John Mendelssohn
Universally acknowledged as the most consistently revelatory writer about music in the English language, John Mendels(s)ohn repatriated late in 2002 to the UK after countless decades in his semi-native California, where he was once regarded as rather a catch, to the tune of Ray (My Favorite Martian) Walston’s daughter calling him the male Joey Heatheron. ‘Twas he who introduced his friend David Bowie to the music of Iggy Pop - you can look it up! His 1995 authorized autobiography, I, Caramba, was described in Rolling Stone as evoking "Portnoy’s Complaint as rewritten by Pete Townshend," and the accompanying greatest-demos CD as sounding as Todd Rundgren might have with severely inadequate equipment.
Having also prospered along the way as a Web and graphic designer, our multitalented hero is now writing songs for and producing such artists as The Most Beautiful Girl in Britain and living large off the royalties for the 2002 memoir he ghostwrote for his dominatrix wife. He composed and recorded an inexpressibly marvellous solo album, Sex With Twinge, in 2002. Order a copy today! He acts, directs, and playwrites, and is the founder of the Clear and Present Rangers, soon to be seen at Major Fringe Venues in London. His agent is trying to sell My Yobbo, a sitcom pilot, and the film rights to the Mistress Chloe memoir.
His teenaged daughter, whom he adores in spite of everything, hasn’t spoken to him in 15 months as of this writing. There’s talk of his writing songs with his pal and neighbour Rick Parfitt. Talk’s cheap. He’s at least as funny as the late Lester Bangs, but lacked the sense to die young. He’s mortified with embarrassment by nearly all of his early rock criticism. If your cheque won’t bounce, he’d like to do much better work for you!
John Mendelssohn's unmissable Mendel Illness blog
211 articles
List of articles in the library
The Alan Bown Set, The Chambers Brothers: Rock Records! Alan Bown and Chambers Brothers
Review by John Mendelssohn, UCLA Daily Bruin, 27 November 1968
ENGLAND, NEEDLESS to say, has given us some incredible rock groups: The Beatles and Stones, The Who and The Kinks and The Yardbirds, Cream, Traffic, ...
The Move, English Rock Group, Plays At Whisky
Live Review by John Mendelsohn, Los Angeles Times, 1969
THE FACT THAT England’s The Move, completing an abbreviated booking Sunday night at the Whisky, is unknown to all but the most devoted of anglophile ...
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, UCLA Daily Bruin, 15 January 1969
Frank Zappa and other frightening occurrences ...
Gandalf, Led Zeppelin, Van Morrison: Albums from Led Zeppelin, Van Morrison and more
Review by John Mendelssohn, UCLA Daily Bruin, 26 February 1969
BROTHERHOOD, AN RCA group composed of three former Paul Revere underlings and a gutless organist named Ron Collins, have taken a timid, tiny step past ...
Review by John Mendelssohn, Rolling Stone, 15 March 1969
THE POPULAR FORMULA in England in this, the aftermath era of such successful British bluesmen as Cream and John Mayall, seems to be: add to ...
Review by John Mendelssohn, UCLA Daily Bruin, 9 April 1969
YEARS AGO, during what someone told me was the height of it all, Ray Davies was best known for the dozens of songs he wrote ...
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 17 April 1969
Spirit, Procol Play Concerts ...
Deep Purple, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Sanpaku: Rose Palace, Pasadena CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 24 April 1969
Rock Shows Held at Pasadena Rose Palace ...
Spirit, West, The Youngbloods: Spirit, the Youngbloods, West, Blue Morning: Rose Palace, Pasadena CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 29 April 1969
SPIRIT, THE Youngbloods, West and Blue Morning appeared in rock concerts at the Pasadena Rose Palace Friday and Saturday nights. ...
The Nice: Ars Longa Vita Brevis (Immediate)
Review by John Mendelssohn, UCLA Daily Bruin, 30 April 1969
ANYONE WHO can explain how The Nice have managed to remain obscure for so long gets my nomination for The Paul Williams Rock Intellectualization Award ...
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 6 May 1969
Rock Show Staged at Pasadena Rose Palace ...
Review by John Mendelssohn, UCLA Daily Bruin, 7 May 1969
"I guess you could say our thing is a condemnation of everything that is false and deceitful in our society." — John Sinclair, of the ...
Mary Hopkin, Paul McCartney: Mary Hopkin: Postcard
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 17 May 1969
POSTCARD IS AS much Paul McCartney's as it is Mary Hopkin's, which is to say that it is one of those albums on which the ...
The Byrds, Albert King: Rose Palace, Pasadena CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 20 May 1969
Byrds in Spotlight at Pasadena Rose Palace ...
Lee Michaels, Big Mama Thornton: Rose Palace, Pasadena CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 27 May 1969
Rock Show Given at Pasadena Rose Palace ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 31 May 1969
A Salty Dog is a confusing album. At its best it represents the group's greatest success to date with the brand of rock for which ...
Love: Rose Palace, Pasadena CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 3 June 1969
Love Group Plays at Pasadena Rose Palace ...
Joe Cocker, The Sons of Champlin: Joe Cocker, Grease Band: Rose Palace, Pasadena CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 10 June 1969
JOE COCKER and the Grease Band proved the most exciting British rock band to visit America since the Who in their weekend performance at the ...
The Nice: Ars Longa Vita Brevis (Immediate)
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 14 June 1969
WHAT MAY HAVE turned potential Nice freaks off last year was the group's decision to precede their ritual cataclysm 'Rondo' with a set that consisted ...
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 1 July 1969
Soul Music Presented at the Magic Circus ...
Pentangle: Troubadour, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 26 July 1969
THE PENTANGLE, a five-sided English folk-based group comprising two of the folk genre's most enthusiastically acclaimed guitarists, John Renbourn and Bert Jansch, plus singer Jacqui ...
Joe Cocker: A New Blues Boy Blows In From Britain
Interview by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 3 August 1969
JOE COCKER, the most recently emerged and most wildly received British soul artist since Stevie Winwood (of the Spencer Davis Group and later Traffic and ...
Blind Faith, Delaney and Bonnie & Friends, Free: Inglewood Forum, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 19 August 1969
BLIND FAITH'S Los Angeles debut Friday night at the Forum turned out to be as much a Hollywoodish spectacle as it was a performance by ...
Joe Cocker: With A Little Help From My Friends
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 23 August 1969
Joe Cocker and the Grease Band were ending a performance they gave recently at the Whiskey in Los Angeles. As they went into their explosive ...
Keef Hartley, Savoy Brown: Whisky a Go Go, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 4 September 1969
TWO ENGLISH BANDS FEATURED AT WHISKY ...
Fairport Convention: What We Did On Our Holidays
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 6 September 1969
THE FIRST thing I did on receiving this album in the mail was stick it in my cardboard album box – with a good mind ...
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 9 September 1969
Smokey Robinson Crew Performs in Inglewood ...
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 16 September 1969
Dog Night Joins Roots, Steppenwolf at Forum ...
Donovan: Poet-Minstrel Donovan Plays At Hollywood Bowl
Live Review by John Mendelsohn, Los Angeles Times, 30 September 1969
EVERY YEAR at this time Donovan Leitch seats himself beatifically on the stage of the Hollywood Bowl, plays the gentle poet/minstrel from another time and ...
Gypsy, The Move: The Move, Gypsy: Whisky a Go Go, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 11 October 1969
The Move, English Rock Group, Plays at Whisky ...
The Zombies: Whisky a Go Go, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 16 October 1969
Zombies Debut Here but With Some Changes ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 18 October 1969
MY FELLOW devotees of what is frequently referred to as rock and roll's English sound should, on finishing this sentence, rush out willy-nilly in excited ...
The Hollies: Words and Music by Bob Dylan (Epic)
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 1 November 1969
THE HOLLIES, an institution in British rock since the very early Beatle days, have always been among the most conservative of English groups. They were, ...
Hot Tuna, Jefferson Airplane: Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna: The Forum, Inglewood CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 4 November 1969
GLORIOUSLY RESPLENDENT in crushed velvet and faded Levis and backed by what was possibly the Glenn McKay troupe's most breathtaking light-show since Monterey, Jefferson Airplane, ...
Screamin' Jay Hawkins: What That Is! (Phillips)
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 15 November 1969
THE KEY TO this album is its honesty. Producer Milan Melvin has been faithful to Screamin' Jay and his music right down to the picture ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 15 November 1969
BOUND AS he is to producer Mickie Most, who's good when he's interested and unthinkably horrid when he's not, as is obviously the case here, ...
The Beatles: Abbey Road (Apple)
Review by John Mendelssohn, Rolling Stone, 15 November 1969
SIMPLY, SIDE TWO does more for me than the whole of Sgt. Pepper, and I'll trade you The Beatles and Magical Mystery Tour and a ...
The Zombies: Early Days (London)
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 15 November 1969
I PERSONALLY used to spend a lot of time in school carving "What's become of the Zombies" on desks. Which is to say that I ...
Gypsy, The Kinks: The Kinks, Gypsy: Whisky a Go Go, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 22 November 1969
England's Kinks Return After 5-Year Absence ...
The Byrds: Thelma's, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 25 November 1969
Byrds of a Different Feather Open at Club ...
Gypsy, King Crimson: King Crimson, Gypsy: Whisky a Go Go, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 5 December 1969
King Crimson Opens Its Rock 'n' Roll Stand ...
Spooky Tooth, The Stooges: Albums from Spooky Tooth and the Stooges
Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 7 December 1969
Spooky Tooth: Spooky Two (A&M SP 4194) This is quite representative of the latest albums by unfamiliar British rock groups (in which category Free, ...
Eric Burdon, War: Eric Burdon & War, Elyse Weinberg: Troubadour, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 11 December 1969
Eric Burdon Back on Scene With War Band ...
Led Zeppelin: Led Zeppelin II (Atlantic)
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 13 December 1969
Hey, man, I take it all back! This is one fucking heavyweight of an album! OK – I'll concede that until you've listened to the ...
Grand Funk Railroad, Humble Pie: Humble Pie, Grand Funk Railroad: Whisky a Go Go, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 17 December 1969
England's Humble Pie Here on First U.S. Tour ...
Report by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Free Press, 19 December 1969
LIFE WITH the stars, installment one; in which are discussed in seemingly random order that sometimes sorry, sometimes joyous live adventures of the, long-lost-and-presumed-forever-missing-from-America Kinks, ...
Allman Brothers Band, Ten Wheel Drive: Allman Bros., Ten Wheel Drive at the Whisky
Profile by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 24 January 1970
THE ALLMAN Bros. Band and Ten Wheel Drive, who will be co-featured at the Whisky A Go Go through Sunday, are respectable entries in their ...
Cat Mother & the All-Night Newsboys, Smokestack Lightnin': Whisky a Go Go, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 31 January 1970
Lightnin', Cat Mother Share Musical Billing ...
Savoy Brown: 'Train to Nowhere' (Parrot 45-40039); 'I'm Tired' (Parrot 45-40042)
Review by John Mendelssohn, Rolling Stone, 21 February 1970
SAY WHAT you will about Savoy Brown, they've bestowed upon us two monstrously good singles in the last six months. ...
Elvin Bishop, Santana: Santana, Elvin Bishop: Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 3 March 1970
Santana Plays Two Rock 'n' Roll Shows ...
The Who: Who interview... Got Love, Zoot Suits, Tarzan... If You Want It
Interview by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 6 March 1970
GRANTED, OF course, that you're conceivably up to here with P. Townshend interviews (that gentleman having made himself available for comment to seemingly everyone with ...
Kaleidoscope: Incredible! Kaleidoscope (Epic BN 26467)
Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 22 March 1970
KALEIDOSCOPE, APPARENTLY disillusioned (an justifiably so) after a three-year career as one of the world's most interesting yet chronically most-ignored rock groups, has here given ...
Crazy Horse, Neil Young: Neil Young: Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 2 April 1970
Neil Young Appears Singly ...
Fairport Convention: Troubadour, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 7 May 1970
English Folk Material by Fairport Convention ...
Ballin' Jack, The Guess Who: Guess Who, Ballin' Jack: Convention Center, Anaheim
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 26 May 1970
CANADA'S GUESS Who radiated indifference at the Anaheim Convention Center Friday night. ...
The Stooges: The Ig Unbound: Some of the Real Truth About Iggy Stooge
Profile and Interview by John Mendelssohn, Entertainment World, 29 May 1970
FOR THIS ridiculously typical young swinger doing the whole, you know, number right there in the center of the Whisky dance-floor the last 45 minutes ...
Fairport Convention: Unhalfbricking/Liege and Lief
Review by John Mendelssohn, Rolling Stone, 11 June 1970
UNHALFBRICKING AND Liege and Lief are the two last albums by the Fairport Convention with Sandy Denny. ...
The Beatles: Let It Be (Apple)
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 11 June 1970
TO THOSE WHO found their work since the White Album as emotionally vapid as it was technically breathtaking, the news that the Beatles were about ...
Terry Reid: Whisky a Go Go, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 23 July 1970
Songwriter Reid Does His Bit as a Performer ...
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 24 July 1970
Grand Funk, Other Rock Groups on Stage ...
Joe Cocker, Leon Russell: The Mad Dog Diary
Sleeve notes by John Mendelssohn, 'Mad Dogs and Englishmen' (A&M Records), August 1970
11th MARCH 1970. Joe Cocker flies into Los Angeles with the intentions of recuperating from grueling months on the road and forming a new band ...
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 24 August 1970
WITH HIS latest assortment of the Mothers of Invention, which was on display Friday evening at the Santa Monica Civic, Frank Zappa, America's most beloved ...
Led Zeppelin: Forum, Inglewood CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 7 September 1970
Led Zeppelin Plays for Forum Audience ...
Bonzo Dog Band: The Bonzo Dog (Doo Dah) Band
Retrospective by John Mendelsohn, Fusion, 2 October 1970
IT GIVES ME limitless pleasure to inform you that, unless you're a member of a decidedly tiny minority of rock and roll women and men, ...
Mungo Jerry: Whisky a Go Go, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 23 October 1970
Mungo Jerry Performing in Hollywood ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 12 November 1970
GIVEN THAT HIS voice combines the nasal sonority of James Taylor with the rasp of Van Morrison with the slurry intonation of M. Jagger with ...
The Moody Blues: Moody Blues: A Question Of Balance
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 12 November 1970
RECENTLY SOMETHING of unexaggerable beauty came into my life, something that was to enthrall me musically and elevate me spiritually, to pour oil on the ...
Derek & the Dominos, Toe Fat: Santa Monica Civic and Pasadena Civic, CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 24 November 1970
Derek and Dominos in Two Concerts ...
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 1 December 1970
James Gang Backs Up the Steve Miller Band ...
Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band: Bitter End West, West Hollywood CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 5 December 1970
CAPTAIN BEEFHEARTS MAGIC BAND PERFORMS ...
The Kinks: Lola Vs. Powerman And The Moneygoround (Part One)
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 7 January 1971
SO, APPARENTLY having forgotten the Byrds' words of caution, you wanna be a rock and roll star, eh? Before you trade in your stereo components ...
Comment by John Mendelsohn, Phonograph Record, February 1971
(This article was a response to an article in Jazz & Pop highly critical of rock criticism in general, and John Mendelsohn in particlular, by rock writer ...
David Bowie: The Man Who Sold The World
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 18 February 1971
"Some say the view is crazy/But you may adopt another point of view. So if it's much too hazy/You can leave my friend and me ...
We Are Normal and We Want Our Freedom
Column by John Mendelsohn, Creem, March 1971
HOW UNSPEAKABLY fantastic it was to see the TAMI Show, again, the other evening, for the first time since its original release in 1965! ...
King Crimson, McDonald and Giles: Mcdonald & Giles (Cotillion)
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 18 March 1971
IGNORING THE TINY VOICE from within that insisted that, having cared for King Crimson not one iota, I would probably not find the work of ...
The Faces: Faces: Long Player (Warner Bros.)
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 18 March 1971
BEING ONE OF the few English bands left willing (nay, all too happy) to flaunt their Englishness, and moreover ranking no lower than third on ...
Report and Interview by John Mendelssohn, Rolling Stone, 1 April 1971
LOS ANGELES: In his floral-patterned velvet midi-gown and cosmetically enhanced eyes, in his fine chest-length blonde hair and mod nutty engineer’s cap that he bought ...
Dreams, J. Geils Band: J. Geils Band, Dreams: Whisky a Go Go, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 2 April 1971
J. GEILS BAND PLAYS WHISKY ENGAGEMENT ...
Alice Cooper: Love It To Death
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 15 April 1971
IT CAME ON the radio in the late afternoon and from the first note it was right: Alice Cooper bringing it all back home again. ...
Matthews' Southern Comfort: Matthews Southern Comfort: Later That Same Year
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 15 April 1971
AS HAS been suggested before in these pages, if mellow tuneful close-harmony country-tinged polite-rock of the sort that is considered indispensable by those who own ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 29 April 1971
FROM THE VERY start, friends, I've always wished I could enjoy Creedence Clearwater as much as I admire them for their unremitting tunefulness and refreshing ...
Christopher Milk: John Mendelsohn: Superstardom is my Destiny
Memoir by John Mendelssohn, Rolling Stone, 13 May 1971
EVEN AT 15, when I abandoned my childhood dreams of one day becoming the slugging second-baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers, I knew somehow that ...
Black Oak Arkansas: Black Oak Arkansas (Atco)
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 27 May 1971
IT IS SAID that before they became a rock and roll band Black Oak Arkansas were a teenage gang the mere mention of whose name ...
Juke Boy Bonner, Freddie King: Freddie King, Juke Boy Bonner: The Ash Grove, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 2 July 1971
Freddie King Performs on Ash Grove Stage ...
Dan Hicks And His Hot Licks: Where’s The Money
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 3 July 1971
DAN HICKS is a person of no mean strangeness, a genuine original, and one of the greatest superheroes in all of 20th century popular music. ...
Rod Stewart: Every Picture Tells A Story
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 8 July 1971
HE HAS IT IN him, has Rod Stewart, to save a lot of souls, to rescue those of us who are too old for Grand ...
Grin, Jackie Lomax: Jackie Lomax, Grin: Whisky a Go Go, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 9 July 1971
Jackie Lomax and Band Playing at the Whisky ...
Alice Cooper: Long Beach Municipal Auditorium, Long Beach CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 13 July 1971
Alice Cooper Tops Show at Long Beach ...
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 21 July 1971
ELP Group Presents a Mixed Bag at the Bowl ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 22 July 1971
By no exertion of the imagination are James Gang the greatest rock and roll band ever to walk the face of the earth or anything ...
Stephen Stills: Stephen Stills 2
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 19 August 1971
WHAT WE HAVE HERE, friends, is a fifth-rate album by a solid second-rate artist who so many lower-middlebrows insist on believing is actually first-rate, even ...
The Who: Who's Next (Decca DL 79182)
Review by John Mendelssohn, Rolling Stone, 2 September 1971
WHO'S NEXT, regardless of what you may have been led to believe to the contrary, is neither the soundtrack to the realization of Pete Townshend's ...
Black Sabbath, Stoneground, Sweathog: Long Beach Arena, Long Beach CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 27 September 1971
CONSIDERING THAT Black Sabbath's popularity seems to be increasing almost logarithmically, as was suggested by its filling to capacity the enormous Long Beach Arena Saturday ...
The Move: Looking On/Message From the Country
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 14 October 1971
WHEN LAST we glimpsed The Move in these pages they had recently completed what was without the slightest glimmer of doubt the finest English rock ...
Pink Floyd: Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 19 October 1971
Pink Floyd Performs at Santa Monica Civic ...
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 1 November 1971
New Jeff Beck Group in Long Beach Concert ...
Black Oak Arkansas: Turkey Talking to Arkansas
Interview by John Mendelssohn, Rolling Stone, 25 November 1971
LOS ANGELES – On stage, almost scary, are Black Oak Arkansas. ...
The Move: Everything You've Always Wanted to Know!
Profile by John Mendelsohn, Phonograph Record, December 1971
What Is The Move? The Move are one of the four or five most magnificent rock and roll bands in England, and therefore in the ...
The Truth About Truth of Truths
Report by John Mendelssohn, Rolling Stone, 23 December 1971
A FEW WEEKS ago, because Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times was unavailable, yours truly was invited to be the token rock critic on a local ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 6 January 1972
DAVID BOWIE, the swinging/mod Garbo, male femme fatale, confidante to and darling of the avant-garde on both sides of the Atlantic, and shameless outrage, is ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 20 January 1972
LIKE PAUL MCCARTNEY'S first two post-Beatles albums, Wild Life is largely high on sentiment but rather flaccid musically and impotent lyrically, trivial and unaffecting. ...
Labelle: Whisky a Go Go, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 21 January 1972
THE IDEA of wedding an English or other foreign fan's perspective on the idiom with a fading American rhythm-and-blues group looks fine on paper, and ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 3 February 1972
DON'T BE MISLED: however extraordinary Gilbert O'Sullivan may look in his imbecile haircut, knickers, and other things Thirties Irish schoolboy, he sounds sufficiently like your ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 3 February 1972
I'M SURE I'LL never understand why it's become so fashionable to belittle Sonny & Cher, to blame everything from the dissolution of the Beatles to ...
Uriah Heep, Manna: Whisky a Go Go, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 4 February 1972
Uriah Heep Epitomizes Power Rock at Whisky ...
Jo Jo Gunne: Whisky a Go Go, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 12 February 1972
SEEING HOW it packed the Whisky to overflowing in its opening Thursday, only a fool could doubt that Jo Jo Gunne will soon he enjoying ...
Black Sabbath, Yes: The Forum, Inglewood CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 17 March 1972
Black Sabbath and Yes in Concert at Forum ...
Column by John Mendelssohn, Disc and Music Echo, 18 March 1972
PLEASE ALLOW me to introduce myself: ...
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 21 March 1972
KING CRIMSON, which performed locally for the first time in two years Sunday afternoon at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, is the very embodiment of ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 30 March 1972
At the end of this, five'll getcha ten, most of you are going to be exclaiming lividly, "O what vile geeks are rock critics! How ...
Free, West, Bruce & Laing: West, Bruce & Laing, Free: Palladium, Hollywood CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 10 April 1972
West, Bruce & Laing Work Out on Late '60s ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 27 April 1972
WHAT HAVE WE HERE, O my sisters and brothers, but an album that serves as living proof that if you release 88 albums every month, ...
Little Feat, Osibisa: Whisky a Go Go, Los Angeles
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 6 May 1972
FEW INDEED are the groups whose emergence has been heralded by more glowing reviews than Little Feat. It's my guess, though, that few indeed who ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 8 June 1972
Should you ever find yourself in the mood to be bored comatose, simply hop on the next jet to Hollywood, where this writer will gladly ...
Grand Funk Railroad: Mark, Don & Mel
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 22 June 1972
VIRTUALLY EVERY practicing rock critic worth his sneer, of course, has sought to explicate Grand Funk's ascent to commercial ultra-gargantuanity over countless identically horrible Cream ...
The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones: Long Beach Arena, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by John Mendelsohn, Disc, 24 June 1972
VIRTUALLY nowhere during the past week could a Hollywood hipster fail to encounter signs proclaiming the purchasability (mostly at prices reminiscent of a prince's ransom) ...
Alice Cooper, Kim Fowley, Jethro Tull: The Government and Alice Cooper’s Panties
Report by John Mendelssohn, Disc, 9 July 1972
WOTTA week it’s been here in Hollywood, guys and gals, what with each and every day virtually splitting its trousers with grand and glamorous events, ...
Alice Cooper: Hollywood Bowl, Hollywood CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 25 July 1972
Alice Cooper Mounts Camel, Gallows at Bowl ...
Van Dyke Parks: Discover America
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 3 August 1972
VAN DYKE PARKS' first album, Song Cycle, released in 1968, was a dizzyingly eclexoteric work that had the critics alternately gushing, "The emergence of a ...
Hello People: The Handsome Devils
Review by John Mendelsohn, Phonograph Record, February 1975
I'M FAR FROM entirely convinced that I would trade everything I own to be in Hello People's shoes, or greasepaint, for it seems the sorry ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Phonograph Record, March 1975
WHAT A DISTRESSINGLY large percentage of the perfect strangers with whom I happen to chat while waiting in line for ball games, premieres of motion ...
John Denver: An Evening With John Denver (RCA)
Review by John Mendelsohn, Phonograph Record, March 1975
WITH THIS, the live album for which millions of Denver fans have been clamoring for a veritable eternity, John's election to the Playboy Jazz & ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Phonograph Record, March 1975
HAVING BEEN duly, uh, blown away by the opening tracks on their previous two albums, I prepared to savor the first cut on Queen's Sheer ...
Rodney Bingenheimer: The Patron Saint of Teenage
Profile and Interview by John Mendelsohn, Phonograph Record, March 1975
FORGET THE hillside enclaves of those who either can not yet or no longer afford Beverly Hills, and what's left of the San Fernando Valley ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Phonograph Record, March 1975
A WRITER SHOULD never admit as much, but I'm still not entirely confident that mere words can communicate the full extent to which I abhor ...
Thin Lizzy: Nightlife (Vertigo)
Review by John Mendelsohn, Phonograph Record, March 1975
WHEN, IN AN ill-disguised attempt to salvage what little was left of both his physical and psychic well-being after decades of arduous touring, lead guitarist ...
Carl Douglas: Kung Fu Fighting (20th Century T-464)
Review by John Mendelssohn, Rolling Stone, 27 March 1975
I WAS GAILY dancing the kung fu (even though I don't, as the song informs us one is supposed to, possess the grace of a ...
David Bowie: Young Americans (RCA)
Review by John Mendelsohn, Phonograph Record, April 1975
IN VIEW OF the fact that, in his first major American interview, Bowie assured us, "If I'm mediocre I'll get out of the business: there's ...
Brian Eno: Eno: Another Green World
Review by John Mendelsohn, Phonograph Record, April 1975
UP UNTIL THE moment the temporary editor of this august journal telephoned to apprise me that he'd just been in a terrible automobile accident in ...
Suzi Quatro: Your Mama Won't Like Me
Review by John Mendelsohn, Phonograph Record, April 1975
THERE'S NOTHING like a new Suzi Quatro album to knock one's hormonal balance all out of whack. Were there but the most nebulous suggestion of ...
Supertramp: Crime of the Century (A&M SP 3647)
Review by John Mendelssohn, Rolling Stone, 10 April 1975
VIRTUALLY EVERY track on this album seems to last twice as long as the actual music warrants, a vastly disproportionate amount of needle time seems ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Phonograph Record, May 1975
ALLOW ME TO ventilate my prejudices up-front, just so you'll be hip as to where I'm coming from. I appreciate that being invited out for ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Phonograph Record, May 1975
IF YOU'RE A regular reader of the Phonograph Record review section (and in this day and age who isn't?), you're probably beside yourself trying to ...
Mac Davis: All the Love in the World
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 8 May 1975
HEREWITH, THE Legend of the Songpainter. ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 8 May 1975
STEELY DAN sound like a million dollars not only next to at least 26 of their coresidents of the Boss 30 when they're in it, ...
Manhattan Transfer: Manhattan Transfer
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 5 June 1975
ONLY THE MOST incorrigible boogie casualty could find the Manhattan Transfer less than quite uncommonly delightful onstage. ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 19 June 1975
WHILE IT'S DIFFICULT to picture anyone failing to be amused by the intentional ludicrousness of, say, dedicating an album to the revolution or making the ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 19 June 1975
NOT TO TAKE anything away from Ralf, Florian, Klaus or even Wolfgang – who are probably real nice geezers once you get to know them ...
Blood, Sweat & Tears: Blood Sweat & Tears Featuring David Clayton-Thomas: New City
Review by John Mendelssohn, Rolling Stone, 17 July 1975
IN NEW CITY BS&TFDC-T have made an album that fans of everything from soul to easy listening to jazz to difficult listening to rock will ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 9 October 1975
NOT SINCE MARC Bolan noshed himself into semiretirement have our pre-nursery-school age friends been given product on which they could so effortlessly get off as ...
Brian Eno: Eno: Another Green World (Island)
Review by John Mendelsohn, Phonograph Record, November 1975
UP UNTIL THE moment the temporary editor of this august journal telephoned to apprise me that he'd just been in a terrible automobile accident in ...
Elvis Presley: Andy Kaufman Does De Elvis
Report by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 12 January 1978
OH, GOD, where did they find this poor soul, and what desperate circumstances could have resulted in his presence on stage before us? ...
The Beatles: Mistakes And All: Recreating The Fab Four in Beatlemania
Report and Interview by John Mendelsohn, Los Angeles Times, 9 April 1978
IF THE FOUR young musicians who portray the Beatles in Beatlemania deliver anything less than the "incredible simulation" a sign in the Shubert Theater ticket ...
Bonnie Raitt: Freebo's Travels With Bonnie
Interview by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 20 April 1978
LOS ANGELES – AT AN age when most rock musicians are superstars in decline, prosperous session players, or in their fifth or so year of ...
Foreigner’s Road Map: Destination Top Ten
Interview by John Mendelssohn, Rolling Stone, 4 May 1978
IN THE SPRING of 1976, Mick Jones found himself. With a dwindling bank account and dim prospects, even after twelve years of playing guitar and ...
The Beatles: Beatlemania’s Boys in the Band
Report and Interview by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 18 May 1978
JOE PECORINO, A small, affable young man who earns his living by pretending to be John Lennon in the successful stage production, Beatlemania, denies that ...
Aging Musicians’ Dilemma: Is There Rock After 30?
Comment by John Mendelsohn, Los Angeles Times, 25 March 1979
AT THE APOGEE of Beatlemania, Paul McCartney was asked at a press conference how long the Beatles would last: "Dunno," he replied, "but I can’t ...
Ultravox: The Low-Budget Way To See The U.S.A.
Report and Interview by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 14 June 1979
AS RECENTLY AS January, Britain’s Ultravox — purveyors of highly stylized, often outré music alternately reminiscent of Pink Floyd, Brian Eno and Roxy Music — ...
The Who: What's What With The Who Movie
Film/DVD/TV Review by John Mendelsohn, Los Angeles Times, 29 July 1979
THE KIDS Are Alright movie – opening Thursday at the Cinerama Dome – begins with the Who performing their ode to teen inarticulateness, 'My Generation', ...
Rock Dreams Come True For Rodney
Interview by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 9 December 1979
"IN GOING FROM a kid standing in utter terror outside Connie Stevens' house to a Monkee's double to the king of the local nightclubs, he's ...
The Cramps: The Lord Giveth While The Cramps Taketh Away
Interview by John Mendelsohn, Creem, August 1980
JUST UP FROM the shore of every port city in the English-speaking world, there is a movie house that shows horror films around the clock. ...
Yes: The Band That Punks Say Is A "No"
Interview by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 28 September 1980
Question: Do you imagine it impossible to sum up in a single word all that rock's third generation, that is, the punks and their new ...
Herman's Hermits, Peter Noone, The Tremblers: The Hermit Trembles: Peter Noone Looks Back
Interview by John Mendelsohn, Creem, December 1980
ON A WARM, smoggy Saturday morning on the verge of September, this journal's man on the West Coast called on Peter Noone, who, from farther ...
Electric Light Orchestra: The Electric Light Orchestra Tunes Up - Bev Bevan’s Early History Of ELO
Interview by John Mendelsohn, Creem, 1981
After a two year absence, the Electric Light Orchestra have returned with Time, one of their best albums in years, now resting comfortably atop the ...
XTC: The Ecstatic Aesthetics Of XTC
Interview by John Mendelsohn, Creem, July 1981
EVERYBODY DOESN'T like something, but nobody doesn't like XTC. Nobody, that is, except the countless hundreds of thousands who find the British beat foursome's relentless ...
The Psychedelic Furs: Psychedelic Furs: Feels Like The Furs Time
Interview by John Mendelsohn, Creem, January 1982
IN 1977, DURING the so-called Summer of hate, yet another refugee from a London art college got fed up with silk-screening "advertising crap" and resolved ...
Profile and Interview by John Mendelsohn, Creem, January 1982
LOS ANGELES – The 50's are back, thanks to a rockabilly threesome from Queens, New York, who lived through barely six months of that decade ...
The Byrds, The Rolling Stones: Rock Fashion: Lace Fop to Costume Ball Chic
Guide by John Mendelssohn, Musician, August 1982
An informal survey of the great movements in rock fashion, those cyclical variations on the theme of outraging mom and dad. ...
Fleetwood Mac: Gypsies, Tramps or Thieves?
Profile and Interview by John Mendelsohn, Creem, February 1983
ONE DAY SOON, there will be no more stuffed animals in the world. No stuffed koalas or pandas or ocelots or giraffes will remain for ...
Missing Persons: I Find Missing Persons
Interview by John Mendelsohn, Creem, March 1983
THE GERM OF THE union that would one day become countless hundreds of thousands of fans' favorite new New Wavoid attraction of 1983 wriggled into ...
Malcolm Mclaren Eats Egg Salad
Interview by John Mendelsohn, Creem, June 1983
Other Pagan Rituals to Follow? ...
A Flock of Seagulls, Aerosmith, Culture Club, Mötley Crüe: Eleganza: Dress for Excess
Column by John Mendelsohn, Creem, July 1983
Eleganza returns! This one-time fave fab fashion column, as you may know, oozed away slowly in the past few years for "reasons" we don't need ...
Roxy Music: Universal Amphitheatre Los Angeles CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Record, July 1983
Just Another Loud Rock Band ...
Joan Jett, The Thompson Twins: Eleganza: Sneer & Sneer Again
Column by John Mendelsohn, Creem, August 1983
IF I NEVER glimpse another Rock 'n' Roll Bad Boy sneering at me on my television screen, trying to impress me with how unashamedly wicked ...
The Kinks: Kinks: A Sad Kommentary
Comment by John Mendelsohn, Creem, August 1983
ASSUMING THAT A healthy percentage of it carried falsified ID, the average age of the audience at this year's Los Angeles Kinks concert might have ...
The Thompson Twins At The Seashore
Interview by John Mendelsohn, Creem, August 1983
NO OTHER BAND in the British syncopop sweepstakes boasts greater bounce to the ounce. Indeed, to get some idea of what the Thompson Twins are ...
Adam & The Ants, Cliff Richard, Josie Cotton, Prince: Eleganza: The Best-Dressed List
Column by John Mendelsohn, Creem, September 1983
THERE ARE absolutes in fashion. For instance, flare-legged trousers are absolutely more flattering to the vast majority of people than straight-legged trousers, since they make ...
A Flock Of Seagulls: Hair Apparent
Interview by John Mendelsohn, Creem, October 1983
SINCE MOVING into it in the autumn of 1982, A Flock Of Seagulls lead singer Mike Score has scarcely seen his new flat in Liverpool ...
Berlin, Missing Persons, Mötley Crüe: Eleganza: Got Pizzazz (If You Want It)
Column by John Mendelsohn, Creem, October 1983
IN THE MONTHS since its resuscitation, several hundred readers have written this column to ask what they should do with their hair. Would that Eleganza ...
The Gun Club: Eleganza: Daughters Of Darkness
Column by John Mendelsohn, Creem, November 1983
NATURE ABHORS a vacuum, but Eleganza adores someone who dares to dress with panache, elan, and all the other French nouns that mean pizzazz. You might not ...
Interview by John Mendelsohn, Creem, December 1983
HE'S BEEN USING speed for years, and he plays in a heavy metal band with the most obnoxious album cover art ever. So one doesn't ...
The Clash, Van Halen: US Festival ’83: No More In ‘84
Report by John Mendelsohn, Record, Summer 1983
AFTER PUNK, audiences weren’t supposed to pay large amounts of money anymore for the privilege of watching superstars from the length of a football field ...
A Flock of Seagulls, Daryl Hall, Rod Stewart: Eleganza: Hairy Monsters (In Need Of Sleep)
Column by John Mendelsohn, Creem, January 1984
A COUPLE OF issues back, Eleganza admitted that it was at a loss for what to tell you to do with your hair. Wear it ...
Soft Cell: No Ordinary Whipper Snappers
Interview by John Mendelsohn, Creem, March 1984
YOU REPORT TO the Ramada Inn in Beverly Hills at the agreed-upon hour of a drizzly afternoon between Halloween and Thanksgiving to ask Soft Cell ...
Adam & The Ants: Adam Ant: Sex Person Without A Cause
Interview by John Mendelsohn, Creem, May 1984
ADAM ANT materialized in the lobby of a West Hollywood hotel that employs a lot of very stupid Englishwomen and offered me his hand. ...
Angelyne: Eleganza: Introducing Angelyne
Profile and Interview by John Mendelsohn, Creem, May 1984
HOLLYWOOD teems with lusters after fame, rock stars of tomorrow, would-be symbols of sex. But none of them has managed to make herself more conspicuous ...
Spinal Tap: Heavy Metal Blunder: This Is Spinal Tap
Review by John Mendelsohn, Creem, May 1984
THE MISSUS USED to be married to a little asshole who produced comedy specials for cable television. The principals of This Is Spinal Tap – ...
The Clash: The Mouth That Roared: The Return of The Clash
Report and Interview by John Mendelsohn, Record, June 1984
Joe Strummer announces the Clash’s comeback in no uncertain terms. ...
The Alarm: Tracking The New Inspirationals: The Alarm
Report and Interview by John Mendelsohn, Record, June 1984
THEIR MOVEMENT MAY be said to have been born on the smoggy Labor Day afternoon in 1983 when U2’s Bono climbed to the top of ...
The Go-Go's: Rapping To The Go-Go's
Interview by John Mendelsohn, Creem, August 1984
ON THE OCCASION of the release of their latest album, America's only rock 'n' roll magazine that bills itself as such asked for the two ...
Bitch: Eleganza: Mom of a Bitch
Interview by John Mendelsohn, Creem, November 1984
"I'M REALLY not into playing particular roles just because you're a certain age or have a certain position in life," says Lois Weiss, an early ...
The Ten Worst New Acts Of The ‘80s
Guide by John Mendelsohn, Creem, 1985
Note: This Mendo masterpiece was written under the fetching pseudonym of Anastasia Finn. ...
Column by John Mendelsohn, Creem, March 1985
A LOT OF you younger readers who think that Boy George didn't invent rock 'n' roll androgyny believe that Prince did, or Michael Jackson, or ...
Interview by John Mendelsohn, Creem, March 1985
ASKED WHAT the most important thing in her life is in the autumn of her fifth year of stardom, Pat(ricia Andrzejwski) Benatar (Geraldo) rapturously replies, ...
John Lennon: A Strangely defanged portrait of John Lennon
Book Review by John Mendelsohn, San Francisco Chronicle, 20 June 1985
ACCORDING TO LABOR Department projections, John Lennon biographers will outnumber Elvis Presley impersonators by mid-October. ...
Sting: Black Like Me: Sting Brings On The Night
Film/DVD/TV Review by John Mendelsohn, Creem, 1986
SEVERAL YEARS AGO, in his infamous Outspoken Period, Elvis Costello allowed as how Sting ought to be cuffed mercilessly about the ears until he quit ...
Bruce Springsteen: The Year Of The Boss
Essay by John Mendelsohn, Creem, 1986
LET’S ADMIT IT to one another – there are several things we don’t like so much about Bruce Springsteen. We’re not crazy, for instance, about ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Creem, February 1986
CRENSHAW SINGS like a less nasal John Lennon (whom he portrayed in Beatlemania) with the rough edges smoothed off, becomingly betrays the influence of all ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Creem, March 1986
HEARING ABOUT how Stevie I Wonder had to coach him on how to sing like himself on ‘We Are the World’ or watching him and ...
Rock Magazines: Why They're So Good
Overview by John Mendelsohn, Creem, July 1986
YOU KNOW WHAT'S interesting about the rock print medium nearly two-thirds of the way through the '80s? That so much of it is aimed at ...
Poison, Ratt, The Who: Eleganza: Our Wacky, Wacky World
Column by John Mendelssohn, Creem, September 1986
IN THE EARLY '70s, we Americans called it glitter and the English glam, but by any other name it would still be mass transvestitism. It's ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Creem, January 1987
SHE'S FEATURED her mom in most of her videos, and had her along to all the big gala awards shows too, so you get the ...
Bruce Springsteen: The E Street Band Live/1975-85
Review by John Mendelsohn, Creem, March 1987
ON THE SUNNY, balmy Monday this was released the local deejays said, absenteeism in San Francisco broke all records, as tens of thousands of otherwise ...
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark: The Pacific Age
Review by John Mendelsohn, Creem, April 1987
NOT ALL THAT is wrong with modern pop is wrong with OMD. They don't try desperately to look like badasses of the most fearsome sort ...
What's The Matter With Kids Today?
Comment by John Mendelsohn, Creem, October 1987
THERE ARE lots of wide open spaces around where I live. In the late spring, I can gaze out from the window of my study ...
Narada Michael Walden: Riding On The Freeway Of Love With Narada Michael Walden
Interview by John Mendelsohn, San Francisco, June 1988
Grammies, Platinum Albums and Adulating Superstars Won’t Deter Him From Being A Regular Artist Kind Of Guy...Maybe ...
The Neville Brothers: Neville Brothers: Brother's Keeper
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 6 September 1990
SHOUDN’T IT BE A CLINCH TO PRODUCE a consistently breathtaking Neville Brothers album? Wouldn’t one have only to hand Aaron Neville a collection of worthy ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 18 October 1990
IN VIEW OF MÖTLEY CRÜE’S AND OZZY Osbourne’s ongoing mega-stardom, it’s hard to imagine that success in heavy metal is the result of anything other ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 15 November 1990
SINCE THE HEYDAY of Little Richard, one of the things that teenagers have liked most about rock & roll is that it can provoke parents ...
N.W.A: Poison The Hood: Niggaz with Attitude
Retrospective by John Mendelssohn, unpublished, for Playboy, 1991
ON A SPRING EVENING in 1991, the late Eazy-E accepted the invitation of Dr. Dre, his fellow member of the notorious "gangsta" rap group NWA, ...
The Beatles, The Byrds, Cream, The Rolling Stones: What's In A Name?
Essay by John Mendelssohn, Musician, April 1992
Band names have mirrored the aspirations and excesses of the times. A definitive field guide to the epic trends and gonzo greats of rock nomenclature. ...
Jellyfish: Just For The Jell Of It
Profile and Interview by John Mendelsohn, Creem, July 1993
QUEEN LIVES! And so do the Beach Boys and Beatles of the Pet Sounds/Sgt. Pepper era as well. Or at least, you recall them all ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Musician, March 1995
LISTENING TO this predominantly gloomy album, it's easy to forget that, at his best – in 'Over You', say, or 'More Than This', Bryan Ferry ...
David Bowie: How I alienated David Bowie!
Comment by John Mendelsohn, Rock's Backpages, May 2002
IN THE AUTUMN of 2000, I had gone from being a very well paid Web designer to being an out-of-work former Web designer. ...
Wishbone Ash: A Tribute to Heroes! Ashbone U Wish do Wishbone Ash
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Rock's Backpages, 10 May 2002
I WILL NOT feign objectivity. When Wishbone Ash dissolved in 1977 because of the usual "creative differences" (Nigel and Steve wanted to be creative, while ...
Like Rock Never Happened: Pop Idols for Tibet... or Greenpeace... or whatever
Comment by John Mendelsohn, Rock's Backpages, 14 June 2002
WELL, I HOPE everybody's satisfied. Back in the early '80s (you can look it up!), I was railing in Creem about the institutionalisation of surliness ...
John Lennon: How I Almost Met the Late John Lennon
Memoir by John Mendelsohn, Rock's Backpages, 28 June 2002
LEGEND AND VH1 have it that when Elton John made his Los Angeles debut at the Troubadour in August 1970, he blew everyone away, and ...
Sid Vicious: John Mendelsohn catches up with the late Sid Vicious
Interview by John Mendelsohn, Rock's Backpages, March 2003
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS after the fact, it appears less and less likely that Elvis's death was a hoax. Not so that of punk rock icon Sid ...
Victoria Beckham: Keepin’ It Real
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rock's Backpages, August 2003
YOU COULD HARDLY blame the ridicule-mongers for nearly swooning with delight a couple of months ago when Victoria Beckham revealed that she would soon begin ...
Devo: We're The Pits, or Punk Comes to LA
Retrospective by John Mendelsohn, MOJO, Spring 2005
THREE YEARS AFTER my group Christopher Milk -- signed to Warner Bros. and produced, rather poorly, by a famous English producer -- agreed that we'd ...
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