadelic pioneer who made the world dance, broke racial boundaries, raised hell and set Woodstock alight. Last week, in Italy, after ...
My Bloody Valentine: Daydream Believers: My Bloody Valentine
Retrospective and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, Observer Music Monthly, 18 May 2008
BACK IN DECEMBER 1991, when My Bloody Valentine embarked on a British tour to promote Loveless, their "difficult" second album and sonic masterpiece, the four-piece ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 9 November 2008
In the sixties, he was part of the celebrated pop group the Walker Brothers – known as America's Beatles – but he rebelled against stardom ...
Corinne Bailey Rae : Corinne Bailey Rae: "It happened to me. It could happen to anyone at any time."
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 4 October 2009
From out of the darkest place, following the sudden death of her husband, Corinne Bailey Rae is re-emerging with an extraordinarily intimate and impassioned album. ...
Ian Dury: New chips off the old Blockhead
Retrospective by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 29 November 2009
He could be warm and witty... or cruel and obnoxious. But there was never any doubt he was a true artist. We recall the life ...
Arcade Fire: "The clichéd rock life never seemed that cool to us"
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 28 November 2010
IN A CONCRETE room backstage at the Palau Sant Jordi arena in Barcelona, I am midway through a post-show interview with Arcade Fire's unfeasibly tall, ...
Captain Beefheart: Rock's Father of Invention
Obituary by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 19 December 2010
BACK IN 1969, a self-confessed "teenage weirdo" from Portland, Oregon, fell under the spell of a newly-released double album called Trout Mask Replica by Captain ...
Obituary by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 24 October 2011
THE AMERICAN photographer Barry Feinstein, who has died aged 80, made his most famous series of images when he accompanied Bob Dylan and the Band ...
Retrospective and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 25 March 2012
Dennis Morris is celebrated for his iconic photographs of the Sex Pistols and Bob Marley. But few knew that in that pivotal era he was ...
Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 6 September 2012
It's not easy for women to survive in the macho world of country. Some of those who did, such as Jean Shepard and Bonnie Guitar, ...
Massive Attack: Blue Lines: Massive Attack's blueprint for UK pop's future
Retrospective by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 28 October 2012
In 1991, the laidback Bristol collective roused themselves to unleash their debut album. Reissued 21 years on it remains a landmark. Here, an early champion ...
David Bowie: Who is David Bowie? A Guide to the V&A retrospective
Report by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 16 February 2013
As a blockbuster exhibition, David Bowie is, gets under way at the V&A, Sean O'Hagan dissects the pop icon's influences – and reveals the ideas ...
Obituary by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 20 February 2013
Founder member of Soft Machine and a key figure in British psychedelic rock. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 26 May 2013
He photographed the most enduring images of the '60s folk-rock stars who lived in L.A.'s Laurel Canyon. Now Henry Diltz stars in a documentary about ...
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 2 June 2013
Last year, the multi-millionaire publishing mogul and drug-addled dissolute Felix Dennis was diagnosed with throat cancer. But don't count him out yet, he tells Sean ...
Massive Attack meet Adam Curtis: The Unlikely Double Act
Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 30 June 2013
At July's Manchester festival, the boundary-breaking band and radical film-maker will tackle the perilous state of democracy in a show that redefines the notion of ...
Damon Albarn: "Pop's gone back to showbiz. It's like the Beatles or Dylan never happened."
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 27 April 2014
WHEN DAMON ALBARN was nine, he persuaded his parents, who were in the process of moving house from Leytonstone in east London to rural Essex, ...
Boogie Wonderland: Disco's hottest '70s nightclubs
Retrospective and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 26 September 2015
IT WAS President Jimmy Carter's mother, Lillian, who first brought photographer Bill Bernstein to the legendary Studio 54 nightclub in New York one evening in ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 24 April 2016
WILLY VLAUTIN is an American musician and novelist based in Portland, Oregon. His alt-country band Richmond Fontaine won critical acclaim with their 2004 album, Post ...
"Jazz was the catalyst for change": Jim Marshall's images of '60s festivals
Retrospective and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 4 September 2016
Photographer Jim Marshall is known for iconic images of '60s rock stars. But his first great portraits were of the giants of jazz, captured on ...
Malcolm McLaren: Paul Gorman: The Life and Times of Malcolm McLaren
Book Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 6 April 2020
Huckster, visionary — or a bit of both? An exhaustive new biography chases down the elusive punk promoter ...
back to LIBRARY
