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Feature

The Daddy of them all: Paul Williams, who died 10 years ago, introduces the first issue of Crawdaddy! in February 1966 and – in 2002 – remembers launching his "magazine of rock'n'roll". Plus contributor John Swenson's 1976 history of Crawdaddy! on its 10th anniversary and Geoffrey Himes's 2013 piece on "the birth of rock criticism".

Featured writer

One of us must know: in a 1993 audio interview by Larry Jaffee, the late Paul Williams talks about his Bob Dylan books. Plus the Crawdaddy! founder reports on the San Francisco scene in 1967 and pays homage to the Rolling Stones in 1974.

The Long Goodbye

Ease my worried mind: Max Bell tells the hair-raising story of Derek & the Dominos and the band's disturbed drummer Jim Gordon (1945-2023). Plus Record Mirror's Norman Jopling has a transatlantic chat with Jerrold "Napoleon XIV" Samuels in 1966 and Blues & Soul's John Abbey checks in with yacht-soul star Bobby Caldwell (1951-2023) in 1977.

The Long Read

How will I know: Bud Scoppa reports on the "preordained superstardom" of Whitney Houston (Billboard, December 1986).

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Audio interview

Our label could be your life: The Wire's Mark Sinker interviews Black Flag legend Greg Ginn (left, with Henry Rollins) about SST Records and its subsidiary labels (1991).

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The RBP Podcast

Episode 148

Latest episode: Rob Dickins recalls his glory years at Warner Music with Prince, Madonna and others. Plus we remember Wayne Shorter and David Lindley and listen to clips from our Leon Russell audio interview...

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Rock’s Backpages contains over 800 audio interviews with artists from Jimi Hendrix to Kate Bush. Visit the audio interviews page to see the full list.

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