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Mary Harron

Mary Harron

Contributor in the ’70s and ’80s to PUNK, MELODY MAKER, the VILLAGE VOICE, the GUARDIAN and the NEW STATESMAN, Mary (pictured in the '70s with Lester Bangs) has subsequently become an acclaimed film director (I Shot Andy Warhol, American Psycho et al.)

Mary Harron on the RBP podcast

43 articles

List of articles in the library

By date | By artist | Most recently added

The Ramones

Interview by Mary Harron, Punk, January 1976

RIGHT NOW I am sitting by the stage where Joey Ramone has wrapped his tall languorous body and his long long hands around the microphone ...

The Clash, The Damned, Sex Pistols: Punk Is Just Another Word for Nothin' Left To Lose

Essay by Mary Harron, The Village Voice, 28 March 1977

The worst insult in the English punks' vocabulary is "poser". These are working-class kids who resent it when the middle classes ape their style. ...

The Dead Boys: Pretty Vicious

Profile and Interview by Mary Harron, Sounds, 27 August 1977

THE DEAD BOYS are part of anew generation at CBGB's, a generation that has finally succeeded in erasing that fine line that divides the cool ...

Brian Eno: Interview with Brian Eno

Interview by Mary Harron, Punk, Summer 1977

Brian Eno is sitting in Island Records’ Basing Street Studios, London, with a piece of toast in his hand. He is working on an album: ...

Ian Dury & the Blockheads: Bataclan theatre, Paris

Live Review by Mary Harron, Sounds, 18 March 1978

Sex and Frogs and rock and roll ...

The Mekons: Blows Against Individuation

Profile and Interview by Mary Harron, Melody Maker, 3 February 1979

The Mekons insist they're just a by-product of confusion. But 'intervention', a.k.a. 'going commercial', looms. ...

The Bee Gees: The Bee Gees, Larry Pryce (Panther)

Book Review by Mary Harron, Melody Maker, 7 April 1979

Oh what a boring book we see When Larry practises to Bee Gee ...

Dottsy, Freddie Hart, Sleepy LaBeef, Hank Locklin, Tammy Wynette: Wembley Country Festival: The Metropolitan Soap Opera

Report by Mary Harron, Melody Maker, 28 April 1979

Friendly and polite or mean and bigoted? Even transferred to North London, the country music audience reflects the ambiguous small-town mentality. MARY HARRON heard Tammy ...

Gang of Four: Dialectics Meet Disco

Essay by Mary Harron, Melody Maker, 26 May 1979

This is the year of the second coming of British art-rock – although the new art-rockers won't admit it. MARY HARRON strips away the modish ...

A Certain Ratio, The Distractions, Joy Division, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark: Factory Records: Food For Thought

Report by Mary Harron, Melody Maker, 29 September 1979

Lots of people thought that Operation Julie was a bit of an anachronism. Who, in the late Seventies, could be dropping all those tabs? It ...

The Clash: Clash in NYC - Waiting for Ivan

Report and Interview by Mary Harron, Melody Maker, 6 October 1979

ACCORDING TO reports, it was a hot, dead, airless summer in New York City. With nothing much happening on the local music scene, excitement centred ...

The Velvet Underground: Pop Art/Art Pop: The Warhol Connection

Report and Interview by Mary Harron, Melody Maker, 16 February 1980

Like to be a galleryPut you all inside my show— David Bowie, 'Andy Warhol' Some people claim that only James Brown can match Andy Warhol's ...

The Lounge Lizards: Orchestrating the Apocalypse

Interview by Mary Harron, Melody Maker, 23 February 1980

With the Ayatollah snapping at America's ankles and the World tottering on the brink, the Lounge Lizards reckon they've found the palliative: 'fake jazz'. MARY ...

Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, Saxon: The Lustre of Heavy Metal

Report by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 19 July 1980

Mary Harron takes a trip to Sheffield and discovers a surprising rock revival. ...

Grace Jones: This Year's Model

Interview by Mary Harron, Smash Hits, 4 September 1980

Mary Harron meets The Height Of Fashion ...

Public Image Ltd: PiL: Rotten's Public Image is on the Mend

Interview by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 26 September 1980

A former Sex Pistol is trying to make it as plain John Lydon. Mary Harron reports ...

Bush Tetras, James Chance & the Contortions: Why the Big Apple Lacks Real Bite

Report by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 7 February 1981

London's rock scene is fizzing, but New York's has turned flat. Mary Harron reports ...

New Order: Heaven, London

Live Review by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 11 February 1981

FEW GROUPS have been faced with such a heavy burden of expectation as were New Order in their London debut. This is the group formed ...

Central Line, Freeez, Linx, Light of the World: Funk for all the Family

Report by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 21 March 1981

Jazz-funk, an offshoot of American soul music, is sweeping away the tired sounds of disco. Mary Harron reports on an underground youth cult ...

Velvet Underground: The Lost History of the Velvet Underground: An interview with Sterling Morrison

Retrospective and Interview by Mary Harron, New Musical Express, 25 April 1981

THE VELVET Underground were the first avant-garde rock band, and the greatest. ...

Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground: Mo Tucker

Interview by Mary Harron, New Musical Express, 2 May 1981

LIKE STERLING MORRISON, Maureen Tucker went in the opposite direction when she left the Velvet Underground in 1971. She moved back to Long Island, became ...

Coati Mundi, Cristina, Kid Creole & The Coconuts, Was (Not Was): Michael Zilkha: The King of Mutant Disco

Profile and Interview by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 4 July 1981

Mary Harron meets the rich kid behind ZE Records' success. ...

Robert Palmer: Rhythm 'N Clues

Profile and Interview by Mary Harron, Smash Hits, 25 December 1981

One across (Mary Harron) asks the questions. Six down (Robert Palmer) gives the answers ...

Puppet On A String: Girl Singers Of The Sixties

Essay by Mary Harron, The History of Rock, 1982

There were no bad girls in British pop music in the early Sixties — certainly nothing to compare with the most daring American girl groups ...

Mickie Most: The Rock of Ages

Interview by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 26 March 1982

Mickie Most tells Mary Harron why in the world of pop the producer reigns supreme ...

ABC: Sophistication to the last letter

Profile and Interview by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 19 November 1982

Mary Harron describes the hit group ABC's recipe for success, reverting to a clean image. ...

Marty Robbins: Country Dude of Nashville

Obituary by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 10 December 1982

Mary Harron on the style of Marty Robbins ...

Billy Bragg: Captain’s Cabin, London

Live Review by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 1983

PLACING a heavy burden on a small but genuine talent, Billy Bragg has been hailed as the next big thing. ...

John Cale: The Venue, London

Live Review by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 19 March 1983

OVER THE past 20 years John Cale has gone from the Royal College of Music to Lamont Young's avant garde Theatre of Eternal Music to ...

Dolly Parton: Ask a Dirty Question, and you Don't Get Any Answers

Profile and Interview by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 29 March 1983

Dolly Parton smiles, and giggles, and parodies herself, but she's really not that kind of girl at all. Not any longer, reports Mary Harron. ...

Dolly Parton: Dominion Theatre, London

Live Review by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 29 March 1983

IN THE early stages we were treated rather like the captive audience at a television games show, as orders were issued for us to stand, ...

Joni Mitchell: Wembley Arena

Live Review by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 25 April 1983

WITH JONI Mitchell, the music and the life are inseparable. As a confessional songwriter the appeal is based on identification; with those of us who ...

David Bowie: Milton Keynes Bowl, Buckinghamshire

Live Review by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 4 July 1983

THE BRITISH phase of the Serious Moonlight tour ended in a grassy amphitheatre where a crowd of 50,000 strained to see a little white figure ...

Connie Francis: One From the Heart: the Connie Francis Interview

Interview by Mary Harron, Collusion, September 1983

When the '60s British Invasion of the American charts began, Connie Francis' songs of teenage life and love were hits all over America. But the ...

Fab 5 Freddy: Streetbeat, Albany Empire, London

Live Review by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 12 September 1983

ONCE DISMISSED as a novelty, rapping has proved its durability, and as soon as you think it has died another wave of influence appears. As ...

Millie Jackson: Dominion, London

Live Review by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 23 February 1984

MILLIE JACKSON has said publicly that she is bored with "talking trash," and with her image as soul's queen of sexual outrage. ...

Whitesnake: Wembley Arena, London

Live Review by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 5 March 1984

WHITESNAKE ARE known as the male chauvinists of British heavy metal, which is a dizzying thought. Lead singer David Coverdale's stardom is based on his ...

Joan Baez: The Folk Heroine Mellows With Age

Interview by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 22 June 1984

IN 1959 JOAN BAEZ walked out on stage at the Newport Folk Festival and touched off a wave of adulation that was to reach almost ...

Bob Dylan: Wembley Stadium

Live Review by Mary Harron, The Guardian, July 1984

ALL SUMMER, Christians have been performing in football stadiums; first we had Luis Palau, then Billy Graham, and now Bob Dylan. But as it turned ...

Aswad, Jimmy Cliff: Jimmy Cliff, Aswad: Crystal Palace Bowl, London

Live Review by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 30 July 1984

THE ANNUAL Nelson Mandela festival was held in perfect sunlight in the secluded grassy amphitheatre at Crystal Palace. Unfortunately one reason why it was so ...

The Bangles, Rosanne Cash, Brian Eno, The Shop Assistants, Violent Femmes: Albums by Eno, Rosanne Cash et al

Review by Mary Harron, The Observer, 9 March 1986

BRIAN ENO: More Blank Than Frank (EG Records EGLP 65) ...

Liza Minnelli: Palladium, London

Live Review by Mary Harron, The Observer, 9 March 1986

Needing to be Loved MARY HARRON assesses Liza Minnelli's comeback ...

William Bell, Matt Bianco, The Judds, Dolly Parton, Prince, Smokey Robinson, David Thomas: Records by Prince, The Judds et al

Review by Mary Harron, The Observer, 16 March 1986

Smokey Robinson: Smoke Signals (Tamla 6156TL); Prince: 'Kiss' (WEA W8751T 12 Inch); William Bell: Passion (WRC WIL-3001 US Import) ...

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