Ira Robbins
IRA ROBBINS was born in New York City in 1954. He first discovered rock music when his big sister made him listen to the Beatles on WABC-AM in 1963. The following summer, he was introduced to folk music at a left-wing summer camp (where the music counselor was one of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg's orphaned sons), and went on to develop an abiding enthusiasm for blues and bluegrass alongside rock and roll. Hearing The Who Sell Out in 1968 made him a lifetime Who freak.
Robbins' first published piece of music criticism was a Doug Sahm record review in Good Times in 1972, for which he received the princely sum of $2. He continued by writing album and concert reviews for Zoo World, then Circus, Crawdaddy (Feature), The Music Gig, Creem and, later still, Spin, Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, New York Post, Tower Pulse and numerous other periodicals.
While completing a degree in Electrical Engineering in 1974, he co-founded Trouser Press magazine and kept that going for a decade, drifting from a writing/editing role to a writing/publishing role, learning in the process that no skills necessary to criticism apply to running a business, other than resolute cynicism.
He was involved in the fledgling New York rock scene of the mid-'70s, as a fan, supporter and incidental participant and is exceedingly proud of being cited in a Pete Frame family tree thanks to a genealogical connection of his little-known band Knickers to Blondie.
In 1983, Trouser Press magazine spun off the first of a series of five well-received record guides, which Robbins edited and contributed to. He has also worked in some capacity on a number of other music books, either as a contributor, consultant, editor or researcher.
The Trouser Press Record Guide, which was published in five editions, is online at www.trouserpress.com.
Robbins later worked as software editor at Video Magazine and pop music editor and critic at Newsday. Since 1997, he has been employed in syndicated radio.
In the early '90s, he returned to dilettante music-making by forming Utensil, a new wave cover trio, with journalist Michael Azerrad and publicist/writer Jim Merlis, and a recording-only side band called Heather Has Two Mommies.
Ira Robbins lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Kristina Juzaitis, a graphic designer and magazine creative director, and their two cats.
226 articles
List of articles in the library
Bad Company: Bad Company (Swan Song SS 8410)
Review by Ira Robbins, Zoo World, 29 August 1974
BAD COMPANY is an oddity among supergroups. Instead of being a showcase for overdeveloped egos, the four members have fused their past influences into a ...
Brian Eno, John Cale, Kevin Ayers, Nico: Kevin Ayers/John Cale/Eno/Nico: June 1, 1974 (Island)
Review by Ira Robbins, Zoo World, 10 October 1974
LIVE ALBUMS have become an abundant nuisance which bands seem to feel an obligation to produce every few years, often with no redeeming content. The ...
The Heavy Metal Kids: Heavy Metal Kids: Heavy Metal Kids
Review by Ira Robbins, Zoo World, 24 October 1974
THERE ARE LOADS of ways for a rock band to make themselves interesting. All that is required is either a brilliant songwriter, a unique vocalist, ...
Cockney Rebel: The Psychomodo (Capitol)
Review by Ira Robbins, Zoo World, 11 November 1974
WITH A LOT more guts than sense, Steve Harley dissolved Cockney Rebel in late July, causing their second album, The Psychomodo, to fall like a ...
Hawkwind: Hall Of The Mountain Grill (United Artists)
Review by Ira Robbins, Zoo World, 19 December 1974
FOR THEIR first four albums, public approval of Hawkwind was in direct proportion to how seriously one considered the music. The question of quality or ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Phonograph Record, February 1975
COCKNEY REBEL is a figment of Steve Harley's semi-sane mind. ...
Cockney Rebel's Steve Harley (1975)
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 25 February 1975
Mr Harley expounds on his dislike of the British music press; the influences on his songwriting, and consciously stealing; being in the third generation of pop artists, and wanting to be artistic and modern; the break-up of the first Cockney Rebel, and his onstage power.
File format: mp3; file size: 31.6mb, interview length: 32' 53" sound quality: **½
Cockney Rebel, Steve Harley: Steve Harley Interviewed
Interview by Ira Robbins, Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press, April 1975
Hear the audio interview from which this article derived ...
Uriah Heep: After A Bum Reality, The Return To Fantasy With Wetton On Bass
Interview by Ira Robbins, Circus Raves, September 1975
"IT'S A WINE and roses situation," quoth Ken Hensley, speaking of the hand-in-glove way that Uriah Heep's new bass player, John Wetton, has fit into ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Circus Raves, December 1975
FIVE YEARS AGO in the bleak Northeast England town of Wakefield a guitar player named Bill Nelson sat around rapping with some friends who owned ...
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band: Alex Harvey (1975)
Interview by Ira Robbins, Dave Schulps, Rock's Backpages audio, Fall 1975
After dealing with his current stage persona Vambo – and virtually demanding the invention of punk rock – the Scottish veteran takes us back to the roots of British rock'n'roll: the showbands; Tony Sheridan; the Hamburg clubs; the rip-offs, right up to the formation of his Sensational Alex Harvey Band...
File format: mp3; file size: 55.2meg, interview length: 57' 32" sound quality: ***
The 101'ers, The Clash, Sex Pistols: The 101'ers — 1976
Special Feature by Ira Robbins, Peter Silverton, unpublished, 1976
September 21, 2021 introduction by Ira Robbins (www.trouserpress.com) ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Circus, 20 January 1976
"JETHRO RETIRE HURT!" blared the headline in a major British magazine just over two years ago, when a spokesman for the group announced an "indefinite" ...
Patti Smith: Is Patti a Patsy?
Comment by Ira Robbins, Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press, February 1976
HOLD ON to your seat belts, guys and gals, this one's been simmering for a long time. Things have become too ridiculous to stay shut ...
Rory Gallagher: TOTP meets Mr. Gallagher: The Story on Rory
Interview by Dave Schulps, Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, April 1976
LET'S START AT the beginning. Your first band was the Fontana Showband. What exactly is a showband? ...
Retrospective and Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, August 1976
AFTER DISCOVERING the group Patto on late-night FM radio several years ago, it was depressing to learn a few months later that the group had ...
Roxy Music: Anarch-o-rock In Motion
Profile and Interview by Ira Robbins, Music Gig, September 1976
Following Roxy Music can be as mystifying a pursuit as a required college course that makes not one iota of sense. It is imperative that ...
Report by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, October 1976
THE OBVIOUS ASSUMPTION when writers (and people) approach the subject of Blondie (granted, up to now not many have, but with a single and an ...
AC/DC: High Voltage (Atco SD 36-1420)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, December 1976
I WOULD GUESS that you have to be Australian to really understand this band. Or maybe Scottish. All I know is that not too many ...
The Jam: In The City (Polydor 2382 447)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, 1977
ANYONE WHO has paid any attention at all the last three years knows that I (and almost everyone else around this tiny office) rate the ...
Blondie: Blondie (Private Stock PS 2023)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, February 1977
ONE OF THE great maxims of life is that one should ask for more than one expects and expect more than one deserves. I have ...
Cheap Trick: Cheap Trick (Epic PE 34400)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, April 1977
WHEN A group has a guitarist with Donald Sutherland's face and Huntz Hall's wardrobe, a drummer named Bun E. Carlos who looks like Rod Steiger ...
Cheap Trick: Sight Gags For Simps
Profile and Interview by Ira Robbins, Creem, August 1977
IT ALL STARTED innocently enough. There I was, sitting in the office of an ordinarily credible marketing honcho at Epic Records discussing Marc Bolan and ...
Roger Daltrey: One of the Boys
Review by Ira Robbins, Crawdaddy!, August 1977
DALTREY'S FOUR-YEAR solo career, apart from his personal excess/success as a matinee film idol, has certainly left much to be desired by anyone with more ...
The Clash: The Clash (CBS 82000)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, September 1977
TO PARAPHRASE (and soft-peddle) the kind of language that greeted Patti Smith's Horses, this Clash album is a tremendous debut. Of all the new wave bands ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, September 1977
BACK IN nineteen-sixty-something, when an earlier new wave was proudly unfurling, several Live at the Star Club LPs appeared, scooping up some of the bands ...
Pink Floyd’s Heart Of Darkness: A Crash Course in Pig Latin
Overview by Ira Robbins, Creem, October 1977
IT DIDN'T SEEM like a bad idea at the time I accepted this assignment. Just because Pink Floyd hate the press and won't be interviewed ...
Overview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, October 1977
After A Glorious Year, British Punks Are Now Absorbed Into The Music Biz Money-go-round ...
Essay by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, October 1977
IT MAY COME as a bit of a shock, especially if you were just getting used to the idea, but Britain's new wave movement is ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Crawdaddy!, November 1977
Every British band knows it: only American success buys the Bentleys. Be Bop Deluxe, Steve Harley and Ian Hunter have all had their stateside ups ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, November 1977
They like to think of themselves as "pop punks." In America most of the attention paid Blondie is focused on namesake Debbie Harry, whose blonde ...
Dr. Feelgood: Dr Feelgood: Be Seeing You
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, December 1977
FINALLY THE DEBUT of a Wilkoless Feelgoods is upon us. Even more than that, it's the Nick Lowe-produced debut of a Wilkoless Feelgoods. ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, December 1977
I'VE FELT A LOT of things about a lot of bands over the years, but pity isn't one of the most common. ...
The Small Faces: Small Faces: Rock Roots: The Singles Album
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, December 1977
NOW THAT STEVE Marriot has put a version of the Small Faces back together, there's been a bit of resurgence (perhaps as a result of ...
The Stranglers: No More Heroes
Comment by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, December 1977
IT'S SO HARD to decode the Stranglers. After you've gone through the easy observations about Dave Greenfield's keyboard sound and its relationship to Ray Manzarek, ...
Horslips On (Almost Everyone But) Horslips
Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, January 1978
THE FOLLOWING HORSLIPS interview was done in New York in mid-October. It has very little to do with the group or its music, but consists ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, January 1978
I AM sitting here this rainy Saturday afternoon, pretending to review this, presumably the last, Roxy Music album; an obligatory collection of those tracks which ...
The Sex Pistols: Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, January 1978
HO HUM, ANOTHER album from the Pistols. No, seriously, this is it. After all the controversy, bannings, bullshit and speculation, the Pistols finally have something ...
Cheap Trick: Smart, Sleek and Debonair
Profile and Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, February 1978
AMERICA'S A FUNNY place for rock music. Just when you assume that the well of talent that unleashed classic outfits like the Velvet Underground, Doors ...
Guide by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, April 1978
If one may hazard an absurd guess based on no real information, it will probably be around November of this year when some smart punk ...
Be-Bop Deluxe: Be Bop Deluxe: Drastic Plastic (Harvest)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, April 1978
For a while there, Be Bop was one of the great post-glitter hopes from Britain. The first trio of albums displayed Bill Nelson as a ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, April 1978
It would be a laughable understatement to say that lots has happened to Blondie (the group) since their previous album appeared slightly over 12 months ...
Jonathan Richman: Modern Lovers: Modern Lovers Live
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, April 1978
AS A RESULT of a fairly ridiculous chain of events, the ‘Home of the Hits’ has relocated (at least for the time being) from Berkeley, ...
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 ...
Elvis Costello: This Year's Model
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, May 1978
I WAS SOMEWHAT HESITANT about falling in love with My Aim Is True. It didn't make my 1977 Top Ten LP list because the songs ...
XTC: White Music (Virgin V 2095)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, May 1978
GALLOPING OUT of the remains of the new wave, as we tried to explain last issue, is Britain's new answer to tedium, Power Pop. ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, June 1978
FOR ANYONE COUNTING, this is the third Trick LP to be released in a smidge under fourteen months. In that time, the band has played ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, June 1978
FROM THE VERY start of their recording career, it was obvious that Generation X had some rather unparochial ideas about their role as a punk ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, June 1978
THERE HAVE BEEN quite a few new wave bands who have a strong relationship with their audience, but not a one can compete with Sham ...
The Dictators Look For The Perfect Wave
Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, June 1978
The Record Plant, one of New York's top pro recording studios, is located in a fairly anonymous office building just west of Eighth Avenue in ...
Live Review by Ira Robbins, New Musical Express, 10 June 1978
THE HEAVY rain outside did little to dampen the enthusiasm of the audience inside. With a majority of those in attendance being press and record ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, July 1978
GRAHAM PARKER'S a nice guy, writes great songs. He leads a tight, exciting band full of talented players, and his stage presence looms larger than ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, July 1978
THE VIBRATORS' first album, over a year ago, was a great disposable album of lasting significance. The short songs contained all the elements of great ...
Cheap Trick: Presenting Cheap Trick: A Musical In Eleven Years
Profile and Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, August 1978
Without a doubt, Cheap Trick has definite shortcomings as a band. They're certainly not perfect. However, they've now got three albums in their catalogue and ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Crawdaddy!, October 1978
Ever since Pete Townshend immortalized teenage rebellion with the phrase "Hope I die before I get old," he has been haunted by the obvious ramifications ...
Sid Vicious: Max's Kansas City, NYC
Live Review by Ira Robbins, New Musical Express, 14 October 1978
ON AN unusually busy New York rock night, the attraction of an ex-Pistol was apparently sufficient to pack Max's out for a couple of sets ...
Aerosmith: Joe Perry Meets The Press
Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, November 1978
"I don't care if we never make another album as long as we can play live." "I've never tried to be a guitar hero." ...
The Jam: Rickenbacker Rock: The Jam
Profile by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, December 1978
Try calling Paul Weller of the Jam a punk rocker, and finds out how icy a cold stare can be. The intense young man who ...
Roxy Music: Manifesto Destiny: The Return Of Roxy Music
Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, 1979
"We Never Really Broke Up" I distinctly remember being more than a bit skeptical the first time I heard Roxy Music. ...
Comment by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, January 1979
AS BILLY MARTIN once put it, "I feel very strongly both ways." Although Devo's cosmic significance may truly compare with that of yesterday's toast, they ...
Penetration: Moving Targets (Virgin V 2109)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, January 1979
IT'S ONLY slightly difficult to take a record pressed on glow-in-the-dark plastic seriously, but such is the level of total foolishness that the British record ...
The Clash: Give 'Em Enough Rope
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, January 1979
THE CLASH HAVE been through a lot since they last released an album, almost 19 months ago, and so has the scene that they emerged ...
Bonzo Dog Band, Vivian Stanshall: Vivian Stanshall (1979)
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, January 1979
The world-class eccentric talks about the old days with the Bonzo Dog Band; demonstrates some of his favourite instruments; explains his love of Dada; recounts some adventures with Keith Moon; expresses his ambivalence towards Monty Python's Flying Circus and chats about Sir Henry at Rawlinson End.
File format: mp3; file size: 53.8mb, interview length: 58' 46" sound quality: ***
Bonzo Dog Band, Vivian Stanshall: Vivian Stanshall (1979) [transcript]
Audio transcript of interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages transcripts, January 1979
This is a transcript of Ira's audio interview with Vivian. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
The Clashmen Meet The Pearlman
Report and Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, February 1979
"It wasn't the easiest thing I've ever I done, that's for sure." I had Sandy Pearlman, Record Producer, on the phone from some unnamed restaurant ...
Elvis Costello: Armed Forces (Columbia)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, April 1979
When Bob Dylan broke up with his wife, Sara, a few years ago, the world was treated to the introspective and bitter Blood on the ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, April 1979
Kids Are Allright Director Jeff Stein Tells TP All About It ...
Generation X: Valley of the Dolls (Chrysalis CHR 1193)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, May 1979
THIS, GEN X's second outing, is not very good compared to their first, but it does serve a useful function by pointing out two phenomena ...
The Ramones: Joey finally gets the girl
Report by Ira Robbins, New Musical Express, 12 May 1979
The Ramones' first feature film, Rock'n'Roll High School, had its world premier last week at a Texas drive-in. Will a touching tale of teen romance ...
The Clash: Clash City Talkers: New York Meets Jones And Co.
Report and Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, June 1979
There's nothing quite as frustrating to watch as the hypocrisy of press, radio, and record companies rushing to get behind some new band that has ...
Jonathan Richman: Back In Your Life
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, June 1979
THE OSCAR BRAND of the now generation returns with his first studio LP in quite a while. Amid the ceaseless confusion that is Beserkley Records, ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, July 1979
AFTER 16 YEARS IN the public eye, growing and developing, quick-cutting and dodging, Bob Dylan carries his catalogue of songs behind him like a bevy ...
Bonzo Dog Band, Vivian Stanshall: Viv Stanshall: Bonzo Bounces Back
Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, July 1979
Perhaps, as the curse of King Tut suggested, some legends are best left uninvestigated. Rock heroes tend to have warts, just like everybody else, and ...
The Pink Fairies: Pink Fairies: Kings Of Oblivion (Polydor)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, January 1980
It must have taken a lot of guts to name a band "Pink Fairies". But considering the amount of mind alteration practised by its British ...
Remember Those Fabulous Seventies? A Musical Stroll From Woodstock To Punk-rock
Overview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, January 1980
The best characterization of rock'n'roll's third decade is that of 10 years spent revising, refining and recalling the music of the '60s. While '50s bands ...
Sparks: A Woofer In Tweeter’s Clothing (Bearsville)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, January 1980
The all-time weird American art-rock LP, Spark’s second album was, at first encounter, impenetrably arcane and smug. After cranking up the volume, adjusting to the ...
New York Dolls: The New York Dolls: The New York Dolls (Mercury)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, January 1980
This seminal slab of early-70s punkitude, produced by unlikely Todd Rundgren, defines the sound and style of New York’s contribution to new wave: a raunchy ...
Marc Bolan, T. Rex: A Wizard, A True Star
Retrospective by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, May 1980
Marc Bolan's brief blaze of glory ...
Elvis Costello & The Attractions: Get Happy!!
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, May 1980
The first draft of this review, written on the basis of an American pressing, had to be discarded when an English copy arrived. Sound quality ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, June 1980
The mumbling Derry boys talk about pop and punk, translate their lyrics for American listeners and ruminate on what it takes to break big in the USA.
File format: mp3; file size: 45.7mb, interview length: 49' 57" sound quality: **
The Undertones: Hypnotised (Sire)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, July 1980
THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING special about the Undertones. They're a motley gang of Irish kids with typical imperfect faces and no visible charismatic presence as ...
Grace Jones: Warm Leatherette (Island ILPS9592)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, August 1980
THIS ALMOST defies weirdness. Grace Jones is an awfully tacky disco singer next to whom the B-52's women look tasteful. Warm Leatherette's musicians are reggae ...
John Hiatt: Two Bit Monsters (MCA 5123)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, August 1980
LAST YEAR'S most exciting newcomer returns with his fourth album, hoping to become an overnight sensation after ten years. Forgetting an early pair of weak ...
The Beat: I Just Can't Stop It (Sire SRK6091)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, August 1980
BIRMINGHAM, England has been the birthplace of several major musical trendsetters: the Move, Moody Blues, Black Sabbath. Unlike a number of other large cities in ...
The Undertones: A Better Mousetrap: The Undertones Beat A Path To America’s Door
Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, September 1980
Back in the primordial '70s, a rash of groups moved into the British 45 charts to occupy the places formerly inhabited by the Beatles and ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, September 1980
OVER THE course of eight albums Queen has scaled all the heights and plumbed all the depths. ...
Cheap Trick: Greetings From Rockford, Ill.
Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, December 1980
Rockford, Illinois (population 140,000) has made two notable contributions to the entertainment world: John Anderson and Cheap Trick. While there is little similarity between the ...
Bruce Springsteen: The River (Columbia)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, January 1981
A SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE sketch of a few seasons back poked fun at Roy Orbison by reducing him to a caricature: motionless stance and ever-present ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, February 1981
THE GENERAL PUBLIC is no doubt familiar with the Blondie story: from Bowery pop-punks to mid-American Euroschmaltzers and product endorsers. What was once a band ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, April 1981
THE FIRST TIME the Clash ventured into a recording studio they emerged with a concise blockbuster 45 ('White Riot') that deliv-ered the goods in under ...
The Who: Face Dances (Warner Bros.)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, June 1981
ONCE UPON A TIME, the Who was a guiding force in the life of many people (myself included). The wisdom of Chairman Pete Townshend, as ...
Duran Duran: Duran Duran (Harvest ST12158)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, September 1981
BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND'S Duran Duran, yet another entrant in the let's-play-synth-disco-with-silly-costumes chart sweepstakes, had a recent hit with a wretchedly tedious piece of routine ass-wag called ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, January 1982
From a fan's point of view, there is nothing worse than a compilation album put together by either a group, whose nearness to the material ...
Phil Manzanera, Roxy Music: Roxy Music's Phil Manzanera (1982)
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 18 February 1982
The Roxy guitar man on the current state of the band; on making his Primitive Guitar solo album; Roxy on stage and their recent albums, and on making Avalon.
File format: mp3; file size: 33.4mb, interview length: 36' 30" sound quality: **½
Joan Jett: I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, March 1982
JOAN JETT'S first solo album, Bad Reputation, suffered from a number of flaws, I pointed out in my review of the time; listening to it ...
The Skids: Skids: Joy (Virgin V2217)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, March 1982
WITH THIS album (their fourth) the Skids have taken the final plunge of their career. From a pimply-faced four-piece with a great first album and ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, March 1982
WANT TO FEEL prematurely old? This, if you can believe it, is the Stranglers' seventh British album. While most alumni of the '77 punk explosion ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, June 1982
JOHN HIATT'S career has been hampered by unfortunate business liaisons ever since lift-off. ...
Phil Manzanera, Roxy Music: Phil Manzanera
Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, June 1982
PICTURED ON THE first Roxy Music album with bizarre fly-glasses, long hair and unkempt beard, Phil Manzanera looked like left-field weirdness incarnate. That image was ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, July 1982
SPARKS' HIT STREAK in the mid-'70s produced America's best Anglophiliac rock ever – so good, in fact, that English teenyboppers made them tops of the ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, August 1982
Wherein two highly anticipated albums refuse to be what was expected of them, proving neither fans nor skeptics correct in their assumptions. ...
Obituary by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, August 1982
LESTER BANGS, whose writings probably influenced the style and outlook of countless rock critics, died in his New York apartment on April 30 at the ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, November 1982
After 11 albums over a decade of stylistic evolution, Sparks — that is, Ron and Russell Mael with collaborators — have achieved legendary status despite ...
The Clash’s Greatest Hits: Clash City Rockers
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, April 1983
"In 1977 I hope I go to heaven'Cos I been too long on the doleAnd I can't work at allDanger stranger — you better paint ...
Echo & The Bunnymen, U2: Echo & the Bunnymen: Porcupine (Sire 23770); U2: War (Island 90067)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, June 1983
THERE AREN'T too many English bands that can buck the current vogue for synthesizers and funk/dance rhythms, remain musically adventurous and still be commercially viable ...
Spandau Ballet: True (Chrysalis)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, August 1983
I USED TO think Spandau Ballet bit the boot. The band's first two albums seemed little more than gussied-up disco, a rip-off of various cultures, ...
Live Review by Ira Robbins, The Face, June 1984
ELVIS Costello’s 1983 American tour was so boring that even longtime fans found it difficult to remain alert for an entire set of pseudo-cabaret runthroughs. ...
The dB's: America First: Seasoned Native Sons Follow Their Own Muse: The dB's
Interview by Ira Robbins, Musician, December 1984
"THERE'S NOTHING WRONG with honest American music," says Peter Holsapple, guitarist, keyboard player and main songwriter of the dB's. He goes on to cite Elvis ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 5 February 1985
A somewhat dazed-sounding Buddy Miles talks about his time with the Electric Flag and Hendrix's Band of Gypsys; his going to jail; the ups and downs of his career... and his current projects.
File format: mp3; file size: 16.6mb, interview length: 18' 06" sound quality: ** (phoner)
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 15 February 1985
The legendary session drummer looks back at his time in Cosimo Matassa's New Orleans studio backing the likes of Fats Domino and Little Richard, through his time in the L.A. studios where he played behind just about everybody!
File format: mp3; file size: 15.2mb, interview length: 16' 36" sound quality: ***
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 1 March 1985
Mr. Fame talks about his current activities, then looks back to his first gig, backing Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran; being named by Larry Parnes; the Blue Flames starting as Billy Fury's backing group; playing the Flamingo, and discovering the Hammond after hearing 'Green Onions', and his first hit, 'Yeh Yeh'.
File format: mp3; file size: 11.1mb, interview length: 12' 09" sound quality: ** (phoner)
Bonzo Dog Band: Roger Ruskin Spear (1985)
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 1 March 1985
The ex-Bonzo Dog man talks about his current activities, and brings us up-to-date with the activities of his fellow Bonzos.
File format: mp3; file size: 18mb, interview length: 19' 42" sound quality: ** (phoner)
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 4 March 1985
The former Wayne County talks about where she's at now: splitting her time between London and Berlin; making a new album and touring Europe; planning to study Biblical Archaeology [we kid you not]; her gender reassignment... and paying for it by sex work in Berlin.
File format: mp3; file size: 10.6mb, interview length: 11' 03" sound quality: ** (phoner)
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 6 March 1985
The erstwhile Fujiyama Mama talks about combining singing rock'n'roll with her deeply held religious beliefs; considers cover versions of her hits, and recording her recent rockabilly album in Sweden!
File format: mp3; file size: 18mb, interview length: 19' 38" sound quality: * (phoner)
Hank Ballard and the Midnighters: Hank Ballard (1985)
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 8 March 1985
The chief Midnighter talks about his 'Twist' royalty legal entanglements, a loan from the notorious Morris Levy and his current musical activities.
File format: mp3; file size: 17.7mb, interview length: 20' 29" sound quality: * (phoner)
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 10 March 1985
The Detroit City axeman on working with Was (Not Was); meeting Red Rodney in prison; hanging with Johnny Thunders and, of course, memories of the MC5.
File format: mp3; file size: 25.7mb, interview length: 28' 03" sound quality: ** (phoner)
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 14 March 1985
The Walrus of Love talks about releasing himself and other acts on own label, and the advantage of being independent; the state of R&B today; praises Jackie DeShannon and Brenda Holloway, and talks about new album Sho You Right.
File format: mp3; file size: 14.6mb, interview length: 15' 58" sound quality: * (phoner)
Bronski Beat: The Age of Consent (London/MCA)
Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 28 March 1985
NOW THAT FRANKIE HAS PROVEN TO BE a remote-controlled sham with less depth (not to mention stage presence) than its sloganeering T-shirts, the gay-rock mantle ...
Bryan Ferry: Boys and Girls (Warner Bros.)
Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 18 July 1985
WHEN BRYAN Ferry first began making solo records in 1973, his apparent goal was to forge a path radically different from what he was writing ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 5 August 1985
ABC mainstays Mark White and Martin Fry on the state of the UK music press (particularly Smash Hits); on the making of their first three albums; on producer Trevor Horn; on songwriting and lyrics; on avoiding pandering to American tastes; and on their great dislike of touring.
File format: mp3; file size: 37meg, interview length: 38' 31" sound quality: ***
Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 12 September 1985
EVER SINCE his classic solo debut, 1978's Pure Pop for Now People — and a follow-up, Labour of Lust, almost as good — lovable Nick ...
Wanda Jackson: Where Are They Now: Wanda Jackson
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 12 September 1985
The original 'Fujiyama Mama' wailed to the rockabilly beat — but now she's moved by a stronger power ...
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark: Two Guys And A Tape Deck Become A
Interview by Ira Robbins, Musician, October 1985
Only one of the following two statements is true. Which? A) Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark is a synthesizer duo, a pair of chilly intellectual ...
The Red Hot Chili Peppers: Freaky Styley (EMI America/Enigma)
Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 24 October 1985
AFTER NEARLY two decades of racial division, popular music is in the midst of an overdue and exciting (if modest) effort to integrate itself. One ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain's Jim Reid (1986)
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 1986
Jim Reid talks about their live show; guitar noise and pop noise; their treatment in the UK pop press; recording plans, and visiting the USA.
File format: mp3; file size: 23.8mb, interview length: 26' 02" sound quality: ***
10,000 Maniacs: The Wishing Chair (Elektra)
Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 27 March 1986
LEST 10,000 Maniacs be mistaken for members of the SoHo establishment, check your map: the sextet's home base, Jamestown, New York, is roughly the same ...
Violent Femmes: The Blind Leading The Naked
Review by Ira Robbins, Creem, June 1986
TWO LINES ON Violent Femmes' wrenchingly raw, largely acoustic debut album stand unequalled in the rock 'n' roll hall of fame for forthright candor in ...
Green On Red, Rain Parade: Green On Red: No Free Lunch; Rain Parade: Crashing Dream
Review by Ira Robbins, Creem, July 1986
I HAVE ALWAYS attempted to give Los Angeles the benefit of the doubt as regards music. All right, so maybe I've never quite gotten over ...
Let's Active: Big Plans For Everybody
Review by Ira Robbins, Creem, August 1986
WHEN MITCH EASTER, Chris Stamey, Don Dixon and their fellow travelers in the North Carolina Sneakers-cum-dB's axis drifted north 10 years ago, one characteristic they ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 21 August 1986
B-52s Kate Pierson and Keith Strickland talk about their new album, Bouncing Off the Satellites: how it took so long to finish and release; programming drums and working with producer Tony Mansfield. They also talk about the impossibility of touring without the recently deceased Ricky Wilson; their place in the current music scene, and attitude to criticism.
File format: mp3; file size: 43meg, interview length: 44' 47" sound quality: ****
Review by Ira Robbins, Creem, December 1986
I CAN VAGUELY recall learning something in high, school biology, an explanation why molecular goosh flows out of, rather than into, an amoeba under certain ...
The Human League: Human League: Crash
Review by Ira Robbins, Creem, January 1987
I HAVE GRAVE trouble imagining what sort of people would describe themselves as real fans of certain swill that's on the market today. Casual or ...
The Replacements: Replacements: Pleased To Meet Me
Review by Ira Robbins, Creem, August 1987
LIKE SOME STRAY dog you find in an alley, Minneapolis's Replacements are a scruffy mongrel of a band: uncontrollable and ugly, but somehow irresistable. You ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: The Jesus and Mary Chain: Darklands (Warner Bros.)
Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 3 December 1987
IN ITS own way the Jesus and Mary Chain's second album is just as audacious as the band's controversial debut, Psychocandy. On the first album ...
Soul Asylum: Plaider Than You’ll Ever Be
Profile and Interview by Ira Robbins, Creem, May 1988
It might be said that Soul Asylum is just a wonderful rock 'n' roll band from Minneapolis, a rough and ready quartet embodying explosive energy, ...
Cheap Trick: Lap of Luxury (Epic) **½
Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 2 June 1988
EMPLOYING A variety of producers and stylistic retreads, Cheap Trick has spent the Eighties in a vain attempt to regain commercial and creative momentum. The ...
Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones: Out Of The Cage: An interview with Keith Richards
Interview by Ira Robbins, unpublished, 19 September 1988
IR: You’ve done a lot of interviews lately. It’s hard to pick questions you haven’t been asked... ...
Suicidal Tendencies: Calling the shots
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 3 November 1988
Punks prove their metal ...
The Replacements: Don't Tell a Soul (Sire/Reprise) ***½
Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 9 February 1989
The Replacements' Adult Entertainment ...
Danielle Dax: Dark Adapted Eye (Sire)
Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 9 March 1989
WILDLY VARIED and unpredictable, Danielle Dax's Dark Adapted Eye finally delivers this accessibly eccentric veteran of the British independent-label scene to America. ...
New Order: Technique (Quest) ★★★
Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 23 March 1989
NEW ORDER has regularly searched out trendy dance-music styles. Most recently, the quartet explored the musical scene of Europe's current hot spot, Ibiza, the Spanish ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 19 April 1989
The lanky singer-songwriter talks about his new Blaze of Glory album; songwriting and arranging; being in exile in NYC; film soundtracks and more.
File format: mp3; file size: 39.2mb, interview length: 42' 50" sound quality: ***
Dusty Springfield: The Dusty Trail
Interview by Ira Robbins, New York Post, 27 May 1989
As the closing credits roll on Scandal, the new film about Britain's infamous 1963 Profumo affair, a familiar woman's voice – airy and sensuous – ...
Tears for Fears: Fear of Finishing
Report and Interview by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, November 1989
Songs From The Big Delay: How Tears For Fears Took Four Years To Sprout The Seeds of Love ...
Buzzcocks: The Buzzcocks (1989)
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 11 November 1989
The punk pioneers discuss their reunion; talk about their previous solo activities; on why the band broke up originally; relearning the songs, and playing them slower; the coincidental release of box set Product; other punk bands reuniting; the Fine Young Cannibals' version of 'Ever Fallen In Love', and changes in music over the previous decade.
File format: mp3; file size: 46.7mb, interview length: 48' 41" sound quality: ***
Retrospective and Interview by Ira Robbins, Hall of Fame, 14 November 1989
In a packed concert hall somewhere, a delighted audience sings "L!-O!-L!-A!, Lola!" at full power while the song's author watches silently from the stage. ...
Kirsty MacColl (1990) [transcript]
Audio transcript of interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 1990
This is a transcript of Ira's audio interview with Kirsty. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Echo & The Bunnymen's Ian McCulloch (1990)
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 24 January 1990
The gobby scouser talks about Pop as Art, his old band and its gradual implosion, and his fledgling solo career and ruminates on Liverpool and the meaning of The Beatles.
File format: mp3; file size: 87.5mb, interview length: 1h 35' 31" sound quality: ***
Echo & The Bunnymen, Ian McCulloch: Ian McCulloch
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 5 February 1990
AN HOUR BEFORE Echo and the Bunnymen went onstage in Osaka, Japan for the final date of a world tour in April 1988, singer Ian ...
The Residents: The King and Eye ***½ (Enigma)
Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 8 February 1990
CLOAKED IN anonymity, the Residents have spent fifteen years playfully dancing around music's strangest regions to create a vast, influential and mostly enjoyable body of ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, April 1990
The much-missed singer-songwriter talks about, well, everything: her love of collaboration and those she has worked with; her family; the UK Poll Tax riots and politics; the epiphany of 'Good Vibrations' and so much more.
File format: mp3; file size: 70.8mb, interview length: 1h 17' 16" sound quality: ****
Review by Ira Robbins, Request, 15 April 1990
IN THE 1960s, youthful poets, inspired by radical politics and Woody Guthrie, took up acoustic guitars to deliver topical commentary in a folk music setting. ...
The Sundays: Reading, Writing And Arithmetic
Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 14 June 1990
TO JOIN THE RANKS of sophisticated pop ensembles with female vocalists — whose membership includes the Cocteau Twins, 10,000 Maniacs and, on occasion, Everything But ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, July 1990
The more severe-looking of the duo runs down the band's history, song by song. Oh, and talks about being banned by French TV for looking like Hitler!
File format: mp3; file size: 58.9mb, interview length: 1h 04' 20" sound quality: ** (phoner)
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, July 1990
The pretty half of the eccentric duo looks back to their time as Halfnelson, on food stamps and playng American Bandstand; their Anglophilia; moving to England and signing to Island. Then he takes us through their extensive discography — the songs and associated stories.
File format: mp3; file size: 77.7mb, interview length: 1h 24' 50" sound quality: ** (phoner)
Adam & The Ants: Adam Ant (1990)
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 27 July 1990
The Dandy Highwayman looks back at his illustrious career, from when he first became Adam, to the fading of thepop star light, including his dealings with Malcolm McLaren; hooking up with Marco Pirroni; starring in Jarman's Jubilee and moving on to the theatrical stage.
File format: mp3; file size: 30.2mb, interview length: 32' 57" sound quality: ** (phoner)
Birth of the Blues: Touring the Mississippi Delta
Guide by Ira Robbins, unpublished, 1991
"YOU MAY BURY MY BODY DOWN BY the highway side...so my old evil spirit can catch a Greyhound bus and ride." ...
Richard Thompson: Rumor and Sigh (Capitol) ***½
Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 11 July 1991
AN EXCEPTIONAL guitarist whose memorable songs have been widely covered, Richard Thompson is — more than twenty years into the personal odyssey that outlines his ...
Beat Happening, Fugazi, Thee Headcoats, L7: The Alternative Underground
Report by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 17 October 1991
Bands on the real cutting edge turn out for six-day Washington festival. ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 28 November 1991
DESPITE THE hand-wringing the fanzines do each time an indie-rock hero signs a major-label deal, righteous postpunk stars from Hüsker Dü to Soundgarden have joined ...
Ray Davies, The Kinks: The Kinks' Ray Davies (1992)
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 23 January 1992
The King Kink on politics; songwriting (and titling!); cover versions of his songs; on Joe Meek and Noel Coward; on Chrissie Hynde, and on living with his songs for so many years.
File format: mp3; file size: 49.5mb, interview length: 54' 07" sound quality: ****
Johnny Thunders: Go, Johnny, Go: Thunders' So Alone
Sleeve notes by Ira Robbins, Sire Records, February 1992
AMONG THE LIFETIME residents of abyssville are those rock'n'rollers whose faith in the liberating rebellion of mangy guitar music gets crossed up into a personal ...
Robert Wyatt: Dondestan (Gramavision)
Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 6 February 1992
THROUGHOUT A career as singular and honest as his expressive voice, Robert Wyatt has remained a true progressive. From his days in the Soft Machine, ...
Dave Davies, The Kinks: The Kinks' Dave Davies (1992)
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 18 February 1992
The Kinks' other brother on new album Phobia; the early days as the Ravens; his relationship with Ray, and Ray's relationship with Chrissie Hynde; and favourite covers of Kinks songs, and his favourite guitar players.
File format: mp3; file size: 34mb, interview length: 37' 04" sound quality: ** (phoner)
Bryan Adams: The Ritz, New York City
Live Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 5 March 1992
THE BIRTH OF ROCK & ROLL WAS A messy business. With an instinctive need for communication that just couldn’t wait for formal language, the baby ...
They Might Be Giants: Apollo 18 (Elektra) ***½
Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 30 April 1992
THE WORLD OF absurdist wit has always numbered musicians among its residents, but no band has gentrified the neighborhood like They Might Be Giants. ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Honey's Dead (Def American) ***½
Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 14 May 1992
AN APPETITE for self-destruction, any psych major can tell you, is a cry for attention. So when Jim Reid of the Jesus and Mary Chain ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 10 July 1992
The ex-Blake Baby talks about breaking up that band; her first solo album Hey Babe; her relationship with the Lemonheads; her songwriting and confessional lyrics; her plans for her next album, and on the impact of Nirvana.
File format: mp3; file size: 34mb, interview length: 35' 24" sound quality: ****
Pete Townshend: What Came Next: Pete Townshend Goes It Alone
Sleeve notes by Ira Robbins, Who Came First, August 1992
As spiritual epiphanies go, Pete Townshend's public acknowledgment of his personal rebirth was made with remarkable understatement for a major celebrity. ...
R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and Mike Mills (1992)
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 17 August 1992
Messrs. Buck and Mills talks about making Automatic For The People: how they write; the optimal length of an album; Stipe as a lyricist, and the album track-by-track. They also reflect on their 10-year career; the REM organisation; parallels with U2; how they measure success; touring... or not; working with the Troggs, and Robyn Hitchcock; Peter Holsapple's relationship with the band; being out of place at the Grammies, and their Desert Island Discs.
File format: mp3; file size: 83mb, interview length: 1h 26' 26" sound quality: ****
Interview by Ira Robbins, Pulse!, October 1992
Ten years down the road, Athens, Georgia's little-band-that-could takes stock of fame, fortune and folk music. * ...
Keith Richards: Stone Wino rhythm guitar god Keith Richards can still rip it up
Interview by Ira Robbins, Pulse!, November 1992
Midnight at the oasis...Actually, it’s 2 a.m. at the Hit Factory, but the mood is still calm as a desert breeze. ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 1 May 1993
The newly-solo Westerberg looks back at the end of the Replacements and All Shook Down; the 'Mats' status as critics' darlings and pioneers of alternative rock, talks about songwriting and his new album 14 Songs.
File format: mp3; file size: 72.3mb, interview length: 1h 19' 01" sound quality: ****
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 12 May 1993
Thom Yorke and Colin Greenwood talk about how the band started; the Oxford music scene; the naming of Pablo Honey; stardom and ambition; the group's image; playing live vs. recording; the meaning of their 'Pop is Dead' single; 'Creep' and lyrical scrutiny; how to describe the band... and Thom's "loud but inaudible" guitar.
File format: mp3; file size: 27.9mb, interview length: 29' 03" sound quality: ** (phoner)
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 13 May 1993
Phair talks about soon-to-be-released landmark debut Exile in Guyville; explains what her songs are about and how she writes; discusses collaborating with producer Brad Wood and their production process; talks about having a mainstream ear and her love of pop radio; about starting to play live, being girly, writing songs all her life and recording tapes at home.
File format: mp3; file size: 24.2mb, interview length: 25' 11" sound quality: ** (phoner)
Butthole Surfers: Independent Worm Saloon (Capitol) ***
Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 10 June 1993
IS NOTHING sacred? This alternative thing has definitely spun out of control when the Butthole Surfers — America's worst underground-rock nightmare, a band that began ...
The Lemonheads, Sloan: Lemonheads, Sloan: The Academy, New York NY
Live Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 10 June 1993
NEWLY PROMOTED from the 'Sassy' Cute Boy Alert to one of People's fifty most beautiful people, head Lemonhead Evan Dando is reaching that state of ...
Paul Westerberg, The Replacements: Paul Westerberg Comes In From The Ledge
Interview by Ira Robbins, Pulse!, August 1993
Independence Day, 1991. Lincoln Park, Chicago. One by one, the Replacements — what's left of 'em, anyway — hand their instruments off to their roadies, ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 7 August 1993
The Piano Man talks at length about his last album of original material, River of Dreams: about the composition of the songs, the production process, and working with Danny Kortchmar. He also discusses his identity as an artist and his new sense of confidence and legitimacy.
File format: mp3; file size: 54.3mb, interview length: 56' 36" sound quality: ***
Interview by Ira Robbins, Newsday, 10 August 1993
JOHN SEBASTIAN of the Lovin' Spoonful was all of 22 when he sang, "I think I've come to see myself at last." ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 27 September 1993
The balding, tub-thumping thespian talks about his latest album, Both Sides; his development as a songwriter; his solo career vs. Genesis; his acting career; Live Aid; ambitions and collaborations, and on drumming and drummers.
File format: mp3; file size: 96.6mb, interview length: 1h 45' 28" sound quality: **½-***
Electric Light Orchestra: Afterglow
Sleeve notes by Ira Robbins, Sleevenotes, 1994
The Electric Light Orchestra, for most people, exists as a memorable collection of hit singles, carefully crafted production numbers that defined an entire rock genre ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Newsday, 1994
Like an old flame breezing back through the door with no more than an indolent shrug and a sly wink, Elvis Costello has returned from ...
Book Excerpt by Ira Robbins, The Big Takeover, 1994
Even if the basic impetus for punk rock was just traditional teen needs like pissing off parents and claiming a cultural identity, some of the ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Addicted To Noise, 1995
Had it not been for the stiff on line in front of me at the microphone in Avery Fisher Hall at September's CMJ convention in ...
Bonzo Dog Band, Vivian Stanshall: Vivian Stanshall 1943-1995
Obituary by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 20 April 1995
VIVIAN STANSHALL died in a fire at his apartment in London on March 5. At 51 he was the Renaissance man of English absurdity. A ...
Sleeve notes by Ira Robbins, Sex, America, Cheap Trick (Sony Legacy), May 1996
AT A TIME WHEN AMERICAN ROCK'N'ROLL was sinking under the commercial weight of glitter-ball beats, arena bombast and California no-cal, Cheap Trick blew out of ...
Strolling Down Punk-Rock Lane: Legs McNeil
Profile and Interview by Ira Robbins, The New York Times, 7 July 1996
THE CLASS OF 1976 held a reunion in the lobby of the Gershwin Hotel late last month. While inspecting a photography exhibition documenting their youth, ...
The Sex Pistols: Filthy Lucre Live ***½
Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 19 September 1996
PERRY FARRELL once titled a Jane's Addiction album Nothing's Shocking. He has since spent his entire career trying to prove otherwise. John Lydon — once ...
Pete Townshend, The Who: Pete Townshend
Interview by Ira Robbins, Cleveland Live, November 1996
SHORTLY BEFORE THE reunited Who began its month-plus Quadrophenia tour of North America in Portland, Oregon on October 13th, guitarist, singer and composer Pete Townshend ...
The Queers: They're Here, They're the Queers and they're not what you think
Profile and Interview by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 14 November 1996
ONE OF the golden rules in the punk handbook is to confuse and irritate people at every opportunity. So naming a band of straight boys ...
Fountains of Wayne Bubble with Power Pop
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 28 November 1996
ADAM SCHLESINGER is a busy boy. His band, Fountains of Wayne, has just released its debut album, a winning blast of power pop with textures ...
Pavement's Stephen Malkmus (1996)
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, December 1996
The Pavement front man talks about the avoidance of self-consciousness and planning; their live capabilities; the recording process; his and Scott Kannberg's respective roles in the band, and the curious band dynamics; the seriousness of their fans; his move to New York, and the curiosity of a band where everyone lives in different places.
File format: mp3; file size: 51.1mb, interview length: 53' 16" sound quality: ** (phoner)
Vic Chesnutt: About To Choke (Capitol)
Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 12 December 1996
A RUSTY, banged-up sign with hand-painted words swings slowly over a porch in a light Georgia breeze, conveying its simple promise without need of neon. ...
Pete Townshend, The Who: Pete Townshend
Interview by Ira Robbins, San Francisco Chronicle, 1997
"Roger [Daltrey] speaks a lot about the magic that happens when the three of us get together to play," says Pete Townshend, who spent two ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Pulse!, March 1997
IT'S DECONSTRUCTION time again. Right now, there's a sophomore somewhere hunkered down on the floor of his dorm room, a cigarette in one hand and ...
Bruce Springsteen: Fred Goodman: The Mansion on the Hill (Times Books, $25)
Book Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 6 March 1997
BABY, YOU'RE A RICH MAN A new book explores how rock & roll became a $20 billion business ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 17 April 1997
TEMPTING FATE with a great gimmick, Morphine barreled into the fast lane five years ago, driving a chesty blare of two-string slide bass, baritone sax ...
Supergrass: In It for the Money (Capitol) ***½
Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 1 May 1997
SCALING A learning curve that would do the dons of their hometown university proud, Supergrass, from Oxford, England, have graduated from rambunctious adolescence to credible ...
Trouser Press: The Story Behind The Legendary Zine
Retrospective by Ira Robbins, Perfect Sound Forever, June 1997
EDITOR’S NOTE: One of the reasons that our zine started up was because there were other music nuts before us who wanted to tell the ...
Ben Folds Five: Irving Plaza, New York NY
Live Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 12 June 1997
BEN FOLDS pounds out a far more traditional pop message than today's techno titans, but the North Carolina pianoman shares one of their key insights: ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, CMJ New Music Monthly, January 1999
The music editor at Rolling Stone thought I was kidding when I pitched a cover story on him. The guy at the Sunday New York ...
Backstreet Boys: 50,000,000 Backstreet Boys' fans can be wrong
Essay by Ira Robbins, salon.com, 8 June 1999
THE SWEAT-DRENCHED rock 'n' rollers of the '50s knew all about good and evil. Forty years later, the Backstreet Boys are singing love songs to ...
Essay by Ira Robbins, salon.com, 20 July 1999
NOBODY DOESN'T LIKE the Ramones. They're as immortal as America's other band, the Beach Boys. Whatever punk became – ruined canvases of Mohawked body art, ...
The Clash: From Here to Eternity
Review by Ira Robbins, salon.com, 19 October 1999
ON PAPER, the October 1982 pairing of the Clash and the Who at Shea Stadium in New York should have been historic. And maybe it ...
Lester Bangs: Did Lester Bangs Die In Vain?
Book Review by Ira Robbins, salon.com, 4 April 2000
Let It Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs, America's Greatest Rock Critic By Jim DeRogatis, Broadway, 256 Pages ...
Grand Funk Railroad: The Band that Killed Rock 'n' Roll
Essay by Ira Robbins, salon.com, 10 April 2000
AMONG CULTURAL HISTORIANS, it has long been an article of faith that the '60s dream died in an ugly bar fight at Altamont Speedway in ...
The Best of Broadside 1962–1988
Review by Ira Robbins, salon.com, 19 September 2000
BROADSIDE PUBLISHED SONGS by writers who wanted to change the world – including a young Bob Dylan. A five-CD set marches through the great folk ...
Review by Ira Robbins, trouserpress.com, 2001
IS IT VU? IS IT TV? Is it Superband? Nope, it’s just the Strokes, for whom outsized – and musically misinformed – hype made media ...
Retrospective and Interview by Ira Robbins, MOJO, February 2001
TELEVISION ENDED PRETTY much as they'd begun, with a show at a small Manhattan club. It was July 29, 1978, on a night Television myth ...
Brian Wilson, Card-carrying Genius
Essay by Ira Robbins, salon.com, 10 April 2001
After a life custom-made for cable catharsis, the force behind the Beach Boys is now being honored even for things he didn't do. Does that ...
Essay by Ira Robbins, salon.com, 10 April 2001
AT THE BRIAN WILSON tribute concert in New York in March, a short film explained that Wilson had lived his whole life in fear and ...
The Ramones: Joey Ramone: Hail, Hail To The King
Obituary by Ira Robbins, MOJO, June 2001
JOEY RAMONE WASN'T WHAT YOU'D CALL A PUNK. According to the movies, punks are snarling juvenile delinquents well versed in sucker-punches, concealed weapons and grievous ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages, 1 June 2001
Backstage at the Bowery Ballroom, the Stripes talk about their stage show: what they play; what can go wrong; having Ray Davies in the audience; great shows, and disasters; hating corporate sponsorship; being in the sights of major labels; their support acts; Jack's complicated relationship with the blues; his dislike of the rock press; dealing with hecklers; rock in Detroit, and Meg's drum kit!
File format: mp3; file size: 29.7mb, interview length: 30' 57" sound quality: ** (background noise)
George Harrison: And Life Flows On
Obituary by Ira Robbins, salon.com, 3 December 2001
HE COULD HAVE BEEN Charles Dickens' idea of a rock star, a dry-witted gentleman whose faith, and fate, left him isolated but satisfied, living his ...
Denim: Back in a Dream/Denim on Ice
Review by Ira Robbins, trouserpress.com, 2002
ENDING A LOW-KEY decade of Felt that produced a sizable catalogue of atmospheric pop in stylistic tribute to Tom Verlaine, Lou Reed and Bob Dylan, ...
Elvis Costello: When He Was Cruel
Review by Ira Robbins, salon.com, 30 April 2002
MICK JAGGER HAD A POINT when he announced "it's the singer not the song" – the young Rolling Stones were perfectly content to beg, borrow ...
The Darkness: Permission to Land (Atlantic)
Review by Ira Robbins, trouserpress.com, 2003
TRUE AWFULNESS, a state as difficult to achieve with a straight face as greatness without arrogance, is truly something to behold. Behold the Darkness. ...
Guide by Ira Robbins, trouserpress.com, 2007
INSPIRED BY THE Manchester rave scene, Oxford-to-London art-school quartet Ride – Mark Gardener (vocals/rhythm guitar), Andy Bell (vocals/lead guitar), Steve Queralt (bass) and Laurence 'Loz' ...
The Jam, The Style Council, Paul Weller: Paul Weller (2007)
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, January 2007
The former Jam man discusses his current band, plus playing material from his back catalogue; his low commercial profile in America; relearning and singing his old songs; being an adult; the Englishness of his music; his fondness for Britpop; never being a punk; turning down a CBE and his disdain for the Royal Family.
File format: mp3; file size: 15.8mb, interview length: 16' 27" sound quality: ** (phoner)
The Who: Barclays Centre, Brooklyn
Live Review by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages, 15 November 2012
I'VE BEEN AFFECTED in many ways by the thousand-plus rock concerts I've attended over the years. Not all of my reactions have been pleasant, and ...
Foo Fighters: Record Reviews: Who Needs 'Em?
Comment by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages, 23 December 2012
PART ONE I COULD BE WRONG, but – adding together a decade of Trouser Press magazine, five Trouser Press Record Guides and a whole lot ...
Foo Fighters: Record reviews: Who needs them?
Comment by Ira Robbins, salon.com, 1 January 2013
Music criticism is in a horrible state. It wouldn't have to be if we talked about albums like they really mattered. ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 28 January 2014
The Sheffield lads talk about the AM album and scoring an American hit; how their music has evolved; working with Josh Homme on their third album; the importance of drums; the British rock scene; what their songs are about; on the Beatles and covering 'Come Together', and their next single 'Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High'.
File format: mp3; file size: 11.5mb, interview length: 11' 58" sound quality: ***
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