London may have its downsides: traffic jams, crowds, the £10 gin and tonic, but it also has sixty-odd places to buy records. Sixty-odd reasons to put up with the stresses and strains of life in the capital. Even with a… Read More ›
book
Hard Rock’s “Yesterday”: The Story of Goldilox by Kings X
“Goldilox is the song that people just missed out on… one of the greatest songs that I had ever heard”
Five Things I Saw & Heard This Week
For the kids who Snapchat photos of themselves with a dog’s nose and ears superimposed, or who Instagram their every (doubtless avocado-based) meal, blogging about music may feel about as unfashionable as, well, Facebook. * Although very much the best… Read More ›
Book What The Cat Dragged In: A New Look At Glam Metal
Glam metal. Perhaps one of the most thoroughly ignored genres of music of the last forty years. The trouble is, when your music is a silo of strange, make-up-infested faux-cowboys with ludicrous hair, flaming codpieces and guitars featuring primary colours… Read More ›
Wilko Johnson Cheerfully Discusses Death, Depression, Cancer….and Canvey Island
Wilko Johnson was at Rough Trade East last night in conversation with author Zoë Howe to discuss his new book “Don’t You Leave Me Here”. The former Dr Feelgood guitarist has written about his extraordinary life: chart topping success, the… Read More ›
New Ray Davies Biography: A Complicated Life by Johnny Rogan
Kinks fans have been spoiled of late with a number of books about the band, particularly as for many years there was no definitive Kinks bio. Both Davies brothers penned their own versions of the tale with Ray’s X-Ray and Dave’s… Read More ›
John Lydon Reveals Sid Vicious Beauty Secrets In New Autobiography “Anger Is An Energy”
Alongside Iggy Pop, John Lydon is widely regarded as the Godfather of TV Adverts Punk. Lydon’s infamy was secured this week in 1976 when The Sex Pistols swore on the Bill Grundy TV show, and called him a “dirty old… Read More ›
Early Candidate For Music Book of the Year: “Beatles With An A” by Mauri Kunnas
In the year after the release of Mark Lewisohn’s 1,800 page Proustian Beatles biography “All These Years”, (merely part-one-of-a-trilogy) most Beatles writers have, quite justifiably one suspects, thrown down their pens in despair, turned to drink, or begun to dust… Read More ›
Think It’s Easy Running Brixton Academy? Think Again…
Simon Parkes’ hilarious and revealing story of The Brixton Academy tells you all you need to know about why running a music venue is not for the faint-hearted. From an opening story involving booking a band to play the Academy… Read More ›
Yeah Yeah Yeah by Bob Stanley: The Chapter-by-Chapter Spotify Playlists Page
I had a terrific reaction from Twitter to my article about Bob Stanley’s history of popular music, “Yeah Yeah Yeah” back in May 2014… Like a nervous boy asking out the prettiest girl in school to the disco, I enquired as to… Read More ›
