Bruce Dessau
Bruce Dessau wrote for the New Musical Express in the 1980s. He also wrote for Jamming and The Face and was a columnist for Blitz magazine and Music Editor of City Limits before going on to write about music for The Guardian, Observer, The Independent and other national newspapers. He has contributed to a number of books about 1980s post-punk pop culture and is the author of George Michael: The Making of a Superstar. Today he mainly covers the comedy waterfront, but still writes about music occasionally for theartsdesk.com.
31 articles
List of articles in the library
Microdisney: Half Moon, Herne Hill, London
Live Review by Bruce Dessau, New Musical Express, 6 October 1984
ZIT HITS! ...
Screaming Blue Messiahs: The Screaming Blue Messiahs, Rhythmic Itch: Rock Garden, London
Live Review by Bruce Dessau, New Musical Express, 6 October 1984
WHAT A grotty emporium is the Rock Garden! What does the name conjure up but images of a pile of stones where there should be ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Pastels: Creation Records: Lions In Our Own Garden
Report and Interview by Bruce Dessau, New Musical Express, 3 November 1984
BRUCE DESSAU rustles the roster of London's pop-punk indie, CREATION RECORDS ...
New Model Army: Marquee, London
Review by Bruce Dessau, New Musical Express, 4 May 1985
FROM THE AUDIENCE (predominantly young, male, long-haired and rather ugly) to the band (older, male, longhaired and rather ugly) there is the kind of mutual ...
That Petrol Emotion: Thames Polytechnic, Woolwich
Live Review by Bruce Dessau, New Musical Express, 1 June 1985
PUMP IT UP! ...
Shriekback: Pearls Before Spine: Shriekback: Embassy, London
Live Review by Bruce Dessau, New Musical Express, 10 August 1985
WHENEVER I used to hear the name Shriekback, my imagination would immediately thrust out a picture of Kalahari bushmen bedecked in Walkmans. ...
Profile and Interview by Bruce Dessau, Jamming!, September 1985
THE BESTOWING of the term "scene" on a city's musical activity is invariably ill advised. In most areas of large populations (and sadly but inevitably) ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Bruce Dessau, Blitz, September 1986
THE PRINCELY PROCEEDINGS commence with a scene of such steamily symbolic eroticism you almost expect the censor's stamp to come crashing through the screen. ...
Mary Coughlan: Palladium, London
Live Review by Bruce Dessau, New Musical Express, 28 November 1987
WHEN YOU'VE swiftly established yourself as a cult singer of pretty impressive status there's only one direction you want to go, and that's mainstream. It's ...
Eric B. & Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Mantronix: Taking the Rap
Report and Interview by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 5 August 1988
Club violence and the whiff of gunsmoke are accompanying rap's rise to prominence in the United States. Bruce Dessau reports ...
Philip Glass, S'Express: S'Express: Disorderly House
Profile and Interview by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 17 March 1989
Mark Moore and S'Express have taken British music one step beyond the Acid House formula. Bruce Dessau reports ...
Interview by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 12 May 1989
Matt Johnson tells Bruce Dessau how he's managed to mix pop and politics ...
Gloria Estefan: Estefan in Exile
Profile and Interview by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 15 September 1989
Bruce Dessau on the singer hailed by President Reagan as the capitalist face of communist Cuba. ...
Inspiral Carpets: Larger Than Life
Interview by Bruce Dessau, i-D, July 1990
Two years ago, Oldham's Inspiral Carpets were just about filling the Cricketers pub in South London. This spring, their album Life sold over 200,000 copies ...
The Time: Time without the Prince
Profile by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 31 August 1990
MOST BANDS that get together after solo careers do so to cash in on their past. If the Minneapolis band the Time had wanted to ...
Janet Jackson: Janet takes her video on tour
Report by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 19 October 1990
JANET JACKSON'S first solo tour has crossed the globe on its way to the UK — not without some hitches. One member of the entourage ...
Charlatans, The (UK): The Charlatans: Independents have their day
Profile and Interview by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 23 October 1990
TWELVE months is a long time in pop music. This time last year The Charlatans had never made a record. They could only boast that ...
Was (Not Was): The Was bros who weren't
Interview by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 3 January 1991
Middle-class Jewish boys from Motor City, Was (Not Was) have set out to show that white men can make soul music. Bruce Dessau reports ...
Interview by Bruce Dessau, Vox, April 1991
Lenny Kravitz doesn't want an image. It's music that matters. He'd rather be in a studio and miserable than outside having fun. Bruce Dessau tracked ...
808 State: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 15 April 1991
WHILE Manchester's club culture is rent asunder by rave-dazed apathy and internecine drug wars, the bands that made the scene move on. Happy Mondays are ...
MC Hammer: Hammering pop peace and Pepsi
Profile by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 2 May 1991
IF ANYONE was still sceptical about the mainstream of rap, a quick glance at MC Hammer's considerable commercial achievements will soon put them right. His ...
The Pixies: Road To Gnomewhere
Interview by Bruce Dessau, Vox, July 1991
The Pixies are in L.A. Charles Michael Kitteridge Thompson IV is driving his dirty yellow caddy fast. With the stereo playing loud. Bruce Dessau thumbed ...
Cath Carroll: Home is where the heart is
Profile and Interview by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 31 July 1991
With the release of her rhythmic debut album, England Made Me, Cath Carroll crosses from punk past to Latin future, as Bruce Dessau reports ...
Interview by Bruce Dessau, Vox, September 1991
Lloyd's Cole's new album has more strings on it than an episode of Thunderbirds. In an Irish TV studio, as an orchestra tunes up, Bruce ...
British Electric Foundation: The Soul World In His Hands
Interview by Bruce Dessau, Vox, October 1991
It's taken Martyn Ware nine years and a good lawyer to make The British Electronic Foundation's second album, a compilation of soul classics "interpreted" by ...
Wet Wet Wet: Sweat Sweat Sweat
Interview by Bruce Dessau, Vox, November 1991
Clydeside's best are not just Level 42 in kilts, as Bruce Dessau discovers. When their last album failed to go mega platinum, the band found ...
The Rolling Stones: Bradford rolls away the Stones: At the Max
Film/DVD/TV Review by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 30 January 1992
Bruce Dessau reports on a Rolling Stones concert film — the first to be shown on IMAX ...
The Sugarcubes: Still Crazy after all these Beers
Report and Interview by Bruce Dessau, Vox, February 1992
IF IT'S 4.30 on a Friday afternoon, it must he Reykjavik. Actually, it turns out to be Keflavik, 40 minutes away from Iceland's capital city ...
The Wedding Present: Staying Single
Interview by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 20 February 1992
Bruce Dessau meets a band who bizarrely believe that 45s are still cool ...
Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine: Carter USM: Stars of the Singlets Market
Report by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 21 May 1992
Never mind the music, it's the T-shirt that counts these days. Bruce Dessau reports ...
Flight of the Conchords: O2 Arena, London
Live Review by Bruce Dessau, The Evening Standard, 21 June 2018
BRET MCKENZIE and Jemaine Clement were supposed to play their first London tour dates in seven years in March but then Bret rather inconsiderately tumbled and ...
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