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
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
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, ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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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