Caitlin Moran

Caitlin Moran began her career as a journalist for Melody Maker at the age of 16. She is the author of the bestselling How To Be A Woman. She is a broadcaster, TV critic and columnist at The Times, where she writes three columns a week: one for the Saturday Magazine, a TV review column, and the satirical Friday column "Celebrity Watch". She is married to RBP contributor Peter Paphides, with whom she has two daughters.
89 articles
List of articles in the library by artist
American Music Club: 'I'm An Ant'
Interview by Caitlin Moran, Melody Maker, 3 September 1994
Yup, Sultan of Sorrow and Mr Low Self-Opinion Mark Eitzel of American Music Club — arguably the most exquisitely miserable band on the planet — ...
Carleen Anderson: Only too willing to surrender
Interview by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 10 June 1994
For years Carleen Anderson thought she had avoided giving in to music. But the tunes in her head proved just too strong to resist ...
Review by Caitlin Moran, Melody Maker, 19 October 1996
The first Baby Bird-as-a-band album is hideously lovely... ...
Babyshambles, Pete Doherty, The Libertines: Babyshambles: Grow up, for Pete's sake
Comment by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 17 December 2004
Fans deify Pete Doherty for his 'old school' hedonism. Actually, he's a tragic junkie du jour ...
Gary Barlow, Take That, Robbie Williams: Gary Barlow and Robbie Williams: New Labour v Militant
Report by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 12 July 1996
IT IS HARD to believe, but there are children young enough not to remember last year's Blur v Oasis wars. Children who will have to ...
The Beastie Boys: The Filofax Of Life
Interview by Caitlin Moran, Melody Maker, 25 June 1994
Beastie Boys have recovered from years of being f***ed about by record companies to build their very own self-contained business empire. They've also just made ...
Belly full of love and compassion
Interview by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 20 March 1993
Fame, birth, temptation and dead cats are all grist to Belly's mill. ...
The Bluetones: Return To The Last Chance Saloon (Superior Quality Recordings) ***
Review by Caitlin Moran, Select, May 1998
This album contains the immortal line, "Maybe the sky will fall/And maybe kill us all/Or just the very tall". ...
The Boo Radleys: Tivoli, Dublin
Live Review by Caitlin Moran, Melody Maker, 29 January 1994
COMING UP GIANT-SICED ...
The Boo Radleys, Bros, McAlmont & Butler, Menswear, Pulp: A simply divine madness
Memoir by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 2 June 1995
How an obnoxious teenager, revelling in the obscurity of her pop passions, met Bros in the supermarket aisle to Damascus ...
Interview by Caitlin Moran, Melody Maker, 27 May 1995
"There is no name yet for the places he or his voice can't go..." They said that about Sixties archangel Tim Buckley and they're saying ...
Jeff Buckley: Hero of the midnight hour
Interview by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 5 May 1995
Caitlin Moran tries to find out why Jeff Buckley has dreams about having his skin flayed by a mad sculptor ...
Chumbawamba: 69 Club, Wolverhampton
Live Review by Caitlin Moran, Melody Maker, 8 February 1992
CHUMBAWAMBA leap on stage and say "We're Chumbawamba and we're from Leeds". ...
Kurt Cobain, Nirvana: Kurt Cobain: Nirvana just wasn't enough
Obituary by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 15 April 1994
What do you do when your dreams come true, and they're not quite like you planned? For Kurt Cobain, the pain of fame became too ...
Interview by Caitlin Moran, Select, May 1998
All-singing? All-dancing? You're joking. By rights, Cornershop should be basking in their new-found celebrity — instead, Tjinder and Ben are either crying into their pints ...
Interview by Caitlin Moran, Melody Maker, 18 September 1993
Curve's new album, Cuckoo is a blood-curdling riot of pain and paranoia. So, it would seem, are Curve's lives. As CAITLIN MORAN finds out when ...
The Divine Comedy: Champagne Casanova
Interview by Caitlin Moran, Melody Maker, 22 June 1996
THE DIVINE COMEDY are this year's finest purveyors of unlucky-in-love pop — this year's Pulp, in other words. Which makes mainman NEIL HANNON, the new ...
Pete Doherty: For Pete's Sake, Let's Hope There's No Snow At Christmas
Comment by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 27 November 2006
I WONDER what Pete Doherty will be doing for Christmas? I know you're wondering, too. It is a poser. While it's difficult enough being a ...
Pete Doherty: Glastonbury: Rubbing shoulders with stars after noodles and chips
Report by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 27 June 2005
It is not Cannes, but our correspondent says she could have done with a yacht. ...
Report by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 21 March 2003
Dollar's David Van Day continues to entertain — but not by singing ...
Stephen "Tin Tin" Duffy: The Rise, Fall, Rise, Fall and Rise of Stephen Duffy
Retrospective and Interview by Caitlin Moran, The Word, March 2006
He was the founder of Duran Duran whose idealistic visions never quite chimed with the times. CAITLIN MORAN charts the Lazarus-like multiple recovery of the ...
Bob Dylan, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Robbie Williams: The Holy and Sacred thoughts of His Bobness
Book Review by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 11 December 2004
THE GREATEST music book this year, of course, is Bob Dylan's Chronicles, Vol. 1 (Simon & Schuster, £16.99; offer £13.39) — a cultural event so notable ...
Interview by Caitlin Moran, Melody Maker, 19 June 1993
East 17 are the Take That it's okay to like, the pop-rap posse from Walthamstow admired by alternative types and screaming teenies, and — fact ...
Interview by Caitlin Moran, Melody Maker, 18 February 1995
These Animal Men, eat your heart out! Beatbox popsters EMF were Number One in America when their average age was 20, they were on the ...
EMF: Nice boys with epic talent
Interview by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 10 October 1992
EMF have left behind their teeny-bop image for something more meaningful, writes Caitlin Moran ...
Faith No More: King For A Day… Fool For A Lifetime (Slash)
Review by Caitlin Moran, Melody Maker, 11 March 1995
Faith No More apparently expect us to take their funk-metal Queen-isms seriously. Not CAITLIN MORAN. When the shit hits the fan, they just make her ...
The Mike Flowers Pops: A Groovy Place (London 10 tks/35 mins)
Review by Caitlin Moran, Melody Maker, 22 June 1996
MY INSIDER from the world of 'ardkore E-Z Listening informs me that Mike Flowers is "faux", but pleasant enough if you're whammed off your tits ...
Happy Mondays: It's a very happy Monday for Bez
Report by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 24 January 2005
Victory for the man who tried to escape Celebrity Big Brother. ...
Hole, Courtney Love, Nirvana: Courtney Love: Hole in One
Interview by Caitlin Moran, Melody Maker, 19 February 1994
Hole are, to all intents and purposes, Courtney Love. And Courtney Love is a one-woman spite factory, spewing out bile and savaging anyone who dares ...
Hole, Courtney Love, Nirvana: It's True, I Did Kill Kurt Cobain
Memoir by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 5 April 2004
It is ten years since the rock icon shot himself. This critic recalls meeting with his wife, Courtney Love, shortly before his death ...
Chrissie Hynde, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Suede: Suede: The Grand, Clapham, London
Live Review by Caitlin Moran, Melody Maker, 24 July 1993
THERE'S A JARMAN... WAITING IN THE WINGS ...
Jane's Addiction: The emperor's old clothes: Jane's Addiction: Kettle Whistle (WEA) **
Review by Caitlin Moran, Select, January 1998
The Prodigy, Nirvana — Jane's Addiction invented them. Pity their "comeback" album's a diabolical anti-climax ...
Kaiser Chiefs: Hail to the Chiefs, as Americans say
Interview by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 1 July 2005
The only British act appearing in Philadelphia will be Leeds lads, the Kaiser Chiefs. Caitlin Moran traded bons mots ...
Kenickie: Kamikaze! Karaoke! Kenickie!
Interview by Caitlin Moran, Melody Maker, 9 November 1996
KENICKIE may barnstorm through life like kamikaze karaoke kids, but there's sadness in their madness ...
Ed Kuepper: This is the Magic Mile (Hot Records)
Review by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 16 December 2005
...
Kylie Minogue: Kylie Minogue (Deconstruction)
Review by Caitlin Moran, Melody Maker, 1 October 1994
WHY HAS THIS perspex bubble, this one-way mirror, this empty shop window, this unfilled gilt frame, this unformed lust, this shapeless beauty, this Kylie, become ...
Profile and Interview by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 9 November 2006
Courtney Love was rejected by her parents at 9, raised in institutions and grew into the wild woman of rock. Our correspondent spent the weekend ...
Courtney Love: You Shall Go To The Ball
Comment by Caitlin Moran, Select, January 1998
After Larry Flynt, the new-look Courtney has gatecrashed Hollywood. She has a health guru, hangs out with Madonna and may call her new album 'Malibu'. ...
Lush: Automobile For The People
Interview by Caitlin Moran, Melody Maker, 18 June 1994
LUSH are back! Cue multiple VATs and strawberry daiquiris. But no! Lush's hard-drinking, hard-socialising days are behind them. They've gone all introspective and solemn. And, ...
Profile and Interview by Caitlin Moran, The Times, Spring 2000
One of our finest singers is also one of our finest writers, and has been for all of 21 years. Caitlin Moran meets the never ...
Madonna: Famous for being more famous than famous: Madonna and other icons
Comment by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 4 November 2005
Our writer muses on the qualities that separate the icon from the merely great. ...
Madonna tackles her critics head on
Comment by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 2 November 2006
HAD ONE CONSIDERED, five years ago, which controversy Madonna would next be embroiled in, it is unlikely that many of us would have guessed "something ...
Live Review by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 16 November 2005
THE LAST TIME Madonna played this venue was, as she reminded us, 22 years ago. Then, she was just another struggling blond singer/dancer/actress living on ...
Comment by Caitlin Moran, The Face, February 1997
New Madonna, new danger? Groomed, elegant — the Material Girl has matured with good grace. Will her fans wish she hadn't bothered, asks Caitlin Moran ...
Live Review by Caitlin Moran, Melody Maker, 8 October 1994
Only a couple of weeks out of hospital, and Richey James is back on a stage, scarred, skinny, bloodshot, but still beautiful. It's a dangerous ...
Marilyn Manson: Hello. I am the Antichrist…
Interview by Caitlin Moran, Select, June 1997
Welcome to the demonic, human-bone smokin' domain of Marilyn Manson — a realm of serial killers, outré drugs and Top Five albums that has America ...
David McAlmont: A year in the life of a future star
Interview by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 30 September 1994
Twelve months ago, David McAlmont recorded the songs that will make him one of those overnight successes you're always reading about. ...
Paul McCartney: Lady Madonna: In defence of Heather Mills-McCartney
Comment by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 15 June 2006
IN THE WEEK in which Lady McCartney has been accused of being, quite literally, a lying whore, I hope it is of some small comfort ...
Interview by Caitlin Moran, Melody Maker, 4 February 1995
"THE THING IS, we won't let anyone down." ...
Menswear: The New Squad Of New Mod
Interview by Caitlin Moran, Melody Maker, 19 November 1994
IT HAS BEEN DECIDED, already, that Menswear are going to be famous. All the stars (well, Shampoo and Pulp) turned up for their debut gig ...
Interview by Caitlin Moran, Select, April 1998
She's never tempted by Chicken Tonight, is haunted by Michael Hutchence, her bum isn't too small and she thinks 10am is too early to talk ...
Kylie Minogue: The Brits: Early night for wild things at alco-less pops
Report by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 21 February 2003
THE DEPARTMENT for Work and Pensions has been plugging this year's Brit Awards with the happy promise "anything can happen at the Brits", but then ...
Oasis: It's judgment day in the oasis of trendiness: Oasis at Glasto
Live Review by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 26 June 2004
ONE OF THE best things about Glastonbury is the way that it serves as a giant sun-burnt exit poll on the cultural developments of the ...
Oasis, Spice Girls: Larging it? I should zigah-zigah
Report by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 10 January 1997
Those who live their lives by the vocabulary of pop music are fated to repeat it. Sounds fair to me ...
Oasis, Robbie Williams: No sign of peace at the Oasis
Report by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 22 December 1995
Caitlin Moran says blood will prove thicker than water between the battling Gallaghers ...
Ozzy Osbourne: Sharon Osbourne: Is Sharon "Loved"? Everyone I Know Can't Stand Her
Comment by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 13 March 2006
NEWS OF great note to stay-at-home mums, students, "freelancers", resting actors, members of indie rock bands, pensioners, columnists, people who work night shifts in factories ...
Pavement: Watch your step on Pavement
Interview by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 12 December 1992
Caitlin Moran lends an ear to music to heal the mind or mince the brain cells. ...
John Peel: Pied Piper for Four Generations
Comment by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 27 October 2004
IF YOU WANT to know what influence John Peel had, and what he stood for, listening to Radio One in the hours after his death ...
Prefab Sprout: Paddy McAloon: In God's Prefab are Many Mansions
Profile and Interview by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 25 April 1997
Paddy Mcaloon once trained to be a priest. Now he's a Prefab Sprout, but he still has his faith. ...
Interview by Caitlin Moran, Melody Maker, 10 June 1995
Radiohead's The Bends is one of the albums of the year. We already know this. We also know that Thom Yorke is the next richeykurt ...
Radiohead: "Everything was just fear"
Interview by Caitlin Moran, Select, July 1997
"Pop is dead," they once sang. Now with "Pop" floundering, Radiohead return with a scary new album of stadium-sized space rock, ready to prove all ...
Radiohead: Carve their Nayims with pride
Interview by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 19 May 1995
Radiohead had scored with 'Creep'; but it took a thriller of a long-player to fill their cup in extra time ...
Red House Painters: Ocean Beach (4AD)
Review by Caitlin Moran, Melody Maker, 25 March 1995
WELL THEY say the abused always turns into an abuser... and if men who whine about the weather, their ex-girlfriend(s), their f***ing mothers and how ...
Saint Etienne: St Etienne: Drop the stuffed tiger
Interview by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 24 October 1992
St Etienne vs. Top of the Pops — Caitlin Moran referees a mis-match ...
Interview by Caitlin Moran, Melody Maker, 1 October 1994
Hey, everyone, meet SHAMPOO! They've had three debut singles! The last one sold over 150,000 copies! They're not lesbians! They talk in their own secret ...
Smashing Pumpkins: The Smashing Pumpkins: From Genesis to Revelation
Interview by Caitlin Moran, Select, July 1998
The Smashing Pumpkins have built themselves a truly biblical myth. Now, Select offers them the chance to rip it up. Result? A 15-point fandango starring ...
The Smiths: So tell me, what was that all about? A Smiths Symposium
Report by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 29 March 2005
THE VIDEO for the Smiths' 1987 single 'I Started Something I Couldn't Finish' shows hundreds of faux-Morrisseys descending on the streets of Manchester — cardigans frayed, quiffs ...
Spice Girls: The Spice Girls: It Was a Power Trip
Retrospective by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 14 July 2006
Ten years after the release of the first Spice Girls album, our writer argues that the social legacy of "girl power" is still with us. ...
The Stone Roses: "Coming" In The Eire: The Stone Roses: Féile '95, Cork
Live Review by Caitlin Moran, Melody Maker, 19 August 1995
OH YEAH; some other people played as well. Damon hung around all weekend so he could see Elastica play (aww, sweet); Terence Trent D'Arby insists ...
Interview by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 3 October 1992
Caitlin Moran discovers it's hard to be humble when you're the coolest Best Band in Britain ...
Teenage Fanclub: Teenage kicks all through the night
Report and Interview by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 12 November 1993
Caitlin Moran sits quietly in Teenage Fanclub's dressing-room and is blinded by the delights. ...
Theaudience: theaudience: Stealing Beauty
Interview by Caitlin Moran, Select, May 1998
Plucked from obscurity at a London nightclub, Sophie Ellis Bextor is all set to become the glam icon of '98. theaudience have been artfully sculpted ...
Therapy?: Penetration Terrorists
Interview by Caitlin Moran, Melody Maker, 29 July 1995
THERAPY? ALMOST lost their minds back there, OD'ing on women and drugs. So they changed – no more cartoon punk behaviour for them. Instead, as ...
Tortoise: Carapace at the gates of dawn
Interview by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 26 January 1996
Tortoise don't write tunes or sing songs. Instead, they make me cry ...
Jessica Vale: Symphony for Moans and Rampant Rabbit
Report and Interview by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 28 February 2005
Jessica Vale's album is made up entirely of samples of people having sex. So what exactly was that sound? Or that one? ...
The Who: Talking 'bout our Laptop Generation
Comment by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 17 July 2006
THE WHO ARE embarking on a 66-date world tour this year. ...
Robbie Williams, Part 1: A Dark Star Shines Brightly
Profile and Interview by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 20 October 2005
HERE IS Robbie Williams's penthouse, on the 15th floor, overlooking Chelsea Harbour. To be fair, it's not a vast space — with a pool table, ...
Robbie Williams: Man with the Child in his Eyes
Profile and Interview by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 21 October 2005
In part two of our exclusive interview, Caitlin Moran finds the mixed-up Robbie Williams she once knew a changed man. ...
Robbie Williams: "I am not a pie eater!"
Interview by Caitlin Moran, Select, May 1997
...well, you must like your chips, then. Robbie Williams has seen better times. The post-That fallout began at Glasto '95 and spiralled into an 18-month ...
List of genre pieces
"£50 Man" is music to ears of dying industry
Report by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 29 June 2004
FIVE years ago, prominent figures in the music industry began proclaiming that downloading would kill the music industry. ...
A Chocolate Biscuit Beats The Pop Charts These Days
Comment by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 14 November 2002
The Top 20 of old has ceased to be, we have to invent lots of replacements. ...
Report by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 17 October 1992
Caitlin Moran gives a morning-after report on a steamy Friday all-nighter at a students' club ...
Report and Interview by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 21 February 2005
The once-great tongue-in-cheek music press has gone, but its spirit lives on. ...
Glastonbury: It's a kind of magic
Memoir by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 27 June 2003
THE FIRST TIME I went to Glastonbury, I was 18. I drank a bottle and a half of Malibu a day, ran around barefoot trying ...
Glastonbury: The Garden of Eavis
Report by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 25 June 2004
Back in the mud again, our correspondent longs for her own en suite festival to avoid the wet clothes and cartwheeling tents. ...
Report by Caitlin Moran, Melody Maker, 10 December 1994
The MTV European Music Awards happened last week. You might have seen them on the telly. Lots and lots of famous stars winning prizes for ...
The World's Greatest Indoor Festival: Julien Temple's Glastonbury
Review by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 13 April 2006
THERE IS NO Glastonbury Festival this year — a fact that will, to be frank, be making the lives of about 120,000 people fairly bleak ...
Tiny Pop TV: Get the kids on the right tracks
Report by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 31 January 2005
Children need more than Disney power ballads. So why not try your own record collection? ...
Overview by Caitlin Moran, The Word, December 2004
For centuries celebrities have loomed large in our pub-time fairytales. Now electronic media has made our thirst for gossip insatiable. Well at least that's what ...
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