Category: Music
‘I feel as though I’ve been in chains’: the bittersweet life of lovers rock legend Mari’ Pierre
In December 1978, Marie Pierre was at No 1 in the UK reggae chart with the lovers rock classic Walk Away, a beautiful tearstained lament [more…]
Trump joined by Kid Rock as he signs order to crack down on ticket scalpers
Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday that aimed to protect fans by cracking down on “exploitative ticket scalping” and introduced “commonsense reforms” to [more…]
Zadie Smith on the magic of Tracy Chapman: ‘She didn’t just look like us – she was singing our songs’
On 11 June 1988, I was 12 and sitting with my family watching the Free Nelson Mandela Concert on TV. As a clan, we were [more…]
‘I’d been singing the wrong word for 30 years’: Deacon Blue on how they made Dignity
Ricky Ross, singer, songwriter I was a teacher in Glasgow but I wanted to start a band and write songs that meant something to people. [more…]
‘Chasing a high through rave music got dark’: Aya on hexes, Huddersfield and her hardcore horror electronics
‘Kissed by a witch, I got hexed!” Aya howls through a storm of screaming electronics and bass groans on I Am the Pipe I Hit [more…]
‘Society SUCKS!’ The fanatical diary of a teen scribbler who threw herself into punk
There is nothing new to discover, surely, about the birth of punk. But perhaps it depends where you look. Written between 1977 and 1981, the [more…]
‘I would never be able to sing a song that a robot wrote’: Lucy Dacus on her new album’s themes of artistry and intimacy
In the shadow of a Hogarth painting, accompanied by guitar and violin, Lucy Dacus is singing about disappointment. The painting depicts Thomas Coram, founder of [more…]
Usher review – glitzy Vegas-style spectacle is completely preposterous and preposterously entertaining
Early on during the first show of Usher’s London residency, the audience is treated to the sight of the teenaged singer fantasising about playing London [more…]
Sex Pistols’ Steve Jones: ‘I like to fart in front of people. You can tell if someone’s cool from their reaction’
Is it true you nicked some of your early equipment from David Bowie’s trucks outside the Hammersmith Odeon at the last Ziggy Stardust show, in [more…]
On my radar: George the Poet’s cultural highlights
Born George Mpanga in north-west London in 1991, George the Poet is a spoken-word artist, author and podcast host. He studied politics, psychology and sociology [more…]
