Glenn O'Brien
A key observer on the New York pop scene, Glenn was the music writer on Andy Warhol’s INTERVIEW and has written for SPIN, ARTFORUM and countless other publications. His books include the anthology Soapbox, the poetry book Human Nature (dub version.) He is "The Style Guy" at GQ magazine and editor-at-large of ARENA HOMME +. He wrote and produced Downtown 81, the film starring Jean-Michel Basquiat. His literary and arts magazine THE BALD EGO, debuted in summer 2002. Glenn passed away on April 7, 2017.
49 articles
List of articles in the library
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, November 1972
GLENN O'BRIEN: You were a big hit at the Copa. How did you like playing there? ...
Ray Davies: The Definitive Ray Davies Interview
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, January 1973
Glenn O'Brien, with the help of Warhol Superstars Candy Darling and Tinkerbelle, talks to Kink Ray Davies ...
Isis: Eight-Piece, All-Woman Band in Musical No-Man's Land
Report and Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Rolling Stone, 8 November 1973
NEW YORK – An all-woman rock band, one that really cooks, seems to be both a contradiction in terms and a lousy pun. They've come ...
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Rolling Stone, 20 December 1973
NEW YORK – Elizabeth Derringer is married to Rick Derringer. Rick Derringer is a rock star. He has been since he was the 15-year-old guitarist ...
Report by Glenn O'Brien, The Village Voice, 6 January 1975
Is its closing an act of terror by the forces of Art Detention? Who is Donald Soviero and why didn't he pay the light bill? ...
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, 1977
KRAFTWERK is Germany's top pop group, and that's saying something because plenty of original sounds have been emanating from Deutschland since the psychedelic era. But ...
Ted Nugent: Good Clean Fun: An Interview with Ted Nugent
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, High Times, Summer 1977
A Ted Nugent concert is an incredible musical experience, but that's just the beginning. While Ted and the boys are churning out some of the ...
Brian Eno: Eno at the Edge of Rock
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, June 1978
BRIAN ENO was a founding member of ROXY MUSIC, the English band that more or less founded the Fine Art-Fashion-Rock and Roll fusion that continues ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: So Much Things to Say
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, July 1978
BOB MARLEY, one of the original members of the group, The Wailers, founded the group 13 years ago along with Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingston ...
The B-52s: The B-52's: Beehives Not Bombers
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, February 1979
THE B-52'S is a rock and roll band from Athens, Georgia, that often plays in New York City. They recently wowed large audiences at the ...
Blondie: Deborah Harry: Platinum Blondie
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, June 1979
DEBORAH HARRY is the singer in a band called BLONDIE. In recent weeks one of their songs, 'HEART OF GLASS' has been the number one ...
Marianne Faithfull Speaks Broken English with Glenn O'Brien
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, February 1980
MARIANNE FAITHFULL hasn't had a hit record since 'As Tears Go By' in 1966. That song, written for her by Jagger and Richards, instantly transformed a ...
Essay by Glenn O'Brien, Artforum, February 1982
1) From Atlantis to the Jazz Loft MUSIC WAS probably the first art. You could run with it and take it up a ...
Review by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, February 1982
IT'S BEEN ABOUT a year since the last CHIC album. Since then, half of the dance bag bands, in the world have come to resemble ...
Psychedelic Art: Flashing Back
Essay by Glenn O'Brien, Artforum, March 1984
Standing in line at the bank: what if this were on TV? What if we were all on mescalin?– Michael Brownstein, from '43 Cents a ...
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, May 1984
TOM WAITS writes great songs and sings them with greatness. He made his first album ten years ago. It was called Closing Time; he has been ...
Malcolm McLaren: Mozart, Puccini, Bizet, and McLaren
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Artforum, December 1984
MALCOLM McLAREN is a new sort of artist, your Barbarian Renaissance Man, the missing link between Leonardo and Conan. He has been the enfant terrible ...
John Hiatt: Warming Up To the Ice Age (Geffen)
Review by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, May 1985
HIATT HAS natural brown hair in a normal-citizen style and he's white and wears a regular black suit and a regular white shirt and he ...
Slim Harpo: The Best of Slim Harpo (Rhino Records)
Review by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, May 1985
THIS IS actually a 1983 release, but I just bought it a few weeks ago; it took two years to find, so you might want ...
The Red Hot Chili Peppers: What's Red Hot and Chili?: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, May 1985
THE RED HOT Chili Peppers are the greatest rock band in the world. You can tell by watching them perform or you can guess by ...
Bruce Springsteen: The Meaning Of Bruce
Essay by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, November 1985
Hey, it was the greatest show I’ve ever seen. It was like rock ‘n’ roll and a gospel meeting and a party and the World ...
The Red Hot Chili Peppers: Red Hot Chili Peppers: Freaky Styley (EMI America/Enigma)
Review by Richard Gehr, Glenn O'Brien, Spin, November 1985
WELCOME TO THE Day-Glo minstrel show, bro, brought to you by the baddest posse of white funk puppies west of the mighty Mississip. ...
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, November 1985
How to act. How to watch Mr. Rogers. How to pick a road manager. How to live in the big city. And more solid information. ...
Profile and Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Graffiti, 1986
Noted scribe contemplates Cyndi’s spaghetti sauce, Niagara Falls pillows, crocodile sofa, hair, voice, aura, etc. Meanwhile, Lorenzo St. Dubois ponders Cyndi’s past… ...
Blondie: Debbie's Back: Debbie Harry
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, January 1986
Debbie Harry and Chris Stein talk about Blondie, wrestling, disease, record rating, show biz, fear, and fantasy. ...
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, February 1986
ZZ Top doesn't care that it took people 15 years to discover their mega-greatness. They've known all along that if you feel sharp, you be ...
The Rolling Stones: Exiles on Mainstream
Essay by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, May 1986
Being a Rolling Stone used to mean never having to pick up a Grammy. Until now. ...
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, June 1986
Erin Go Bragh-less: A liberated Irish punk band rediscovers its roots. ...
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, July 1986
DO YOU have any aliases? KIM WILSON (vocals, harmonica): I was Galita Slim once, as in Galita, California. And I was also Chesterfield King. ...
Ozzy Osbourne: I am Oz the Great and Terrible
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, September 1986
Everyone believes Ozzy Osbourne is the devil, the perfect scapegoat for hysteria and madness. "To be Ozzy Osbourne, you got to be special," he says. ...
Paul Simon: Graceland (Warner Bros.)
Review by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, November 1986
Graceland is a pilgrimage. On the title track the singer heads for the Presley estate in Memphis, filled with faith, trailed by doubt, led by ...
Grace Jones: Inside Story (Manhattan Records)
Review by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, January 1987
PEOPLE THINK of Grace Jones as a disco queen. People think of her as Conan the Barbarian's sidekick. As just another James Bond villainess. As ...
Kraftwerk: Electric Café (Warner Brothers)
Review by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, March 1987
Platter du Jour ...
Report and Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, April 1987
They came, they made videos, they conquered: Five nice guys from New Jersey find a place in the sun. Article by Glenn O'Brien. ...
Jimmy Swaggart: The Best of Jimmy Swaggart (Jim Records)
Review by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, April 1987
A LOT OF fundamentalists today preach against the evils of rock 'n' roll, but TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart has gone and done something about the ...
We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It: Girls Just Wanna Have Fuzz
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, August 1987
Face it. If the four women in Fuzzbox had called their album We've Got a MIDI-compatible Digital Sampling Device and We're Gonna Use It, it ...
Buster Poindexter, David Johansen: Buster Poindexter
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Double Trouble, 1988
Buster Poindexter is the cafe incarnation of David Johansen. More than a pseudonym: a happily split personality, an alternate ego, Buster is sometimes surprisingly real. ...
Tav Falco's Panther Burns: Deep in the Blues: Tav Falco and Panther Burns
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, 1988
Tav Falco is a bluesman from Memphis. He might look like Charlie Chaplin, but inside he feels just like T-Bone Walker. He might have ethnomusicologist ...
The Red Hot Chili Peppers: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, 1988
THE RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS ARE PLAYERS & ATHLETES & POETS & HOMEPERSONS. THEY RIFF, THEY RAP, THEY BARK, THEY BITE, THEY STRIP NAKED AND ...
Tony Bennett: Rebirth of the Cool
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, February 1988
TONY BENNETT is cool. I have felt this way since the early '60s. Sinatra was hip, but Tony was cool. He was a swinger singer. ...
Review by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, March 1988
THE EURYTHMICS radiate a released sensibility. They break out of the groove bondage that has become endemic, out into wide open head spaces where anything ...
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, April 1990
IGGY POP is the greatest. He was metal before metal. He was punk before punk, he was and is poetry in motion. He's a wild ...
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, June 1990
I INTERVIEWED Madonna at the Disney Studios, of all places, where she was rehearsing her Blond Ambition tour. It's not really so odd that she ...
Comment by Glenn O'Brien, Artforum, January 1998
I HEARD A TRACK from Bob Dylan's new Time Out of Mind (Columbia) on the radio a few weeks before the album's release. I didn't ...
Bill Evans: The Piano Has Been Thinking
Retrospective by Glenn O'Brien, Gear, 2001
I HAVE FORTY Bill Evans CDs in this room and a copy of Everybody Digs Bill Evans up in the bedroom. Everybody should have Everybody ...
Incubus: Brandon Boyd: The Voice of Incubus
Profile and Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Vogue Italia, 2001
BRANDON BOYD is a handsome, thin, fine-boned young man who holds the microphone for a popular band called Incubus, and wields it with odd grace ...
Jane's Addiction, Perry Farrell: Perry Farrell: Making Pop to Celebrate a Better Apocalypse
Report and Interview by Glenn O'Brien, L'Uomo Vogue, 2001
PERRY FARRELL named himself. Born Peretz Bernstein in Queens, New York, he moved to Miami during high school, liked the sun and the surf ...
Retrospective by Glenn O'Brien, unpublished, 2002
BACK THERE during the revolution, when we called ourselves freaks proudly, rock was rocking the world. Musicians like Hendrix, Clapton, and Page, and philosophical bands ...
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 ...
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