Music
Evil geniuses
Does knowledge of the wrongs committed by Caravaggio, Picasso, Roman Polanski and other ‘monsters’ condition our response to their art, wonders Claire Dederer
Sam Smith and the embarrassing terribleness of LGBTQIA+ culture
Pop music – and specifically pop music stardom – has an incredible power to transform people into things they are…
Shock and awe
‘Astonish me!’ was the celebrated demand that the impresario Sergei Diaghilev made of Jean Cocteau when he was devising Erik…
Fine tuning
Memories of a Queen’s piper
The best of the bunch
It’s hard (if not impossible) to imagine a world worth living in that doesn’t include the Marx Brothers; and equally…
What bow – and why is it burning?
‘Jerusalem’ may be our unofficial national anthem, but don’t ask anyone who sings it to tell you what it means, says Philip Hensher
The happy hoarder
If you were hoping for an autobiography this isn’t it. Jarvis Cocker calls it ‘an inventory’ and insists: ‘This is…
Letters
Russian misrule Sir: Your editorial (‘Sanction Schroder’, 21 May) laments that western sanctions may be harming ordinary Russians, given that…
Sex Pistol’s Notebook
‘Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in,’ groans a weary Al Pacino in The Godfather…
A gigantic field of feeling
I was never into the blues that much. I listened to a bit of Roy Buchanan and Rory Gallagher but…
Bad songs for a good cause
Twice during the Eurovision Song Contest our television lost the signal and the set went blank – once, mercifully, during…
Ed Sheeran is right about British courts
As they say in the music business, where there’s a hit, there’s a writ. It is something that no one…
Bono’s ‘poem’ was an insult to the craft of verse
‘Poet’, said Robert Frost, ‘is a praise-word’. So it is. That explains in part the unabashed delight with which Colm…
Rapper’s delight
The most disappointing pop performance I’ve ever seen – and in the course of my 15-odd years as a music…
The whine of the Ancient Mariner
I was a bit irritated by all the millennials saying the Superbowl half-time show made them feel old. The 15-minute…
True devotion
The 20th century was an amazing time for Russian pianists, and the worse things got, politically and militarily, the more…
Stones notebook
I’ve lived in Chelsea for the past 35 years. Since 2002, I’ve photographed everything I find interesting here — churches,…
Musician’s notebook
My mother died earlier this year aged 85. She left me her old pianola. These were popular in the 1920s…
Did the music industry enable R. Kelly?
As Harvey Weinstein was to film, so Robert ‘R.’ Kelly has been to the music industry. An energetic and profligate…
Snap, crackle, shriek…
So it finally happened: I experienced my first vocal setting of the word ‘Covid’. An encounter that was, inevitably, more…
Looking for enchantment
Most social occasions now seem to kick off with a wasted hour or two. The time is spent discussing Covid:…
A true bohemian
It is well established that artists are not always the nicest people. On the surface, the life of the model,…
The X Factor made all the right people cross
On hearing that the X Factor is no more after our 17 years together, I reflected on what a journey…
Still the Fab Five
In my second year at secondary school we were all deeply envious of a girl named Judi Taylor because, obviously,…
Ladies first
On the way home from This Is The Kit’s show at a socially distanced Barbican, I listened to Avalon by…
