Pop music
The power of song
You might not think that the Eurovision Song Contest (screened live from Stockholm tonight) could have any connection with how…
Paul McCartney
It’s slightly galling, after years of sticking up for Paul McCartney, to read a new biography of the bloke and…
Prince and me
The untold story
Sex offender
I saw Prince play once. I was bored rigid but couldn’t mention this to the girls I’d gone with: as…
Tainted love
In 1963, when the bloom was still on the rose, Bob Dylan described Woodstock as a place where ‘we stop…
Marty’s way
Vinyl (Sky Atlantic) — the much-anticipated series, co-produced by Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger, about the 1970s New York record…
The Heckler: those who doubt the brilliance of Phil Collins are snobs
Three boos for those rotten spoilsports who started an online petition against Phil Collins coming out of retirement (there’s already…
Everything you always wanted to know about Sixties pop —and more
It might seem an odd choice, but after reading Jon Savage’s new book, I think if I had a time…
Independents’ day
I really hadn’t meant to write a postscript to last week’s column on my dark Supertramp past. But then along…
Barometer
Available for parties Labour deputy leader Tom Watson said that leaving his party to join the Liberal Democrats would be…
If On the Road’s great, what else have I missed?
This week’s column is dedicated to all those of you who have never read Catcher in the Rye and who,…
Music for the masses
As pop music drifts away from many people’s lives, so its literature grows ever more serious and weighty, as though…
Simply Macnificent
‘I can’t tell you what a thrill it is to get this chance in life,’ said Christine McVie, as the…
Punk in a funk
Look up Tracey Thorn’s live performances with Everything But The Girl or Massive Attack on You Tube and you’ll find…
And then there were four
Where were you when you heard that Zayn Malik had left One Direction? No, me neither, but as my teenage…
Russell Brand is the future, like it or not
I write at a difficult time. The balls are in the air, but we know not where they will land.…
Target practice
Ever since the days of Tony Hancock, many of the best British sitcoms — from Dad’s Army to Fawlty Towers,…
End of the Rainbow
The golden age of pop music may be long gone, but the golden age of pop musicians’ obituaries is definitely…
Waterloo sunset years
As Johnny Rogan notes in this new biography of Ray Davies and the Kinks, it is almost 50 years since…
Blunt weapon
Only a fool would mess with James Blunt. As his Twitter followers know, he has a sharp wit, and, as…
Easy listening
There were two new albums I wanted for Christmas — the Bryan Ferry and the Pink Floyd — and to…
The power of hate
It’s all gone now, of course. Not just the magazines themselves, but the legendary bile of old-school rock criticism
No satisfaction
For Stuart Maconie fans, this book might sound as if it’ll be his masterpiece. In his earlier memoirs and travelogues,…
Wish list
Annie Nightingale 25 July 2015 9:00 am
Compilation schompilation. Having been in music for as long as I have you would think I had a good idea…