Postpunk
524 articles
John Cale: Paradiso, Amsterdam
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 15 November 1975
EUROPE'S MOST DECADENT capital: inflatable paramours dangling like trussed chickens in the windows of the sex shops, hookers in their shop windows, the smack centre ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 22 November 1975
FIRST ALBUMS THIS good are pretty damn few and far between. ...
Buzzcocks, Howard Devoto, The Fall: Manchester: They Mean It Maaanchester
Overview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 30 July 1977
MANCHESTER as a Rock and Roll town just didn't use to exist. It fed dutifully off London, and there were frequent visits from groups to ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 20 August 1977
WHO IS this, anyway?" Giovanni Dadomo demanded. "The Caligari Brothers?" Funny you should say that, my pasta-eating pal. ...
The Art Attacks: Art Attax: Red Cow, London
Live Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 1 October 1977
Great but brain-Attaxing ...
Magazine: This Man Is Not A Minor Writer!
Profile and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 8 October 1977
For a start he's dispensed with words! ...
Comment by Jon Savage, Jane Suck, Sounds, 26 November 1977
FOR LIFE ON REWIND/FAST FORWARD/PLAY/RECORD/STOP/..... ...
Interview by Ian Birch, Melody Maker, 10 December 1977
HAVE YOU noticed how a new category is being synthesised in the press? It had to happen, now that disillusion with new wave/punk mark one ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 7 January 1978
THEY SAY ENVIRONMENT determines character, and when it comes to American music, they're probably right. ...
The Pop Group: London College of Printing
Live Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 28 January 1978
Introducing eh?! and the enigmas ...
Report and Interview by Danny Baker, ZigZag, February 1978
AH THE FALL! My mind fell on a quote that was all I knew of the name, something like '...there's hardly another band fit to ...
Live Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 4 February 1978
Animated Egg head fails to impress ...
Howard Devoto, Magazine: Magazine: Howard Devoto's Enigma Variations
Profile and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 25 February 1978
HOWARD DEVOTO gives good face. Unlined and triangular, topped with a vast expanse of forehead; the kind that popular folklore maintains is the unmistakeable dead-giveaway ...
Profile and Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, March 1978
THROBBING GRISTLE: Drop that name in any conversation and watch the reaction. Giggling or nervous laughter, disgust or horror, blankness or a polite "Who?" Yeah, ...
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, March 1978
WHEN WIRE came out of the Punk No-man's-land with their strikingly different debut album Pink Flag they seemed one of the hottest hopes for lifting ...
Wire, XTC: XTC, Wire, the Secret: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 4 March 1978
Shock as Soundsman writes non-metallic rave ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, April 1978
AS THE FALLOUT from new wave continues to turn up on plastic, a few gangs of rockers have chosen (wisely I suppose) to see how ...
Pere Ubu: Punching the Music Time Clock
Interview by Howard Wuelfing, Unicorn Times, May 1978
IF A TELEPHONE pole gets toppled by lightning and no one hears it hit pavement, was there indeed any sound of "thud?" Yeah, don't be ...
Wire: Pink Flag (Harvest ST-11757)
Review by Gary Lucas, Crawdaddy!, May 1978
"If you are a 'romantic,' you have not lived if you have not been present at a battle... The likelihood that you will get your ...
Alternative TV: 100 Club, London
Live Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 6 May 1978
CON-TRA-DIC-TIONS... ATV are full of them. As in, how come they were awful when they played the Rainbow with the wonderful Spirit, yet managed to ...
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 13 May 1978
TO USE an alimentary analogy, punk can be seen as a kind of musical laxative, clearing away all that stodgy stuff that was blocking the ...
Throbbing Gristle: Industrial Paranoia: The Very Dangerous Visions Of Throbbing Gristle
Interview by Jon Savage, Sounds, 3 June 1978
'All art aspires to the condition of musak.' 'Most of the people who disapprove of musak... but we are doing it for your own good!' ...
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 3 June 1978
'I'm faking an extravagant journey, also it seems to me...' ...
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 3 June 1978
DROPPING INTO 1977 was 'easy'. ...
Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 10 June 1978
I THINK it was the Jesuits of whom it was said they always answer a question with a question. Or maybe it was the Jews. ...
Alternative TV: The Image Has Cracked
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 24 June 1978
MARK PERRY has been a confused person and, through that, confusing. ...
Interview by Jim Green, Trouser Press, July 1978
YOU CAN: tie up your plastic garbage bag with a wire, send a message on a wire, connect broken bones with a wire, strangle your ...
Interview by Richard Grabel, New York Rocker, July 1978
WIRE. THE name denotes something tight, something along which electricity buzzes and communication passes. In an English music scene full of brash, jokey band names (Sex ...
The Pop Group, This Heat: The Pop Group/This Heat: Collegiate Theatre, London
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 17 July 1978
TWO SEEMINGLY unconventional, superficially 'bleak', jagged modern-music outfits. Both engineer music suggesting radical departure, still somehow quaint. ...
Profile and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 22 July 1978
MANCHESTER, 1977: the picture of a period stutters erratically to a docile completion. The picture is inconclusive, blotchy, but considering circumstances the best possible. ...
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 29 July 1978
THE NOW Society, a university-based organisation, has been putting on gigs featuring local, predominantly experimental bands (such are the local mores) for some time now; ...
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 5 August 1978
CABARET VOLTAIRE performances, if I can make a sweeping generalisation, are always interesting but never satisfying. Interesting because they're prepared to probe, often at the ...
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 5 August 1978
MAGAZINE, MYTHS AND MIRAGES ...
Cabaret Voltaire: Sheffield – This Week's Leeds
Profile and Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 9 September 1978
UNTIL LAST YEAR, Sheffield was undoubtedly the most musically inactive city in Britain. For a city with over half a million people, the paucity of ...
Joy Division: Band On The Wall, Manchester
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 9 September 1978
THOSE FAMILIAR with this young quartet. mainly through their excitable appearance on the "Short Circuit" pretty package, and to a lesser extent with their self ...
Joy Division: Band on the Wall, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 16 September 1978
IT WAS during the unforgettable summer of '77 that I had my first encounter with Joy Division (then named Warsaw). Through a steamy Electric Circus ...
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 16 September 1978
I AM A commentator in a Consumers' Guide. This week I guide you towards entertainers The Fall, as I always have done. ...
Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 16 September 1978
"Well it's alright just listenCan't wait for 78God those r.p.m.Can't wait for themDon't just watchHours happenGet in there kidAnd snap them."– Wire, 'It's So Obvious' ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 30 September 1978
PARDON ME if I've misunderstood, but amongst all those pretty speeches and petty let-downs didn't somebody once ask for 'new music night and day'? And ...
pragVEC: Another Strange, New And Enticing Pop Group
Profile and Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 21 October 1978
A NEW extended play record to enthuse about. A new band to sell to you. Their name is pragVEC; the four tracks they've recorded are ...
Cabaret Voltaire, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Nico, The Pop Group: The Pop Group/LKJ/Nico/Cab Voltaire
Live Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 21 October 1978
Disorder by juxtaposition. Subversion by paradox. Nothing is as simple as we're told. New feelings. ...
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 21 October 1978
The Pop Group/Nico/Linton Kwesi Johnson/Cabaret Voltaire: Electric Ballroom, London ...
Review by Hugh Jarse, ZigZag, November 1978
PUBLIC IMAGE: 'Public Image' (Virgin) 'ELLO, A LOW-key re-emergence which grows on ya. I know everybody was expecting another anthem but here ya go, this ...
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 4 November 1978
CABARET VOLTAIRE appeared first. A trio, I caught the final 20 minutes of their performance, and was fairly absorbed. ...
Public Image Ltd: Images of Public Image
Interview by Barry Cain, Record Mirror, 4 November 1978
Donning his sardonic mask, BARRY CAIN lurches into Sloane Ranger territory (Chelsea to you) and tracks down one J. Lydon and his mate Jah Wobble; ...
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 11 November 1978
NOT JUSTA BUNCHA COMMIES, SEZ DAVE McCULLOUGH ...
Pere Ubu: Dub Housing (Chrysalis CHR 1207)*****
Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 11 November 1978
HIT ME with a snorkel and call me Cousteau but this is what the man who delivered my Dub Housing said; MAN: "You for the pair o' U-boats, ...
Pere Ubu: Dub Housing (Chrysalis)
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 11 November 1978
Pop the Ubu ...
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 11 November 1978
AN EVENING of Fast Product at which Saturday night anticipation could be discerned in the expectant chattering of the throng outside — no slowcoaches amongst ...
Joy Division: A short, pulsating feature on a small, pulsating band
Interview by Mick Middles, Sounds, 18 November 1978
THROB,THROB, THROB, THROB. "Hey Miss, a bottle of Newcastle please, what? Oh, a bottle of Pils then." THROB, THROB, THROB, THROB. ...
Scritti Politti: Reflections On In(ter)dependence: Scritti Politti
Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 25 November 1978
MEET SCRITTI Politti: three or four young musicians (one is a floating member), and equally important, a large circle of close friends who provide help, ...
Live Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 25 November 1978
I LIKE Wire a lot and sometimes I dislike them. ...
Public Image Ltd, The Sex Pistols: Public Image Ltd.: We Only Wanted To Be Loved
Interview by Robin Banks, ZigZag, December 1978
THE ENIGMATIC Johnny Lydon. Dubbed "The Messiah of Punk" by those who only thought in clichés, he was catapulted into a situation that left him ...
Howard Devoto, Magazine: Howard Devoto: Calm And Confusion
Interview by Paul Morley, Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 2 December 1978
WERE YOU a wimp at school?I wouldn't say I was a wimp. I think I did get bullied. ...
Pere Ubu: Invasion Of The Warm, Friendly Bodysnatchers
Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 2 December 1978
SEE THE ALIENS. See the room. See the aliens in the room. The aliens call themselves Pere Ubu. See Pere Ubu. See the big alien ...
Live Review by Jon Savage, Melody Maker, 2 December 1978
IN THE collapse of trends, movements — individuals: when they combine, all the stronger. Tonight four bands moving forward, confidently or haltingly, but all with ...
The Subway Sect: The Northern Soul of Vic Godard
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 2 December 1978
A SUBWAY SECT INTERVIEW concerning John Travolta, Françoise Hardy, Les Dawson, Zola, Nosmo King, Abba and other street heroes. By DAVE McCULLOUGH ...
Alternative TV: A Different Kettle of ATV
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 9 December 1978
WHEN I FIRST mooted that I'd be interested in scribbling out a feature on Alternative TV, the thinking man's all-purpose unpunkgroup, the band's hustler and ...
Public Image Ltd.: Public Image Ltd. (Virgin)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 9 December 1978
"THE PUBLIC Image is Limited", or so claimed John Lydon in a recent interview with his customary flair for a good, splenetic quip. Well, so ...
Public Image Ltd: Public Image
Review by Simon Frith, Melody Maker, 9 December 1978
"I don't agree with bands who make records to please audiences." (Johnny Rotten.) ...
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 9 December 1978
Systems of resonance ...
The Subway Sect: War Poet of The Modern World
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 9 December 1978
Old conceptions justifiedTradition stays in tuneYou make guitars talk informationThat tells you what to doThe lines that hit meAgain and againAfraid to take a strollOff ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: In Defense of Siouxsie and the Banshees
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 23 December 1978
"Have a competition in the NME. In less than a hundred words, what do they get out of Siouxsie and the Banshees?" (Siouxsie Sioux) ...
Public Image Ltd: Johnny's Immaculate Conception
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 23 December 1978
Putting The Nation On The PiL ...
Throbbing Gristle: D.O.A. (Industrial)
Review by Jon Savage, Melody Maker, 23 December 1978
THE UNDERGROWTH OF pop...Take the mechanics of the situation as being something like this: you have a multi-million dollar industry, which has established channels whereby ...
Wire: Chairs Missing (Harvest SHSP 4093)
Review by Jim Green, Trouser Press, January 1979
WIRE ARE disconcerting, laconic yet eloquent in fragmented visions, jarring even at their most accessible. They disdain cliché, pushing out the limits of rock; the ...
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 6 January 1979
ON THE FIRST day of Christmas bondage bretheren and neon siteren children of the Rainbow – pace Aswad – left their parents' turkey tables en ...
Joy Division, The Passage, Spherical Objects: New Stirrings On The North-West Frontier
Report and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 13 January 1979
The Underground sticks its Collective head overground to explain how the rest of the world went wrong. Please fasten your safety helmets now. Words: PAUL ...
Scritti Politti: The Nitty Gritty on Scritti Politti
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 13 January 1979
Tea and empathy shared by DAVE McCULLOUGH * ...
Throbbing Gristle: D.O.A. (The Third And Final Report Of Throbbing Gristle) (Industrial Records)
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 13 January 1979
P. Orridge Bowls A Grisly Throb — P. Enman Ducks ...
Jilted John: This week's fine point of philosophical conjecture: Melancholy Is Truth
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 20 January 1979
In support, drama student Graham Fellows (ex-Jilted John), a man given to public displays of raw feeling. ...
Report and Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 27 January 1979
WHEN YOU "do the singles", as we in the trade like to term the chore, it's a harrowing task. ...
The Mekons: Hope & Anchor, London
Live Review by David Hepworth, Sounds, 27 January 1979
THE HOPE and Anchor is stuffed. If you're aiming to pour one more leather jacket into this crypt, you'd be wise to have remembered the ...
Public Image Ltd.: Public Image Ltd. (Virgin)
Review by Kris Needs, New York Rocker, February 1979
THE EAGERLY-ANTICIPATED debut offering by Public Image Ltd. landed like a depth charge in the mire of self-congratulatory entrenchment that unfortunately bogs down much of ...
Crass, Ludus, Poison Girls: Ludus/Poison Girls/Crass: The Factory at the Russell Club, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 3 February 1979
She's So Modern ...
The Mekons: Blows Against Individuation
Profile and Interview by Mary Harron, Melody Maker, 3 February 1979
The Mekons insist they're just a by-product of confusion. But 'intervention', a.k.a. 'going commercial', looms. ...
Report and Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 10 February 1979
Terms For An Industry In The '80s... IAN PENMAN reports on the artistic and commercial concept of ROUGH TRADE, recorders, distributors and promoters of new ...
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 24 February 1979
The Fast way to become intellectual ...
Vic Godard, The Subway Sect: Vic Godard: Down the Road on a Stick
Interview by Robin Banks, ZigZag, March 1979
ON THE 'WHITE Riot' tour of early '77, Vic Godard and his band the Subway Sect ('cos they always were his band) confronted the great ...
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 3 March 1979
ALL PRAISE must go to John Cooper Clarke for transforming the freezing, bored alcohol-starved Mancunians into a warmly responsive audience. ...
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 3 March 1979
RACE TODAY magazine/organisation, acknowledging the central importance of Manchester in the struggle of black people, launched their northern campaign with a fund raising "Creation For ...
The Mekons: The Group Who Fell To Earth
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 3 March 1979
THE MEKONS step down from the space ship of idealism and come face to face with Rock Reality. Can they and the cult of British ...
Live Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 17 March 1979
Psychotic awareness — it's the new thing ...
Doll By Doll: Remember (AutomaticK56618)**
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 24 March 1979
Dull by Doll ...
The Teardrop Explodes: Teardrop Explodes: Band on the Wall, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 24 March 1979
SUDDENLY, OUT of the depths of complete obscurity the Teardrop Explodes have become the most talked about new band in the North West. Two weeks ...
The Fall: Live At The Witch Trials (Step Forward SFLB 1) *****
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 24 March 1979
Music for the man who has everything (and wants it all on one album) ...
The Pop Group: First Steps In The Primal Skank
Report and Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 24 March 1979
Tribal customs live on, even in the era of Afterpunk. RICHARD WILLIAMS investigates The Pop Group. ...
The Pop Group: We Know There’s Something Wrong Somewhere: The Pop Group
Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 24 March 1979
This and other astute observations on life, art and the consumer society in THE POP GROUP interview. ...
Magazine: Second-Hand Daylight
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 31 March 1979
"Whatever your feelings about Howard Devoto are, they're no doubt strong" – the opening salvo of the last feature penned on the subject in these ...
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 31 March 1979
AND THE STARS look very different today... For all practical rock purposes, we may as well own up that we are now living in the ...
Siouxsie & the Banshees: (Stair) Case History
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 7 April 1979
BUSHELL'S BRIEF BANSHEES BANTER ...
The Pop Group: Y (Radar RAD 20)***½
Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 14 April 1979
This is the (Penguin classic) modern world ...
Buzzcocks, Magazine: Howard Devoto: The Compleat Fatalist
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 April 1979
LATE THURSDAY afternoon. I am angry, very angry, for reasons that form too personal a tale but revolve around a head-on collision with hysterical illogicality. ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 28 April 1979
THE POP GROUP. An enigmatic name. Not so much ironic as is often claimed, more plain cheeky. ...
The Vincent Units: Sex Against Rockism
Profile and Interview by Robin Banks, ZigZag, May 1979
"It's an amazing feeling getting up on stage and knowing that nobody expects miracles... and then sometimes one occurs" — Neal Brown, May 1979. ...
Magazine: Down in the Warehouse at Midnight
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 12 May 1979
Fresh-faced cub reporter Dave McCullough is summoned to a bizarre battle of wits with sinister mastermind Howard Devoto ...
Gang of Four: Dialectics Meet Disco
Essay by Mary Harron, Melody Maker, 26 May 1979
This is the year of the second coming of British art-rock – although the new art-rockers won't admit it. MARY HARRON strips away the modish ...
Live Review by Chris Bohn, Melody Maker, 26 May 1979
FOUR DIVERSE samples of current Mancunian Factory products: dopey comedian John Dowie; a cute pop duo called Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark; A Certain Ratio ...
Live Review by Penny Kiley, Melody Maker, 26 May 1979
pragVEC'S THIRD visit to Liverpool, and a quiet Thursday night at Eric's. A handful of people were scattered around the club to watch Penetration (playing ...
The Mekons: Songs of Innocence and Experience
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 26 May 1979
I BEAT ON the front door of a huge, decaying terrace house in Leeds. No response. Tried the bell but it was dead. Rattled the ...
The Monochrome Set: Cheap Titillation And Anti-Pop
Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 26 May 1979
THE MONOCHROME SET FIND HOW TO HAVE FUN IN AN AVANT-GARDE WORLD ...
Gang of Four: The Gang's All Here
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 2 June 1979
...WELL ALMOST, AS GARRY BUSHELL DISCOVERS DURING A DRUNKEN DISCUSSION WITH THE GANG OF FOUR ...
Throbbing Gristle: The Factory, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 2 June 1979
WHEN I WAS watching Throbbing Gristle where were you? ...
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 9 June 1979
"ROOD BOIZE" Yeah! "ROOOOODD BOOIZZZZ" Uh huh! ...
Judy Nylon, Penetration: Penetration, Judy Nylon: Hurrah, New York NY
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 9 June 1979
PAULINE KEEPS having her sentences completed for her. She'll say, "This is our current single in England, it's called..." and someone in the audience will ...
Public Image Ltd.: The Odd Combo
Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 16 June 1979
Danny Baker goes on the PiS with PiL ...
Public Image Ltd.: The Factory, Manchester
Live Review by Jon Savage, Melody Maker, 18 June 1979
A Quick One While No-One's Thinking ...
The Pop Group: Idealists in Distress
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 30 June 1979
They are young. They are talented. They are committed. They are now without a record company. "So what seems to be the problem, boys?" asks ...
The Fall: Live at the Witch Trials (Step-Forward SFLP 1)
Review by Jon Young, Trouser Press, July 1979
"I STILL believe in the r'n'r dream/R'n'r as primal scream." ...
Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures (Factory Records Fact 10) *****
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 14 July 1979
DEATH DISCO ...
Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures (Factory)
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 14 July 1979
JUST WHEN the year's vitality was threatening to be expunged by a non-stop parade of rehashed fashions, 'ordinary geezers' with French Riviera yachts and the ...
Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures
Review by Jon Savage, Melody Maker, 21 July 1979
"To talk of life today is like talking of rope in the house of a hanged man." Where will it end? ...
Red Crayola: "...THE IDEOLOGICAL FEATURES OF ANY WORK AS A FUNCTION OF CONSUMER RELATIONS...
Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 21 July 1979
...AS OPPOSED TO DEMOCRATIC ORGANISATIONAL IMPERATIVES; SECTIONAL MILITANCY AS OPPOSED TO PRIVATISED MILITANCY, OF WHICH YOU FIND A GREAT DEAL IN POP MUSIC — THE CRITICAL ...
Joy Division: The Factory, Russell Club, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 28 July 1979
TOGETHERNESS IS a quality found in few bands. In these days of the inflated ego most rock outfits tend to thrive on the opposite. The Fall, ...
Live Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 4 August 1979
Manchester city fun ...
Report and Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 11 August 1979
TRUTH, JUSTICE AND THE MANCUNIAN WAY — DAVE McCULLOUGH GETS NO JOY (INFORMATION-WISE) FROM JOY DIVISION ...
Joy Division: Take No Prisoners, Leave No Clues
Profile and Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 11 August 1979
LET ME DRAW BACK the curtains on a probably wet and no doubt freezing night last winter. A mid-week night of no special significance, save ...
The Mo-dettes: Fast, Loud, Pretty
Profile and Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 18 August 1979
MET THEM ON A Monday, the Coca Cola spilt over the tape machine, and my MRX2 Oxide 45 mins each side @ 1 7/8 i.p.s. ...
Echo & The Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes: The Teardrop Explodes, Echo & the Bunnymen: Zoo Games
Report and Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 25 August 1979
A small label at the warm end of the cold wave. The music of the Eighties! says Dave McCullough. ...
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 8 September 1979
A movement with no name... and a festival with no people (But a 'staggering event' all the same, says our man Middles) ...
Live Review by Jon Savage, Melody Maker, 8 September 1979
Angst in an East Lancs wasteland ...
This Heat: This Heat (Piano Records This 1)****
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 8 September 1979
Metallic, but not nocturnal. Knoworrimean? Probably not ...
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 8 September 1979
FOR MUCH of This Heat's album, it's difficult and at times impossible to decipher which instrument is playing what. This is some indication of their ...
Live Review by Andy Gill, Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 15 September 1979
The World's First Science Fiction Music FestivalWords: Ian Penman and Andy Gill. Pix: Kevin Cummins ...
Siouxsie & the Banshees: "They said they couldn't take the pressure"
Interview by Ronnie Gurr, Record Mirror, 15 September 1979
Siouxsie and the Banshees split. RONNIE GURR was on the spot ...
The Atrix, The Blades, DC Nien, U2, The Virgin Prunes: U2 et al: Coming up for Eire
Report by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 15 September 1979
DAVE McCULLOUGH GOES STRICTLY DUBLIN-WISE AND UNEARTHS A BUNCH OF EXCITING NEW SOUTHERN IRISH ACTS ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: Night Of The Long Knives
Report by Kris Needs, New Musical Express, 22 September 1979
IT'S IRONIC that Siouxsie and the Banshees' latest album bears the title Join Hands when half the group just ran away two dates into their ...
Buzzcocks, Gang of Four: The Buzzcocks, Gang of Four: Club 57, New York NY
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 22 September 1979
THIS IS AN interesting juxtaposition: Buzzcocks work on a high energy formula, a formula that works; Gang Of Four work away from formula – they ...
Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 22 September 1979
And keeping it there ...
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 22 September 1979
WIRE WERE from the very outset a conceptually intriguing collective, even though they bristled with a potential that was all too often offset by niggling ...
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 29 September 1979
THE LAST time I talked about the Slits was centred around a disorientating weekend in Liverpool at the beginning of this year — a shaky ...
Review by Jon Savage, Melody Maker, 29 September 1979
WRAPPED IN an abstract minimal geo-deco sleeve (all straight lines and waves, pastel shades), with its own label and a "free" 45, the third Wire ...
Gang of Four: Entertainment! (EMI)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 6 October 1979
ENVELOPED AS we seem to be by such backward times, Gang Of Four could hardly have picked a more awkward moment to foist their collectivist ...
Gang of Four: Entertainment (EMI)
Review by Jon Savage, Melody Maker, 6 October 1979
THE Four are ambitious; and so they accept the process. ...
Ludus, Swell Maps: The Factory, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 6 October 1979
THE VERY sloppy Swell Maps are presently attempting to conquer the art of turning badness into madness. Their jokey, half-formulated view of rock'n'roll is intriguing ...
The Human League: Reproduction (Virgin V2133)
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 6 October 1979
DON'T BE a dummy... Zarki looked at the cover: naked babies trampled on by adults. A cheap shock shot masquerading as message? There’s a baby ...
The Psychedelic Furs: Which One's Psycho Derek?
Profile and Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 6 October 1979
GIOVANNI DADOMO keeps tabs (Old Tripper's Joke No. 2467A) on The PSYCHEDELIC FURS ...
Buzzcocks, Joy Division: The Buzzcocks, Joy Division: Mountford Hall, Liverpool
Live Review by Penny Kiley, Melody Maker, 12 October 1979
OF IMAGES AND IDOLS ...
Interview by Chris Bohn, Melody Maker, 13 October 1979
Wire don't sit comfortably in the publicity man's gullet. They're not easily categorised, seemingly spurning the hype-market. But they do conform in one way; they ...
Cabaret Voltaire: Mix Up (Rough Trade)
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 20 October 1979
WITH MIX UP, Cabaret Voltaire transcend being simply the blueprint for a genre – the drummerless synthesizer trio – and finally get down to business. ...
The Adverts: Cast Of Thousands
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 20 October 1979
THE ADVERTS, with unforeseen stamina, have substantially matured since their early days. No longer can technical inadequacy or limited vocabulary be criticisms – just the ...
Essential Logic: The Logical Song
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 17 November 1979
DAVE McCULLOUGH FINDS THE SPIRIT OF FIFTIES JAZZ ALIVE AND WELL IN DEEPEST ACTON ...
Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 17 November 1979
CHEERFUL CHAP, TV Smith. Here we are convened together for the first time in a professional capacity, officially as some sort of obituarising process for ...
Public Image Ltd.: Metal Box (Virgin)*****
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 24 November 1979
PiLled to the gills ...
Public Image Ltd: Metal Box (Virgin Metal 1)
Review by Chris Bohn, Melody Maker, 24 November 1979
Confessions of a pop performer ...
The Pop Group, Scritti Politti: University Of London
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 24 November 1979
THE TRADITION of the angry young idealist, full of righteous fervour, self-righteous condescension towards those at odds with his or her volatile beliefs, and a ...
Public Image Ltd.: The Metal Box
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, December 1979
FRIDAY EVENING in Chelsea and I'm looking for a house, panning the street on the odd numbers side. Nearly there and a door opens. Down ...
The Raincoats: New Raincoats Don't Let You Down
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 1 December 1979
Following the sun, Palmolive washed her hands of the Raincoats. But they're back on the road, singing and playing. VIVIEN GOLDMAN took a long time ...
The Skids: A Loser's Quest For Survival
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 1 December 1979
"I'm going to lose. It's like admitting defeat before I start. But I'm going to do as much as possible in that period before I ...
Adam & The Ants: Adam and the Ants: Dirk Wears White Sox (Do-It RIDE 3)**
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 8 December 1979
DIRK MAY well wear white sox but the berk, aka Adam the Grade 'A' ham, wears his pretentions on his sleeve with his hand in ...
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 8 December 1979
Shrieks from the Grove ...
Scritti Politti: This week's literary headline... Turn Of The Scrits
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 8 December 1979
Scritti Politti are the Henry James of rock, says DAVE McCULLOUGH, THE JOURNALIST. ...
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 8 December 1979
ADAM AND The Ants and Throbbing Gristle are shadowy extremes, lurking in dark corners, lethargically scratching through their overscrubbed private parts, grinning sweetly at anyone ...
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 15 December 1979
Bleaking out is a very modern desire, reveals Phil Sutcliffe ...
Throbbing Gristle: Mouthfuls of Gristle
Profile and Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 15 December 1979
SANDY ROBERTSON goes to lunch with "the Velvets of a new age" ...
Interview by Don Snowden, L.A. Weekly, 3 January 1980
AMERICAN PUNKS strike the Gang of Four, Britain's punk agitprop band, as people who aren't quite sure what they're rebelling against. "These California surf punks ...
The Mo-dettes: Mo-Dettes: Les Bains-Douches, Paris
Live Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 5 January 1980
Fun with girls in showers ...
Au Pairs: The Au Pairs: Battle of the Sexes
Profile and Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 5 January 1980
I REMEMBER I got a letter some time ago from Ali of Another Tuneless Racket fanzine from Scotland, in which the author questioned the reasoning ...
Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 5 January 1980
JUST ABOVE my typewriter on the mantlepiece is an eye-catching tube of 10 orange flavoured effervescent tablets. Each tablet contains 1g orange flavoured concentrated Vitamin ...
Gang of Four: Family Entertainment
Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 12 January 1980
The Gang of Four expound a spot of dialectical materialism for PETE SILVERTON. ...
Pink Military: Post-Modernist Pop Music
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 12 January 1980
HOW WAS IT in Liverpool last year? "Liverpool has been great! It really has. All these ace bands coming through. A lot of the best ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 12 January 1980
West Coast comeback shock ...
The Slits: Hurrah, New York NY
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 12 January 1980
ANOTHER American debut of another new British band at Hurrah's. But this is New Year's Eve and the ticket is 25 bucks – probably a ...
Sector 27, This Heat: This Heat, Sector 27: Ritzy Cinema, Brixton, London
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 12 January 1980
I DONT KNOW what This Heat's vision of an ideal setting for their singular brand of music would be but I'd guess the Brixton Ritzy ...
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 19 January 1980
THE AWARD for the most improved band in Manchester must go to the rhythmic, pulsating, vibrating Certain Ratio. ...
The Fall: Manchester Polytechnic
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 19 January 1980
LET US all get together and cry for rock's little problem child. The Fall are a damn nuisance. They are continually prodding the music media, ...
The Passions: Eric's, Liverpool
Live Review by Penny Kiley, Melody Maker, 26 January 1980
THE PASSIONS' return to Liverpool was a pleasant surprise after their last visit, when inauspicious circumstances had clouded their performance. And another contrast was provided ...
A Certain Ratio: 'Looking For A Certain Ratio' (B. Eno)
Interview by Chris Bohn, Melody Maker, 2 February 1980
While 2-Tone revive the fashions of the Sixties, A Certain Ratio are stretching their legs towards the future. In fact, since drummer Donald Johnson joined ...
The Durutti Column: the Emaciated Line Between Art and Ambience
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 2 February 1980
Max Bell spends a day at the Factory with The Durutti Column ...
A Certain Ratio: The Graveyard And The Ballroom (Factory) ****
Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 9 February 1980
A CERTAIN Ratio (currently the hippest combo in Manchester) typify the approach, style, feel, and idealism of Factory Records. They are distant, difficult to touch ...
The Mekons: Manchester Polytechnic, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 9 February 1980
I COULDN'T believe my eyes. ...
Public Image Ltd: Lydon: Rock & Roll is Dead and He Don't Care
Interview by Kris Needs, New York Rocker, March 1980
AN HOUR of music served in a round metal tin, the twelve-inch form giving depth and punch. Once again, Public Image Ltd. have jabbed music ...
Magazine: Secondhand Daylight (Virgin)
Review by Richard C. Walls, Creem, March 1980
ONCE UPON a time — No, I'm not going to do that. It's tempting, but I really dislike record reviews that masquerade as short stories. ...
Review by Roy Trakin, New York Rocker, March 1980
PIL'S METAL BOX: THE TIN CAN HAS A HEART ...
Interview by J.D. Considine, New York Rocker, March 1980
TELEPHONE INTERVIEWS are not my favorite means of communication, but in the case of Wire (to be specific, bassist Graham Lewis), it's either that or ...
A Certain Ratio, Joy Division: Joy Division, A Certain Ratio: Osbourne Club, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 1 March 1980
TO THE centre of the city in the night waiting for Joy Division. ...
Public Image Ltd.: Is there any rust in the metal box?
Interview by Wayne Robins, Newsday, 9 March 1980
The king is gone but he's not forgotten This is the story of a Johnny Rotten It's better to burn out Than it is to ...
The Pop Group, The Slits: The Slits, The Pop Group: Roll On, Sartre's Marbles!!
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 15 March 1980
THE SLITS: 'In The Beginning There Was Rhythm'/THE POP GROUP: 'Where There's A Will There's A Way' (Rough Trade) ...
Public Image Ltd.: Lydon The Exorcist
Report by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 29 March 1980
John Lydon's back in America, as cynical as ever. He wants to forget the memories, do away with the past and rock 'n'roll. MARK COOPER ...
Interview by Deanne Pearson, New Musical Express, 29 March 1980
Exploited for the last two decades as dumb but pretty decorations in rock, some girls now demand and deserve musical respect — but some girls ...
Profile and Interview by Pete Makowski, ZigZag, April 1980
MY FIRST sojourn into the pages of this fine mag and what a balls up. Cock up amundo, mate. ...
Medium Medium, Prince Far I: Prince Far I, Medium Medium: Rock Garden, Middlesbrough
Live Review by Ian Ravendale, Sounds, 5 April 1980
Prince Far I 'a joke' claim ...
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, New Musical Express, 19 April 1980
THE 1980 FACTORY ACT ...
Public Image Ltd: Lydon In New York: The Image Goes Public
Interview by Andy Schwartz, New York Rocker, May 1980
IT IS TWO O'CLOCK in the afternoon, and John Lydon has just popped his third or fourth Heineken of the day. ...
8-Eyed Spy, Lydia Lunch, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks: Way Out West With 8-Eyed Spy
Report by Byron Coley, New York Rocker, May 1980
IF LYDIA LUNCH'S Queen Of Siam hadn't come out when it did, I'd probably still be freezin' my butt off in Ketchum, Idaho, a town ...
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 17 May 1980
THE NON-DEVOTO MAGAZINE STORY. CONFUSED? YOU WILL BE AFTER READING DAVE McCULLOUGH'S INTERVIEW ...
Young Marble Giants: Let's Hear It For Quiet Music
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 17 May 1980
Young Marble Giants come down off their pedestal to talk with DAVE McCULLOUGH ...
The Human League: Human League: The Kids Are Alright
Interview by Ronnie Gurr, Record Mirror, 24 May 1980
IT'S A BRAVE new world for young moderns and, current events considered, The Human League, look like suitable candidates for the apocalyptical Titanic dance band. ...
Public Image Ltd.: PiL in Hollywood
Report and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 24 May 1980
HUDDLED ROUND the side with a crowd of disco dancers waiting for their fifteen minutes of fame, watching a fake Doobie Brothers run through their ...
Public Image Ltd: Market Cultural Center, San Francisco
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 24 May 1980
PUBLIC IMAGE in a cultural centre — sounds arty enough to make you wonder if they've gone over the top. ...
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 14 June 1980
NOBODY EXPECTS Public Image Limited to sell massive amounts of vinyl to the American public. So to see the "Sold Out" sign on the Palladium ...
Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 21 June 1980
Following a more-than-rigorous analysis of the last Slits/Pop Group single, the twin terrors of Rough Trade challenged Ian Penman to a verbal showdown. This is his ...
Live Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 28 June 1980
THE FACTORY roadshow has taken to bringing their own clown to put on between acts, his name's Kevin Hewick and he attacks his dopey revelations ...
The Monochrome Set: Strange Boutique (Dindisc)
Review by Mick Houghton, The Face, July 1980
I STILL recall being hauled in front of the class at school where, doing my world famous impersonation of a jug-eared tomato, Mr Godber, MA ...
Echo & the Bunnymen: Bunnymen in a Handbag Factory — Crocodiles 1; Bunnymen: 0
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 5 July 1980
Dave McCullough doesn't fret as E & The B's go AoR ...
The Subway Sect, Vic Godard: Vic Godard: Young Existentialist
Interview by Mick Middles, Sounds, 5 July 1980
VIC GODARD makes Feargal Sharkey look like Gene Simmons. His normality is outrageous. When Vic Godard sits in his bedroom listening to Peter Skellern on ...
Joy Division: Closer (Factory)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 19 July 1980
Closer to the edge ...
Report and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 19 July 1980
Bassist with Arnie Prole's Blues Band! Founding member of John Cooper Clarke's Curious Yellows! Close friend of Eric the Ferret! Producer of Spiral Scratch, Jilted ...
Joy Division: Closer (Factory Records FACT XXV)
Review by Paolo Hewitt, Melody Maker, 26 July 1980
FROM THE beginning we were always dealing with something special. Joy Division, by the very nature of their set up, could never have been just ...
Siouxsie & the Banshees: Kaleidoscope (Polydor 2442 177)
Review by Rosalind Russell, Record Mirror, 26 July 1980
Siouxsie at the sharp end ...
Interview by Amy Linden, Damage, August 1980
I ALWAYS assumed that once "we the fans" began promoting and putting on shows, the bullshit would stop. I also held to the dream that ...
Gang of Four's Great Leap Forward
Interview by Jim Green, Trouser Press, August 1980
"THE IRONY of our name," says guitarist Andy Gill of Gang of Four, "is the idea that four essentially middle-class English musicians would dare to ...
Siouxsie & the Banshees: In From The Cold
Interview by Rosalind Russell, Record Mirror, 2 August 1980
ROSALIND RUSSELL INTERVIEWS; SIOUXSIE AND STEVE SEVERIN WARM UP ...
Delta 5: The Delta Of Venus: Delta 5
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 2 August 1980
"DEL-TA-5! DEL-TA-5!" is good to chant. It feels as good as "Up-Starts! Up-starts!" or "A-C-D-C! A-C-D-C!" What might surprise you is that Delta 5 — ...
The Durutti Column: Columnar Collusions
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 16 August 1980
DURUTTI FRUTTI, THE DAVE McCULLOUGH FLAVOUR OF THE MONTH ...
Killing Joke: A Regular Bundle Of Fun
Interview by Deanne Pearson, The Face, September 1980
Bass, LeadTo Tell The Killing JokeWe Mean It Max!Total ExploitationNo InformationAnonymity ...
A Certain Ratio: Failed CSE Rock!
Report and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 6 September 1980
WE LEAVE the grubby Hulme human hutch where some members of A Certain Ratio live. The view from this particular section of hutches is not ...
Live Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 6 September 1980
Bowled over by a Skid ...
Pere Ubu: "We wanna beat the art rap"
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 20 September 1980
David Thomas and Mayo Thompson tell DAVE McCULLOUGH: "We're not weird/bleak/gloomy etc" and also give him the name of an excellent tailor ...
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 20 September 1980
The squalor show goes on ...
Public Image Ltd: PiL: Rotten's Public Image is on the Mend
Interview by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 26 September 1980
A former Sex Pistol is trying to make it as plain John Lydon. Mary Harron reports ...
Delta 5, Echo & The Bunnymen, U2: Echo & Bunnymen, U2, Delta 5: The Lyceum, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 27 September 1980
ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN dwell in the magical land between life and art that is the territory of great rock'n'roll. Making music alone isn't enough ...
The Associates: Boys Keep Scoring
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 27 September 1980
THERE'S SOMETHING a little odd about Billy Mackenzie. When he was younger, he says, his friends used to think that he was crazy. Mental. ...
Bush Tetras: Sons and Daughters of No New York: Bush Tetras
Interview by Andy Schwartz, New York Rocker, October 1980
PAT PLACE: Guitar. Age 26. Born and raised in Chicago. Arrived in New York in 1975. "I was a visual art student... I came here ...
Josef K: Four shadows in search of a sunny day
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 4 October 1980
Paul Morley talks to Josef K, a soul group who define the alienation effect, it says here. ...
A Certain Ratio, New Order: Hurrah, New York NY
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 11 October 1980
Factory whistle blows in New York ...
Au Pairs: Every Home Should Have Four
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 11 October 1980
"THE TROUBLE with conversations like this," declares Pete, nodding sagely, knitting his eyebrows, as he refers to the complex peculiarities of a pop group who ...
Cabaret Voltaire, Eric Random, Take It: Clarendon Hotel, London
Live Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 11 October 1980
IN CABARET Voltaire's live spectaculars, the valuable process of disorientation begins with the uncompromising drumbeat that fires the music. No matter if you've seen them ...
Comsat Angels: Miracle Workers
Report and Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 11 October 1980
"MILKY WAY – the gig you can do between tours!" Steve Fellows, singer, guitarist and lyricist with The Comsat Angels is right. There's very little ...
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark: Techno Conservationists
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 25 October 1980
Dave McCullough bumps into Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark ...
Joy Division: A History of Joy Division
Retrospective by Mick Middles, The Face, November 1980
JOY DIVISION began life in romantically seedy surroundings. In late 1977, as the initial push of the new wave began to soften, hundreds of imitation ...
Joy Division: Letter from Britain: The Exploding Psychedelic Inevitable
Column by Penny Valentine, Creem, November 1980
"YOU CRY OUT in your sleep/And all my failings exposed," mourns Ian Curtis on the extraordinary, emotional 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'. This song, currently ...
The Birthday Party: Mick Harvey speaks
Interview by Clinton Walker, RAM, November 1980
Nine months ago, the Boys Next Door packed their ambition and what little equipment they possessed and beaded for London. They left Australia simply because ...
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, November 1980
THE ARBITRARINESS, the inconsistencies of rock tend to help arid hinder, but more hinder a band such as The Sound. It makes some look at ...
Cabaret Voltaire, Young Marble Giants, Monitor: Sokol Hall, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 1 November 1980
PEOPLE MAY complain about restrictive radio and record-company policies that stifle the development of new, daring bands, but there is a bright side. No matter ...
Report and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 8 November 1980
ROCK'S FAVOURITE SITUATION COMEDY RETURNS TO YOUR PAGES AND STAGES. SCRIPT: PAUL MORLEY ...
Bush Tetras: The Bush Tetras: Outsiders in a Sexual Jungle
Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 8 November 1980
Meet the Bush Tetras They're a New York rhythm and paranoia band. ...
Killing Joke: The Killing Of Brother Paul
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 15 November 1980
IF I HAD heard how Jaz had let Youth know that I'd arrived, I wouldn't have bothered with the interview. Photographer Ray Stevenson told me ...
Echo & The Bunnymen: Welcome To The Bunnyhouse
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 22 November 1980
WHEN ECHO And The Bunnymen end their British tour with a date at Liverpool University, the Mad Hatter photographer (Joe Stevens) and I travel up ...
ABC, Essential Bop, Restricted Code: Bristol Bop! Glasgow Pop! It's As Easy As ABC!
Profile and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 20 December 1980
LEMON SUCKING refers to the practice of sucking in the cheeks to affect the 'rock'n'roll' wasted look. Chewing, or neck bending, refers, I would suppose, ...
The Slits: And Lo, "Three Wise Slits Take Their Temple To The West"
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 20 December 1980
GAMES ON TRAINS ...
Laughing Clowns: Intensely original
Preview by Clinton Walker, The Adelaide Advertiser, 1981
One of Australia's most innovative and exciting new progressive bands, Laughing Clowns, arrives in Adelaide today for the first of four gigs, at the Tivoli ...
John Lydon, Public Image Ltd: Public Image Ltd. (1981)
Interview by Kris Needs, Rock's Backpages audio, 1981
John Lydon, Keith Levene and (a barely audible) Jeanette Lee on: the Flowers of Romance album; what was wrong with Wobble; Satin tour jackets; the Futurists & Steve Strange; problems with Virgin Records and more.
File format: mp3; file size: 41.2mb, interview length: 45' 01" sound quality: **
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 10 January 1981
MARK COOPER joins the AU PAIRS' campaign trail ...
Basement 5: 1965-1980 (Island ILPS 9641) **
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 24 January 1981
This album degrades women ...
The Passions: (Suddenly) Everybody Needs Passions... but don't mention the German film star
Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 31 January 1981
The Passions are in love with themselves. With each other. (For a week, at least.) ...
The Fall: The Prestwich Horror And Other Strange Stories
Interview by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 31 January 1981
Mark Smith of The Fall discloses fragments of the "Totale Mythos" to Edwin Pouncey. ...
Gang of Four: Outside the Bands Don't Toe the Line: Gang of Four Makes Music Their Way
Interview by Jon Young, Trouser Press, February 1981
WOULD YOU like your rock with politics or without? Today pop music offers a wide variety of choices: from the violent invective of stereotypic punk ...
The Slits: Irving Plaza, New York NY
Live Review by Andy Schwartz, New York Rocker, February 1981
AM I THE only man in the house tonight with the sudden and irrepressible urge to take Ari Up over my knee and give her ...
Live Review by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 11 February 1981
FEW GROUPS have been faced with such a heavy burden of expectation as were New Order in their London debut. This is the group formed ...
Joy Division, New Order: New Order: Heaven, London
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 14 February 1981
THE HAUNTING OF HEAVEN ...
Bush Tetras: Taking Liberties from New York, Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 28 February 1981
BUSH TETRAS will be a New York legend. They steal/save/ARE the show. They pile disorientating meditative repetition upon sparse improvisation upon tangled rhythms upon inscrutable ...
Gang Of Four: Solid Gold (EMI)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 February 1981
FINALLY GANG Of Four agree among themselves long enough to record a set of seven new songs, add on three already-released-in-some-other-form originals, come up with ...
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 28 February 1981
SIOUXSIE AND The Banshees are now one of the great British bands. There is no way to conceive just how radically they have been transformed ...
The Feelies: Irving Plaza, New York NY
Live Review by Andy Schwartz, New York Rocker, March 1981
THE FEELIES are in trouble. The Feelies are troubled. They have gained an audience (this show was as well-attended as any Irving plaza gig by ...
Delta 5, Gang of Four, Pere Ubu: Gang of Four, Pere Ubu, Delta 5: Mountford Hall, Liverpool
Live Review by Penny Kiley, Melody Maker, 21 March 1981
Firing on all Four ...
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 28 March 1981
THE ASSOCIATES' own Mackenzie renounces all evil and talks to Dave McCullough instead ...
Interview by Deanne Pearson, The Face, April 1981
Poolswinning Yorkshire musicians syndicate, Hugo Burnham, Dave Allen, Jon King and Andy Gill, pictured with the small change from their record-breaking swoop on EMI's Treble ...
Gang of Four, Sector 27: Gang of Four: Gang of Four (Warner Bros. EP); Tom Robinson: Sector 27 (IRS)
Review by Roy Trakin, Musician, April 1981
THE LAST twitches of the dying Left or the first angular thrusts of the New Right? It's your Move. The Gang of Four's solemn Marxist ...
Bush Tetras, Gang of Four, Pere Ubu: Gang Of Four, Pere Ubu, Bush Tetras: Hammersmith Palais, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 11 April 1981
FOUR BETTER OR WORSE? ...
Review by Van Gosse, The Village Voice, 29 April 1981
GANG OF FOUR called their first album Entertainment!, as if shouting from the rooftops that it wasn't. ...
Public Image Ltd.: Flowers of Romance (Virgin, import LP)
Review by Julie Panebianco, Boston Rock, 30 April 1981
FLOWERS OF Romance reminds me of this old Sid Caesar joke. He introduces a jazz musician as being "...on radar, to let us know if ...
Interview by Deanne Pearson, Smash Hits, 30 April 1981
DEANNE PEARSON DISCUSSES THE FUTURE WITH MARK SMITH, LEADER OF MANCHESTER'S MOST MILITANT COMBO. ...
Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 16 May 1981
FROM PUNK TO POMP? THE CURE PONDER THE PITFALLS OF FLOYD'S SOUND SYSTEM. CHRIS BOHN LISTENS FOR THE FLAWS ...
Throbbing Gristle Makes L.A. Debut
Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 25 May 1981
Throbbing Gristle: Veteran's Auditorium, Culver City, CA ...
Colin Newman, Wire: Colin Newman
Interview by Jim Green, Trouser Press, June 1981
"YOU CAN'T forcibly solve contradictions; you've got to allow them to work themselves out," says Colin Newman. What's a Colin Newman? Good question; he himself ...
The Raincoats: Odyshape (Rough Trade)
Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 6 June 1981
Revelations chapter II ...
Interview by Roy Trakin, New York Rocker, July 1981
Independent Thoughts From Rough Trade's Geoff Travis And Factory's Tony Wilson ...
Human Switchboard: Deft Mutants in a Telephone Booth: Human Switchboard at Walnut Hills, Dayton
Live Review by Richard Riegel, Creem, August 1981
DAYTON, OH -- "Maximum Occupancy: 110" says the sign high up on the wall of the Walnut Hills Bar, and by a conservative estimate, I'd ...
Romeo Void: It's A Condition (415 Records)
Review by Iman Lababedi, Creem, August 1981
IF YOU TORE Romeo Void's debut LP down to its essence, what you'd get wouldn't be a million miles away from a collection or torch ...
Aztec Camera, Josef K: Josef K, Aztec Camera: The Venue, London
Live Review by Leyla Sanai, New Musical Express, 15 August 1981
WHEN I entered The Venue, I expected to be bestowed with an endless soul. I wasn't, but I got a ticket instead. A choice of ...
Interview by Paul Morley, The Face, September 1981
Grey, industrial, oppressive, weird? Wrong, say the Sheffield stylists. Wrong, says our ace showbiz reporter. PAUL MORLEY (words) attempts to demystify Cabaret Voltaire's drab legend. ...
Lydia Lunch & 13.13: O.N. Klub, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Byron Coley, New York Rocker, September 1981
THE O.N. KLUB, at the very far end of the entertainment turf strung along Sunset Boulevard, has the feel of a biker's bar gone cool ...
Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 17 October 1981
FEATURING: 'Ice Age', 'Walked In Line' and The Kill' (from '77 sessions), 'Glass' (from Factory Sampler) 'Exercise One' and The Sound Of Music' (John Peel sessions), ...
Scritti Politti: Where Radical Meets Chic: Scritti Politti
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 31 October 1981
"SCRITTI POLITTI" – didn't you always wonder where their "political writings" were? I did. I always wondered whether their hearts were in their music or ...
The Slits: Return Of The Giant Slits
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, November 1981
IN 1977 THE Slits were a noisy, thrashing pupa, slashing at complacent sitcom existences and establishing themselves as an anarchistic, table-turning force. ...
23 Skidoo, Defunkt: Defunkt, 23 Skidoo: The Venue, London
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 7 November 1981
Closer to the Bone ...
Profile and Interview by Ian Birch, Smash Hits, 12 November 1981
From the underground...To the charts? We want hits, say the former cult heroes. Quite right, says Ian Birch. ...
Pigbag: Horny Boars Or Funky Hambones?
Profile and Interview by Howard Wuelfing, New York Rocker, December 1981
STILL RECOVERING from last night's celebration of the end of my first cold of the season. Ooch! Where was I? Oh yeah, I'm supposed to ...
The Cure: Three Imaginary Cures
Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, December 1981
NEW YORK — In C.S. Lewis's children's book The Last Battle, he describes heaven as a place where all the good things last forever, and ...
Scritti Politti: Suspicious Minds
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 5 December 1981
Making their way from the margins to the mainstream SCRITTI POLITTI have discovered the beauties of pop. But what took them so long? "Professor" MARK ...
The Mekons: The Mekons Story (CNT) 1982
Sleeve notes by Lester Bangs, CNT Records, 1982
THE MEKONS are the most revolutionary group in the history of rock 'n' roll. They are also the finest artists ever to have graced this ...
Poison Girls: Total Exposure (xntrix)***½
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 9 January 1982
POISON GIRLS' music doesn't tell you anything new. Barely evolved from the ugly end of punk it grinds or charges along with an oppressive grimness ...
Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 9 January 1982
Small American journalists and stout American singers... we confront the issue most music papers shy away from. In the shadows of the city of Meatloaf, ...
A Certain Ratio: Sextet (Factory Fact 55)
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 16 January 1982
A CERTAIN JE NE SAIS QUOI ...
A Certain Ratio: Sextet (Factory)
Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 16 January 1982
THE A CERTAIN RATIO anatomy of melancholy breaks down to a curdling rattle of bones, distant whistles, a few whispered words and a trickle of ...
23 Skidoo: King's College, London
Live Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 23 January 1982
GOODNESS KNOWS, it's hard enough to sit yourself high in the air and look down penetratingly at anything in rock/pop with a view to clocking ...
Fad Gadget: Fadfoolery and Frank Confessions
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 23 January 1982
Paul Morley encounters Frank Tovey on the verge of failure, and Fad Gadget on the point of hysteria. So why is this a succesful combination? ...
A Certain Ratio, Pinski Zoo: A Certain Ratio: Lyceum, London; Pinski Zoo: The Venue, London
Live Review by Richard Williams, The Times, 19 February 1982
WHO WOULD have thought, after it had been received into the White House and on to the Parkinson show, that jazz could ever again become ...
A Certain Ratio, Maximum Joy: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Leyla Sanai, New Musical Express, 27 February 1982
RATIONAL RATIO ...
Theatre of Hate: The National Youth Theatre
Interview by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, 4 March 1982
KIRK BRANDON, incisive songwriter, powerful singer and photogenic lead actor in the Theatre of Hate, is tired today. ...
Pigbag: Dr Heckle And Mr Jive (Y)
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 6 March 1982
THE ACREAGE of cloth in Pigbag's collective trousers has been measured and, I'm afraid, found wanting. This is, apparently, an issue of some importance in ...
The Fall: Hex Enduction Hour (Kamera)
Review by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 6 March 1982
OF COURSE, YOU don't actually review a Fall LP. You hover in the shadow of the aura and attempt to catch some of the sparks ...
Pigbag: Dr Heckle and Mr Jive (Y 17 LP)
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 13 March 1982
BLOW ME down and shake me round, here comes Pigbag, a tornado in your town. Yes, yes a breath of fresh air designed to move ...
Bush Tetras: Beatin' Around The Bush
Report and Interview by Julie Panebianco, Boston Rock, 18 March 1982
PRIMITIVES ...
Bauhaus: Breaking Down The Walls Of Art-Ache
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 20 March 1982
"When we heard that you were going to interview us, we came up with two possibilities: a, being physical violence, and b, being a reasoned ...
The Fall: Hex Enduction Hour (Kamera KAM 005)
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 20 March 1982
What the hex ...
Interview by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 20 March 1982
Mick Sinclair experiences some new PASSIONS ...
Live Review by Penny Kiley, Smash Hits, 1 April 1982
PIGBAG ARE 'HOT' at the moment and so are the audience — very hot. The Warehouse Club (originally a real warehouse and cosily underground like ...
Au Pairs: Equal Shares For The Au Pairs
Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, May 1982
"He works the car, she the sink She's not here to think Sits with the paper, discuss the news She doesn't have political views" 'Diet' ...
Killing Joke: Revelations (EG)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 1 May 1982
SO WHERE'S THE PUNCH LINE? ...
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 8 May 1982
COINCIDENCE AND surprise save the world from going flat! Like, the same issue of Artforum which boasts that superb Laurie Anderson flexidisc also has an ...
Gang of Four: Songs Of The Free (EMI)
Review by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, 22 May 1982
AND SO the most highly-evolved piss artists in "rock" came to release their third LP. ...
Scritti Politti: The Sweetest Groove
Interview by Lynden Barber, Melody Maker, 29 May 1982
Everything's gone GREEN, the voice of SCRITTI POLITTI tells Lynden Barber ...
New Order (For The Old Ceremony)
Report and Interview by Richard Grabel, Creem, June 1982
NEW YORK — The word had gone out through Ruth Polsky, the booking agent handling New Order's American tour. No interviews. They never do them. ...
Cabaret Voltaire: 2X45 (Rough Trade)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 5 June 1982
WHAT IS least novel – and perhaps least satisfying – about the ascendancy of synthi-pop is its dependence on romantic humanist elements. Kraftwerk's love of ...
Lora Logic: The blank(et) generation
Interview by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 5 June 1982
My temple or yours? MICK SINCLAIR asks LORA LOGIC ...
Essay by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 5 June 1982
NEW ORDER REVISED. BY PAUL MORLEY — WHO JUST COULDN'T RESIST THE... ...
Live Review by Lynden Barber, Melody Maker, 5 June 1982
HAVING SUCCESSFULLY thrown off the worst aspects of their twee post-punk amateurism with the release of the refreshing Odyshape last year. The Raincoats took several steps backwards ...
23 Skidoo — Don't Play Funky For Me!
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 12 June 1982
"You see, the people who constantly listen to pop have their ears degraded by wrong style and reiteration, senseless reiteration..."– Unity Mitford, taped on 'Porno ...
Interview by Lynden Barber, Melody Maker, 12 June 1982
HOW COULD they have known? The caption under the BBC1 column in the Sunday Times television listings for May 30 was unmistakeable. "6.10. Sense And ...
Joy Division, New Order: FAC~T or Fiction
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 12 June 1982
Dave McCullough corresponds with Factory boss TONY WILSON. ...
Rip Rig and Panic: Rip Rig & Panic
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 12 June 1982
"OH NOOOO! Look at this one! Look at Springer's head!" ...
Live Review by Penny Kiley, Smash Hits, 24 June 1982
THE GANG OF Four are one of the few groups who are almost always better on stage than on record. After a sticky patch last ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, 26 June 1982
"THERE'S 70 million people on earth." "Where are they hiding?" ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 3 July 1982
Mark Cooper throws a few questions at the brand new Pigbag ...
Live Review by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 10 July 1982
THIS IS ALMOST another case of "eat thy words", hard on the heels of Allan Jones' revelatory viewing of the Stones at Wembley. I didn't ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, 31 July 1982
UNDER THE nuclear shadow, something stirs. Looking west, it decides to reject the old men's fear and guilt. If the sands of time are turning ...
The Raincoats: Raincoats Off The Peg
Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 14 August 1982
IF ORDER is considered the new subversion, then what becomes of the untidy old subversives? They're redefined as anachronisms, treated affectionately as museum pieces or ...
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 14 August 1982
TIME FOR another recharge from my choice in chutzpah-driven indies: Neil ‘Let’s Get This Party Started’ Cooper’s Reach Out International Records (ROIR). Former booking agent ...
Scritti Politti: Songs To Remember (Rough Trade)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 4 September 1982
HERE IT IS: Scritti Politti's greatest hits. Let me assure you that this isn't a problem (I like albums with lots of singles on) and ...
Public Image Ltd: Working On A New Public Image
Interview by Julie Panebianco, Boston Rock, 22 September 1982
A GUITAR is being tuned, loudly, in the studio. Keith Levene strikes a familiar chord which quickly becomes a theme. Public Image Ltd.'s theme. ...
Pere Ubu: Song Of The Bailing Man (Rough Trade)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 25 September 1982
SONGS OF THE BORING MEN ...
Gang Of Four: The Revolution Lightens Up
Interview by J.D. Considine, Musician, October 1982
While their political passion remains undimmed, these post-punk party comrades are now using heinous capitalist tactics like great melodies, gang vocals and good humor. ...
Gang of Four: Letter Bomb for Ted Baxter: Gang of Four Out of Uniform
Interview by Laura Fissinger, Creem, November 1982
WHATEVER IT is that's doing a George Romero on the American Dream is finally starting to do it in such bastions of good life as ...
Review by Jeffrey Morgan, Creem, November 1982
IN A BUSINESS where women singers are a dime a dozen these days (and trite women singers the norm), Lydia Lunch can be proud of ...
Psychic TV: Force The Hand Of Chance (Some Bizzarre)***
Review by Ralph Traitor, Sounds, 20 November 1982
IMITATING COUNTLESS gurus before him, Genesis P-Orridge embarks here and now on a cynical and puerile journey to the heart of pantomime profundity, stopping at ...
Review by Richard Riegel, Creem, December 1982
ROMEO VOID'S Debora Iyall has said that her band's name "means there are not romantic notions here — and there shouldn't be; we are about ...
A Certain Ratio: I'd Like To See You Again (Factory)
Review by Leyla Sanai, New Musical Express, 4 December 1982
I REALLY wanted to love the new A Certain Ratio LP. After countless plays I've accepted it's not going to click the way I'd hoped. ...
The Farmer's Boys, Orange Juice: Orange Juice, Farmer's Boys: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 11 December 1982
IN THE sound ruining Lyceum even the normally wondrous Farmer's Boys have trouble. Their chirpy minimal sound gets distorted into a tinny grating which performs ...
The Danse Society, The Fall, Felt: The Fall, Danse Society, Felt: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 18 December 1982
FELT ARE hinged around guitarist and singer (in that order) Lawrence, a lovably naive, hick-ish figure from a village just outside Birmingham. ...
Elvis Costello: The Palladium, New York
Live Review by Iman Lababedi, Creem, 31 December 1982
IT HAD been 10 months since I last saw Elvis Costello; in between I'd watched him play footsie with Tom Snyder, straight man to George ...
Killing Joke: The Killing Joke Goes On (Forever)
Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, March 1983
NEW YORK—During the summer of '81, I wrote a review of London band Killing Joke's second album What's This For...! for the Village Voice; in ...
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 7 March 1983
PIGBAG surprised everybody, not least themselves, by climbing into the American charts and subsequently the British ones in 1981 with 'Papa's Got A Brand New ...
Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 9 April 1983
Maniac cab driver Chris Bohn takes you on a ride to the terminal zone with the New Zealand / Chinese alliance called SPK ...
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 9 April 1983
THE LATEST trio of ROIR cassettes expands the label's category of historical documentation – a division which offers some excuse for the fact that Reachout ...
Live Review by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 21 April 1983
Fall: Provocative, and wordy ...
The Raincoats: An Old Raincoat Will Never Let You Down
Profile and Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, May 1983
NEW YORK — After the interview is over, Ana da Silva gives me a crash course on Portugese politics. Portugal is her homeland and she ...
Cabaret Voltaire: Taxi To The Terminal Zone
Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 16 July 1983
"The way I see it is capitalism's a sponge – consider yourself to squeeze it. Squeeze it while it's here, be prepared to pick up ...
New Order: When There's No More Room in Hell: New Order Prowl the New York Streets
Report and Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 23 July 1983
In the three years since they emerged from the shadow of Joy Division, New Order have become the world's leading and most wilfully independent group. ...
Report by Mick Middles, Sounds, 30 July 1983
"How I wish you were here with me now." – New Order, 'In A Lonely Place' ...
The Mekons: Hot Club, Brixton, London
Live Review by Susan Williams, New Musical Express, 3 September 1983
NÜE VAVE! ...
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 10 September 1983
THESE DAYS the barricades are thinly manned. Back in '79 Rock was Against Everything and The Gang Of 4 provided a soundtrack of surgical firepower ...
Gang of Four: Four Get Out Their Trees
Interview by Annene Kaye, New Musical Express, 1 October 1983
ANNENE KAYE opens a branch account with the GANG OF FOUR. ...
Keith Levene, Public Image Ltd: Keith Levene: The Bitterest PiL
Interview by Julie Panebianco, Boston Rock, 11 October 1983
THE URGENT guitar playing that cuts through the rumble of 'The Public Image Theme' isn't just the sound of a guitar going through an amp. ...
Interview by Blake Gumprecht, Alternative America, Winter 1983
COMING TOGETHER in Boston four years ago, Mission of Burma's first single, 'Academy Fight Song', was released by Ace of Hearts a year after the ...
Gang of Four = Hard Men in Good Cars
Profile and Interview by RJ Smith, Creem, March 1984
"All we have in common is the illusion of being together. And the only resistance to the illusions of the permitted painkillers come from the ...
Scritti Politti: Say A Little Prayer For Green
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 10 March 1984
DEEP END, feet first. Is it true you're Mr Paranoid? ...
Public Image Ltd: PiL: This Is What You Want, This Is What You Get (Virgin)
Review by Lynden Barber, Melody Maker, July 1984
JUST when you thought you had the bugger pinned down as a spent force, a wasted opportunist and black and white photocopy of a colourful ...
Public Image Ltd.: This Is What You Want, This Is What You Get (Virgin)
Review by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 4 August 1984
DEAR JOHN, the big kiss off: ...
Box, The (UK): The Box: Great Moments In Big Slam (Go! Discs)
Review by Leyla Sanai, New Musical Express, 18 August 1984
WHEN THE old DVA clocked out in late '82, the name went one way, the spirit the other. While the new DVA went on to ...
The Durutti Column: Riverside Studios, London
Live Review by Neil Taylor, New Musical Express, 15 September 1984
SIXTY FOOT up in the Riverside gantry, amongst the clutter of microphones, lights, and soundmen, we witness the return of The Durutti Column. A grand ...
Interview by Richard Kick, ZigZag, October 1984
THE THOUGHT was: as a concise introduction into the idea of 23 Skidoo I would write a short piece about Fritz Hamaan. ...
The Mekons: Living Room, London
Live Review by The Legend!, New Musical Express, 6 October 1984
IS THIS the way to say goodbye? The last night at the Living Room, proprietor moving on to greater things, hopefully (water-bombs in Tottenham?!?), the ...
Cabaret Voltaire: Rock With The Digital Cavemen
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 17 November 1984
AS ONE Voltaire remarks, it's good weather for journalism: weary skies stuffed with rainclouds over Sheffield and its hills. After London the gentle pace of ...
The Durutti Column: Without Mercy (Factory)
Review by Martin Aston, Melody Maker, 8 December 1984
SO MUCH contemporary music strives to conquer eager hearts and incite itchy feet with bombastic crescendoes and prolific sloganeering, substituting the possible with the obvious, ...
Interview by Mick Sinclair, ZigZag, January 1985
Contemporary Note: This interview took place at Virgin Records' London HQ during the height of the year-long miner's strike (led by the National Union of ...
Live Review by Julian Henry, Melody Maker, 19 January 1985
THE LIFE IN REILLY ...
Shriekback: Funk's Fictional Threat
Essay by Simon Reynolds, Monitor, March 1985
1985, AND A GAGGLE of groups plough a well-furrowed, increasingly barren field. ...
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, June 1985
THE TWO singers, a tall fresh-faced Welshman and a soft spoken bleary-eyed Mancunian, felt trapped. ...
James, Wire: Wire, James: Bloomsbury Theatre, London
Live Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 3 August 1985
SPARKLY JAMES HARVEST ...
New Order: Low-Life (Qwest/Warner Bros.)
Review by Jon Young, Creem, September 1985
INTEGRITY OOZING from every tortured pore, England's New Order are not your usual mopesters. Although the breathy vocalizing and smooth synthesizing of Low-Life keep the ...
The Nightingales, The Prefects: Anti-Pop Songbirds: The Nightingales
Report and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Spin, October 1985
THE NIGHTINGALES ARE seasoned figures on the English independent scene, epitomizing the doggedly patient and uncompromising outsider. Five years old, they still play tiny clubs-above-pubs ...
Cabaret Voltaire: Come to Ze Cabaret!
Profile and Interview by Jon Young, Creem, February 1986
"WE'RE PROBABLY more accessible now than ever before," notes genial Richard Kirk of Cabaret Voltaire, but don't get the wrong idea. Although the Cabs have ...
John Lydon, Public Image Ltd: John Lydon: This Is What You Get
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 8 February 1986
THIS IS the beginning of an interview with the John Lydon who has drunk seven cans of Red Stripe lager, after breakfasting on oysters. ...
Cabaret Voltaire: Town & Country Club, London
Live Review by Betty Page, Record Mirror, 1 March 1986
ONE instinctively feels that a Cabs show can't be approached in the usual manner. They don't run on stage in dry ice, rib the audience, ...
Public Image Ltd: John Lydon: Apocalypse New
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 24 May 1986
SOMEBODY told me John Lydon liked a drink. And this was indeed a large crumb of comfort. Suddenly, it was possible to establish some common ...
Public Image Ltd: A Private Hour with John Lydon's Public Image
Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, August 1986
A SHAME YOU can't hear the belches with which John — but you can also call him Johnny Rotten — Lydon punctuates his conversation. Great ...
The Fall: Watching The City Hobgoblins: The Fall
Profile and Interview by Mark Sinker, The Wire, August 1986
Author's 2005 note: In which I find my voice? In between all the "important rock does this" droning. ...
A Certain Ratio: Ten Years on the Factory Floor
Interview by John McCready, New Musical Express, 10 January 1987
Can you feel the 'force'? A CERTAIN RATIO's decade of inconsistent, meandering flight between trash and flashes of brilliance may well have come to an ...
A Certain Ratio, The Fall: The Fall, A Certain Ratio: Free Trade Hall, Manchester
Live Review by James Brown, Sounds, 10 January 1987
A BRILLIANT CAREER ...
Interview by Jack Barron, Sounds, 17 January 1987
No other group creates such extreme reactions as SWANS. For some, they are a bunch of American charlatans making the worst noise in the world; ...
Interview by Martin Aston, Rock's Backpages audio, March 1987
The proto-postpunks go through their history: Graham Lewis, Colin Newman and Bruce Gilbert on making debut album Pink Flag; on their development over the subsequent Chairs Missing and 154; on touring with the Tubes and Roxy Music; on their difficulties with EMI; and on re-emerging with new album The Ideal Copy. Graham Lewis (left) answers first, followed by Colin Newman (in shades) and finally Bruce Gilbert (second from left)…
File format: mp3; file size: 44mb, interview length: 45' 47" sound quality: ***
Bodines,The, The Fall, Happy Mondays: The Fall/The Bodines/Happy Mondays: International, Manchester
Live Review by John Robb, Sounds, 2 May 1987
STRANGE HOW, these days, any gathering of vaguely well known groups always makes you think of charity and polished consciences. But tonight seemed to be ...
Review by The Legend!, New Musical Express, 2 May 1987
THE QUESTION is: should there really be a question at all? Many people hold no truck with reformations; more often than not they tarnish precious ...
Divine Horsemen: Devil's River/Mother's Worry (SST)
Review by Byron Coley, Spin, June 1987
WHILE dim bulbs and babes still a-swaddling may not be familiar with the work of Chris D, it's a fairly safe bet that most practicing ...
Interview by Jack Barron, Sounds, 6 June 1987
Or timeless as ever? Only time will tell, say WIRE, back with An Ideal Copy and not a hint of retrogression anywhere. Seconds clocked by ...
Wire: State-of-the-Art Return to Action
Profile and Interview by Howard Wuelfing, Musician, July 1987
WIRE IS back. After a "sabbatical" of some seven years, the British group released a four-song EP of new material titled Snakedrill, and The Ideal ...
Interview by Richard Grabel, Creem, September 1987
COLIN NEWMAN and Graham Lewis, of the nearly living legendary beat combo Wire, are amiable, approachable guys who nonetheless make no attempt to hide their ...
Public Image Ltd: John Lydon: I Cry Alone
Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 10 October 1987
DAY-GLO PINK mini-dreads erupt from his scalp like antennae made of candyfloss. Iceberg blue eyes stare from cigarette ash skin. A smirk. A belch of ...
Scritti Politti's Green (1988)
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, January 1988
Scritti's Green talks about making Provision, meeting Jacques Derrida, working with Miles Davis, Roger Troutman and Chaka Khan, hanging out with Kraftwerk and struggling to come up with an album title...
File format: mp3; file size: 57.7meg, total interview length: 1h 00' 06" sound quality: ****
Public Image Ltd: Public Image Limited: Happy? (Virgin)
Review by Michael Azerrad, Rolling Stone, 11 February 1988
TEN YEARS ago he was burying Led Zepplin; now he's praising it. Such are the artistic swings from Johnny Rotten (ne Lydon), professional iconoclast. Not ...
Wire: A Stitch in Time… Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Interview by Robin Gibson, Sounds, 4 June 1988
In the oddball world of unlikely pop stars WIRE — where vital organs are won playing bingo — social comment and absurdity walk hand in ...
Stump: A Fierce Pancake (Chrysalis) ***
Review by Michael Azerrad, Rolling Stone, 16 June 1988
FRESH FROM an extended engagement at the Theatre of the Absurd, Stump makes music that virtually defines the word quirky. This half-English, half-Irish quartet boasts ...
John Lydon, Public Image Ltd: PiL (1988)
Interview by Mat Snow, Rock's Backpages audio, August 1988
Live Aid? Bollocks! Mat Snow battles the airport tannoy to hear pearls of wisdom from John Lydon and band.
File format: MP3 File size: 16.1 mb<br> Interview length: 23 minute 47 seconds Sound quality: ***
Scritti Politti: That Obscure Object of Desire
Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 20 August 1988
THE MEPHISTO of sophisto, GREEN GARTSIDE, and his slightly cool vehicle SCRITTI POLITTI have once more pulled into view with their new single 'First Boy ...
Pere Ubu: The Picturesque Sound of Pere Ubu
Profile and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 28 September 1988
IS THE ROCK world finally ready for Pere Ubu? The critically acclaimed sextet from Cleveland, which finishes a two-night stand at Club Lingerie tonight – ...
Savage Republic: Republican Party Reptiles
Profile and Interview by Push, Melody Maker, 22 October 1988
IN THEIR SEVEN-YEAR CAREER, SEMINAL L.A. MUTINEERS SAVAGE REPUBLIC CLAIM TO HAVE INFLUENCED BOTH SONIC YOUTH AND SWANS. NOW THEIR ALBUMS ARE FINALLY AVAILABLE IN ...
Essay by Tim Riley, The Boston Phoenix, 7 April 1989
Why The Fall continue to rise ...
John Lydon, Public Image Ltd: John Lydon: …Heeere's Johnny!
Interview by Tom Hibbert, Q, July 1989
IN THE BAR OF the North London rehearsal studio complex, John Lydon, wearing a typically loud shirt, a pair of unorthodox dark spectacles and the ...
Review by Dave Simpson, Melody Maker, 12 May 1990
THE FLIES in the ointment return. Formed at the onset of punk, Wire's art school background was far removed from the council estate mentalities of ...
Joy Division, Tony Wilson: Division On: Joy Division
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 19 May 1990
"FUNNY. I WAS IN the car with Barney the other day and I just hit Unknown Pleasures into the CD. And Barney shouted, 'Get that ...
John Lydon, Public Image Ltd, Sex Pistols: John Lydon (1990)
Interview by Steven Daly, Rock's Backpages audio, September 1990
John Lydon, eco-warrior, talks about — among many things — rap, NWA, and the Moral Majority; Malcolm McLaren and Bernie Rhodes; ex-bandmate Steve Jones; living in Los Angeles; punks becoming the new establishment; football and his beloved Arsenal; his take on fashion; liking Pink Floyd's Dave Gilmour and offending Joni Mitchell; the current PiL and the band's previous members; on being involved in film... and being very rude about the Clash.
File format: mp3; file size: 104mb, interview length: 1h 48' 20" sound quality: ***
Interview by Paul Lester, Melody Maker, 1 September 1990
Now in their 14th year, Manchester's the Fall are still operating on rock's margins, still refusing to adhere to any consensus. But how will one ...
Psychic TV: In Thee Oblique Midwinter
Interview by Mark Sinker, City Limits, 20 December 1990
JUST LIKE a dilemma, present-day Paganism has two horns: the old lore and its new form. Except it isn't always entirely clear whether those horns ...
Interview by Steven Daly, Interview, January 1991
RESPLENDENT IN a California combo of fluorescent shorts and suntan, and crowned by a thatch of blond hair, the former Johnny Rotten answers the door ...
Gang of Four: A Brief History of the Twentieth Century (Warner Bros.)
Review by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, February 1991
IF YOU HAPPEN to own a copy of The Trouser Press Guide to New Wave Records, you can open it to just about any page, ...
The Fall: Mark E Smith: Not Falling, Soaring
Interview by Stephen Dalton, Vox, June 1991
MARK E SMITH'S REPUTATION precedes him like massed stormtroopers on the horizon. Fourteen years on, the Fall frontman still sets everyone on edge, either in ...
Interview by Jon Savage, Spin, July 1991
Pere Ubu remains one of the most influential, innovative groups to emerge from the mid-'70s American punk-new wave movement. JON SAVAGE listens to some pearls ...
The Durutti Column, Happy Mondays, Joy Division, New Order: Anthony Wilson: Renaissance Manc
Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 30 November 1991
FACTORY: aloof, elegant, misunderstood Mancunian home of Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays, possibly the coolest record label in the world — but there are ...
Joy Division: An Interview with Martin Hannett, 29th May 1989
Interview by Jon Savage, Touch-Vagabond, 1992
JS: How did you come across Joy Division? ...
The Fall: Code Selfish (Cog Sinister)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 14 March 1992
"THOUGH PROUD of the way I've avoided prison.../When the cell door slams/I walk to the wall.../These are the words of success expectation/These are the words ...
Cabaret Voltaire's Record Collection
Interview by Andy Gill, Q, June 1992
Spookily delayed trumpets, primitive drum machines, bone-shaking bass, the original "bleep" record, loads of Germans and "Elvis gone wrong". Earplugs at the ready, Andy Gill ...
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 19 September 1992
IN THE grey area between barrow-boy techno and lumpen flannel-rock, there exists a community of enthusiasts who refuse to let their output be dictated by ...
Interview by Carol Clerk, Melody Maker, 1 May 1993
THERE'S SOMETHING TREMENDOUSLY reassuring about the fact that The Fall, and Mark E Smith, exist. ...
Elvis Presley, Sex Pistols: Greil Marcus: A Surfer on the Zeitgeist
Profile and Interview by Andy Beckett, The Independent, 23 May 1993
This isn't exactly life on the edge: Greil Marcus is married, nearly 50, and lives in a nice big house in northern California. But he ...
The Raincoats: Raincoats prove that there's life after punk
Report and Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 5 April 1994
CAMBRIDGE – Backstage before their first American gig in 12 years – hey, only their fourth gig period in that time – Raincoats bassist/guitarist/singer Gina ...
The Mekons: Retreat From Memphis (Touch and Go/Quarterstick)
Review by Robert Gordon, L.A. Weekly, 26 May 1994
The Glory of Shopping and... the Mekons' pleasure pleasure ...
Interview by Mike Barnes, The Wire, December 1995
Every month we play a musician a series of records which they're asked to identify and comment on — with no prior knowledge of what ...
Young Marble Giants: Stuart Moxham on Young Marble Giants
Interview by Richie Unterberger, www.richieunterberger.com, 1997
STUART MOXHAM was guitarist and principal songwriter for the Young Marble Giants. Their 1980 album, Colossal Youth, is one of the most highly regarded indie ...
The Pop Group, Mark Stewart: The Pop Group: The Politics of Dancing
Profile and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 29 October 1998
THE POP GROUP'S life was brief and fierce. Begun in 1978, collapsing in 1980, the Bristol teenagers' insertion of black funk, free jazz, dub and ...
Joy Division: The Making Of Unknown Pleasures
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Q, November 1998
Joy Division settle into 10cc's Strawberry Studios in Stockport to record one of the greatest albums of the 70s. But Ian Curtis has just discovered ...
John Lydon, Public Image Ltd: No Future? At Least Lydon Isn't Hung Up On The Past
Report and Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 22 August 1999
JOHN LYDON – once (and probably forever) known as Johnny Rotten – does not stomp around the world in a bad mood, contrary to popular ...
Public Image Ltd: PiL: Three's Company…
Retrospective by David Stubbs, Uncut, January 2000
David Stubbs takes a shine to the mesmerising remorselessness of PUBLIC IMAGE LTD's post-punk Metal Box... ...
Retrospective and Interview by Stephen Dalton, Uncut, February 2000
THE CROWD ARE ALREADY PRETTY fired up when the steamingly drunk weirdo trapped in flashing fairy lights tosses his guitar into the audience. This is ...
Interview by David Stubbs, The Wire, July 2000
Before their drums fell silent, 23 Skidoo’s percussion-heavy apocalypses ripped away the city’s civilised surface to reveal its primitive heart. Now the long wait is ...
Profile by Stephen Dalton, Uncut, August 2000
IAN CURTIS has amassed more disciples since his death 20 years ago than he ever attracted as singer with Manchester post-punk legends Joy Division. ...
Magazine: Maybe It's Right to Be Nervous Now (Virgin, 3CDs) ****
Review by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 22 September 2000
FOLLOWING AN initial period of liberation, punk, like all revolutionary forces, soon substituted new orthodoxies for those it had blown apart. ...
Magazine: Magazine... (Where The Power Is)/…Magazine (Maybe It's Right To Be Nervous Now)
Review by Ian Gittins, Q, October 2000
IF PUNK ROCK was anti-pretension, somebody forgot to tell Magazine's Howard Devoto. ...
Howard Devoto, Magazine: Howard Devoto: Shot By Both Sides
Interview by Paul Morley, Uncut, November 2000
AND THEN, in 1976, when Howard Devoto was 24, he wrote and recorded four fast songs with the group Buzzcocks, and they became the EP ...
Retrospective and Interview by Bill Brewster, Jockey Slut, 2001
"What man is at ease in his Inn?Get out.Wide is the world and cold.Get out.Thou hast become an initiate.Get out."Aleister Crowley – 'Skidoo', chapter 23 ...
The Soft Boys: Let's hear it for the boys
Retrospective and Interview by Robert Webb, The Independent, 13 April 2001
Cambridge, 1977: the unlikely birthplace of one of the UK's most influential bands. But by 1981 they were gone. Whatever happened to the Soft Boys, ...
Scritti Politti: Epiphanies: Scritti Politti
Retrospective by Simon Reynolds, The Wire, June 2001
Simon Reynolds swoons to the sound of Scritti Politti's seditious soul music ...
Radiohead: Walking on Thin Ice
Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Wire, July 2001
Radiohead may be one of the biggest groups on the planet, but their dissenting voice and exploratory studio techniques conflict with the commercial pressure to ...
Interview by Bill Brewster, Rock's Backpages audio, 21 September 2001
Alex Turnbull and "Sketch" Martin take us from the early days in Hackney to the (2001) present day: their association with Throbbing Gristle; early influences; early releases and the band schism; The Culling is Coming and Urban Gamelan; their increasing interest in hip hop, and their Ronin Records label.
File format: mp3; file size: 78.8mb, interview length: 1h 26' 03" sound quality: ****
23 Skidoo: Seven Songs, Urban Gamelan
Review by Simon Reynolds, Uncut, November 2001
Audacious avant-funksters re-released ...
Scritti Politti: Everything's Gone Green
Retrospective by David Stubbs, Uncut, December 2001
David Stubbs on Scritti Politti's subversive pop-soul masterpiece, Songs To Remember ...
Review by Simon Reynolds, Uncut, May 2002
Digitally remastered and enhanced with two videos per disc, the Sound Of Young Coventry before The Streets ...
Interpol: Turn on the Bright Lights
Review by Devon Powers, PopMatters, 30 August 2002
I FIND SOMETHING terribly tragic about Interpol. It's more than Paul Banks' elegiac vocals, which stir my gut every time I hear them, so much ...
New Order: Move Festival, Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Manchester
Live Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, September 2002
SINCE SETTING aside old bones of contention four years ago, New Order's Indian summer has seemed one long, breathless, last-skitter-of-the-dice party. ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, 2003
AH MANHATTAN, so much to answer for – and so in vogue as a rock metropolis after decades as a Hip Hop Mecca. Yes New ...
Colin Newman, Wire: Invisible Jukebox: Colin Newman
Interview by Mike Barnes, The Wire, April 2003
Every month we play a musician a series of records which they're asked to identify and comment on — with no prior knowledge of what ...
Retrospective by Mark Paytress, MOJO, January 2004
The avant-garde post-'77 post-punk sound was a revolutionary amalgam of funk, punk, disco and reggae. Mark Paytress explains the battle plan. ...
Public Image Ltd.: Full Metal Jacket – Metal Box
Retrospective by Kris Needs, Fact, January 2004
With the curtain closed on the Sex Pistols pantomime, in 1978 a still-searing John Lydon teamed up with Jah Wobble and Keith Levene to form ...
Interview by Roy Wilkinson, MOJO, February 2004
Post-punk guitars, and looking back to go forward ...
Gang Of Four: A Brief History Of The Twentieth Century
Review and Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, February 2004
Reissued best-of follows renewed interest in scabrous post-punk politicos ...
Live Review by Frances Morgan, Plan B, June 2004
SAW LIARS TWO years ago, uncomfortable on a big stage. They looked sharp and they played sharp. I liked it a lot. They looked itchy-scratchy ...
Retrospective and Interview by Fred Mills, Harp, July 2004
THEY CALLED it rock, and boy, did Britain’s Rockpile rock-brashly, boozily, and in one regard, too, belatedly. ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, September 2004
AT NO POINT during this interview do any of us snort intoxicants off the spines of tawny hookers or clamber naked to the top of ...
The Three Johns: Three Johns: Dada for now
Retrospective and Interview by Fred Mills, Harp, September 2004
NOWADAYS, The Three Johns are often recalled as a side project of Mekons/Waco Brothers instigator Jon Langford. But during their 1982–91 tenure, the hard-rocking 3Js ...
Essay by Michael Baker, Perfect Sound Forever, November 2004
IV. Pere Ubu: Christ's Agony, Cabarets, and Scary Movies ...
The Sound: From The Lion's Mouth
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, January 2005
Great albums that have fallen off the critical radar ...
Gang of Four: The Gang's All Here – Again
Retrospective and Interview by Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, 13 January 2005
LIKE THE VELVET Underground a decade before them, Gang of Four were one of those bands who never had a proper hit but who created ...
Scritti Politti: The Sweetest Boy
Retrospective and Interview by Simon Reynolds, Uncut, April 2005
From the post-punk squat-crusties to pristine '80s pop-funkers, Scritti Politti underwent one of the most radical transformations in rock history. Uncut meets the band's mastermind, ...
Hot Hot Heat: Elevator (Sire/Warner Bros.)
Review by Will Hermes, Spin, May 2005
BACK IN THE day, new wave meant different things to different people. For some it was a way to add a little bump'n'grind to punk ...
Gang of Four: Irving Plaza, New York NY
Live Review by Jason Gross, Harp, 17 May 2005
IN 1977, A bunch of British university students formed a band, poignantly deciding to take the name of a group of disgraced communist leaders accused ...
Profile and Interview by Fred Mills, Harp, July 2005
TWO SPOTLIGHTS of solar-white intensity arc downward, one aiming stage left, the other to the right. A sudden jerk of the guitar from the illuminated ...
Book Review by Rob Young, The Wire, July 2005
PRACTICALLY EVERY city in Britain has a roster of musical hod carriers with appalling names. This exhaustive history of Sheffield's music scene is crammed with ...
Book Review by Andy Beckett, London Review of Books, September 2005
IN JANUARY 1978, the Sex Pistols, then and now the most famous punk band in the world, split up. Johnny Rotten, the band's singer, most ...
Gang Of Four play Entertainment!: Barbican, London
Live Review by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 27 September 2005
FORMED AT LEEDS University in 1977, they dragged punk's three-chord trick into a radical and subversive new direction by marrying its guitar-driven rage to funk's ...
John Lydon: John Rotten Lydon in a Few Words
Essay by Glenn O'Brien, VMan, Spring 2005
OKAY, JUST THINKING about him, I got a powerful yen to listen to John Lydon's music and as the vinyl's all out at the country ...
Book Excerpt by Mick Middles, Linsday Reade, Torn Apart: The Life of Ian Curtis (Omnibus Press), 2006
The authors of this new biography are uniquely qualified to reveal the extraordinary events surrounding the life and death of Ian Curtis. Manchester-based Mick Middles was ...
The Fall: "Excuse me, weren't you in the Fall?"
Retrospective and Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 5 January 2006
Mark E. Smith's band is legendary for its ever-changing line-up. Dave Simpson made it his quest to track down everyone who has ever been a ...
Young Marble Giants: The Big And The Small
Interview by Everett True, Plan B, February 2006
A rare audience with early Rough Trade enigmas, Young Marble Giants ...
Au Pairs: Stepping Out of Line
Retrospective and Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, March 2006
THE MIDDLE OF the first decade of the 21st century has seen a reappraisal of the music which followed punk. Not an academic, clinical exercise, ...
Profile and Interview by Fred Mills, Harp, March 2006
WHILE THREE-gal/two-guy outfit Delta 5 didn't exactly fly under the radar, its relatively brief tenure (1979-'81) meant the Leeds, England, band never got its proper ...
Wire: Tense, Nervous, Headache
Retrospective and Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, April 2006
Combining art school sensibilities and musical inability, Wire rejected punk's pub-rock posturings for driving minimalism, fewer chords and no guitar solos. With the reissue of ...
Retrospective and Interview by Fred Mills, Harp, June 2006
APRIL 1, 1977, LONDON: Onstage at punk venue the Roxy is a young quartet nearing the end of its 17-song set – which, in a ...
The Futureheads: Manchester Academy
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 7 June 2006
PACKING OUT the Manchester date of their latest British tour, the Futureheads played with just enough wit and grit to defy the formulaic mannerisms that ...
Retrospective by Fred Mills, Harp, July 2006
IT'S SOMETIME in late '77 or early '78 and yours truly is toiling away at the distribution center for North Carolina record store chain the ...
Young Knives: Everyone likes a village fête
Profile and Interview by Ben Thompson, Daily Telegraph, 19 August 2006
The Young Knives dress like farmers and celebrate rural life. Ben Thompson welcomes the sound of agrarian post-punk ...
Guide by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, December 2006
The revolutionary, still-smokin' independent. ...
Spear Of Destiny: Grapes Of Wrath
Sleeve notes by Alex Ogg, Anagram, 2007
THE FOUNDATIONS of Spear Of Destiny can be traced back to 1978, when Kirk Brandon replaced bass player Jerry Isles in Devon punk band The ...
Young Marble Giants: Colossal Youth/Collected Works
Sleeve notes by Simon Reynolds, Domino Records, 2007
POSTPUNK AND "perfection" rarely went together. This was an era of experimental over-reach, of bands catalysed by the punk do-it-yourself principle attempting to expand the ...
The Fall: Becks Induction Hour
Retrospective and Interview by John Doran, Record Collector, May 2007
After a career that has included 26 studio albums, 50 compilation albums, 50 singles and 40 line-up changes, you might think it was hard to ...
Public Image Ltd: PiL: Heavy Metal
Retrospective by Simon Reynolds, Frieze, November 2007
As a new book on Public Image Ltd shows, the influence of their 1979 album Metal Box stretches far and wide ...
Joy Division: Torn Apart: The Legend Of Joy Division
Retrospective and Interview by Paul Lester, Uncut, November 2007
One of Britain's most influential bands is now the subject of a compelling new film. Paul Lester talks to Peter Hook, Stephen Morris and Bernard ...
Book Review by Ben Thompson, The Independent, 16 December 2007
HOW BETTER to salve the pangs of remorse induced by a season of over-indulgence than by voraciously consuming the reminiscences of those whose lifestyles make ...
Joy Division: The Joy Division Industry
Comment by Chris Roberts, The Quietus, 10 April 2008
More offcuts from the Factory ...
Public Image Ltd: PiL: The Making Of 'Public Image'
Retrospective and Interview by Nick Hasted, Uncut, October 2008
With old scores to settle, John Lydon kicked off his post-Pistols career with an explosive first single. "Some say it's dub, but we all loved ...
The Monochrome Set: Remembering the Band that History Forgot
Retrospective by John Robb, The Guardian, 9 January 2009
THERE HAVEN'T been many bands like the Monochrome Set. They should have been absolutely massive, but instead were sidelined by their post-punk peers and were ...
Magazine: "These gigs are a cherry on a cake"
Report and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 20 February 2009
THE ONE-TIME "most important man in pop" made a quietly triumphant comeback last week. Howard Devoto's Magazine, missing since 1981, were the most uncategorisable band ...
Magazine: The Making of 'Shot By Both Sides'
Retrospective and Interview by Nick Hasted, Uncut, March 2009
Powered by a razor-riff, nihilist lyrics, some classic-rock chops and an infamous showing on Top Of The Pops, this ferocious anthem was the closest thing ...
Do It Yourself: The Story of Rough Trade (dir. Chris Wilson)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Alex Ogg, The Quietus, 10 March 2009
Quietus scribe Alex Ogg, who's currently writing a book on the history of the independent label, makes a brew and settles down in front of ...
Report and Interview by Pat Long, The Guardian, 2 May 2009
New wave oddballs Devo used to warn that consumerism was crumbling. Now they're back to say we told you so. Pat Long tips his funny ...
Joy Division: The Right Way To Remember Joy Division
Essay by Jude Rogers, The Quietus, 9 July 2009
As Unknown Pleasures reaches its 30th anniversary, Jude Rogers looks behind the commercialisation and Paul Morley's jowls at Joy Division's eternal truth ...
Interview by Alex Ogg, The Quietus, 31 July 2009
FOUR DECADES after its release, the Young Marble Giants' Colossal Youth remains one of the independent/post-punk boom's most wondrous creations; lean, uncluttered yet emotionally stirring. ...
Public Image Ltd: John Lydon: 'PiL lets me express proper emotions'
Retrospective and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 6 September 2009
ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1978, almost exactly a year after the implosion of the Sex Pistols while on tour in San Francisco, the artist formerly known ...
Gang of Four: Andy Gill meets Andy Gill
Profile and Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 17 September 2009
After 30 years of being mistaken for him, The Independent's music critic Andy Gill meets the Gang of Four's Andy Gill to discuss a shared ...
Jah Wobble: The Bass Leviathan, In His Own Words
Interview by Lois Wilson, MOJO, October 2009
How would you describe yourself... ...
Review by Everett True, bbc.co.uk, October 2009
This is as good as can be expected – and fortunately, that is pretty good. ...
Interview by Lois Wilson, MOJO, November 2009
Post-punk's dissonant game changers return to inspire again. ...
Public Image Ltd: Academy, Birmingham
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, December 2009
EVEN IN A YEAR overstuffed with middle-aged rockers milking cash-in comebacks, the return of Public Image Ltd feels like a genuine cultural event. ...
Public Image Ltd: PiL: Metal Box/Plastic Box
Review by Mike Diver, bbc.co.uk, 3 December 2009
Landmark post-punk album remastered for its 30th anniversary. Plus, 1999 4-CD box set re-issued. ...
The Feelies: Rick Moody Interviews the Feelies
Interview by Steven R Rosen, Blurt, 10 December 2009
The celebrated novelist and Wingdale Community Singers rocker interviews his favorite band. Blurt takes notes. ...
Public Image Ltd, O2 Academy, Birmingham****
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 16 December 2009
Difficult, honest and angry, Lydon pushes at the limits ...
Lonelady: Paul Morley's showing off … Lonelady
Profile and Interview by Paul Morley, The Guardian, 22 January 2010
Paul Morley meets Warp's new Mancunian signing Lonelady, who he would never tip as the next big thing, but might, for those missing a certain ...
John Lydon, Public Image Ltd, The Sex Pistols: John Lydon
Interview by John Doran, The Stool Pigeon, March 2010
IN CALIFORNIA WE MEET a traveller from an antique land. On two scrawny legs – KFC issue – he stands. He has a shattered look. ...
Joy Division: "Ian was a normal, happy guy. We didn't know he was approaching his breaking point…"
Retrospective and Interview by Stephen Dalton, Uncut, March 2010
Thirty years ago, Joy Division arrived in London. Their mission: to escape Manchester, have a laugh and make a classic second album. Now, Bernard Sumner, ...
Public Image Ltd: Dear John: Public Image Ltd
Interview by Ken Scrudato, Filter, May 2010
WAY BACK in 20th Century England, a gang of four insurrectionist-minded punk motherfuckers were to be found causing such an anarchic, subversive uproar as to ...
Report and Interview by Stephen Dalton, The Times, June 2010
FOUR DECADES SINCE Devo first donned their matching overalls and began their assault on the pop mainstream, America's original disco-rock Dadaists are back. ...
The Flying Lizards: The Fourth Wall (RPM)
Sleeve notes by Kieron Tyler, RPM Records, September 2010
THE PUNK BOOM opened doors and ears, allowing the off the wall, the experimental and the challenging a platform. Much of what leaked out has ...
Manic Street Preachers: Postcards From A Young Man
Review and Interview by David Quantick, Uncut, October 2010
Their 10th album is a glam belter, full of fire and thunder, gospel choirs and orchestras. But still not pompous, says David Quantick ...
Gang of Four: Old punks, new Content
Profile and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 20 January 2011
Post-punk masterminds Gang of Four are back with their first new recorded material since their 2004 return to action. But why does it come packaged ...
Viv Albertine: Self-Portrait: Viv Albertine
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, March 2011
I DESCRIBE MYSELF as… Vivacious. Vindictive [laughs]. Vain. Vociferous. Someone attempting to be honest but probably failing miserably. Mostly because of all the conditioning that ...
The Feelies Get Perpetually Nervous All Over Again
Report and Interview by Evelyn McDonnell, The Village Voice, 30 March 2011
SOME PEOPLE pick up guitars and want to be rock stars. Other people pick up guitars because playing music is a cooler hobby than collecting ...
Romeo Void: Altruist and shout: Romeo Void: Benefactor (Columbia 1982)
Review and Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, May 2011
Retrieved from the slip road fly-tip of rock, new wave unease and dissent beloved of Queens of the Stone Age. ...
The Ghost of Roland Barthes is Suitably Perplexed: NME in the Post-Punk Era
Book Excerpt by Pat Long, Portico Books, March 2012
NOTE: In this excerpt from his History of the NME, published in the UK by Portico, Pat Long chronicles the decline of the world's top ...
The Pop Group, Mark Stewart: Bristol Fashion: Mark Stewart of the Pop Group's 13 Favourite Albums
Interview by Julian Marszalek, The Quietus, 22 March 2012
Julian Marszalek talks to post-punk agitator Mark Stewart about his 13 favourite albums. ...
Review by John Calvert, The Quietus, 26 April 2012
THERE’S HIGH comedy afoot on the old web-machine these days. Press attempts to answer the question "What are Death Grips?" have taken a turn for ...
Joy Division: Peter Hook: Unknown Pleasures – Inside Joy Division
Book Review by Andy Beckett, The Guardian, 19 September 2012
Andy Beckett on a raw, surprising account of the classic post-punk band ...
My Bloody Valentine: The Echo Of Youth: My Bloody Valentine live
Live Review by John Calvert, The Quietus, 30 January 2013
John Calvert takes his teenage dreams down to the Brixton Electric for a rare intimate gig by My Bloody Valentine. ...
James Chance & the Contortions: Hello Goodbye: James Chance & the Contortions
Interview by Mike Barnes, MOJO, February 2013
Start: punk jazzers picked for their looks. End: the boss alienated them ail... ...
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 8 November 2013
A MANIFESTO-LIKE poster hung from the doorway when Savages played their biggest London show to date. "Our goal is to discover better ways of living ...
Chrome: Half Machine From The Sun (King of Spades)
Review by Frances Morgan, The Wire, January 2014
CHROME's Alien Soundtracks and Half Machine Lip Moves were released in 1978 and 1979, which makes them contemporaries of Mad Max, Philip K Dick's VALIS, ...
Echo & The Bunnymen, Ian McCulloch: Echo & The Bunnymen
Interview by Paul Lester, Record Collector, June 2014
Post-punk marvels Echo & The Bunnymen are back — and Ian McCulloch is older, wiser, and far less inclined to boost his own legend. Yeah, ...
Interpol on supermodels, surfing and (not) hanging out with the Strokes
Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 28 August 2014
THINGS HAVE CHANGED on the eve of the New Yorkers' fifth album, El Pintor. Not only is it their first without bassist, Carlos D, they ...
The Pop Group: The Oral History of the Pop Group: The Noisy Brits Who Were Too Punk for the Punks
Interview by Richard Gehr, Rolling Stone, 7 November 2014
While London was calling, these Bristol teenagers responded with dub, avant-jazz and noise — and inspired everyone from Nick Cave to Nine Inch Nails. ...
The Pop Group: Have the Pop Group finally become a pop group?
Retrospective and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 26 February 2015
Bristol's post-punk provocateurs have released Citizen Zombie, their first album for 35 years. In 1975, they drew on dub, free-jazz and Baudrillard; 2015 finds singer ...
Lizzy Mercier Descloux: Rockfort: Remembering Lizzy Mercier Descloux
Retrospective by David McKenna, The Quietus, 10 September 2015
David McKenna looks back at the life of Parisian poet, painter and post punk musician, Lizzy Mercier Descloux. ...
Interview by Neil Kulkarni, The Wire, October 2015
Cassette culture veterans Storm Bugs look forward to fabricating the past ...
Savages' Jehnny Beth on new album Adore Life
Interview by Pip Williams, Coup De Main, 23 January 2016
Savages blazed into the post-punk scene in 2011, releasing the distinctive and menacing debut album Silence Yourself less than two years later. As we begin ...
Hot Chip, Thurston Moore, This Heat: This Is Not This Heat: Cafe Oto, London
Live Review by Luke Turner, The Guardian, 14 February 2016
Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor and Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore joined the experimental lineup for a night of fresh and focussed sounds ...
Barry Adamson: "I've been called the outsider's outsider"
Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 15 February 2016
The Bad Seeds and Magazine bassist on writing music for David Lynch, being ignored by Morrissey and moving to Moss Side to recuperate after the ...
Vivien Goldman: Do Everything Yourself: The Lessons Of Punk Renaissance Woman Vivien Goldman
Profile and Interview by Evelyn McDonnell, Record, The (NPR), 21 July 2016
ON JUNE 29, 64 years after the day she was born in London to Jewish parents who had fled Nazi Germany, Vivien Goldman was back ...
Drowners' Matt Hitt on their new album, On Desire
Interview by Pip Williams, Coup De Main, 10 October 2016
Drowners burst onto the indie-rock scene in early 2013, quickly attracting attention with their classic sound and charismatic line-up. Since the release of their debut ...
Retrospective by Simon Reynolds, Pitchfork, 1 November 2016
PIL'S SECOND ALBUM, Metal Box, is a near-perfect record that reinvents and renews rock in a manner that fulfilled post-punk's promise(s) to a degree rivalled only ...
Interview by Jason Gross, Perfect Sound Forever, December 2016
Sue Gogan Interview Part 1 (we hope) ...
John Lydon: Mr Rotten and the Weaponry of Words
Interview by Julian Marszalek, Gigwise, 6 March 2017
John Lydon opens up about 40 years of lyric writing ...
Review by Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 13 March 2017
"BRING BACK the neo-libs, I'm sorry/I didn't fuckin' mean to pray for anarchy!" apologizes Jason Williamson, sort of, on 'Carlton Touts', a hot rant about ...
Morrissey, The Smiths: The Smiths: The Queen is Dead
Review by Simon Reynolds, Pitchfork, 22 October 2017
Newly reissued as a boxed set, the Smiths' 1986 masterpiece still stands as an enduring testament to England in the '80s, the complex relationship between ...
Shame: Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 11 April 2018
The young Londoners make no bones about thieving ideas from other bands, but their blend of intense rhythms and sarcastic banter is unique. ...
Live Review by Graeme Thomson, Mail On Sunday, September 2018
THERE IS no better time for Matt Johnson to revivify The The after 20 years. The themes of his Eighties and early Nineties material feel ...
Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 27 February 2019
Sleaford Mods new album is a huge leap forward and a welcome exploration of the nuances of masculine identity, says Luke Turner ...
Book Review by Clinton Heylin, The Spectator, 8 June 2019
The post-punk band were great performers. But they sold very few records, and their lead singer committed suicide aged 23 ...
Pere Ubu: An interview with David Thomas
Interview by David Stubbs, Record Collector, October 2019
"I'VE DIED TWICE in the last two years," says David Thomas, co-founder and lead singer of Pere Ubu, in the living room of his Brighton ...
Retrospective and Interview by Ken Scrudato, BlackBook, 18 February 2020
THE CULTURAL landscape is littered with the faded memories of those who came and went without the honours corresponding to the levels of their actual ...
Morrissey, The Smiths: The Cult Of Steve: Morrissey Live At Wembley Arena
Live Review by John Calvert, The Quietus, 17 March 2020
John Calvert is dragged by his lifelong Smiths fan girlfriend to Wembley — but will he finally see what all the fuss is about? ...
Retrospective and Interview by Richie Unterberger, Please Kill Me!, 19 August 2020
Influenced by the punk scene centered at Mabuhay Gardens, and the fun, bohemian spirit of a city that was, back then, an affordable place to ...
Working Men's Club: Working Men's Club (Heavenly)
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 2 October 2020
The West Yorkshire band take the stark electronics of the post-punk scene and warm them with Detroit techno and Italian house – while addressing Andrew ...
Basement 5's 'The Last White Christmas' – still essential after 40 years
Retrospective by Tim Cooper, Louder Than War, 23 December 2020
Basement 5 belong on any post-punk playlist, if only for their timeless 1980 single 'Silicon Chip'. And their mostly-long-forgotten 'Last White Christmas' would liven up ...
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